Research
Lockheed Martin released this video showing the latest, smaller version of its Samarai monocopter unmanned aircraft, now in flight test. It has a 30cm wing span (about 12in), has the propeller mounted at the tip of the wing and can take off and land vertically from any surface. This version
Research
At the graduation ceremony of the Singularity University last week, Matternet proposed applying quad-copter technology by building a network of robotic drones to deliver medication quickly and very cost-effectively. This particular class of S.U. was focused on solving problems for "the next billion people," those without access
Research
Middle Tennessee State University signed a MoU with the US Army’s UAS Program Office. The Army is partnering with MTSU to turn university-level research and development into technology applicable to UAS. As part of the exchange, the Army pledged to support MTSU’s UAS educational and research efforts; MTSU
Aircraft Propulsion & Energy
Israel Aerospace Industries is still looking for a fuel cell power system to replace the batteries currently used on its small unmanned aircraft systems. "We have a development plan for fuel cells in cooperation with Horizon, a leading developer," said Tommy Silberring, general manager of IAI's
Aircraft Propulsion & Energy
Lockheed Martin's Intelligent Robotics Laboratories has spent the last five years developing an unmanned craft to replicate the motion of maple tree seeds, whirring softly to the ground like silent one-winged helicopters. The device, called the Samarai, is scheduled to make its public debut next week at the
Research
Sony's Face to Avatar system, premiering at the SIGGRAPH interactive technology conference this week in Vancouver, combines UAS and telepresence technology to create the first real-world drone avatar. Unlike the stationary video conferencing enabled by smart-phones or webcams, the Face to Avatar blimp moves, a change to video
Aircraft Propulsion & Energy
AeroVironment Inc filed a patent application for "A hydrogen fueled power-plant including an internal combustion engine that drives a motor-generator, and has a two-stage turbocharger, for an aircraft.” “A control system controls the operation of the motor-generator to maintain the engine at a speed selected based on controlling the
Research
Economic Development for Central Oregon and Oregon State University announced that they have signed an agreement to develop technologies related to unmanned aerial systems that will benefit OSU’s academic and research programmes, particularly natural resource management. Simultaneously, the agreement would help EDCO incubate new UAS start-ups and bring additional
Research
Curt Schacker is the CCO of RTI, and in a recent interview with Defence IQ's Richard de Silva about what he means when he refers to ‘interoperable open architecture’ and how it differs from past open architecture efforts. They also discuss how the global defence industry should be
Regulatory Matters
Numerica Corp. was awarded a two-year, $600,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract to develop collision prediction capabilities for unmanned aircraft systems operating in the National Airspace System. Incorporating unmanned aircraft into national airspace is beneficial to missions in the areas of scientific research, national security, emergency response
Military UAS
Boeing announced that its Directed Energy Systems (DES) division has signed a teaming agreement with BAE Systems to develop the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System for defence of U.S. Navy ships. The Navy awarded the BAE Systems team an initial contract in March to build a demonstrator
Research
Unmanned aircraft systems are becoming more and more complex in order to fulfill a number of potentially conflicting performance and robustness requirements. However, the use traditional development methods that continue to rely on legacy designs and domain specific tools that perform subsystem-level optimization make it difficult, if not impossible to