On February 14, 2012, the President Barack Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FMRA) into law. The FMRA includes requirements for integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system (NAS), including direction for the FAA to “establish a program to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system at six (6) test ranges.” (Read more)
Un UAV Horus propiedad de la firma Flight Technologies, de Sao José dos Campos, dedicada desde hace años
al desarrollo de UAVs, ha estado efectuando el pasado mes de enero un reconocimiento aéreo de zonas afectadas por fuertes lluvias e inundaciones, a petición de
Defensa Civil del Estado de Río de Janeiro. El producto desarrollado por la firma es un avión lanzado manualmente, una vez
en vuelo, totalmente autónomo. La información obtenida por el UAV en Xerém fue enviada al Centro Estatal para
la Gestión de Desastres (Cestad), y la Dirección General de Protección Civil
(DGDEC) del estado. (Seguir leyendo)
The American media has been in an uproar over the past week over reports on the existence of a secret American drone base built in Saudi Arabia for launching unmanned aerial reconnaissance and strike missions against Al-Qaida targets in Yemen and perhaps other countries such as Iran. Since the news came out, reporters and bloggers have been feverishly searching satellite footage documenting the base's existence, but it hasn't been easy. There are no aircraft to be seen in the pictures but the base contains three clamshell-shaped hangars, large enough to contain Predator or Reaper drones, the types most typically used by the United States Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency when conducting secret activity in the region, as well as, two relatively short runways. The base apparently supports missions over Yemen but the range of the drones would enable them to fly over other nations, including crossing the Persian Gulf to Iran. (Read more)
Iran released what it said was the decoded footage taken by a US reconnaissance drone plane that it captured more than a year ago, Iranian media reported. The grainy footage was broadcast on Iranian television late on Wednesday and showed images of what officials said were a US base inside Afghanistan and several other aerial shots. (Read more)
Aquí tenéis un video de un Quadrotor diseñado y fabricado por la Asociación de Robótica de la Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, Florida). En este caso y siguiendo la estela (nunca mejor dicho) de Boeing, se ha optado por la Fabricación Digital Directa para conseguir obtener el producto final en tan sólo tres horas.
Algunos datos técnicos:
Autopiloto: Hoverfly Pro
Motores: Scorpion SII-2208-1280
Helices: Draganfly Innovations 8x4.5
ESC: CastleCreations Thunderbird 36
Tx/Rx: Spektrum Dx6i Tx and AR6100e Rx
Cuerpo: Las secciones de color negro son de Policarbonato (PC). Las secciones de color blanco son de Policarbonato con mezcla de ABS (PC-ABS). En ambos casos la totalidad de las piezas fue obtenida en tan sólo tres horas mediante Fabricación Digital Directa en una máquina Fortus propiedad de Boeing.
Today, the biggest use of drones is by the military and the Central Intelligence Agency, which operate hundreds of them around the world. At the moment, there are hardly any remote-controlled vehicles in American civil airspace. But the Federal Aviation Administration is under instructions from Congress to fully integrate them by 2015. The agency predicts that 10,000 remote-piloted planes will be operating in American airspace within five years. Equipped with cameras and other sensors, drones of the future will report back on traffic, survey land, inspect pipelines and transmission lines, conduct border surveillance and other law enforcement work, assess damage after storms and earthquakes, and even spot fish. Experts predict that unmanned vehicles will offer better job prospects than the airlines. (Read more)
Today, the biggest use of drones is by the military and the Central Intelligence Agency, which operate hundreds of them around the world. At the moment, there are hardly any remote-controlled vehicles in American civil airspace. But the Federal Aviation Administration is under instructions from Congress to fully integrate them by 2015. The agency predicts that 10,000 remote-piloted planes will be operating in American airspace within five years. Equipped with cameras and other sensors, drones of the future will report back on traffic, survey land, inspect pipelines and transmission lines, conduct border surveillance and other law enforcement work, assess damage after storms and earthquakes, and even spot fish. Experts predict that unmanned vehicles will offer better job prospects than the airlines. (Read more)