Desert Wolf has developed a riot-control UAV named Skunk, capable to fire dye-balls, pepper spray and rubber bullets at protesters, blinds them with strobes, broadcasts control messages to them, and records them.
In addition to two high definition day cameras, the Skunk carries a FLIR thermal camera for night vision capability.
A group of University of Colorado students are participating in the Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge, an international competition among 120 teams to produce the most useful information-gathering drone for identifying poachers... (Read more)
The legal skirmish has focused a bright spotlight on the FAA and turned up the pressure for the federal agency to establish rules for controlled use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs. Congress has ordered the FAA to set new UAV rules by September 2015 but many observers expect the agency will not meet its deadline. Currently operators of small UAVs or radio-controlled model planes flying below 400 feet can do so only for non-commercial uses, according to FAA operating standards spelled out in a 1981. That was decades before UAV operators saw the potential for aerial photography, crop-dusting and dozens of other commercial uses already permitted around the globe.
The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that as many as 7,500 commercial unmanned aerial vehicles could be flying in national airspace within a few years, but colleges aren’t waiting for the go-ahead to ready students for employment in the industry. (Read more)
El Golden Eagle está basado en el UAV Vector P de intelliTech Microsystems, y ha sido desarrollado por el equipo al mando del Profesor Marzocca, director de programas UAV en Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY, USA) contando con el asesoramiento (por segundo año consecutivo) del ingeniero aeronautico Mike Tranchitella, de UAV-Assistance LLC (Ellicott City, MD, USA).
El resultado es una aeronave que vuela extraordinariamente bien, con generosas posibilidades en lo que se refiere a cargas de pago y capacidad de almacenar combustible. A fin de proporcionar el más alto grado de seguridad, Clarkson optó por prescindir de autopiloto y realizar los vuelos inaugurales utilizando un equipo de radiocontrol convencional. Debido a las estrictas limitaciones impuestas por la FAA referidas al uso de UAVs, Clarkson (como muchas otras instituciones educativas) hubo de conformarse con llevar a cabo los primeros vuelos en un campos de pruebas de la Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA).
En cualquier caso, ya se están realizando gestiones para obtener un campo de vuelos propio y una autorización de la FAA para realizar vuelos autónomos. Una vez que obtengan la autorización, se dotará al Golden Eagle de un autopiloto para comprobar todas sus posibilidades.
