A drone was the cause of Heathrow Airport’s runway closure at the weekend. It closed for several minutes after the drone was spotted in the airspace of Britain’s busiest airport. Continue reading
Smallest Quadcopter with Streaming WI-FI Video
The Axis Aerius is considered to be the smallest RC quadcopter you can buy, even smaller than the company’s new Vidius drone. But that’s because Axis has managed to fit a live-streaming wi-fi video camera inside the new Vidius, giving pilots a first-person view of their flights. Continue reading
Evolutionary View Planning for Optimized UAV Terrain Modeling
A team of researchers at the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology, Brigham Young University have just published a paper that addresses the deficiencies in data collected by UAV missions flown using manual pilot control. These are heavily dependent on the skill and judgment of the operator or the weather conditions that make precision flying more difficult.This can often lead to gaps between the collected images or areas where insufficient images are captured for 3D reconstruction. Continue reading
VertiGo – a Wall-Climbing Robot from Disney Research
VertiGo is a wall-climbing robot that is capable of transitioning from the ground to the wall, created in collaboration between Disney Research Zurich and ETH. The robot has two tiltable propellers that provide thrust onto the wall, and four wheels. One pair of wheels is steerable, and each propeller has two degrees of freedom for adjusting the direction of thrust. Continue reading
Qualcomm Teases Snapdragon Flight Drone Platform
We’ve known about Qualcomm’s drone ambitions for a few months now, but it looks like the company is ready to demo the goods. Ahead of CES next week, the chipmaker teased features of its Snapdragon Flight drone platform. Continue reading
CICADA Micro-UAV Named Popular Science ‘Best of What’s New’
The small glider Close-in Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft (CICADA) developed by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) aerospace engineers, Aaron D. Kahn and Dr. Daniel J. Edwards, has been named ‘2015 Best of What’s New‘ by the distinguished science and technology publication, Popular Science. Continue reading
FAA Shuts Down Drone Clubs within 30 Miles of Washington DC
The Federal Aviation Administration has shut down at least 36 model aircraft clubs in the Washington, DC area, citing a new, extended no-fly zone for drones around the nation’s capital. Continue reading
Russian Air Defence System Shoots on the Move
Air defences are often the only thing standing between enemy aircraft and their targets, but up until now, it’s pretty relatively easy to destroy them. That’s because even mobile air defences typically must stop in order to shoot, making the job easier for aircraft dedicated to knocking them now. Continue reading