Control Stations
As unmanned aircraft play an increasingly important role in defence strategies and tactics, the demands on the electronic control systems in these vehicles include extreme portability, ruggedness and safety. Every component in these systems carries with it the weight of mission success or failure - all the way down to
Military
A small Phoenix-based company is using federal grants to develop technology that will allow U.S. Army soldiers to control UAS for resupply missions, surveillance and zeroing in on targets. Handheld controllers will use Kutta Technologies Inc.’s software so frontline troops can control UAS in a way similar to
Data Links & Communications
When Kyle Stanbro retired from the military in 2004, he put his energies into making a lighter and more physically intuitive video receiver for ground forces to receive UAS feeds to replace the ToughBook currently in use. Called the Mover-IV, the foot-long black push-button device looks like a standard radio.
Testing
Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully demonstrated that its Heterogeneous Airborne Reconnaissance Team (HART) system increases warfighter situational awareness during a recent Spiral 7 DARPA field exercise conducted March 7-18, 2011, at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. The HART system autonomously manages a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft and sensors and
Data Links & Communications
Northrop Grumman has contracted Thinklogical for key infrastructure systems for the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System. Under the award, the Connecticut-based company will supply its VelocityKVM and VX Router System, the highest bandwidth system in deployment, to provide seamless interaction between flight control
Data Links & Communications
RFaxis has announced that its RFX2401 single chip/single die RF Front-End Integrated Circuit (RFeIC(TM)) for ZigBee/ISM 2.4GHz has been selected by Xtreme Power Systems (XPS) for its new DivBee(TM) Diversity Antenna ZigBee module. With its dual antenna architecture, and powered by the combination of the
Data Links & Communications
AME Unmanned Air Systems has announced the release of SharkFin Basic UAS mission planning software. SharkFin Basic is a STANAG 4586 compliant, multi-vehicle, Core UAS Control System, which also gives full UAS three-dimensional situational awareness. SharkFin provides interfaces and information so that UAS mission operators can plan and monitor multiple
Data Links & Communications
DIY Drones has been working with Google on an Android-compatible RC interface board. They call it the "PhoneDrone board for Android", and it's a way to connect any Android device (2.3.4 or higher) to the world of RC and UAS. The board has 8
Data Links & Communications
Mercury Computer Systems Inc., a provider of commercially developed ISR subsystems, will provide a prime contractor with Ensemble and Echotek Series products for use in a high-speed satellite communications system tasked with transferring more ISR data from unmanned aircraft to ground forces. Mercury’s ability to deliver high processing in
Electronic Systems
SIE Computing Solutions Inc. is introducing the SIE 734 VITA 58 rugged electronics chassis for mission-critical embedded computing systems that must operate in extreme conditions, such as unmanned aircraft systems. The rugged electronics chassis meets maintenance requirements level 2 and 2-plus of the VITA 58 industry standard for interoperable electronics
Electronic Systems
GE Intelligent Platforms is introducing the ADEPT3000 small automatic miniature video tracker for embedded computing applications such as unmanned aircraft systems and man-portable devices where size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP) are primary design concerns. GE demonstrated the device this past week at the SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing conference
Electronic Systems
AAI Test & Training has been awarded $9.7 million to deliver an electronic warfare (EW) radio frequency (RF) simulator for the U.S. Air Force's EW Avionics Integration Support Facility (EWAISF). Located at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, the EWAISF facility tests critical components, subsystems and