WASHINGTON, D.C. – The FAA has put out a request for proposals from state and local governments, universities and other public entities to develop six unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research and test sites around the country.
Creating an unmanned aircraft that can sense-and-avoid
August 20, 2012 by 2 Comments
By JUAN MIGUEL PEDRAZA, Office of University Relations, University of North Dakota
It looks easy to fly unmanned aircraft: Launch, fly, land. But there’s lots more to keeping an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) safely aloft than toggling controls from the ground.
“Among the major technical challenges facing the UAS industry is the sense-and-avoid system aboard the aircraft,” said Naima Kaabouch, associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of North Dakota College of Engineering and Mines and an expert in sense-and-avoid electronics and software.
UAS topic of Las Vegas conference
August 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) will host “Unmanned Systems North America 2012” in Las Vegas, August 6-9. The show’s website brags of 500+ exhibitors, 8,000+ attendees, delegates from more than 40 countries and 100 educational sessions. FAA’s Acting Administrator, Michael Huerta is just one of seven keynote speakers.
Airship UAV development phase complete
September 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Global Near Space Services and Bye Engineering Partners have completed phase two of their solar-electric high-altitude, long-endurance airship unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) dubbed Star2Flight. The UAV is being developed as an intelligence and surveillance platform. The “lighter than air” ship includes a “recoverable solar electric lower stage flying vehicle (see rendering below). [Read more...]
10-hour flight for EnergyOr UAV
August 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
MONTREAL — EnergyOr Technologies, a fuel cell energy developer, announced its fuel cell powered Faucon H2 UAV completed a 10-hour, 4-minute flight. From the press release, the Faucon H2 has a 3-meter (9.84 foot) wingspan, a 1.2-meter (3.93 foot) length and 9-kg (19.84 pound) mass and cruises at 65-100 km/h (40.38-62.13 mph).
After reading the release, I contacted EnergyOr President and CEO Michel Bitton. My question was simple: Can you elaborate on a potential road map for the fuel cell power technology and if you see it scaling up to serve light aircraft? Michel responded as follows: [Read more...]
Drone tests… coming to airspace above you?
August 21, 2011 by 4 Comments
AOL Defense is reporting the FAA and Pentagon are “carving out between four to 10 “bubbles” in civilian airspace above the United States to test UAS [unmanned aerial systems]“. These bubbles will be located are the U.S. “to show that UAS can fly in heavily-traveled commercial airspace in all conditions across the United States.”
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