Robotics Trends

Northrop Grumman’s Hunter Unmanned Aircraft System Fielded With Automatic Takeoff and Landing System Second generation Hunter UAS, the MQ-5B, now equipped with an ATLS, successfully completes its first launch and recovery. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has equipped and fielded its Hunter Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) with an Automatic Takeoff and Landing System (ATLS) to the Army’s UAS Training Battalion, Fort Huachuca, Ariz., where it successfully completed its first launch and recovery. Hunter, which has been in use with the Army since 1996, was originally designed using an External Pilot (EP) for take-offs and landings. Like a radio-controlled airplane, the EP required someone manually controlling Hunter during approach and landing as well as take-off. Using differential GPS, ATLS eliminates the need for an EP and allows Hunter to take-off and land automatically and do so precisely at pre-surveyed points on… View this post
Filed in: Security & Defense Robotics • Feature
Tagged: Robot, Unmanned, Uas, Unmanned aircraft system, Northrop grumman, Atls, Hunter, Mq-5b

Ascent Solar Modules to Be Designed into the Development of Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI), announced that its state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules will be designed into the development of a hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle (H-UAV) called the Silent Sentinel developed by Bye Aerospace, Inc. The H-UAV will be designed primarily for military use; however, its capabilities will also include a broad spectrum of civil applications. The first of its kind hybrid utilizes stored electric power, thin film solar photovoltaics (PV), and other technologies to enhance its endurance, quiet operations and low emissions. Bye Aerospace is teamed with thin film PV manufacturer Ascent Solar to develop the solar energy capability on the aircraft. For primary propulsion the hybrid UAV will be coupled with an advanced Williams International FJ33 turbofan. The efficient engine will provide the UAV… View this post
Filed in: Design and Development •
Tagged: Uav, Unmanned, Aerial, Ascent solar technologies, Solar