SelectTech Geospatial to lead UAV industry in Clark County

SelectTech Geospatial is pushing ahead with their attempts to make Clark County a leader in the emerging commercial drone industry, despite losing out on a bid to be one of six national test sites. That includes launching the state’s first precision agriculture program at Clark State Community College and building $500,000 hangars at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport to house unmanned aerial vehicles. "These and some other assets put Clark County in a good position to attract businesses in manufacturing and research, even without the Federal Aviation Administration test site designation" said Frank Beafore, executive director of SelectTech Geospatial.

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Argentina: UAVs a la vista

El diputado nacional Agustín Portela (UCR Corrientes), ha presentado un proyecto de Ley para modificar el artículo 36 de la Ley del Código Aeronáutico Nº 17.285 y sus modificatorias, a fin de incluir una regulación específica para UAVs. Portela ha explicado que lo que se pretende es adecuar la legislación vigente debido al aumento del uso de estos aparatos en la Argentina, tanto en su uso civil como estatal.

ScanEagle to monitor wildfire in Alaska

The massive wildfire raging on Alaska’s Kenai Penninsula is now being monitored by an ScanEagle UAV.

This aircraft can fly at altitudes up to 22,000 feet, and can remain airborne for up to 20 hours, recording video with two different cameras: one infrared, which shows the contrast of cool areas and heat areas, and a regular visual camera. The video is then analyzed and given to fire officials to determine their next actions.

It was an exercise in the applications of unmanned aircraft in public safety, officials said, and in maneuvering new regulations still early in their evolution. "It really got some of the key people understanding that we can really help," said Ro Bailey, deputy director of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration. "It's not a toy or something like that. It's actually something that can improve their ability to do a job."

¿UAVS? Si, ¿por qué no?

Aunque desde luego su uso está creciendo en aplicaciones militares, no todos los UAVs llevan armas o pertenecen a las fuerzas armadas: Muchos de ellos se utilizan para la tareas relacionadas con seguridad publica o para gestionar una situacion de crisis ayudando desde el aire a las fuerzas de seguridad. Vamos a verlo con algunos ejemplos:

En algunas ciudades la policía utiliza UAVs para operaciones ISR. Se trata de UAVs dotados de cámaras que permiten realizar seguimientos en tiempo real, evitando poner en riesgo vidas de inocentes.

Las brigadas de bomberos tambien hacen uso de UAVs para combatir los incendios forestales, ya que proporcionan video en tiempo real de la zona del incendio e informacion sobre el cambio de la direccion del viento. 

En definitiva, los UAVs presentan un inmenso campo de oportunidades para el desarrollo de nuevas aplicaciones en el ambito civil. 

UAV Special Operations: In A Secret Desert Base

The United States UAV operations in Djibouti (northeast Africa) will now operate from another airstrip far away from the capital, to prevent the possibility of  issues involving the American UAVs (mainly 1.1 ton Predators and 4.6 ton Reapers), specially bearing in mind these UAVs are sometimes armed with missiles.

U.S. forces in Djibouti were increased after resistance collapsed in Iraq in 2008 and are now the command post for a network of American operations through the region. That includes a UAV facility on the Seychelles Islands (1,500 kilometers to the east) and permission to move troops and aircraft through countries like Kenya and Uganda. 

Pharad Introduces VHF/UHF Antennas for UAV

Pharad has introduced three new UAV antennas based on its exclusive Peel & Stick Appliqué antenna technology.  

These antennas have already been deployed and flown on mini-UAVs and are now generally available as off- the-shelf antenna solutions.

“As UAVs are being utilized more often in both the military and commercial space, we need to develop efficient, cost-effective antenna solutions to help maximize the range, persistence, data rate and lifetime of these vehicles,” said Pharad President Austin Farnham. “This has been our goal since the creation of our first Peel & Stick antenna.  Recently, some of our UAV antenna customers have been looking to incorporate legacy VHF/UHF radios that provide tactical, secure communications in a networked environment.  As demonstrated in actual flight, our latest antennas meet the requirements of our customers and introduce virtually no aerodynamic impairment to the UAV flight performance.”

US Navy Is Switching to Linux for Its UAV Program

The US NAVY has contracted a third-party company to help them switch to Linux for their UAV program. This is just one measure that affects just one small branch of the US Navy, but it seems that the people in charge want to make the entire system compatible and work on the same architecture, which should be the same for all military services as a common basis for buying, developing, and upgrading a wide variety of U.S. military UAV control systems.