UAVs

The cool smartphone-controlled Parrot AR.Drone quadcopter, first shown at CES in 2010, is getting some good updates that are being announced at this year's conference.

The biggest changes for the AR.Drone 2.0 are hardware and software improvements to make the device easier to fly. Better location and orientation sensors should make the drone more stable in the air, and a new pressure sensor will help it hold its altitude more accurately when it's more than a few feet off the ground (when the ultrasonic ground proximity sensor is ineffective).

On the software side, a new &… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Forget Wi-Fi war driving. Now it's war flying.

A pair of security engineers showed up at the Black Hat security conference here to show off a prototype that can eavesdrop on Wi-Fi, phone, and Bluetooth signals: a retrofitted U.S. Army target drone, bristling with electronic gear and an array of antennas.

"Nobody's really looking at this from a threat perspective," said Mike Tassey, a security consultant who works for the U.S. government intelligence community. "There's some pretty evil stuff you can do from the sky."

The term war driving, meaning … Read more

The Navy recently took a big step closer to getting the X-47B robot stealth plane flying off aircraft carriers when it landed a Hornet fighter jet on the USS Eisenhower using unmanned systems.

The takeoff and landing in the Atlantic of the F/A-18D Hornet on July 2 used systems developed under the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The X-47B, made by Northrop Grumman, is designed to use carriers as its base.

Carrier landings are one of the trickiest feats in aviation. While two airmen were aboard the Hornet, the avionics and software were the same as those that will be used in the X-47B.

The bat-winged stealth plane had its maiden flight in February and is designed to fly along pre-programmed paths and at "high subsonic" top speed, far faster than the Predator and Reaper drones. It will also have a much greater weapons payload of 4,500 pounds. … Read more

Northrop Grumman has unveiled a long-endurance unmanned spy plane which, in addition to surveillance gear, can carry pilots, potentially allowing it to fly in civil airspace.

The Firebird performed its first flight in February 2010. It can fly up to 30,000 feet and has an endurance of up to 40 hours in unmanned mode. It has a payload of 1,240 pounds and a wingspan of 65 feet.

It has high-def video, electro-optical and infrared sensors as well as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and ground moving target indicator (GMTI) systems. There are two weapons points on the wings.

Northrop's Scaled Composites designed the aircraft, which has an interface like a memory stick in that it can be plugged into a PC without the need of additional software.

Firebird will be demoed May 23 - June 3, 2011 at Empire Challenge 2011, held by U.S. Joint Forces Command in Arizona. If you can't make it, there's a promo video here. … Read more

Technology helped U.S. SEAL commandos get to Osama bin Laden's compound, but the outcome of the raid depended on old-fashioned soldiering skills. This from a military force that has made history through robotics in pursuit of its goals. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been used for surveillance, and more recently for attacks, on targets in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere. No other military, as far as we know, has put such stock in unmanned, autonomous, or remote vehicles.

Today we're going to discuss the use of aerial drones, UAVs, and UCAVs with Spencer Ackerman, the main writer of Wired's great Danger Room blog.

Subscribe: iTunes (MP3)iTunes (320x180)iTunes (640x360)Podcast RSS (MP3)Podcast RSS (320x180)Podcast RSS (640x360)

Some of our discussion points… Read more

Just when you thought you might be able to outrun the Cougar20-H surveillance robot that can detect human breathing, developer TiaLinx has launched a flying version that can do the same.

The Phoenix40-A is a mini-UAV with six rotors that can detect motion and breathing when searching for hidden people.

Like the Cougar20-H, it has an ultra-wideband radio frequency sensor array and can also detect motionless live objects. It also has video cameras for site surveillance.

Developed with U.S. Army funding, the Phoenix unmanned aerial vehicle can be remotely controlled from ground or air with a laptop or joystick, … Read more

Almost from the very beginning seven decades ago, flying wings have been something of a specialty for the aircraft company founded by Jack Northrop.

The 1940s saw the XB-35 experimental aircraft. The late 1980s brought the B-2 bomber.

Now Northrop Grumman is pushing ahead with the X-47B UCAS (for unmanned combat air system), a prototype going through its fledgling stage en route to the goal of demonstrating in 2013 that an unmanned, tailless, strike fighter-size aircraft can land on and take off from an aircraft carrier.

Earlier this month, the X-47B made just the second and third flights (from dry … Read more

The phrase "fill 'er up" is being redefined for the age of robotic aircraft.

Northrop Grumman said yesterday that in a flight test earlier this year, it took a big step closer to an eventual autonomous aerial refueling between unmanned aerial vehicles as part of the $33 million DARPA KQ-X program.

In the "risk reduction flight test," which took place January 21, a Global Hawk UAV from NASA played the role of the aerial tanker, and Northrop Grumman's Proteus test aircraft--a manned UAV surrogate, we should point out--was the one in search of the refueling … Read more

When it comes to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), hydrogen is all the rage.

The first hydrogen-powered, unmanned UAV flight took place over California yesterday, AeroVironment, a company with 20 years experience in building unmanned aircraft, announced. Dubbed Global Observer, the "unmanned aircraft system" took off from Edwards Air Force Base and lasted more than four hours in the air. The company said the aircraft was able to reach an altitude of 5,000 feet.

Last year, Global Observer was put to the test at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The government organization load tested Global Observer's … Read more