VTOL
Electrically powered quadcopters typically fly 15-20 minutes but Singapore-based Horizon Energy Systems’s (HES) CEO Taras Wankewycz is hoping that his team of fuel cell scientists and engineers will change all that. Horizon Energy Systems’s hydrogen-powered hycopter can already fly for two hours, and Mr Wankewycz is hopeful of
Commercial
P-Squared Group, a designer and manufacturer of high-quality electronics products, has announced the launch of the P2 Quadcharger, a product that will allow owners and users of DJI’s Phantom 2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to charge their batteries significantly faster and less expensively. The P2 Quadcharger will charge up
Propulsion
Singapore-based Horizon Unmanned Systems (HUS) has launched a new hydrogen fuel cell-powered, multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The Hycopter is reportedly the first UAV to be powered using energy, in the form of hydrogen fuel cells, stored in it's frame structure. The ultra-light fuel cells are designed to
Propulsion
LiquidPiston, Inc., a developer of advanced combustion engine technology, has announced that the company has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advance the development of its highly efficient, power-dense rotary internal combustion engine for portable and small-engine applications. Under this agreement,
Commercial
New Zealand-born Daniel Wilson, a researcher at the University of Sydney's Australian Centre for Field Robotics, has developed a method to allow UAVs to dock and recharge in mid-air, much like military jets do. He believes his team's successful UAV docking in November last year was
Propulsion
UAV Turbines, Inc. (UAVT) has announced the launch of its leading-edge gas turbine technology to the Unmanned Aircraft industry. Ranging in power from 30 hp to 150 hp, UAVT's engines are designed specifically to address Group 3 and above UAV programs. These engines will increase reliability, flight duration,
Propulsion
Top Flight, a startup out of Malden, Mass., says it has the answer to the range problem that restricts small UAS flight time in the form of hybrid propulsion. The company's drones in development carry gasoline-powered generators that charge their onboard batteries in flight. The result, COO John
Propulsion
Powering an aircraft could soon be a sustainable endeavour. Fuel cell technologies being explored by Boeing use a fusion of hydrogen and oxygen to help power aircraft electricity, produce heat, and provide clean water. Source: YouTube
Propulsion
Belarusian scientists are planning to launch the manufacture of electric engines for compact unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in 2015, Yuri Yatsyna, head of the R&D center BAK and Technologies of the Physics Technology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, said at the press conference “Innovative
Propulsion
Orbital has announced that the Orbital designed and developed Insitu ScanEagle propulsion system has recently passed the United States of America, Federal Aviation Administration’s (“FAA”) Federal Aviation Regulation section 33.49 reciprocating aircraft engine endurance test (“FAR 33.49”). FAR 33.49 is a stringent FAA reciprocating aircraft engine
Propulsion
French firm Malou Tech has developed the Interceptor MP200 in response to the need to prevent drones from flying over nuclear plants.In the above segment shown on French television, Malou Tech pilot Philippe Dardini uses the Interceptor to catch a DJI Phantom piloted by Philippe Dubus, the company'
Propulsion
It began life as a hydrogen-fuelled, high-altitude unmanned aircraft but evolved into a diesel-powered platform designed to fly at medium altitude for five days and promising dramatically reduced operating costs compared with today’s Predator-class UAVs. Now that Aurora Flight Sciences’ Orion has shown its ultra-long-endurance potential, the company has