uav

Photos: Where ScanEagle drones dare

Unmanned aerial vehicles, "drones" or "UAVs" for short, are getting to be pretty impressive affairs. Target-tracking software allows one drone to fly by its own wits, even above 15,000 feet. Overseen by humans, these planes can chase down a moving vehicle, send reports to a human operator by cell phone, collect photo images and video, and even relay information via VoIP.

Even with the new autonomous capabilities in the ScanEagle, surveillance efforts will often dictate that a human maintain a greater degree of oversight. One major objective of these flyers is to reduce the risk … Read more

Not a bird or a plane, it's Cyberbug

If, on your next flight, you look out the window and see something that resembles a 15-inch, folded cellophane glider zipping by, don't call the USAF crank line. Chances are it's a newly certified Cyberbug.

While unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of all sizes swarm over Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and other war-torn venues, they are much more restricted in the skies above the United States, especially those that are experimental. For instance, the Cyberbug is the recipient of one of only 12 "Experimental Airworthiness Certificates" (EACs) issued by Federal Aviation Administration, which allows it to be flown … Read more

No pilot required

Not everyone's gadget craving can be satiated by Hello Kitty pirates or Barbie MP3 players. If you've ever wondered what military folk dream of finding under their Christmas trees, you might wander the aisles of the Navy Opportunity Forum being held this week in Arlington, Va.

This year's show featured all sorts of unmanned aerial vehicles that can be used to fly (or swim) up ahead to check out potentially dangerous areas while their human operators stay at a safe distance.

Let's not delude ourselves. These things don't come cheap. This one, from Lite Machines, … Read more

Another reason to throw stuff out of a perfectly good airplane

The old way is to shove a pallet of beans and bullets tied to a few parachutes out the back of a C-130 Hercules and hope it lands in one piece. The new way is to release the CQ-10A SnowGoose from 18,000 feet and allow the 110-horsepower Rotax 914-driven prop and laptop-programmable navigation system to land the payload within 50 meters of a customer up to 500 miles away.

Manufactured by Canadian company Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology, the SnowGoose represents the latest in a class of guided parafoil systems that are blurring the line between unmanned aerial vehicles (… Read more

Throw-and-go 'invisible' UAV

To see and remain unseen is what military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) aspire to. In keeping with that goal, Vera Tech Aero has developed the "virtually invisible" Phantom Sentinel.

The aircraft's tripod, boomerang design reportedly relies on the "concept of persistence of vision" for invisibility.

Apparently, the aircraft operates in such a way that it fools the eye/brain motion-detecting apparatus. Because the Phantom's single rotor blade is located outside its fuselage and because it spins in flight it is "virtually undetectable to the human eye", according to Vera Tech.

The UAV … Read more