An active community is growing fast modifying the Parrot ARdrone here Most exciting development Linux based navigation. We have picked up a couple of interesting posts, Android is still not supported. Several people have had motors die and there is at least one fly away reported.

The next logical step for hackers has to be bespoke frames. But once you get to that point you will probably looking hard at all the other opensource multicopter platforms out there.

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Dear Team Rocky

The UAV Challenge Technical Committee has now met and I am afraid that I have to inform you that your entry to the Search and Rescue Challenge did not pass the Deliverable 2 check-point, and your journey in the 2010 UAV Challenge is at an end.

The reason(s) the committee reached this No-go decision are as follows:

1. You failed to address the simultaneous failure of GPS and the Communications link. This is outlined in Section 5.5.2.1 and Section 5.5.4 of the Rules where it states (in bold and underlined) that:

“If there is a loss of GPS while experiencing a loss of data link, the flight termination (Section 5.6) will be activated immediately.”

We could not find in your document where you addressed this critical issue.

If you feel that we have missed an explanation of how you address this issue in your D2 document then please point this out to us immediately.

2. You did not address loss of engine power.

3. You did not address a loss of GPS.

4. You did not provide data on drift under parachute as required under Rules 5.6.1

We thank you for your entry, encourage you to learn from this experience and to enter future UAV Challenge events. We also encourage you to come to Kingaroy anyway, watch the competition and gain some valuable experience to help you in future entries. The Technical Team are more than happy to talk with you at the Challenge event.

We wish you well in your engineering endeavours.

Regards

UAV Challenge Technical Committee

Congratulations to Latitude 38S and Melbourne UAV both teams made it through the deliverable two phase.

More to follow as it unfolds.

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Outback Joe

Mick Molloy, member of the technical committee for the Outback Challenge reports that out of the 21 entrants for the Search and Rescue Challenge only 12 have made it through the Deliverable 2 stage.

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Denel Skua

Denel Dynamics is formally denying it has supplied tactical surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles or target drones to Iran. That country recently launched a turbojet-powered drone, called the “Karrar.” This led to speculation that it might be a modified version of the Skua, the high-speed target drone, developed and produced by Denel Dynamics.

“There is no truth in reports that we have sold such products to Iran,” says Tsepo Monaheng, cxecutive manager UAV Systems at Denel Dynamics in a statement. “We have also not transferred technology on the Skua to Iran or any other country. All our sales are carried out within the provisions and guidance of the regulatory framework of the country at all times.”

“We maintain very good relationship with all our customers, keep careful records of all our sales and we know exactly where all our products are, Monaheng added. He says the speculation is based on “very superficial analysis” of photographic and video material. “The trained eye will be able to see significant differences in design between the Skua and the Karrar.

The Skua is a high-speed target drone, designed to simulate attack aircraft during land, sea and air combat training exercises and weapon development. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a maximum speed of Mach 0.86, a controllable range of 200km and a payload capability of 160kg. Media reports said the Karrar by contrast had a range of 1000 km, a speed of 900km per hour and could be armed with four cruise missiles or a payload of either two 250-pound (113-kg) bombs or one of 500 pounds. It could also be used for reconnaissance and for testing Iran’s missile defences, Iranian state television said.

The Skua has a high wing (the fuselage “hangs” from the wing) with the engine underneath the fuselage, while the Karrar has a low wing (fuselage is on top of the wing) and has an engine above the fuselage. A UAV expert says the Karrar appears to contain elements taken from a variety of designs – including the tail and vertical stabilisers of the Skua. But the majority of the design appears to be taken from the Italian Galileo Mirach 100 and 500 designs as well as those of the US Northrop Grumman corporation and elements of Chinese aerospace technology.

A key feature of the Skua is that it can be easily recovered by means of a parachute system and able to land on pneumatic landing bags and, thus can be used a number of times. One of the drones operated on behalf of the South African Air Force has been successfully recovered 36 times and is still going strong. This demonstrates the maturity of the product, Denel says in its statement.

“The UAV-industry is one of the fastest growing markets in the aerospace industry and Denel Dynamics is widely-known and respect for its design and production quality. In addition to its military applications our tactical UAVs can also be used to monitor activities in the fishing, mining, oil pipeline and wildlife conservation sectors.”

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Aurora Flight Sciences has been awarded a contract by the United States Department of Defense to build an unmanned vehicle — the Orion Unmanned Aerial System — which is developed at Aurora’s Columbus facility — for the Medium Altitude Global ISR and Communications program, Republican U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran announced today.

The vehicle, which reportedly can stay aloft for days at a time, has been under design and development for several years at Aurora’s Columbus location, which currently employs about 60 engineers and technicians.

As a result of the contract, Aurora officials said employment at the facility likely will double in support of the program.

“This contract builds on Aurora’s leading role in unmanned aerial vehicle development and will be another great opportunity to provide value to the Armed Services,” said Aurora CEO John Langford. “We look forward to supporting (the Department of Defense) and working with the U.S. Air Force to deliver this innovative capability to the warfighter.”

“Aurora and its Mississippi workforce represent a key industrial partner for our men and women at war,” said Wicker. “This kind of next generation technology developed at Aurora provides our soldiers with more real-time information at an affordable cost.”

“Aurora Flight Sciences now has an opportunity to provide the Defense Department with unmanned vehicle technologies that can greatly increase its surveillance and information-gathering capabilities,” said Cochran, vice chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. “I believe this award to Aurora represents a recognition of the innovative and promising potential of high-tech products produced in Mississippi.”

The Orion is a 135-foot wingspan, all-composite aircraft powered by twin diesel engines; the Orion can carry a payload of 1,000 pounds for endurance of over 120 hours at altitudes of up to 20,000 feet.

To be managed by the U.S. Air Force, MAGIC was established under the Department of Defense’s Joint Capability Technology Development Program.

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AeroVironment, Inc. Announced today that it has received a contract delivery order valued at $35,265,662 for digital Puma(R) All Environment (AE) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), spares and training services. The equipment and services were procured under the existing USSOCOM All Environment Capable Variant (AECV) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. Work is scheduled to be performed within a period of several months.

Capable of performing multiple surveillance and reconnaissance missions over water or land, Puma systems will be used by soldiers to protect troops and vehicles in combat areas.

“The battle-proven Puma system will now play an important new role helping troops operate more effectively and safely as they travel through dangerous territory,” said Tom Herring, senior vice president and general manager of AV’s UAS segment. “The Puma system is a portable, hand-launched UAS that will enhance soldier capabilities by producing aerial high quality color and infrared video of the surrounding area.”

USSOCOM selected the Puma UAS in 2008 for its AECV program after a full and open competition, the fourth U.S. Department of Defense competition for programs of record involving small UAS and the fourth such competition won by AV. Other U.S. customers also use the Puma system.

Each Puma system consists of three air vehicles and two ground control systems. The air vehicle carries an integrated electro-optical and infrared gimbaled video camera, is designed for enhanced survivability in land and maritime environments, and can operate effectively in foul weather and over rugged terrain. Its quiet operation, stabilized imagery and precision landing capability make Puma systems easy to operate and recover. The Puma air vehicle weighs 13 pounds, is battery powered and has a flight endurance of two hours.

About AV’s Small UAS

Raven(R), Wasp(R) and Puma(R) comprise AV’s Family of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Operating with a common ground control system (GCS), this Family of Systems provides an increased capability to the warfighter that will give ground commanders the option of selecting the appropriate aircraft based on the type of mission that is going to be performed. This increased capability has the potential to significantly improve force protection and force multiplication for small military units. AV’s UAS logistics operation supports systems deployed worldwide to ensure a consistently high level of operational readiness. AV has delivered more than 15,000 new and replacement small unmanned air vehicles to date. International purchasers of AV’s small UAS include the armed forces of Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Norway, the Czech Republic, Thailand and Australia.

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Not everybody’s taste in music but a creative use of Google Earth and Street view adding animation to addresses selected by the user. It does not take much of a leap of imagination to make the link between unmanned aerial imagery collections and viewing of scenes via pre determined tracks.

The project, which Google says that it has been ‘playing around with for the last few months’ is designed to show just how far browsers have come in the past few years.

“Today we’re excited to launch a musical experience made specifically for the browser. Called “The Wilderness Downtown“, the project was created by writer/director Chris Milk with the band Arcade Fire and Google,” blogged Aaron Koblin of Google Creative Lab.

“Building this project on the web and for the browser allowed us to craft an experience that is not only personalized, but also deeply personal for each viewer.

Memory lane

“The Wilderness Downtown” takes you down memory lane through the streets you grew up in. It’s set to Arcade Fire’s new song “We Used to Wait” off their newly released album The Suburbs.

“The project was built with the latest web technologies and includes HTML5, Google Maps, an integrated drawing tool, as well as multiple browser windows that move around the screen.”

Navigating complex scenes is something that is currently difficult to do with multiple images, seems like that’s going to change soon. The addition of animation within scenes also shows, what if, type situations, in this case. What if we planted some trees.

You will have to try it for yourself to see what I mean, its very impressive. Don’t try on a slow computer and it probably works best in Google Chrome.

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Off topic but something to be appreciated by all pilots that pass by. The folks at Jeppesen who create departure and arrival plates for airfields around the world have honoured Capt Sully Sullenberger with his own plate. No doubt this chart will be flown in many cockpits and grace the walls of flying club bars around the world.

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China UAV

I’m not sure if thats the intended name or not, but thats whats being used. It represents the largest platform so far to be offered for sale from China, a country that’s big enough to support a UAS industry all on its own.  Many people are being stung with low quality airframes and autopilots that seem to come out every other day at the moment but China UAV looks like the real deal. The patch antennas on the wingtips point to the design actually being used.

China UAV Specifications
Wing Span : 6.0 m
Length : 3.2 m
Cabin Width : 0.55 m
Height : 0.84 m
Empty Structure Weight ( Does not include fuel ) : 35 kg
Max Takeoff Weight : 70 kg
Fuel tank capacity : 30 litre
Endurance : >6 hours
Use overload : 4 g
Min Horizontal Speed : 70 km/h
Max Horizontal Speed : 160 km/h
Take-off run distance : 50 m
FRP and Honeycomb structure Advanced Composite Materials

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A camera mounted to a police helicopter in Ohio fell off mid-flight, striking at least three vehicles in a parking lot.

No one on the ground was hurt when the infrared camera valued at roughly $100,000 came crashing down around noon Wednesday in Columbus. One vehicle was heavily damaged.

At the time the chopper dropped its accidental bomb, the helicopter was being used in the search for a missing woman.

Police Sgt. Richard Weiner says the camera had been reinstalled on the chopper before it took off.

It’s not clear why the camera came unhitched. Police are investigating, along with the Federal Aviation Administration.

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