L-3 Communications won a $16.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — DARPA. L-3 will be supporting Phases 2 and, if the appropriate contract option is exercised, also Phase 3 of the DARPA mobile hotspots programme. Continue reading
Australia Confirms Triton Deal
Prime Minister Tony Abbott travelled to South Australia two days out from the state election to announce that the government would buy Tritons, to be based at RAAF Edinburgh outside Adelaide. The deal will be conditional on the US Navy proving this advanced and expensive technology works properly. Continue reading
Fixed Wing UAS to Assess Bird Hazards on Power Lines
A team led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has used fixed-wing UAS in Spain with the aim of assessing their capabilities for assessing electrocution risk for birds. Continue reading
Battle of Britain Camera Onboard Messerschmitt 109
Air Battle over White Cliffs of Dover filmed by onboard camera on German Messerschmitt BF-109. Interesting dialogue for German speakers. Continue reading
Onboard Quadrocopter Failsafe Algorithm Demo
The Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control (IDSC), ETH Zurich, Switzerland has developed an algorithm allowing a quadrocopter to maintain stable flight despite the complete loss of a motor/propeller. In a previous video they have shown this algorithm in use, where a motion capture system was used to measure the position and orientation of the quadrocopter. Continue reading
WAVEcopter – a Fully Waterproof Quadcopter
WAVEcopter is a fully waterproof multicopter frame constructed by an enthusiast mostly from readily available and cheap electrical parts. His reasons for building it were to gain a new perspective on surfing photography, do aerial surveying of event sites, and to satisfy his general fascination with robotics and aviation. Continue reading
Police Deploy UAS Around London’s Gatwick Airport
From this month, Sussex Police officers are running a trial using a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at and around the Gatwick Airport that will give them an eye in the sky to deal with potential incidents.The system will be able to beam live high-quality pictures to officers on the ground, allowing them to more quickly assess locations and film incidents from above. Continue reading
NASA Dryden Becomes NASA Armstrong
This video highlights some of the flight research and other activities that occurred at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in 2013. Continue reading
