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Aerospace

Navy Tests Sensor-Equipped UAVs

The Naval Research Laboratory Vehicle Research Section has successfully completed flight tests for the Autonomous Deployment Demonstration (ADD) program. The final demonstration took place at the Yuma Proving...

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Using Java in Avionics and UAV Applications

Though developers of avionics software are among the most conservative in the software engineering community, and rightly so, Java is beginning to penetrate even this very specialized industry. The...

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Articles
Aerospace

Making Unmanned Ground Vehicles Operate More Autonomously

The US Army has announced plans to increase the autonomy of its Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). “We are moving along that spectrum from tele-operating to semi-autonomy where you can...

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Designing Future Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

So far, defense companies have done a credible job fielding Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), or other water-borne robots to address critical capability...

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Multi-Robot Operator Control Unit for Unmanned Systems

The U.S. military has incorporated many robotic systems into battlefield scenarios over the past several years, ranging from a single vehicle or unattended sensor to multiple vehicles and...

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Briefs
Information Technology

Planning Observations by Unmanned Surface Vessels

Three algorithms, and software that implements the algorithms, have been conceived and analyzed as means of effecting automated planning of scientific observations by a fleet of unmanned surface...

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Articles
Defense

Micro Air Vehicles Serve as Eyes in the Sky for Ground Troops

Honeywell Aerospace has developed the Micro Air Vehicle (MAV), an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based on ducted-fan technology that recently was deployed in Iraq to identify...

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Update on NASA’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

In the August issue of Defense Tech Briefs, we highlighted NASA’s Altair/Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for Earth science missions. A lot has happened in the past two months, so we’re...

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Briefs
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Unmanned SkyTote Demonstrates Capabilities

AFRL scientists are working on SkyTote, a novel unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that will take off and land vertically like a helicopter (see figure) but also transition into horizontal flight like a...

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Briefs
Manned Systems

AFRL Supports Desert Hawk Program

AFRL aeronautical engineers collaborated with the Electronic Systems Center's (ESC) Force Protection Program Office, Hanscom Air Force Base (AFB), Massachusetts, to conduct an in-house effort assessing the...

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Briefs
Unmanned Systems

Coordination of Autonomous Unmanned Air Vehicles

Future autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAV) will need to work in teams to share information and coordinate activities in much the same way as current manned air systems. Funded by AFRL,...

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