Tag Archives: Sikorsky

414 Operations Over People

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Operations Over People approval for AgEagle, transitioning to UAV-dominated air forces, women drone pilots in Ukraine, an autonomous Black Hawk helicopter, a drone facilitates a robbery, a BVLOS corridor in upstate New York, an autonomous firefighting helicopter, 500 drones celebrate a game anniversary, and how to increase lithium battery lifespan.

UAV News

AgEagle’s eBee X Series Drones Are the First and Only UAVs to be Approved by the FAA for Operations Over People (OOP) in the United States

AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. announced that the eBee X series of UAS comply with Category 3 of the Operations Over People rules for sUAS. These are the first and only drones on the market to comply with the rules published in March 2021. eBee drone operators will no longer need an FAA waiver for OOP or Operations Over Moving Vehicles. Testing was conducted by the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (“MAAP”). The family of eBee fixed-wing UAS includes the eBee X, eBee GEO, and eBee TAC.

The eBee is currently approved for use by the U.S. Department Of Defense under the Blue sUAS 2.0 program, for BVLOS operations in Brazil, and Operations Over People and BVLOS operations in Canada. It is also the first drone to receive European Union Aviation Safety Agency (“EASA”) C2 certification and a Design Verification essential for these operations from EASA.

Transitioning from Human Pilots to Drones

This opinion piece argues that manned military aircraft have issues and unmanned aircraft, or drones, can address some of them. This is not to say that manned combat aircraft should be abandoned. Rather, supplementing manned with unmanned should be the focus and the military should plan to “transition toward UAV-dominated air forces.”

A new school in Kyiv is training women to pilot drones

The Female Pilots of Ukraine school opened recently to teach Ukrainian women to operate drones. Most Ukrainian drone pilots are men and this school focuses on training women – civilians and military student pilots.

Black Hawk Flies Missions Without Pilots

Pilot-less Black Hawk flies logistics and rescue missions

In a demonstration to the U.S. Army, Sikorsky and DARPA showed how an autonomous Black Hawk helicopter could perform internal and external cargo resupply missions, as well as a rescue operation. The demonstration shows that in the future, optionally piloted utility helicopters could fly complex missions safely.

How a DJI Mini drone enabled a $147,000 ATM robbery

The incident took place in broad daylight in France with security footage showing a drone flying into the air vent. The drone subsequently pushed a button that opened a door allowing the thieves to enter.

Governor Hochul Announces Major Progress Toward Boosting New York’s Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Industry

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the New York Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site (NUAIR) received approval from the FAA to fly uncrewed aircraft systems BVLOS across the 50-mile airspace of New York’s Drone Corridor. NUAIR can fly civilian drones from Syracuse International Airport to Griffiss International Airport in Rome without the need for visual observers.

The Governor also announced that New York will be providing NUAIR with an additional $21 million in funding to cultivate the UAS industry hub along the corridor in Central New York.

Also, NUAIR has entered into an agreement with Quebec-based VPorts to develop an international Advanced Air Mobility Corridor between Syracuse International Airport and Quebec, Canada.

Video: New York UAS Corridor – Flying 50-Miles Beyond Visual Line of Sight

Rain Industries announces autonomous firefighting helicopter

Rain Industries says, “Every Wildfire Starts Small” and “The Rain System contains ignitions within 10 minutes to prevent catastrophic wildfires.” Rain announced their next-generation MK2 autonomous firefighting demonstrator aircraft, an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) that carries about 30 gallons of payload.

Backlash after 500 drones light up New York City sky to celebrate Candy Crush

A swarm of 500 drones performed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Candy Crush game. Not everyone was happy.

Video: 500 Drones Take Over NYC Skies, Twitterverse Outraged “Shoot them down”

Chinese scientists’ new gel filling could triple lifespan of lithium batteries for EVs, drones

Beijing University of Chemical Technology researchers say a new technology could triple the lifespan of lithium batteries and decrease the risk of battery fires. They do this by replacing the liquid battery electrolytes with gel-polymer electrolytes.

UAV Video of the Week

Video: 10 Fastest Military Drones And Unmanned Vehicles In The World

343 Optionally Piloted

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Optionally piloted firefighting helicopters, was it a jetpack or a manikin on a drone, the Amazon Prime Air exemption with conditions, Japan Airlines interest in drones, UAS RF spectrum news, and using a drone to deliver a spare part to a drilling platform.

UAV News

Taking the Fight to the Night

Fighting wildfires is dangerous at night and typically aerial firefighting is suspended. However, optionally piloted aircraft could be a solution. Kaman Corp. is converting its conventionally piloted K-MAX heavy-lift helicopter to be optionally piloted. Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky Aviation company is developing the Matrix aerial firefighting helicopter solution that is intended to make just about any helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft optionally piloted.

Mystery jetpack man flying by commercial pilots at LAX may have been a manikin on a drone

Pilots on two airplanes on final approach into Los Angeles International Airport reported seeing someone with a jetpack at 3,000 feet. Was it a jetpack, or was it a manikin strapped to a large electric drone?

Amazon Prime Air drones secure FAA exemption

The FAA has approved exemption 18602 for the Amazon Prime Air MK27 unmanned aircraft to operate in cargo delivery operations without an airworthiness certificate. The approval allows Amazon to continue operations and development without certification, but with a number of limitations.

Amazon drones can’t make city deliveries. The company must first solve lawn mowers falling from the sky

The MK27 drones weigh 88 pounds, about the weight of a standard lawn mower. Some people have safety concerns since the Amazon flight manuals the company shares with the FAA are proprietary. We don’t know how Amazon is planning to mitigate risks.

Japan Airlines backed by Tokyo government to study drones

Japan Airlines (JAL) and four other companies will undertake a study to explore the logistics of a drone delivery service by 2022. The drones would deliver pharmaceuticals to hospitals, food to offices and apartments, and provide drone security patrols. Drone project testing is planned for Tokyo Bay and stations around the Metropolitan area. Besides JAL, the other companies are KDDI (the telecommunications operator), East Japan Railways, Weathernews, and Terra Drone Corporation.

FCC Study supports using 5 GHZ band for Drone Operations

In the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, Congress asked the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to submit a report on spectrum allocation for unmanned aircraft. The FCC has submitted that report, which recommends proceeding with rulemaking to enable the use of the 5030-5091 MHz band.

Equinor Performs world’s first offshore logistics operation via Drone

Nordic Unmanned flew a drone carrying a 3D-printed part to the Troll A platform in the North Sea. The part was for the lifeboat system on the platform is operated by Equinor ASA, a Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company. The 80 kilometre flight took about one hour at an altitude of about 5000 feet. The drone was a Camcopter S-100 model, manufactured by Schiebel.

UAV Video of the Week

Mentioned

Commercial UAV Expo Americas, virtual event, September 15-17, 2020.

Commercial UAV Expo Europe, virtual event, December 1-3, 2020.

UAV038 Lockheed Martin Builds sUAS

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Lockheed Martin Indago

Lockheed Martin gets into sUAS, Texas EquuSearch files suit, drones for weather forecasting and wildlife protection, a fixed wing VTOL drone, an Optionally Manned UH-60, a North Carolina UAS law, drone journalism goes indoors, and an unmanned R&D forecast.

The News:

Lockheed Martin Marks Significant Milestone in Research & Development for Unmanned Technologies

Lockheed Martin is advancing their push into the sUAS segment with their Indago VTOL Quad Rotor for mobile surveillance. The quad and accompanying handheld ground control station (GCS) and new Commercial Avionics Suite are intended for both Commercial and Military applications.

The 32 inch diameter Indago is man-packable, unfolds, and can be deployed in minutes, with up to a 45 minute flight time. LOS range is 5km, payload 180g. It folds into a 12x9x6 package.

Texas Nonprofit sues FAA

Texas EquuSearch has gone ahead and filed a lawsuit in a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court. The suit claims there is no basis in law to prohibit the operation of model aircraft for humanitarian search and rescue activities.

Drones could revolutionize weather forecasts, but must overcome safety concerns

The promise is that drones could be deployed to collect meteorological data for weather prediction models.

German mini drones rescue Bambis from hay shredders

Every year in Germany, about 100,000 animals are killed by combine harvesters cutting hay. Small aerial drones are being deployed in a wildlife rescue project to keep fawn hiding in tall grass from being shredded.

Five drones are being used in a pilot program where digital and infrared sensors find the young deer, radio beacons are attached to the animals, and farmers can subsequently detect the deer.

Arcturus UAV

Arcturus gets the Jump on vertical takeoff and landing for fixed wing UAVs

For some missions a rotary wing UAV is best, and for others a fixed wing UAV provides superior results. But what do you do when you need the best features of each? Arcturus UAV has a solution: Add-on electric rotors that bring VTOL capability to a fixed wing UAV.

Sikorsky demonstrates optionally piloted Black Hawk

The first flight of an Optionally-Piloted Black Hawk (OPBH) was conducted at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility.

The OPBH demonstrated autonomous hover and flight operations under the control of a man-portable ground control station (GCS).

North Carolina Legislative committee approves proposed law to regulate “drones”

The proposed legislation [PDF] contains privacy regulations, a drone operator knowledge and skills test developed by the state Aviation Division, and licenses for commercial operation of drones.

University of Missouri brings drones class indoors after feds complain

Last summer the FAA told the University of Missouri School of Journalism to stop flying drones outdoors. What did they do? They fly them indoors, of course.

Europe, Asia plan to spend big on drone development

Consulting firm Forecast International has a report out that predicts that by 2022, less than half the worldwide total spend on drone research will be by the U.S.

Videos of the Week:

Flying Robot Rockstars: KMel Robotics presents a team of flying robots that play musical instruments.

Meet Your Creator – Quadrotor Show: A troupe of 16 quadrotors dance to and manipulate sound and light at the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase 2012.

UAV 005 Drones are a Grass Roots Effort

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PZL SW-4

This Episode:

Optionally piloted helicopters, fast response from the FAA to drone requests, a forecast of the global UAV market, success tips for UAV suppliers, and water sampling drones.

The News:

Polish SW-4 Solo to Assist Royal Navy Rotary-Wing UAS (RWUAS) Study

The SW-4 SOLO RUAS (Rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial System) is being introduced by PZL-Świdnik, and Agusta-Westland based on the PZL SW-4 light single engine helicopter. This Optionally Piloted Helicopter (OPH) is under the RWUAS (Rotary Wing Unmanned Air System) Capability Concept Demonstrator (CCD) programme as a conceptual multi-role UAV for the UK Royal Navy.

Others have activity in the OPH arena: Sikorsky Aircraft has a research program called Matrix Technology to develop systems and software for autonomous, optionally piloted, and piloted vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. They are using an optionally piloted S-76 called the Sikorsky Autonomous Research Aircraft (S.A.R.A.) as a flying lab, and plan to demonstrate operation with an Optionally Piloted Black Hawk.

Eurocopter (now to be  renamed Airbus Helicopter) has conducted demonstration flights with an optionally piloted EC145. Reportedly, they now plan to look to OPV variants of its product line.

FAA Cuts the Red Tape to Let UAS Work Yosemite Wildfire

Desperate to get a better view of the giant wildfire last month, the call for help from the Incident Commander went to the California governor’s office, then to the Department of Defense and the FAA for help. An emergency Certificate of Authorization was issued within hours by the FAA to the California Air National Guard to fly to the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator over the Yosemite fire.

The Global UAV Market 2013-2023

A report titled “The Global UAV Market 2013–2023” has been released by Strategic Defence Intelligence. This $4,800 report states that the Global UAV market is estimated at US$114.7 billion during the next 10 years, with most coming from North America, but Europe spending US$24.3 billion on UAVs. HALE UAVs are forecast to constitute the largest share of the UAV market.

Managing The UAV Madness: 5 Keys To Success

Agricultural applications for unmanned aircraft is probably a huge opportunity. Robert Blair is a wheat grower in Kendrick, Idaho. He spoke at the InfoAg Conference about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and offered some advice.

University of Nebraska Lincoln helping develop water-sampling drones

ASCTEC Firefly

ASCTEC Firefly

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a $956,210 grant  for the three-year “Co-Aerial Ecologist: Robotic Water Sampling and Sensing in the Wild” project as part of the National Robotics Initiative. UNL is seeking to develop a UAV that can be located near a water source, fly out and take water samples, then return them for analysis.

They already have a modified AscTec Firefly copter that can take several 20ml water samples, but it can only fly a 20 minute mission. They hope to extend that and make the vehicle autonomous. Perhaps perform on-board analysis of the water samples. From the video, you can see they’ve demonstrated the copter in the lab and outside in a pool. This is taking place at the Nebraska Intelligent MoBile Unmanned Systems Lab (NIMBUS).