At CES on Sunday, China’s DJI Innovations showed off its forthcoming S1000, an 8-rotor UAS that was built specifically to carry Canon’s 5D Mark II or Mark III. For those not familiar with camera gear, that’s a setup capable of shooting feature films or documentaries. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
Automated UAS Battery Changer – Lego Prototype from Valhalla
Danish company, Valhalla Drone Solutions, a group of seven engineers from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense has developed a prototype Lego Mindstorms robot that automatically switches a quadrotor’s battery pack.
Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton Flight Testing
Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Navy have completed nine initial flight tests of the Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS), marking the half-way point in a process called envelope expansion.
Russian Helicopters Demonstrates Rotary UAS for Airborne Forces
Russian Helicopters, the holding that produces rotorcraft in Russia, has shown a demonstrator future rotary-wing unmanned aircraft system to the country’s Airborne Forces (VDV), the company announced last week. Continue reading
Low-Cost Test Platform UAS with 3D Printed Parts
PTERA is a scale 737 unmanned aircraft system with big implications for the world of commercial aircraft. Created by aerospace engineering company Area-I in Georgia, PTERA is the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft yielding inexpensive flight research for commercial aircraft and NASA, and it’s using 3D Printing in a few instrumental ways. Continue reading
US Army Zaps Drones with New Laser System
The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command for the first time used a vehicle mounted high energy laser to successfully engage more than 90 mortar rounds and several unmanned aircraft systems in flight. Continue reading
Armenia Student Develops UAS for Agriculture
Luys scholar at MIT Armen Mkrtchyan is dreaming big about the sustainability of rural communities in Armenia. With a background in aeronautics and astronautics, Armen is working on the unheard-of — a UAS that can analyze the quality of soil for Armenian farmers using imagery. Continue reading
British University Offers UAS to Help with Fukushima Clean-up
Parts of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, are still too dangerous for humans to enter. But not, perhaps, for UAS. A team from the University of Bristol, backed by Sellafield, has offered its services. Continue reading