Research
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Atlantic (SSC Atlantic) call on innovators of every kind - scientists, engineers, citizen scientists and dreamers to collaborate on the UAVForge Challenge and win $100,000. The UAVForge Challenge uses crowd-sourcing to build small UAS through
Research
An international research team, including scientists from NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab in Seattle, completed a series of unmanned flights over the Arctic on April 30. The team is investigating the potential role of black carbon, or soot, in the rapidly changing Arctic climate. Also participating in the Coordinated
Testing
The University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Lab, has been working on getting groups of the robots to fly together in formation. Just like with a formation of fighter jets, there's a leader robot in each squad along with several follower robots. The followers have just two jobs:
Events
A team from Dubai Men's College has won the first of the UAE's Unmanned Air Systems Rodeo. The awards ceremony was held at the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training Dhabi (CERT) in Abu Dhabi. The ceremony took place under the patronage of Sheikh
Testing
The clever chaps at Yale University Grab Labs have developed a robot helicopter integrated with a compliant gripper, able to directly grasp and transport objects while hovering in mid-air outdoors, without need for external motion sensors. The specially tuned elasticity properties of the gripper allow the aircraft to robustly contact
Payloads
As part of the us Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Programme, the Air Force Research Laboratory calls for a proposal on the 'Aerial Distribution of Taggants'. OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate innovative methods to unobtrusively distribute taggants onto moving targets for tracking, locating, and identification purposes. DESCRIPTION:
Research
India’s Defence Research and Development Organization told the Times of India recently that the aim of the secretive AURA (autonomous unmanned research aircraft) programme is to develop a UCAV for the Indian Air Force in seven to eight years. "With Rs 50 crore ($11 M) as seed money,
Research
A multidisciplinary university research initiative (MURI) led by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Associate Professor, Russ Tedrake, will bring together a diverse group of researchers to develop a bird-sized UAS, thanks to an Office of Naval Research Grant. The vehicle will be capable of navigating both urban
Research
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has just published a fascinating presentation by Dr. Charles E. Harris, P.E., Director of the Research Directorate at the NASA Langley Research Center, on the possibilities for future aircraft design unleashed by the use of revolutionary new materials. Entitled “Opportunities for Next
Research
Jackson State University computer engineering professor Kamal Ali has been awarded a research grant worth $517,062 from the U.S. Department of Defense for a three-year-project to build a simulator to test MAV autopilots. The project title is “A Hardware-In-the-Loop-Simulation (HILS) System for the Simulation of Micro Air Vehicle
Research
The University of Bristol will open a relative motion robotics centre of excellence to research and develop an autonomous engagement solution for in-flight refuelling. Cobham Mission Equipment has commissioned the centre, as part of the ASTRAEA Autonomy and Decision Making project. The South West RDA is providing significant support to
Research
The University of Newcastle, Australia and Boeing Research and Technology Australia have launched a five-year project to develop a tool to evaluate whether unmanned aircraft meet the same levels of safety as piloted aircraft for particular operations. The team is developing a tool to allow aviation authorities to assess and