Android Smartphone Used to Create SmartCopter – Low-Cost Autonomous UAS

Researchers are using a smartphone as the brains behind a small, inexpensive UAS  – the phone enables it to find its way around enclosed indoor spaces without using GPS or a remote guide. Although it’s still at an early stage, the so-called SmartCopter could eventually make it safer and cheaper to scout out disaster scenes before human responders plunge in. Continue reading

General Atomics Successfully Flight Tests Sense and Avoid Functions on Predator B

General_Atomics_PredatorBGeneral Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has announced the completion of the first of several planned flight tests of a Sense and Avoid (SAA) architecture and Self Separation functionality. This marks the first time the system has functioned as a true “system of systems” to detect every class of aircraft equipage and paves the way for a Due Regard capability. Continue reading