UAS consulting company Apex Unmanned and technology company RelmaTech have agreed to collaborate on the promotion of the benefits that UAS Remote Identification and tracking technologies can offer.
Apex Unmanned and RelmaTech are partners on the Nevada team that NASA recently selected to execute its NASA Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) Technical Capability Level (TCL) 4 program. Under the leadership of the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS), the Nevada UAS Test Site was selected to execute TCL4 through a competitive process with six other states.
Air
Air
University of Nebraska and partners prepping for UAS-based investigation of severe storms
A UAS-based investigation of severe storms is set to launch in a few weeks.
Known as Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells (TORUS), the project will be a collaboration between the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and three partner institutions, including Texas Tech University, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory.
The project will start on May 15, and fieldwork for the project will continue until June 16, covering a 367,000-square-mile area of the Great Plains from North Dakota to Texas, Iowa to Wyoming and Colorado.
Mississippi State University researchers use UAS to help NOAA forecasters refine forecasts
Scientists from Mississippi State University’s (MSU) Northern Gulf Institute recently used a small UAS to take high-resolution images of rising waters during a major rainstorm in late February.
The images were beamed back in real time to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather forecasters.
“We were able to see the water as it rose over the course of two days, which helped our office confirm when the crest had been reached,” says Dr. Suzanne Van Cooten, hydrologist-in-charge at the NOAA National Weather Service Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell, Louisiana.
BAE Systems awarded contract to continue developing autonomy software to improve resiliency of air mission planning for military
BAE Systems has been awarded a Phase 3 contract worth $3.1 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further the development of autonomy software, in an effort to improve the resiliency of air mission planning for the military.
The goal of the Resilient Synchronized Planning and Assessment for the Contested Environment (RSPACE) program is to develop human-centered software decision aids that can help air operators better control daily operations in a complex battlespace. As part of the RSPACE program, BAE Systems has created software called the Distributed, Interactive, Command-and-Control Tool (DIRECT) to improve air battlespace awareness.
XQ-58A Valkyrie demonstrator successfully completes first flight
On March 5, a long-range, high subsonic UAS called the XQ-58A Valkyrie demonstrator completed its inaugural flight at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
Developed for runway independence, the UAS performed as expected, completing 76 minutes of flight time.
“XQ-58A is the first example of a class of UAV that is defined by low procurement and operating costs while providing game changing combat capability,” says Doug Szczublewski, AFRL’s XQ-58A program manager.
The XQ-58A is a result of a collaborative effort between the Air Force Research Laboratory and Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems.
Northwest UAV's NW-44 Multi-Fuel Engine surpasses 10,000 combat flight hours
Northwest UAV (NWUAV) has announced that its NW-44 Multi-Fuel Engine has flown more than 10,000 combat flight hours and logged more than 1000 flights.
The NW-44 Engine was built specifically for small UAS that require extreme endurance and high reliability. The lightweight, multi-fuel UAS engine has been designed and built to be easily adaptable so that it can meet the most challenging mission requirements.
Mississippi State University's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory acquires TigerShark XP3 UAS
Mississippi State University’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory has acquired two of the latest TigerShark XP3 aircraft, which will help expand its UAS research and support capabilities.
Expected to substantially increase Raspet’s UAS core flight research capabilities, the TirgerShark XP3 UAS will allow the Raspet team to fly at higher altitudes and for a longer period of time, which will increase the research lab's ability to meet the needs of its federal research partners, and directly support Mississippians in times of emergency, according to Raspet Lab Director Dallas Brooks.
