October 21, 2004
Micro UAV's on the Rise
GPS World's lead articles this month is about micro UAV efforts, an area of considerable research efforts. The minaturization of electronics has had a great effect on the overall scale, however this same effect makes them almost impossible for a human to fly. Advances in GPS-based autopilots allow a higher level of flight direction, allowing the control system to deal with stabilization and route planning.
Posted by elkaim at October 21, 2004 10:20 AMMicro aerial vehicle (MAV) describes a category of aircraft with dimensions roughly comparable to small birds. As the smallest, powered aircraft, MAVs can carry various sensors as payload to support such civil and military missions as traffic monitoring, weather observation, and enemy surveillance during military conflicts. By next year, for instance, Germany's Federal Armed Forces could send the first operational MAVs to the field.
Much faster and cheaper than conventional reconnaissance aircraft, a MAV equipped with a miniaturized video camera could reconnoiter nearby enemy troop positions or, outfitted with highly sensitive sensors, could locate chemical weapons.
On the civil side, most requests for scientific MAV applications currently come from meteorologists seeking to measure temperature, humidity, and, most importantly, the speed and direction of wind. The weather researchers want a cost-effective, mobile, and reusable measurement platform that can replace non-returning radiosonde balloons whose onboard equipment is lost after a mission.
Other typical civil applications include traffic observation and control using mobile airborne camera platforms. Fixed traffic control systems installed along main highways, such as the German Autobahn, could be supplemented by MAVs to help facilitate optimal traffic flow not only on the main traffic routes, but also on side roads in case of closed highways.
Companies have already requested MAVs for observing their factory sites from the air. Search and rescue services are interested in MAVs to obtain a rapid overview of disaster areas — during forest fires (localization of the origin of fire), floods, and chemical or nuclear catastrophes — without endangering personnel in manned vehicles such as helicopters. Moreover, MAVs are ideal for providing information quickly in the wake of terrorist attacks.
Further applications include the reconnaissance of demonstrations, the creation of georeferenced maps, and determination of the maturity of farm crops in the field. Further in the future, MAV "swarms" will enable new applications such as providing mobile airborne communication networks or 3D scientific measurements and images. The number of new MAV applications is steadily increasing.