Pilots in the South have had to deal with them for over a year… now, pilots flying near the northern US border may have to share airspace with unmanned drones, too. Representatives with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, however, tell ANN the 409,000-member-strong organization is continuing its efforts to ensure general aviation pilots aren’t put at risk by the unmanned aircraft, or needlessly inconvenienced.
As Aero-News reported Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could start patrolling a section of the US-Canada border by this fall, launching from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota.
“While we know that the DHS eventually intends to deploy Predators along the northern border, our talks with the FAA this week revealed that there is no official timetable for starting the flights, nor has Homeland Security obtained a certificate of authorization from the FAA allowing their UAVs to fly northern patrols,” said Melissa Rudinger, AOPA vice president of regulatory affairs.
Source and more info: aero-news
Mercury Computer Systems announced VistaNav™-SSR, the fully integrated Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), which comprises a ground station, integrated VistaNav synthetic vision system, a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and various electronic sensor systems. Designed to drastically improve operational mission capabilities for airborne intelligence applications such as oil and gas pipeline monitoring and forest fire detection at an affordable cost, VistaNav-SSR (Smart Surveillance & Reconnaissance) is the first Mercury end-to-end product offering to be pre-integrated with an airframe architecture.
The VistaNav-SSR is based on the Vector-LRE airframe from IntelliTech Microsystems, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of autonomous vehicle technologies for sea, air, and space applications. The Vector-LRE is a small UAV capable of either remote-control operation or fully autonomous flight, and of performing a wide range of day and night scientific and surveillance missions including oil and gas pipeline monitoring, forest fire detection and monitoring, oil and gas magnetic surveying, precision agriculture, and more. As a tactical-class UAV, the Vector-LRE provides an excellent payload-to-weight ratio that allows the integration of multiple payload, navigation, collision avoidance, and communication subsystems onboard.
Leveraging Mercury’s 20+ years of experience in embedded computing and 3D visualization expertise, the VistaNav-SSR includes Mercury ACIP™ (Airborne Component Integration Processor) technology, which allows the integration of highly optimized airborne electronics and associated functions into a small, unmanned airframe.
Source and more info: shephard
New Delhi, Jan 17: The Indian Air Force (IAF), which is celebrating its platinum jubilee, will showcase a new generation radar and an advanced version of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at the annual Republic Day parade here Jan 26 that will conclude with a grand flypast by 36 aircraft.
Indra-II (Indian Doppler Radar-II), the second indigenously developed radar, has been designed by the Electronics Research and Development Establishment (LRDE), Bangalore and is being produced by Bharat Electronics.
“It has been successfully inducted into the IAF. It is a low-level radar which would play a vital role in the air defence network of the country,” an air force spokesman said at a preview of the contingent Wednesday.
Source and more info: newkerala
The Army successfully beamed video from unmanned aerial vehicles to an Apache AH-64 Block III attack helicopter in a demonstration, service officials said.
In recent tests at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, an Apache pilot in flight watched video beamed from a UAV that was 75 kilometers away. The UAV was the Future Combat Systems Class I Micro Air Vehicle, a small 50-pound, 3-foot UAV being developed for the Army’s Future Combat Systems.
The test checked the software, logistics and communications systems.
The video demonstration was part of a broader effort called FCS 1.1, which includes experiments with high bandwidth networking with vehicles, helicopters and UAVs. Today, the AH-64D has the ability to digitally send target information to ground vehicles; the idea with FCS 1.1 is to demonstrate how an Apache could share information with all sorts of forces.
The signal travels from the MAV to a ground station where it is beamed, encrypted, to the chopper in near real-time, program officials said. The AH-64 Block III’s mission computer, Manned/Unmanned Common Architecture Program, “has five times the processing power of what is on the AH/64D model,” said Larry Plaster, Boeing’s manager of Apache modernization.
Source and more info: shephard
January 23, 2007: The U.S. Army successfully tested its battlefield Internet, by having a UAV transfer video, in real time, to an AH-64 gunship 75 kilometers away. This is all part of Future Combat Systems 1.1, a system of communications equipment designed to operate in combat equipment, and provide the same quick and flexible transfer of information we have become accustomed to on the Internet. Passing video around the battlefield requires wireless and encrypted communications. That sort of thing has been possible in offices and homes for several years. But on the battlefield, the ranges are longer, and the environment rather more severe. But the test showed that the system works, and other tests have had UAVs and infantry getting UAV video as well. The basic idea is for everyone to be able to quickly share data. Where this is already working, usually via improvised equipment, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the results have been spectacular. The enemy is at an enormous disadvantage, and friendly troops are much safer.
Source and more info: strategypage
Birds may be prettier, but bats have all the moves when it comes to maneuverability and aerodynamic efficiency, according to a study by Brown University researchers. Using sophisticated video gear, the study team found that while birds can rotate and retract their wings in flight, bats have much more flexibility in the articulating membrane they use for flight and this makes them much more agile. And since agility, flexibility and efficiency are also great qualities in micro-sized UAVs that are proliferating, the Brown team says there are lessons to be learned from bats.
Source and more info: avweb
