The US Air Force Aeronautical Systems Centre at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, has awarded a $148.3 million contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to provide 24 MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer Unmanned Aircraft. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2011
X-47 First Official Photos
On Feb. 4, 2011, Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Navy successfully conducted the first flight of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) aircraft. The flight, which was conducted under hazy skies at Edwards Air Force Base in California, began at 2:09 p.m. PST and lasted 29 minutes. The aircraft will remain at Edwards AFB for flight envelope expansion before transitioning to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. later this year. There, the system will undergo additional tests in preparation for carrier trials in 2013. Continue reading
UK Association Seeks Members’ Comments
The CAA has invited the UK UAS Industry to offer suggestions, improvements and amendments to the current version of CAP722, Unmanned Aircraft System Operations in UK Airspace – Guidance, 4th Edition.
UAVS is collating comments from its members with the intent of submitting these comments to the CAA in the middle of February 2011.
Yale Team Develops Synthetic Vision for Real-Time Object Recognition
A research team headed by Dr. Eugenio Culurciello, associate professor of engineering at Yale University, has developed a field programmable gate array (FPGA) processor that has been specifically designed for artificial vision. It operates about 100 times faster than a laptop computer, effectively bringing supercomputing power to synthetic vision. A system using this FPGA would be capable of analysing full-motion video in real-time. It could simultaneously monitor multiple video streams, looking for certain objects or behaviours with clear possibilities for UAS applications.
US Air Force Wants Hybrid-Powered One-Man UAS
The U.S. Air Force is calling for industry to build a hybrid-powered unmanned aircraft able to be carried and operated by only one person on battlefield situational awareness missions. It should weigh less than 20 pounds and be able to carry a 4-pound electro-optical payload on missions over rough terrain for at least four hours. The total cost of the programme is expected to be about $2.2 million.
Aurora Centaur Begins Flight Test Programme
Aurora Flight Sciences announced that the Centaur Optionally Piloted Aircraft (OPA) has begun its flight test programme. The first fully-configured Centaur made its first flight on Saturday, January 22, 2011 from Aurora’s base at Manassas, Virginia.
UAS Detects Water Leaks
UAS adapted for water leak detection Photo: Arad
An Israeli company, Arad Technologies, a world leader in wireless automatic meter reading systems, has recently developed a two pound Unmanned Aircraft that can travel 900 feet above ground and detect water leaks. It can collect data from water meters every 11 to 30 seconds and capture readings of a whole city in less than one hour.
Brock Launches the Shark – A New Small UAS
Brock Technologies has announced its new Shark Unmanned Aircraft System. A small UAS capable of performing silent ISR at low altitudes for long periods of time, it is designed to fit within a five inch inner diameter launch tube. The Shark is built with the latest in composite materials and processes to produce an affordable system that weighs only 5.5 pounds.