Electronic Sub-Systems
Fixposition, a spin-off from ETH Zurich (ETH), has developed a new sensor allowing robots and drones to navigate even the most challenging environments. Fixposition has launched the Vision-RTK, a centimeter-accurate positioning solution that uses a unique sensor fusion algorithm to integrate GNSS, camera and inertial sensors. The Vision-RTK is designed
Business
Cubic Corporation announced that its Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions (CMPS) business division was awarded a contract worth $7.5 million to develop and flight test prototype software-defined radios (SDR) for the U.S. Army. The contract is part of an effort to develop a next-generation datalink waveform for unmanned
Agriculture
Forests cover 30 percent of the Earth’s landmass, but that number is on the decline. Despite forests’ crucial role in conserving wildlife and processing carbon dioxide, many are threatened by deforestation and wildfires. Complicating these threats is the lack of quantitative information that foresters and environmental researchers need for
Business
Leonardo DRS, Inc. announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Hoverfly Technologies Inc. (HTI) of Orlando, Florida to manufacture HTI’s line of Tethered Unmanned Aerial Systems (TUAS). The Leonardo DRS Land Systems business in St. Louis, Missouri has since received its first order from Hoverfly valued
Control Stations
Massive reductions in emplacement, mission launch time and overall footprint size are in the works for Gray Eagle Extended Range UAS, thanks to new laptop-based interface called Scalable Command & Control (SC2) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.. GA-ASI recently concluded a series of flight tests using the new SC2
Weapons Systems / Lasers
A modular cluster of unguided aviation missiles, developed by the research center Zaslon (Screen) for the helicopter gunship Mi-28NM, will allow helicopters to fire mini-drones and suicide drones from the missile launch tubes, a source in the defense-industrial complex told TASS. Zaslon's module B8V10-UV is different from the
Testing
Overcoming the initial program setbacks, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) last week flight tested the Rustom-2 medium altitude long endurance indigenous prototype drone and achieved eight hours of flying at an altitude of 16,000 feet at Chitradurga, Karnataka. The prototype is expected to achieve a height of
Business
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that it secured a $8,371,332 firm-fixed-price U.S. Department of Defense FMS contract award on September 25, 2020 for Puma 3 AE tactical UAS, training and support to an allied nation. Delivery is anticipated by March 2021. “The United States Department of Defense and the
Research
There are many places in this world that are hard for researchers to study, mainly because it’s too dangerous for people to get there. University of Washington researchers have created one potential solution: A 98 milligram sensor system — about one tenth the weight of a jellybean, or less than
Weapons Systems / Lasers
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed 70 Ababil-2 suicide drones to the navy of the country’s elite force, which controls its territorial waters in the Gulf and the Sea of Oman, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency has reported. IRGC’s fast attack boats, previously equipped with
Testing
UMS SKELDAR has successfully achieved the remote automatic flight of its V-150 Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) platform. The successful automatic flight of the V-150 has been performed across multiple continents, with the platform itself based in Switzerland and observed by team members onsite. This breakthrough achievement enables UMS SKELDAR
Business
Woolpert is opening an office that will serve as the firm’s aviation research and unmanned aircraft systems hub in the National Aviation Research and Technology Park in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. The space will support Woolpert’s full suite of UAS and urban air mobility personnel, technology and