Vehicles, Equipment, and Performance

Unmanned aerial vehicles

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Articles
Weapons Systems

How Next-Generation Edge Computers Will Shape Drone Warfare

Drones – or uncrewed aerial systems, as they are known by the military – have become ubiquitous in most armed forces around the world. Across all domains, drones employ a range of sensors. Read on to learn more about how next-gen edge computers will advance them.

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Application Briefs
Manned Systems

UAV In-Flight Software Upgrades

During a recent demonstration, Collins Aerospace and Parasanti proved they could use UAVs to install software upgrades on other UAVs to update them in-flight.

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Technology Report
Unmanned Systems

UAE Previews Autonomous Future at DriftX

Publicly available autonomous vehicles have been operating in Abu Dhabi since 2021, providing over 16,000 rides covering more than 300,000 km (186,400 miles). If the organizers and supporters of the...

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Articles
Aerospace

Advances in Multi-UAV Operations

As technology matures and operational concepts evolve, MUM-T missions, synchronized flights, and the corresponding required advances in UAV flight control systems will undoubtedly become cornerstones of modern military strategies.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

RF-Cyber for Counter-UAS

Enabling the emerging associated drone-powered economy will require a new generation of counter-drone or counter-unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS) to support the growth of safe and secure drone adoption.

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Q&A
Software

Q&A: Owl AI Making Better ADAS Systems with Help from Drones

Owl AI has steadily been improving the SWaP-C (Size, Weight, Power and Cost) of the electronics in its thermal camera sensors while also improving capability. The company’s...

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Briefs
Manned Systems

New Method to Measure Wind Speed Could Unlock Drones’ Potential

Dr. Marc Compere, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus, recently described a new approach to measuring wind effects.

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

Report on Human Factors Issues Likely to Affect Air-Launched Effects

Air-Launched Effects (ALEs) are a concept for operating small, inexpensive, attritable, and highly autonomous unmanned aerial systems that can be tube launched from aircraft.

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Briefs
Aerospace

Assessment of Noncommercial Icing Prediction Capabilities for Army Applications

Historically, smaller Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), such as Class 2 RQ-1B Raven and Class 3 RQ-7Bv2 Shadow, have been restricted to not be approved to fly in icing conditions under the assumption that any ice accretion would cause an unacceptable risk of loss of the aircraft.

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Articles
Communications

More Airports Test RF as Counter Measure for UAS in Restricted Airspace

More airports are starting to adopt and test the use of radio frequency (RF) mitigation techniques to counter the operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in violation of civilian airspace rules.

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

A Simpler Method for Learning to Control a Robot

Researchers from MIT and Stanford University have devised a new machine-learning approach that could be used to control a robot, such as a drone or autonomous vehicle, more effectively and efficiently in dynamic environments where conditions can change rapidly.

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Application Briefs
Aerospace

PHASA-35 Stratospheric Flight

British engineers have successfully completed a stratospheric flight trial of BAE Systems’ High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) - PHASA-35.

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Application Briefs
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Multispectral Airborne Reconnaissance System

Collins Aerospace has announced the completion of flight testing for the MS-110 Multispectral Airborne Reconnaissance System to enter operational service.

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

Characterizing Motion Prediction in Small Autonomous Swarms

Prior investigations of swarm robot control focus on optimizing communication and coordination between agents, with at most one human control scheme, or with discrete (rather than continuous) human control schemes.

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

VITA 90: Small Form Factors for UAVs and Other Space Constrained Platforms

VNX+ has been selected by the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) consortium as a SFF standard to be used for C5ISR sensor payloads in space constrained applications, typical in manned and unmanned air vehicles and spacecraft.

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Articles
Defense

Ghoul Tool: The Weapon-Mountable Counter UAS Transmitter

As commercial drone technology continues to expand, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) are making it increasingly difficult to secure battlefields and military installations.

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Application Briefs
Unmanned Systems

Amphibious Combat Vehicle C4 UAS

A successful test was conducted of the Stalker and Indago small uncrewed aerial systems on an ACV C4/UAS variant.

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Briefs
Weapons Systems

Autonomous Surveillance Technologies Relating to Dismounted Soldiers

The development of the AI/ML applications for dismounted Soldier systems is paramount to defeating our adversaries, such as China and Russia, in future combat.

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Briefs
Unmanned Systems

Robust MADER: Decentralized Multiagent Drone Trajectory Planner

For reliable real-world deployment, it is essential that a trajectory planner be robust to both communication delays and dynamic environments.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Heterogeneous Integration and SiPs Benefit SWaP-C Reduction

Aerospace and defense (A&D) electronic systems are being made smaller but more functional.

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Application Briefs
Unmanned Systems

Precision Attack Drone

SpearUAV has introduced what it describes as a “world first,” with its new encapsulated and launch able hovering precision attack drone, Viper.

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Briefs
Aerospace

Deep Reinforcement Learning Achieves Multifunctional Morphing Airfoil Control

Uncrewed aerial vehicles are growing in popularity for both civilian and military applications, which makes improving their efficiency an attractive objective.

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Briefs
Power

Design and Analysis of a Small Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Power Distribution System

This report considers all aspects of design of a PDB to include shape, size, components, cost, voltage regulators, peripherals, and so on.

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Briefs
Defense

Optimal UAS Assignments and Trajectories for Persistent Surveillance and Data Collection from a Wireless Sensor Network

To meet the DoD’s vision for future UAS capabilities and lower manpower costs, systems incorporating UAS and standoff components are needed.

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Application Briefs
Unmanned Systems

Hybrid-Powered Unmanned Helicopter

Designed for a wide range of law enforcement, maritime, civilian and covert missions, the Black Eagle 50H is the first-ever hybrid-powered unmanned helicopter.

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Application Briefs
Unmanned Systems

Multi-Drone System

Developed with its subsidiary Teal Drones, in close cooperation with strategic partner Autonodyne, LLC, the multi-vehicle package will be offered in two configurations: 4-Ship and 4-Ship+.

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Articles
Power

The Sky is No Longer the Limit Celebrating 75 Years of Air Force Technology

Since its inception, the mission of the United States Air Force has been to fly, fight, and win — delivering airpower anytime, anywhere in defense of our nation.

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Application Briefs
Imaging

Nano-UAV Systems

Extremely light and well-suited for operations in contested environments, nearly silent, and with a flight time up to 25 minutes, the combat-proven, pocket-sized Black Hornet PRS transmits live video and HD still images back to the operator.

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Articles
Propulsion

Air Force Technology Timeline

On the U.S. Air Force's 75th anniversary, see a timeline of how far it has come technology-wise.

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