The United States Air Force has selected Pittsburg-based RE2 Robotics to develop the Common Aircraft Retrofit for Novel Autonomous Control (CARNAC) robotic system, which will serve as “a drop-in robotic system to rapidly convert a variety of traditionally manned aircraft to robotically piloted, autonomous aircraft under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.”
The CARNAC robotic system, which will utilize existing aviation assets and advances in vehicle automation technologies during its development, will be used to operate the aircraft in a similar fashion to how a human pilot does, and there will not be any modifications required to the aircraft.
Airspace
Airspace
Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus receives approval to fly UAS at night
The FAA has granted Kansas State Polytechnic's Applied Aviation Research Center permission to fly UAS at night.
The campus's research sector will benefit from this waiver, and the waiver will also be used in commercial flight training courses, as well as in upcoming curriculum in the UAS degree option.
UC Santa Barbara researchers use UAS and WiFi for 3D through-wall imaging
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) working out of professor Yasamin Mostofi’s lab have conducted a demonstration in which they used two UAS working in tandem, and WiFi, to capture the three-dimensional imaging of objects through walls.
In their experiment, which the results of that and the proposed methodology appeared in the Association for Computing Machinery/Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN), researchers use two autonomous octocopters to fly outside of an enclosed, four-sided brick house whose interior is foreign to the UAS.
Intel partners with International Olympic Committee to bring its Drone Light Show to future Olympics
Intel has announced a long-term technology partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which will, among many things, bring Intel’s drone light show technology to future Olympic games, in an effort to create “never-seen-before images in the sky.”
Through the partnership, which is expected to “transform the Olympic Games and the Olympic experience," Intel will join “The Olympic Partner” (TOP) worldwide sponsorship program, and thus, become a Worldwide TOP Partner through 2024.
3D Robotics to offer Site Scan to AEC professionals in Japan after partnering with SoftBank C&S
3D Robotics (3DR) has announced a new partnership with one of Japan’s largest distributors of information and communications technology, SoftBank C&S, which will result in 3DR providing its Site Scan UAS data platform to AEC professionals in Japan.
Site Scan will be the only commercial UAS software offered by SoftBank, which will open up the power of UAS data to Softbank’s customers across Japan.
“Aerial data software like Site Scan is already driving productivity for our customers in Japan,” says Matt Harrison, Head of Sales at 3DR.
“The partnership with SoftBank will allow 3DR to meet the demand for drone data across the country.”
Rockwell Collins avionics chosen by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to support UAS ground control station
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has selected the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics system to support the company’s MQ-9B SkyGuardian UAS.
In an effort to simply civil airspace access, Rockwell Collins will offer support to GA-ASI to “efficiently upgrade the proven Predator B Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) system.”
The UAS ground control station will utilize the capabilities of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics system, to support customers and missions that require operations in civil airspace.
Shadow UAS operators and maintainers of 7th Infantry Division train in Washington State
During the Bayonet Focus (BF) 17-03 exercise, Shadow UAS operators and maintainers of 7th Infantry Division worked on their skillset at the Yakima Training Center in Washington, at a recently built UAS airfield.
Imagery support for units conducting the BF 17-03 exercise was provided by the soldiers, which gave UAS personnel and service members in the field more realistic training.
“This is different than training back at Joint Base Lewis-McChord because we are in a more tactical setting and we move a lot faster,” says Spc. Brysen Borja, a UAS operator with 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, via DVIDSHub.net.
Textron Systems unveils NIGHTWARDEN Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System
At the 2017 Paris Air Show, Textron Systems Unmanned Systems introduced its NIGHTWARDEN Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS), which has a maximum speed of up to 90 knots, an endurance of up to 15 hours and a payload capacity of up to 130 pounds.
With more than 400 hours of flight time under its belt for potential customers, including delegations from the Mideast, the Asia-Pacific region, and from Europe, the NIGHTWARDEN TUAS has undergone thorough internal testing and demonstration efforts.
The NIGHTWARDEN TUAS builds upon the lineage of TUAS that Textron Systems has developed, and according to the company, the NIGHTWARDEN is the “new next-generation platform, representing the production-ready model of the developmental Shadow® M2.”
Douglas County Search and Rescue team uses UAS to locate and rescue missing hikers
On June 15, the Douglas County Search and Rescue team in Colorado used a UAS to locate two missing hikers and a dog in the Pike National Forest, after they mistakenly left the Devil's Head trail.
The hikers were able to call 9-1-1 with limited cell service, and the Douglas County Search and Rescue volunteer teams responded to the area. More than two dozen people responded, which included foot searchers, ATVs, a K-9 team, and the UAS team.
About two hours after the teams responded to the area, the UAS team made visual contact with the lost hikers, and shortly after that, a search team on foot made contact with the hikers.
According to Incident Commander Bruce Fosdick, the UAS saved hours of time in searching for the hikers.