Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers from Brown University have designed a new type of wing that could make small fixed-wing drones far more stable and efficient.

The new wing replaces the smooth contour found on the leading edges of most airplane wings with a thick flat plate and a sharp leading edge. Counterintuitive as it may seem, it turns out that the design has distinct aerodynamic advantages at the scale of small drones. In a paper published in Science Robotics, the researchers show that the new wing is far more stable than standard wings in the face of sudden wind gusts and other types of turbulence, which often wreak havoc on small aircraft. The wing also provides an aerodynamically efficient flight that translates into better battery life and longer flight times.

“Small drones can be really useful in many applications, including flights in populated areas as they are inherently safer for humans, but there are problems operating aircraft at those small scales,” said Kenny Breuer, a professor in Brown’s School of Engineering and the study’s senior author. “They tend to be inefficient, which limits the battery-powered flight times of most drones to around 30 minutes or so. They also tend to get blown around by puffs of wind and turbulent air coming from obstacles such as buildings and trees. So we’ve been thinking about a wing design that might combat those problems.”

On Monday scientists called for advanced technology as the current use of aircraft to spray the pests is proofing to be futile amid growing concerns over their rapid spread.

The experts say deployment of superior technologies such as drones could hold the key to successful combat of the locusts that are now threatening food security in the country.

However, with regulations guiding drones in the country yet to be approved, use of the technology may not be possible as at now.

A swarm of autonomous robots has been deployed by researchers from DARPA to test how the technology could be used as part of an urban raid. The experiment was part of a project to find ways to map environments and gather real-time intelligence using aerial and land based robots.

In the not-so-distant future, hundreds of unmanned drones and on-the-ground rovers could swoop into an area of interest and spew crucial data to human military operators faced with limited sight lines or tasked with navigating unpredictable spaces, researchers the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said this week.

O.o.

Next step: recovering the Gremlins inside a C-130 while still in flight.

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency has set its sights on a new kind of drone ship — one that doesn’t contemplate a human ever setting foot on it. Dubbed NOMARS (No Manning Required, Ship), the new ships could feature radical new designs and cut costs by removing any elements normally needed to accommodate people.

Update January 29th, 10:10AM ET: SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket on time this morning, deploying all 60 satellites into orbit. The rocket also performed another landing on the company’s drone ship in the Atlantic after launch. While SpaceX did catch one half of the rocket’s fairing, the other half just missed its boat.

Original story: A week after performing a crucial test flight for NASA, SpaceX is poised to launch yet another Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. This mission is tasked with sending up the latest batch of internet-beaming satellites for SpaceX, adding on to the roughly 180 satellites the company already has in orbit.

Continue reading “SpaceX successfully launches its fourth batch of internet-beaming Starlink satellites” »

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Yates Electrospace Corporation (YEC), whose Silent Arrow platform is bringing disruptive innovation to the heavy payload, unmanned cargo delivery market, today announced the design completion and specifications of a wide-body version of its successful GD-2000 cargo delivery drone, with unveiling set for July 20–24, 2020 at YEC booth 4470, Farnborough International Airshow, UK.

Public-safety drone consultancy Skyfire Consulting has announced a partnership with UAV company Doosan Mobility Innovation and hydrogen-fuel service provider ReadyH2 to tackle a pipeline-inspection project for an unnamed American company.

Doosan will deploy a hydrogen-powered octocopter. The drone sports a hydrogen-powered generator fueling two hours of flight time per mission over nearly 50 miles.

Continue reading “Hydrogen-fueled Drones Will Inspect U.S. Gas Pipeline” »

GORHAM, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman who was harassed by a drone for two days says police told her they could do nothing about it.

Mary Dunham says a drone tracked her in her car on Tuesday as she drove to a gas station, where she called police, and then to her home in Gorham. It followed her eight miles to her brother’s house in Standish the following day.

It was an “unnerving” experience, she said. “The officer arrived and said, ‘Yeah, I see it. I don’t know what to tell you though. We can’t do too much,’” she said.