The San Diego Wind Tunnel has been used to develop technologies in aerospace and Olympic sports for more than six decades. Two local companies, Aerial Mob and 3D Robotics recently used it to test their unmanned aerial vehicles. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
Amazon May Test UAS Deliveries in India
India, not US, will be the launch-pad for Amazon’s plan to deliver packages using drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, according to two people aware of the development. The US-based e-tailer will debut its drone delivery service with trials in Mumbai and Bangalore, cities where it has warehouses, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
First BLOS Flight at Spanish Test Centre
Spain’s Air Traffic Laboratory for Advanced Systems (Atlas) experimental test centre on August 20 hosted the first flight of a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) beyond visual line of sight since new rules governing RPAS entered force in that country. Pilots with the Centre for Advanced Aerospace Technologies flew the Viewer aircraft, a 33-pound mtow electric airplane, more than 8 km (4.9 miles) from the center’s facilities in Villacarrillo and up to 3,300 feet above sea level.
Malloy Aeronautics Hoverbike on Kickstarter
An interesting Kickstarter project aims to jump-start sales of a drone version of a fully-functional hover bike. The quadcopter drone acts as a proof of concept for the full-sized manned vehicle, with proceeds from the crowdfunding effort intended to fuel the continued development of the final vehicle. With more than a week remaining before the Kickstarter campaign concludes, its funding goal has been exceeded and development is moving forward at pace. Though the manned Hoverbike is what tends to garner the most attention, the one third scale drones are actually the focus of the Kickstarter effort.
Indian UAS for Border Patrol
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur have developed India’s first low-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that could be used for anything from patrolling the border to traffic and crowd monitoring. The aircraft, called P1, is commanded by a computer pilot on the ground. It can fly for more than 10 hours continuously at an altitude of up to 5,000ft and has a wide operating radius of 150km. Continue reading
Lockheed Martin Conducts First Fully Autonomous Mission
Lockheed Martin, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), successfully conducted a fully autonomous resupply, reconnaissance, surveillance and target-acquisition demonstration using its Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) unmanned ground vehicle, K-MAX unmanned helicopter and Gyrocam optical sensor. Continue reading
VertiKUL Explores Practicalities of Delivery UAS
Researchers at KU Leuven, in Belgium, have been working on some of the technical problems to be solved for delivery by UAS to become practical, including landing pads, cargo compartments, and range extension.Take-offs and landings are probably going to be the trickiest part of this whole delivery drone business, and a landing pad is likely a necessity. Continue reading
US Navy to Test Mobile Laser Weapon Against UAS
The US Navy Office of Naval Research has awarded Raytheon US$11 million adapt a tactical laser weapon systems to a vehicle-based laser device, capable of defeating low-flying threats such as enemy drones. For the field demonstration planned by ONR Raytheon will integrate a short-range laser weapon system on a HMMWV.