VTOL
Hood Technology is equipping the Flexrotor, the unusual long-range VTOL aircraft from Aerovel, with a HoodTech stabilized imaging system. HoodTech President, Andy von Flotow, notes, “Flexrotor brings a quantum jump in capability to the small-UAS sector, with its unique mix of VTOL, long-endurance, small size, and fully-
Data Links & Communications
Instead of a human analyst slogging through (maybe) 10 three-page documents in an hour, Modus Operandi has developed its military intelligence “Googlizing” system, which has been “trained” via machine learning and enabled by a semantic analysis engine to provide the military intelligence community a way to quickly conduct military
Propulsion
Analytic Systems has recently supplied a new power system for the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems which are in service with customers including the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.Working with AAI’s Engineering team, Analytic Systems has modified their LIAC600 (US Army/USMC AC Lithium-Ion Battery Charger)
Commercial
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs - Visual Communications Division - just released this video of the CBP UAS Guardian.The CBP (Customs and Border Protection) UAS Guardian is the maritime variant of the Predator B Unmanned Aircraft System. Source: YouTube
Control Stations
MTSU will research how military robots can work with unmanned aircraft through a “historic partnership” with the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, University President Sidney McPhee announced on Monday. McPhee signed a Joint Robotic System contract with U.S. Army Lt. Col. Nick Kioutas at the university’
VTOL
Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is planning to endow UAS with arms and hands to allow them to work on such tasks as repairing infrastructure and disaster recovery while hovering near the ground. Funded by a three-year $ 649,999 National Science Foundation grant as part of a programme aimed
Training
Northrop Grumman is marketing the use of a new UAS, the Sandstorm, to train operators for the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper. Developed by Las Vegas firm Unmanned System Inc, the Sandstorm is considerably smaller and less expensive than the more complex Predator and Reaper. Northrop
Testing
An airborne sense-and-avoid (ABSAA) system enabling the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk to fly in civil airspace will transition to full-scale development at the end of September after completion of a final round of research test flights. The multi-sensor system has been in development at
Northrop Grumman has flown two RQ-4 Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) Global Hawks in formation under its KQ-X programme to develop the concept of air-to-air refuelling for high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAS. One of the aircraft in the exercise was equipped with a belly-mounted
Commercial
C-ASTRAL Ltd, the Slovenian UAS manufacturer has flown an 80 minute mapping mission at 4150 m ASL in support of the mining operations in one of the world’s highest mines, the Los Pelambres complex in the Chillean Andes. A precise DTM of the current mining area was created
The FAA is working to create two permanent areas of Arctic airspace for research and commercial flights by unmanned aircraft, as directed by Congress in February in the agency’s reauthorization bill. “We have to create a type of airspace that does not fit any existing mould,” says Jim Williams,
Rockwell Collins has launched the first operational Real Time Kinematic (RTK) Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) technology solution for secure GPS receivers.Until now, military operations that required centimeter-level GPS navigation accuracy were based on commercial RTK GPS receivers. However, with the Rockwell Collins RTK SAASM technology solution,