Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Relative Navigation system exceeded accuracy requirements during recent flight tests for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Automated Aerial Refuelling (AAR) programme.
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
Spain: Indra Pelican Gets Experimental Airworthiness Certificate
Indra’s Pelican rotary wing UAS has received the Special Airworthiness Certificate (CAEE) by the Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency, a body within the Ministry of Public Works, to perform integration, test and demo flights.
US Air Force Funds $86M Blue Devil 2 Demonstration Airship
An $86.2 million contract award last month reveals that the US Air Force will seek to prove if airships can replace fixed-wing aircraft on some surveillance missions over Afghanistan.
DARPA Picks New Mexico State University for Vulture Programme Flight Testing
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will award a sole source cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to New Mexico State University Physical Sciences Laboratory (NMSU/PSL). This contract is for the acquisition of facilities, materials and support for flight testing for the Vulture programme flight demonstrator (FD) air vehicle.
MIT uses Kinect for Autonomous Flight and Mapping
Students at MIT have developed a real-time visual odometry system that can use a Kinect to provide fast and accurate estimates of a vehicle’s 3D trajectory.
EuroHawk Undergoes Electromagnetic Interference Testing in USA
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) testing on the European version of Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk– the Euro Hawk – was performed recently by engineers with the 772nd Test Squadron at the Benefield Anechoic facility (BAF) at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Inside the Quadrotor Thunderdome
Filmed at Zurich’s Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control inside the Flying Machine Arena, two Quadrotors demonstrate their extreme manoeuvrability by playing ball with a human, then with each other…
Smart Bird – Bird Flight Deciphered by Festo
Stuttgart-based Festo claims to be inspired by nature, having deciphered bird flight with its Smart Bird. The ‘bird’ is highly aerodynamically efficient, even turning its head like real gulls do to refine aerobatic turns, and can take off and land by itself.