Latest Stories

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Simultaneous Vibration Suppression and Energy Harvesting

The goal of this work was to investigate the concept of using harvested energy to directly control the vibration response of flexible aerospace systems. Small, lightweight, flexible micro...

Feature Image

Articles
Aerospace

Modeling and Simulation Techniques for Unmanned Vehicle Systems

Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle (UAV) systems have become possible in recent history thanks primarily to the effects of Moore’s Law — the doubling of processing power every 18...

Feature Image

Application Briefs
Defense

Vertical Take-Off and Landing UAV

The Air Force has announced that the MLB V-Bat Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAV from the MLB Company (Sunnyvale, CA) has been selected for a Phase II SBIR award. The military branch seeks a vehicle that...

Feature Image

Articles
Unmanned Systems

Airflow and Thermal Analysis of UAV De-Icing Systems

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been increasing around the world as many countries have been rapidly adding UAVs to their arsenals during the past decade. One of the most...

Feature Image

Articles
Unmanned Systems

UAV Applications Challenge the Limits of Embedded Computing Technologies

Unmanned Vehicles (UAV/UAS) have proven to be vital, strategic new weapons in the military’s arsenal by providing needed critical intelligence, surveillance and...

Feature Image

Application Briefs
Defense

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Engine

Schiebel Technology, Inc. Manassas, VA (540) 351-1736 www.schiebel.net Schiebel recently conducted the successful first flight of a heavy-fuel-powered CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAS (Unmanned Air System). After extensive...

Feature Image

INSIDER
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...

Feature Image

Articles
Aerospace

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...

Feature Image

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...

Feature Image

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...

Feature Image

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...

Feature Image

Briefs
Unmanned Systems

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...

Feature Image

Articles
Robotics, Automation & Control

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...

Feature Image

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...

Feature Image

Briefs
Unmanned 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...

Feature Image

Briefs
Unmanned 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...

Feature Image

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,...

Feature Image