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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
10/16/09
10/16/09
More to the point, the conceptual design of a UAV (i.e. planform geometry, engine sizing, etc.) is but the tip of the development iceberg and isn't all that relevant to the real challenges preventing the wide-scale deployment and use of UAVs. Rather, its the control system design (lower level flight controls for the more radical designs, and the higher level autonomy systems for all of the designs), surveillance package/capability and regulatory hurdles that are the main challenges requiring further development.
Signed,
A former UAV flight control engineer. #china
10/16/09
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10/16/09
10/15/09
What is a purpose of a fast UAV? Unless it is in a dog fight, I just dont see the point. #china
10/15/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
10/15/09
09/17/09
When the plane goes "lost link" (losses contact with the pilot) it follows what is known as an "Emergency Mission" which is merely a pathway back to base marked by a series of checkpoints. If the aircraft regains link, (even for a split second) it goes back to flying it's operational mission until it losses link again. Once it losses link again it'll start the emergency mission over again (if it hadn't been updated since it last regained link) starting back at checkpoint number one.
There's a good chance that it had gone lost link, started it's emergency mission and started heading home and then at some point regained link for a moment and then lost it again, thus causing it to turn around and start the emergency mission once again. This is usually a bad scenario because having had to restart it's emergency mission it may not have had enough fuel to complete the emergency mission a second time before making it back to base, thus an imminent crash was coming. The Air Force would rather shoot the plane down (thus destroying all the equipment on the plane) than let it crash and be retrieved by the Afghanistan government or military. The technology is valuable and one that sets the U.S. above all others in military warfare, it must be protected.
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
I am panicking!!
What will happen when it starts fighting back?
09/15/09
09/15/09
I mean this thing is not designed to autonomously select and attack targets right?
Without a human operator it's just a nice RC gadget that can autonomously maintain altitude and fly back home, sometimes?
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/14/09
09/15/09
You do realize that's the DEFINITION of what a drone is, right? I mean... The ACTUAL DEFINITION. From the DICTIONARY. It's a book you really should become familiar with.
09/15/09
Drone
n.
1. A male bee, especially a honeybee, that is characteristically stingless, performs no work, and produces no honey. Its only function is to mate with the queen bee.
nope. I don't think that's the definition of a drone. These drones provide a very harsh sting and perform quite a bit of work. Although I suppose it's true that they produce zero honey.
09/15/09
09/14/09
09/15/09