own and not use what’s out there.” In yet another One Boeing collaboration, Insitu worked with Phantom Works and Boeing Research & Technology to come up with a fuel cell for the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft, enabling it to fly longer and quieter. Engineers tested the new motor system successfully in May in Oregon after a couple of years of development. Phantom Works employees say they are roundly encouraged to be independent thinkers and take risks, creating a spirit of innovation that invigorates the organization throughout. Williams, an operations analyst for less than a year, makes models and simulations used in the Virtual Warfare Center in St. Louis. “I get to fly around and generate data for them,” she said. “I get to help test out the bugs. What I like most about it is that the people I get to work with are smart and critical, and I enjoy that very much.” John Aughey, a research engineer who has worked for Phantom Works for three of his 18 years at Boeing, looks for technology that he can experiment with in the Virtual Warfare Center. He’s worked on quadcopter technology in collaboration with the National Geospatial and Intelligence Agency and St. Louis University. A quadcopter is an unmanned aircraft that flies using four rotors. Aughey said he feels liberated in how he’s able to do his job and come up with fresh ideas. He credits Phantom Works leadership with giving him the freedom to create. “You have to get out of the confines of these four walls,” he said. “If I’m put in a box and told to innovate in here, it’s not going to happen. I need to get out and see things from a different point of view.” Also in St. Louis, the Immersive Development Center employees are pushing the creative envelope. The center is unique for its holographic 3-D cave, a 10-foot-by-10-foot (3-meter-by-3-meter) area in which an engine prototype can be projected as if floating in air, enabling a customer to manually remove parts while waving a wand and wearing 3-D glasses. A U.S. 28 Boeing Frontiers Air Force leader was so taken by the technology that he lay on his back to get a closer and longer look at it. “To the customer, it’s real powerful,” said Brian Carbrey, Immersive Development technical lead. “We can immerse them. On a scale of one to 10, it’s a 12. We’re trying to get out in front of the competitors. We protect this room. This is a differentiator.” In the nearby Virtual Warfare Center, pilots and other military personnel participate in battle engagements made as realistic as possible. Phantom Works customers experience a simulated, futuristic warfare environment and use this time to determine future needs and technology gaps. Products are created that might not be put in use for several decades. “This group is at the forefront of the BDS business,” said Lahm, program manager. “You have to understand the customer to understand the need. We’re working way beyond where they thought they could go.” Jacob Irwin, a Phantom Works project engineer for three years, has worked on several projects in St. Louis, among them Phantom Badger. It’s a military vehicle so compact it can fit into a V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. It has the ability to move troops and payloads into battle more efficiently than any comparable competitive product, making it appealing to defense customers, Irwin said. “It’s one of those things that’s out there that really embodies what Phantom Works does,” Irwin said of creating a vehicle rather than an aircraft. “I got to drive it and it’s very cool.” In a final assembly and test facility in nearby St. Charles, Mo., Chief Engineer Jon Gettinger leads a team of engineers and technicians from Phantom Works, BDS, Boeing Test & Evaluation, and Engineering, Operations & Technology on the Dominator unmanned aircraft system. It will be used for surveillance and can Photo: In Huntington Beach, Calif., Julianne Choy displays the Echo Ranger, an unmanned underwater vehicle. Choy, a mechanical engineer, is working on autonomous technology for Phantom Works, pursuing new ways to explore the ocean. Bob ferguson | boeing
Frontiers September 2015 Issue
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