[Page 2] UAV roundup May 2016: The latest in unmanned aerial vehicle news
Editor's note: This article is continued from page one.
DARPA choose industry teams for ‘Gremlins’ UAV project
DARPA has awarded Phase I contracts to Composite Engineering, Dynetics, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and Lockheed Martin for its Gremlins project (concept pictured above) which aims to launch volleys of small, low-cost UAVs from bombers, cargo aircraft, or possibly even fighter jets, and recover them via a Lockheed Martin C-130 transport.
The awards begin the first of three program phases, which could culminate in a proof-of-concept demonstration “of an air-launched, air-recovered, volley-quantity unmanned aircraft system”.
"We’ve assembled a motivated group of researchers and developers that we believe could make significant progress toward Gremlins’ vision of delivering distributed airborne capabilities in a robust, responsive and affordable manner," says DARPA program manager Dan Patt. "These teams are exploring different, innovative approaches toward achieving this goal."
FAA releases Micro UAS Committee Finding on flying over people
The FAA released a report on the conclusions reached by the Micro Unmanned Aircraft Systems Committee Aviation Rulemaking Committee—which features such companies as AUVSI, AT&T, DJI, GoogleX, GoPro, and Intel.
The committee evaluated the safety requirements and broke operations up into four categories, with unique flying rules for each.
View a summary of these categories on theAUVSI website.
View thecommittee report.
AUVSI issues statement on Senate passage of FAA Reauthorization
On April 19, Brian Wynne, president and CEO of the AUVSI issued a statement on the passage of the FAA Reauthorization bill (S. 2658) by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 95-3.
“Today’s passage of an FAA reauthorization measure by the Senate is a critical milestone for accelerating the civil and commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems, as well as expanding collaborative research and operations. We thank the Senate leadership for bringing this important bill to the floor.
"We look forward to continue working with lawmakers to ensure UAS integration efforts are done efficiently and safely, while underscoring the necessity for uniform federal rules, just like those used for the manned aviation industry."
Read on.
AUVSI produces interactive Section 333 exemption website
The AUVSI has developed a website with interactive graphics detailing data provided by the FAA on Section 333 exemptions, which are given out for commercial UAV deployment.
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James Carroll
Former VSD Editor James Carroll joined the team 2013. Carroll covered machine vision and imaging from numerous angles, including application stories, industry news, market updates, and new products. In addition to writing and editing articles, Carroll managed the Innovators Awards program and webcasts.