Research
There is growing interest in a US aviation force that could carry out precision surveillance and strike missions thousands of miles away. That capability would be particularly useful in the Pacific Rim where US bases are sited far from several hot spots. Connecting the airborne platforms—and the extremely important
Events
Nothing very original about team Dhaksha's Hexarotor entry from MIT ANNA University in India, though it does have the merit of being stable. DARPA's UAVForge Competition has moved from the "idea" stage to the "concept" stage of Phase 1, with the official
Research
Researchers and responders from The Texas A&M University System have received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a visual “common ground” between operators and responders who use micro and small unmanned aircraft for search and rescue. Following principles in how people know what other
Business News
The University of Dayton has announced that locally-based companies Optonicus and Defense Engineering Corp., as well as California-based UtopiaCompression, have signed deals to relocate to UD’s Ladar and Optical Communications Institute. The moves are expected to create more than a dozen new jobs. DEC and UtopiaCompression are working with
Events
Last in the current the review of contestants in the DARPA UAVForge Challenge – a contest to use crowd-sourcing to build small UAS through an exchange of ideas and design practices – this video presents the Pogo 2100UAV. The Pogo 2100 is a flying pogo stick that can be configured with explosives
Applications & Testing & Experience
A small hobby-type radio-controlled model aircraft is being transformed into a high-tech flight research aircraft at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and will be used to develop such a ’sense-and-avoid’ application for smart phones. The aircraft, dubbed DROID for Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone, is the newest – and
Events
Continuing the review of contestants in the DARPA UAVForge Challenge – a contest to use crowd-sourcing to build small UAS through an exchange of ideas and design practices – this video presents the Quadrocopter Microdrone. The Microdrone is a kamikaze drone equipped with miniguns, an infrared laser beam, and Xbox Kinect-style cameras
Payloads
An enterprising young computer engineer, Jonas Pfeil, who recently graduated with an M.Sc. from the Technical University of Berlin, will present his 'Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera' as the Emerging Technologies demonstration at the SIGGRAPH Asia 2011. Panoramic photography creates fascinating images. Very wide angle images are closer
Regulatory Matters
Thales Alenia Space has won a contract from the European Space Agency to lead a nine-month study regarding satellite communications solutions for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The ESPRIT (Emerging system concepts for UAS command & control via satellite) study will focus on the provision of communication capacity for Command & Control
Research
In May, DARPA launched the UAVForge Challenge to use crowd-sourcing to build small UAS through an exchange of ideas and design practices. The goal is to build and test a user-intuitive, backpack-portable UAS that can quietly fly in and out of critical environments to conduct sustained surveillance for up to
Regulatory Matters
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center recently awarded contracts to six research and development firms to assist the center in meeting the goals of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System, or UAS in the NAS, project. In addition, cooperative agreements were issued to four universities
Aircraft Propulsion & Energy
Officials of the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) Smart Collection Office in Washington has issued a broad agency announcement for the initial phase of the Great Horned Owl (GHO) programme. The programme seeks to develop fuel-to-electricity systems that couple advanced combustion engines to alternators or generators, as well