UAV

Development of the future combat air system (FCAS)

UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía has announced that SATNUS (a company formed by GMV, Sener Aeroespacial and Tecnobit-Grupo Oesía) has counted on its collaboration in the ambitious European program Future Combat Air System (FCAS). This program aims to develop a future-generation weapon system (NGWS), which will integrate a new generation of manned fighters (NGF) and multiple remotely piloted air systems (Remote Carriers or RC), all interconnected through a Combat Cloud (CC). With its participation, UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía will provide innovative technological solutions and offer comprehensive support in the autopilot technical development, integration and operation phase. This support will be fundamental for the evolution and maturation of the technological capabilities of the program, contributing to the remotely piloted manned systems meeting the demanding requirements of this future combat air system. www.uavnavigation.com

Wingtra introduces MAP61

Wingtra has launched the MAP61 mapping sensor, designed to assist professionals in generating larger mapping outputs more efficiently. This ultra-highresolution sensor offers detailed 3D data in a single pass, providing valuable analytics for vertical assets. It can cover up to 460 hectares (1,140 acres) in a single flight, reducing fieldwork time and enhancing productivity. wingtra.com

Drone technology for livestock management

The University of Kentucky MartinGatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment has secured a $910,000 grant from the USDA to develop and refine drone technology in cattle management.

This five-year project, titled “Precision Livestock Management: Cattle Monitoring and Herding Using Cooperative Drones,” explores how drones can assist in herding, monitoring and collecting physiological data from beef cattle. The project aims to reduce labor demands and enhance operational efficiency for livestock producers.

The research will focus on several key objectives. First, the team will develop a multi-agent drone control system that enables drones to work semi-autonomously near cattle. This system will be designed to adjust its operations based on the behavior and movement of the animals, ensuring safe and effective interaction.

The project will also examine the physiological responses of cattle, particularly how different breeds react to the drones’ presence and movement. uknow.uky.edu

Productivity tools for mid-level smart drone surveying software plan

Virtual Surveyor has significantly reorganized its smart drone surveying software plans with the addition of the Productivity Tools suite to the Ridge plan. Previously available only in the highest-level subscription package, the Productivity Tools enhance the speed of creating survey products from UAV-derived images and LiDAR data. www.virtual-surveyor.com

NTH to now certify drones at lower than market prices

The 105-year-old state-run industrial testing agency, the National Test House (NTH), will certify drones for commercial operations at lower-than-market prices, according to the government, in a boost for smaller firms in the fast-growing sector with applications spanning logistics to agriculture.

NTH is a wing of the consumer affairs ministry and is the only government agency that certifies drones and its services are set at a highly competitive fee of `1.5 lakh for the certification process, which is the lowest in the industry. The heritage technical agency is a British-era institution that served the railways with its expertise.

Compared to lower rates of the NTH, which has a range of latest equipment, market rates for certification can go up to `10-12 lakh. NTH has been able to offer cheaper rates because it is an integrated drone certification facility, said Alok Srivastava, the director-general of the Ghaziabad-based NTH. This means that manufacturers don’t need to go to different centres to test different components.

Anna University gets patent for path-breaking drone technology

Researchers at the Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai, have developed a path-breaking technology that is claimed to open up a new era of drone operations.

The Indian Patent Office, Intellectual Property India, has granted patent for the airborne-based intelligent autonomous landing system for miniUnmanned Aerial Vehicles that come with accurate identification of geographical location of landing sites from the plurality of images captured.

According to K. Senthil Kumar, Professor and Director, Dr. Kalam Advanced UAV Research Centre, Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT, the technology would immensely help in the delivery/pick up of load such as weapons, ammunition, medicines, food etc. to armed forces deployed along hilly terrains or inaccessible locations along the border.

While existing UAVs were designed to land at a pre-determined well prepared plain surface locations, the system developed by his team of researchers is capable of not only finding the precise location of a marker like a particular coloured dress or object on the site and land there safely even if it were to be a hilly terrain with uneven surface and slope.

“Once the landing site is identified, the position coordinates are obtained and UAV lands at the target including moving platforms. Further, QR code can also be used to enhance reliability. The efficiency of the UAV landing system is increased, landing time is reduced, and the complete process is on-board and autonomous using AI and deep learning algorithms. The system is particularly useful for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) applications,” Dr. Senthil Kumar explained.

According to him, the UAV landing system could be utilised in high-altitude logistics drones to assist armed and border security forces in day-to-day essential supplies delivery to border posts, emergency relief and rescue operations or delivery of certain goods to strengthen combat missions. “We now have UAVs with the capability to fly up to 50 kg load to 20 km. Efforts are on to enhance the load to 100 kg and flying distance to 50 km.”

Besides defence, firefighting and surveillance operations, Dr. Senthil Kumar said, the intelligent autonomous landing system for mini-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles could also be used for civilian missions such as organ/ medicine delivery in healthcare, product delivery in e-commerce etc.

Trimble’s direct georeferencing solution

Trimble has launched premium direct georeferencing solutions for mapping sensors on uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) – the Trimble® APX RTX portfolio. When used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and drone payload integrators, their customers can fly around-the-clock in widely variable environments to efficiently and quickly deliver high accuracy, reliable map products. This is made possible by the integration of Trimble CenterPoint® RTX, which enables real-time and postmission direct georeferencing of camera, LiDAR and hyperspectral mapping sensors on UAVs with centimeterlevel accuracy. It achieves this without needing base stations, making mapping more efficient. www.trimble.com