16 From Jellyfish to Global Hawk

This Episode: UAS applications in Alaska, an autonomous drone with a robotic arm, a European “drone club” is formed, Turkey eyes the European drone market, a middle-eastern drone company gets some traction, a small UAV that thinks it’s a jellyfish, the Global Hawk achieves a milestone, and journalists flock to UAVs. The News: UAV industry takes off in Alaska With its remote areas accessible only by air, Alaska is a ripe environment for UAVs: remote sensing, airborne surveillance, wildlife management, sea ice study, and many others. Alaska hopes to become one of the FAA test sites. Helicopter drones level up, gain belly-mounted robotic limbs The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has attached a robotic arm to the underside of a small autonomous helicopter. They hope to accomplish tasks that humans can’t reach. DLR would like to create a fleet flying robots with arms that could work in small teams for construction and repair tasks. Euro-UAVs: Europe opens ‘drone club’ to compete with US, Israel Some European Union countries have banded together to advance their capabilities with Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones and become less reliant on the U.S. and Israel. Turkey’s Drones Look to Europe, Middle East for Sales Turkish Aerospace Industries is talking with European governments about their Multi-Role ISR UAV Systems, like the ANKA Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV System , which have been used by the Turkish Air Force for three years. Adcom Systems has Three Customers for United 40 MALE UAS Abu Dhabi-based ADCOM Systems produces a number of UAVs, target drones, and support systems. The United 40 has been sold to three unnamed customers, and is designed for strategic missions, such as combat and battle damage assessment, intelligence and reconnaissance, border protection, and humanitarian aid. Flying Jellyfish Robot May Be The Next Generation Of Surveillance Drones Man has always mimicked birds, insects, and other animals to create flying machines. A New York University researcher has now developed a small flying device based on the motions of a jellyfish. VIDEO: A Tiny Mechanical ‘Jellyfish’ That Flies . First War Mission for RQ-4 Block 40 Global Hawk For the first time, an RQ-4 Block 40 Global Hawk has flown into a war. This Block 40 HALE is different in that it uses an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to provide Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) data to combatant commanders. Drones Offer Journalists a Wider View CNN, the Associated Press, News Corporation, the BBC, and others have discovered that drones can be invaluable journalistic tools – typically for good uses, but not always. VIDEO: Drone flies over debris fields left after Ilinois [sic] tornado . Mentioned: “ Getting Started with Hobby Quadcopters and Drones ” by Craig Issod, published June 10, 2013. A good overview for beginners. Available in paperback or as an eBook.