Aurora Flight Sciences has been assigned a patent for a “system and method for the retrieval of a smaller unmanned aerial vehicle by a larger unmanned aerial vehicle.” Continue reading
Category Archives: Research
DARPA UAVForge Competition – Contestant Number 6
Circino Flight Systems submitted a 3-year old video of its ‘Sentry’ Olecopter which tries to satisfy a number of problems with UAV’s – combine VTOL performance with high speed in forward flight. Continue reading
HART Connects with US National Geo-spatial Intelligence Agency
There is growing interest in a US aviation force that could carry out precision surveillance and strike missions thousands of miles away. That capability would be particularly useful in the Pacific Rim where US bases are sited far from several hot spots. Continue reading
DARPA UAVForge Competition – Contestant Number 5
Nothing very original about team Dhaksha’s Hexarotor entry from MIT ANNA University in India, though it does have the merit of being stable. Continue reading
Texas A&M University Gets NSF Grant for UAS Search & Rescue Control Research
Researchers and responders from The Texas A&M University System have received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a visual “common ground” between operators and responders who use micro and small unmanned aircraft for search and rescue. Continue reading
Sense-and-Avoid Tech Firms Move to University of Dayton
The University of Dayton has announced that locally-based companies Optonicus and Defense Engineering Corp., as well as California-based UtopiaCompression, have signed deals to relocate to UD’s Ladar and Optical Communications Institute. Continue reading
DARPA UAV Forge Challenge – Contestant Number 4
Last in the current the review of contestants in the DARPA UAVForge Challenge – a contest to use crowd-sourcing to build small UAS through an exchange of ideas and design practices – this video presents the Pogo 2100UAV. Continue reading
NASA Develops ACAT Auto-GCAS Smart Phone App
DROID with F-16D - Photo: NASA / Tony Landis
A small hobby-type radio-controlled model aircraft is being transformed into a high-tech flight research aircraft at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and will be used to develop such a ’sense-and-avoid’ application for smart phones. Continue reading