VTOL
This video shows three quadrocopters cooperatively tossing and catching a ball with the aid of an elastic net. To toss the ball, the quadrocopters accelerate rapidly outward to stretch the net tight between them and launch the ball up. Notice in the video that the quadrocopters are then pulled forcefully
Propulsion
Studies are underway at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, or ARL, to create a ‘super engine’ that could allow military ground vehicles, stationary power generators, and small unmanned aircraft, for example, to operate with the same kind of fuel. In the late 1980s, the DOD issued its “Single Fuel
Testing
Lehigh University (Lehigh, Pa., USA) reports that one of its engineers has developed a carbon fiber composite wing for use on an unmanned aircraft being designed for high-altitude perpetual flight. The first uniquely designed carbon fiber wing has emerged from Lehigh's Composites Lab. The 6.5m/21.3-ft
Testing
A small green aircraft flew in the blue sky over the Halim Perdanakusuma airbase in East Jakarta on Thursday morning. “The plane is designed to carry out surveillance. Given its noise levels, however, its targets would easily become aware of its position,” Research and Technology Minister Gusti M. Hatta said
Launchers
A shipboard-capable system designed to support both the launch and recovery of the Scan Eagle successfully completed final demonstration flight testing Sept. 27 at a testing range in eastern Oregon. Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Compact Launch and Recovery System (CLRE) will provide a small-scale solution
Testing
Insitu Pacific, the Australia-based subsidiary of Insitu Inc., has announced that it successfully conducted the maiden flight of the PicoSAR on the Integrator Tactical UAS. SELEX Galileo’s PicoSAR is a world leading, compact Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) and embedded advanced processing deliver high-resolution
Testing
Dave Phillips performs a stunning aerobatic routine in de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth ZK-BLI. The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and others as a primary trainer. The Tiger Moth remained
VTOL
When Prox Dynamics, Norway started the development of the PD-100 Black Hornet helicopter it performed a series of trade studies on different aircraft configurations: traditional single main/tail rotor (as the PD-100), coaxial rotors (such as the ProxFlyer), and quadrotors (commonly used in micro VTOL aircraft). The results were measured
Commercial
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will begin testing and evaluating small unmanned aircraft systems this month near Lawton, Oklahoma, under a federal and state initiative to study UAS applications for emergency response. The DHS is also considering the use of small UAS by its constituent organizations: the Coast
Testing
DARPA just released this video showing excerpts of a close-proximity test flight of two modified RQ-4A Global Hawks. This demonstration proved for the first time that High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) class aircraft can safely and autonomously perform the steps required for in-flight refuelling. The video shows the probe reaching
Testing
Boeing engineers are using 3-D printing to aid in rapid prototyping efforts. 3-D printing is similar to that of a standard inkjet printer. A computer generated 3-D model is sent to the printer, which divides it into extremely thin cross sections. A powder is layered across each cross section at
Business
Officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington are asking industry to participate in a fly-off evaluation of small unmanned aircraft systems and integrated UAS sensor payloads for potential use by local civil authorities maritime border and maritime security, law enforcement, search and rescue, fire, and