The U.S. Navy’s second MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has successfully completed its first flight. Operating out of a manufacturing facility in Palmdale, a Navy and Northrop Grumman flight test team conducted the 6.7-hour flight Oct. 15. The flight is a critical first step in preparing the aircraft to fly to a Navy facility in Maryland later this month.
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
US Army Testing IAI Hand-Launched UAS
The US Army is field testing more than a dozen hand-launched ArrowLite unmanned air vehicles manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, which has long sought a foothold in the US military unmanned air systems (UAS) market.
3D-Printed UAV with Ducted Fan Motors
A Boeing-assisted team at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Center has developed a blended-wing UAV featuring integrated electric ducted fan motors built with modular components made largely via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). This is the type of 3D printing in which successive layers of molten plastic are extruded one on top of another, to build up complete objects. Continue reading
ARES Gets US Navy Flight Clearance
SHIELD Aviation, Inc. has announced the granting of a Category 3 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Interim Flight Clearance (IFC) for the ARES Block C UAS by Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR) Patuxent River MD AIR – 4.0P. The ARES UAS IFC supports Navy public aircraft operations of ARES Block C UAS within restricted and warning areas of the U.S. National airspace.
Central Hudson Utility Company Tests UAS
Central Hudson Gas and Electric is exploring the use of UAS to help in the company’s operations.”It will not completely replace the use of human eyes on a trouble spot, but it will help us locate these trouble spots more quickly,” said spokesperson John Maserjian.
RFID-Reading Drone Tracks Structural Steel Products in Storage Yard
Age Steel, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) company that operates multiple steel yards in Dubai, has taken radio frequency identification technology to new heights, through its use of an RFID reader mounted on a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly called a drone. The Steel Yard Autonomous Tracking solution, provided by UAE technology services startup Exponent Technology Services, enables Age Steel to quickly and accurately track the locations of pipes, plates and other metal products stored onsite. Continue reading
Ohio Prison to Test Surveillance Aerostat and UAS
The Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections last week launched a $170,000 aerostat to monitor security at the Lebanon and Warren Correctional Institutions. The aerostat will have the capability to capture video of the prisons’ grounds during the day and night as well as use infrared sensors to detect unwelcome visitors staked near the facility’s fences.
Snakebot and QuadCopter Combo for Search and Rescue
Everyone has different ideas on what the perfect search-and-rescue robot is, and for a University of Pennsylvania Mod Lab team, it comes in the form of a snake drone-quadcopter chimera. The Hybrid Exploration Robot for Air and Land Deployment or H.E.R.A.L.D. is composed of two snake-like machines that attach via magnets to a UAV. Continue reading