DARPA’s Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program recently completed Phase 2 flight tests, demonstrating advanced algorithms designed to turn small air and ground systems into team members that could autonomously perform tasks dangerous for humans – such as pre-mission reconnaissance in a hostile urban setting or searching damaged structures for survivors following an earthquake. Continue reading
Category Archives: Research
Controlling Drones via Voice Channels
Robust real-time control. Thanks to communication via conventional voice channels, the technology can be used immediately. Credit: Fraunhofer HHI
Drone communications must be stable and widely available, should cost as little as possible, and work reliably even when out of sight. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institute, HHI in Berlin have found a solution: call a drone. “miracle cure” fluctuates greatly, depending on the material used and the environmental factors. Continue reading
Boeing to Establish New Aerospace & Autonomy Center
Boeing has announced plans to open the new Boeing Aerospace & Autonomy Center inCambridge, Mass., becoming the first major tenant of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) new mixed-use district in Kendall Square. Continue reading
GE Aviation Signs Agreement For Future Systems Studies With Kookmin University
GE Aviation and Kookmin University, Seoul, Korea have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to study various future systems, procedures and possible uses for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Continue reading
DARPA Picks Silent Falcon for Power Beaming Demo
Silent Falcon UAS Technologies solar electric, fixed wing, long endurance, long range Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) has been selected by DARPA as the unmanned aircraft system for its Stand-off Ubiquitous Power/Energy Replenishment – Power BeamingDemo (SUPER PBD). Continue reading
Flock of Drones Acquires Collective Intelligence
Gabor Vásárhelyi, director of the Robotic Lab in the Department of Biological Physics at Eötvös University in Budapest is the first author of a study just published in Science Robotics. Continue reading
University of Cincinnati UTM Project Ges $1M Funding
A University of Cincinnati project to develop a new management system for unmanned aircrafts secured nearly $1 million in federal grants last week. The Regional Unmanned Traffic Management System (RUTMS) was one of 33 projects submitted to the Ohio Federal Research Network, a state-funded organization that funds research and development initiatives at 11 Ohio colleges and universities. Continue reading
Atmospheric Research Drones to Study San Luis Valley
Scientists are using drones to explore the climate in southwestern Colorado, just as the #416 fire near Durango has burned more than 56,000 acres, and there seems little rain relief in sight. Continue reading