Testing
An unhackable Boeing Little Bird unmanned aircraft should be in flight around the end of 2017. Defence industry programmers are rewriting software on the helicopter drone to encapsulate its communications computer. That way, no outsiders can steer the unmanned aerial vehicle to strike, say, civilians, or tamper with surveillance video
First Responders
Christopher Catrambone is an immigrant himself, having moved his family to Malta from his native New Orleans to flee the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Last year, he and his wife Regina say they invested “nearly 50 per cent of our savings” — $US7.5 million — to purchase a 130-foot search and
Business
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has announced that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded the company an $8 million contract for Phase 1 of the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) programme. The objective of DARPA's ALIAS programme is to develop and insert new automation into existing
VTOL
UAS Directions is a startup bent on thinking from unexpected directions. Over the past 16 months they have pored their unique design philosophy into developing their 3D multi-rotor uni-bodies.They believe the launch of their first "frameless" concept will put an end to framed multi-rotors, or as they
Commercial
ING Robotic Aviation, Canada’s leading provider of robotic aircraft solutions, has just completed its two week mission to Canada’s North on board Fednav’s ice-breaking cargo ship MV Arctic. Primarily a research and development initiative, this project (led by Enfotec) was designed to assess various operational and technical
VTOL
At IDEX’s new unmanned system exhibit, UMEX, AEE Technology Co, Ltd. promoted its F100 and F50 quad-copters used by the Chinese military. Both drones cruise at speeds of about 30 miles an hour, according to company information.The larger F100 weighs 16 pounds, and has a 50-minute battery life
Military
An U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system flew in for display at the Australian International Air Show at Avalon Airport, Australia, on Feb. 21. This is the first time the aircraft has flown in for display at an international air show and the first time it
VTOL
VTOL Technologies Ltd was founded in 2002 with the goal of developing and subsequent sales and operational service provision of long-endurance, lightweight, portable, Beyond Visual Line Of Sight [BVLOS] Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems [RPAS] targeted at network-based industries, initially targeting the energy sector, providing a new, automated, much lower cost
VTOL
In a demonstration aboard a former U.S. Navy ship, a small quadrotor developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and spin-off company Sensible Machines flew autonomously through dark, smoke-filled compartments to map fires and locate victims. The demonstration, part of an Office of Naval Research
Testing
A quadcopter built by a Nagoya-based company has completed a trial run to see if unmanned aircraft can be used to transport goods from Kagawa Prefecture to an island in the Seto Inland Sea. “In the long run, we would like to use drones to transport emergency medical supplies and
Testing
A restaurant chain in Singapore has demonstrated flying helicopter drones being used to deliver food and drinks from the kitchen, right to customers' tables. Timbre, a live music bar and restaurant chain that was the first restaurant in Singapore to roll out iPads at every table to speed up
Accidents
The Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe has lost contact with a Schiebel S-100 Camcopter unmanned air vehicle that was carrying out surveillance missions over Ukraine. The OSCE confirms that on 3 February the Ukrainian Special Monitoring Mission lost contact with the vehicle 16km (10 miles) north of Mariupol