The Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT), which is expected to be used for the world’s first self-flying taxi service, recently completed its maiden concept test flight at a location near a park in Dubai.
The vehicle has been supplied by a Germany-based specialist manufacturer of autonomous air vehicles called Volocopter.
“After the remarkable success of the first driverless metro in the region, we are glad to witness today the test flight of the Autonomous Air Taxi,” says HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Technology
Technology
Northrop Grumman's Remotec Inc. unveils Nomad UGV
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s subsidiary Remotec Inc. is unveiling a new UGV called Nomad, which is the newest member of Northrop Grumman’s Andros line of UGVs, and is Interoperability Profile (IOP)-compliant.
Designed using a “proven concurrent engineering process,” Nomad is similar to other systems in the Northrop Grumman Andros fleet, as it incorporates decades’ worth of feedback collected while working with first responder and military customers, in an effort to offer advanced technology, ease of use and reliability.
Polaris, ARA and Neya Systems collaborate to provide Team Polaris MRZR X platform to U.S. Army
The U.S. Army will utilize an “elite platform” for its Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) program. The platform is the result of a collaboration between Polaris Industries Inc., Applied Research Associates Inc. (ARA) and Neya Systems LLC.
Known as the Team Polaris MRZR X, the platform will “evolve squad mobility with advanced unmanned systems technology from ARA and the pioneering and unsurpassed autonomous systems behavior of Neya Systems.”
Riptide receives North American Product Leadership Award in the UUV market from Frost and Sullivan
Business consulting firm Frost and Sullivan presented its North American Product Leadership Award in the UUV market to Riptide Autonomous Solutions on Sept. 18.
Riptide’s Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer John Vestri accepted the award during Frost and Sullivan’s Growth, Innovation, and Leadership Awards Gala in Lost Pines, Texas.
“It is a great honor for us to receive such high recognition from an independent market research group as well regarded as Frost & Sullivan,” says Jeff Smith, Riptide’s founder and president.
“Our team and our customers know we are doing things very differently from the established players but it’s a tremendous compliment to receive this public recognition.”
Mississippi State University uses UAS to take aerial photos during football game
A UAS was used to take aerial photos of the college football game between Mississippi State University (MSU) and Louisiana State University (LSU) on Saturday, September 16.
The MSU Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, which leads FAA and Department of Homeland Security UAS research, led this mission, which was just the second mission of its kind to receive approval from the FAA.
“While the operation was not particularly complex, the FAA authorization to perform the flight was extremely unique,” says Raspet Center graduate research assistant Madison Dixon, via the Starkville Daily News.
Virginia's Stafford County Sheriff's Office uses UAS to find missing high school student
In Virginia, the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is crediting its UAS for helping to locate a missing high school student.
The student, an 18-year-old young man, was reported missing on Monday, September 18, around 5:00 p.m., after not returning home after school.
The student had no history of running away, and the Sheriff’s Office believed that he might be endangered.
Johns Hopkins researchers set new delivery distance record for medical UAS
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine recently transported human blood samples across 161 miles of Arizona desert using a Latitude Engineering HQ-40 UAS, and in the process, set a new delivery distance record for medical UAS.
During the three-hour flight, which took off and landed at the same airfield on a UAS test range, the UAS’ on-board payload system maintained temperature control, which helped make sure that the samples were usable for laboratory analysis after landing.
AeroVironment delivers UAS to DoD customers, unveils new Pocket Digital Data Link AE
AeroVironment, Inc. has delivered M1/M2/M5-compatible Raven and Puma All Environment (AE) UAS to two DoD customers.
The company has also announced that in December, it will begin taking orders for M1/M2/M5-configured Wasp AE micro air vehicles (MAV), for delivery next spring.
“Integrating the new M1/M2/M5 radio frequencies into our family of small UAS gives our customers the ability to seamlessly and securely conform to the Department of Defense‘s new frequency spectrum allocation and proceed with certainty,” says David Sharpin, vice president of AeroVironment’s Tactical UAS Business Unit.
Collaboration is key to integration, ICAO conference attendees told
Collaboration is the key to integrating unmanned aircraft into the airspace, keynote speakers from three countries said at the opening of the Second Global Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Symposium, held at the Montreal headquarters of ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Alessandro Cardi, deputy director general of Italy’s ENAC aviation authority, said his country began its regulatory work with mid-size UAS, such as the Piaggio P1HH Hammerhead, unveiled a few years ago at the Paris Air Show.
For that aircraft, and others of a similar size such as the Falco UAS, Italy is using segregated airspace for such operations as humanitarian missions and commercial cargo delivery demonstrations.
