Speaking in this months regulators newsletter John Mc Cormick, CASA head says, “At present each application for an unmanned aircraft systems operations is a standalone exercise and requires significant education of applicants,” “With a rapid increase in activity in this sector there is a risk that unsafe decisions could be made without comprehensive guidance material being available.” CASA will...
A flying robot as small as a dinner plate that can zoom to hard-to-reach places and a fleet of eco-friendly robotic farm-hands are just two of the exciting projects the robotics team at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is working on. The pint-sized propellor-powered robots can be packed away into a suitcase. They have multiple cameras which enable...
Ben Coughlan prepares for the Outback Challenge There are two aircraft involved with my research. Both are gliders, but have drastically different characteristics. As my research is focused mainly on the behaviour of the aircraft at this point, the design of the airframe is out of scope. For this reason, my supervisor and I selected commercial off-the-shelf airframes and...
The CyberQuad is an Australian designed unmanned, electric vertical take-off and landing system (Quadrotor) designed by Cyber technology in WA. It’s a great example of the power of 3D printing, for the production of end-use-parts and assemblies made directly from 3D CAD data – without tooling. A true direct manufacturing application, the CyberQuad, is produced in a 3D Systems next...
Hood Tech imaging systems are being used by Murdoch University in Australia to determine if unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can provide a cost-effective alternative to manned assets for surveying marine mammals. The Sacramento Bee reports that the experiment, conducted in commercial air space, followed humpback whales for two weeks and recorded up to 3,000 images in a single day...
Very sad news from Australia, our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Professor Walker. It is with great sadness that we must inform friends of the UAV Challenge that Professor Rodney Walker, one of the Challenge’s founders has passed away. Rod was a respected professor at Queensland University of Technology, the Director of the Australian Research...
Insitu Pacific, the Australia-based subsidiary of Insitu Inc., announced today that it has concluded the second phase of a landmark trial conducted in partnership with Murdoch University that aims to determine if unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are a cost-effective, capable alternative to manned assets for surveying marine mammals. During the two-week operation, Insitu Pacific’s ScanEagle UAS captured up to 3,000 images...
When Helensvale State High School student Chelsea Redman visited a QUT Open Day at Kelvin Grove last year, she was captivated by a display about the UAV Outback Challenge – one of the most difficult unmanned aircraft competitions in the world. So much so that it was there and then she decided she wanted to an aerospace engineer. Tourism,...
PETER JEAN of the Canberra Times reports Police have suggested that Canberra’s new point-to-point speed cameras be linked to unmanned aerial surveillance drones and used to track vehicles of interest to authorities. The first of the cameras, which use automated number plate recognition technology to calculate a car’s average speed and whether it is within the legal limit, are...
Interesting article from the New Zealand Herald To a non-expert, it looks like nothing more than a large model plane. But the AreoHawk is a highly sophisticated drone that its owner insists is up there with the world’s best miniature spy planes. The craft is owned by Palmerston North company Hawkeye UAV, which is headed by two former NZ...
