Researchers are using a smartphone as the brains behind a small, inexpensive UAS – the phone enables it to find its way around enclosed indoor spaces without using GPS or a remote guide. Although it’s still at an early stage, the so-called SmartCopter could eventually make it safer and cheaper to scout out disaster scenes before human responders plunge in. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
General Atomics Successfully Flight Tests Sense and Avoid Functions on Predator B
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has announced the completion of the first of several planned flight tests of a Sense and Avoid (SAA) architecture and Self Separation functionality. This marks the first time the system has functioned as a true “system of systems” to detect every class of aircraft equipage and paves the way for a Due Regard capability. Continue reading
Iran Claims Reverse-Enginered RQ-170 Soon Ready to Fly
Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami announced that the Iranian version of the RQ-170 which has been manufactured through the reverse engineering of the American UAS which was tracked and hunted down in Iran late in 2011, will be unveiled to the public soon. “The construction will finish soon and most of the job has been done now,” General Salami told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran on Tuesday. Continue reading
SF Express Starts UAS Delivery Trials in Shanghai
SF Express, a Shanghai-based logistics company, announced that it has recently commenced trial operations. SF Express said that UAS delivery can save labour costs and improve delivery efficiency, as reported by the Beijing News. Continue reading
Deutsche Post DHL Tests UAS Parcel Delivery Across the Rhine
Germany’s express delivery and mail company Deutsche Post DHL is testing a UAS that could be used to deliver urgently needed goods to hard-to-reach places. The small pilotless helicopter flew a package of medicine Monday from a pharmacy in the town of Bonn to the company’s headquarters on the other side of the Rhine River. Continue reading
Quadrocopter Failsafe Algorithm – Recovery After Propeller Loss
The video shows an automatic failsafe algorithm that allows a quadrocopter to gracefully cope with the loss of a propeller. The propeller was mounted without a nut, and thus eventually vibrates itself loose. Continue reading
QinetiQ Targets Single Control Solution for Unmanned Systems
QinetiQ North America is aiming to undertake a live demonstration of its Unmanned Platform Common Control System before the end of 2014.
Northrop Grumman RQ-180 – More Stealth, More Efficiency
A large, classified unmanned aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman is now flying—and it demonstrates a major advance in combining stealth and aerodynamic efficiency. Defence and intelligence officials say the secret unmanned aircraft system (UAS), designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, is scheduled to enter production for the U.S. Air Force and could be operational by 2015.