An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries. As control technologies improved and costs fell, their use expanded to many non-military applications. These include aerial photography, precision agriculture, forest fire monitoring, river monitoring, environmental monitoring, policing and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, smuggling, product deliveries, entertainment, and drone racing.
Elisa Oyj is a Finnish telecommunications company founded in 1882. Its previous names were Helsingin Puhelin and Elisa Communications Oyj. Elisa is a telecommunications, ICT and online service company operating mainly in Finland and Estonia, but it also offers digital services for international operators and other companies. In Finland Elisa is the market leader in mobile and fixed network subscriptions. Elisa provides services for communication and entertainment, and tools for improving operating methods and productivity of organisations. It cooperates for example with Vodafone and Tele2.
A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers or wireless access points. Instead, each node participates in routing by forwarding data for other nodes. The determination of which nodes forward data is made dynamically on the basis of network connectivity and the routing algorithm in use.
Parrot SA is a French wireless products manufacturer company based in Paris, France. It was founded in 1994 by Christine/M De Tourvel, Jean-Pierre Talvard and Henri Seydoux.
The Parrot AR.Drone is a discontinued remote-controlled flying quadcopter, built by the French company Parrot.
Lehmann Aviation Ltd (France), designs and manufactures professional civilian drones/UAVs since 2005. The company has two lines of UAVs: L-A series line of fully automatic drones designed for high precision mapping; construction/mining and precision agriculture; and L-M series line of both automatic and ground-controlled drones for long-range real-time surveillance.
Unmanned aircraft system simulation focuses on training pilots to control an unmanned aircraft or its payload from a control station. Flight simulation involves a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of flight controls, the effects of other aircraft systems, and how the aircraft reacts to external factors such as air density, turbulence, wind shear, cloud, precipitation, etc.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout is an unmanned helicopter developed by Northrop Grumman for use by the United States Navy. The MQ-8C also has autonomous take-off and landing capability. It is designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, aerial fire support and precision targeting support for ground, air and sea forces. The MQ-8C airframe is based on the Bell 407, while the avionics and other systems are developed from those used on the MQ-8B Fire Scout. It first flew in October 2013 and achieved initial operational capability on 28 June 2019.
Guangzhou EHang Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd is a company based in Guangzhou, China that develops and manufactures autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) and passenger AAVs which have entered service in China for aerial cinematography, photography, emergency response, and survey missions.
Regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) involves setting safety requirements, outlining regulations for the safe flying of drones, and enforcing action against errant users.
The North Fire was a wildfire that occurred in the Mojave Desert near the towns of Victorville and Hesperia, north of San Bernardino and south of Bakersfield, California. The fire began on July 17, 2015. The areas most impacted were adjacent to Interstate 15, where the Cajon Pass passes through the San Bernardino National Forest. The fire spread to 4,250 acres, and burned homes and other buildings, as well as numerous vehicles stranded on the interstate. Seventy-four passenger vehicles and trucks were burned along the highway or in neighboring communities due to the fire. The fire closed Interstate 15, the main highway connecting Southern California with Las Vegas, Nevada, during the first day of the blaze.
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is the use of small, highly automated aircraft to carry passengers or cargo at lower altitudes in urban and suburban areas which have been developed in response to traffic congestion. It usually refers to existing and emerging technologies such as traditional helicopters, vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft (VTOL), electrically propelled, vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft (eVTOL), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These aircraft are characterized by the use of multiple electric-powered rotors or fans for lift and propulsion, along with fly-by-wire systems to control them. Inventors have explored urban air mobility concepts since the early days of powered flight. However, advances in materials, computerized flight controls, batteries and electric motors improved innovation and designs beginning in the late 2010s. Most UAM proponents envision that the aircraft will be owned and operated by professional operators, as with taxis, rather than by private individuals.
A loitering munition is a kind of aerial weapon with a built-in munition (warhead), which can loiter around the target area until a target is located; it then attacks the target by crashing into it. Loitering munitions enable faster reaction times against hidden targets that emerge for short periods without placing high-value platforms near the target area, and also allow more selective targeting as the attack can be changed midflight or aborted.
Smart Parks is a UK-based charity that specializes in providing aerial surveillance and monitoring services through the use of unnamed aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly knowns as drones. The organization was founded in 2012 and launched publicly in 2013, and operates as a registered charity in the UK and a private foundation in the Netherlands. The organization was formerly named ShadowView.
Drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Systems/Vehicles (UAS/UAV), or Remotely Piloted Aircraft, are used in wildfire surveillance and suppression. They help in the detection, containment, and extinguishing of fires. They are also used for locating a hot spot, firebreak breaches, and then to deliver water to the affected site. In terms of maneuverability, these are superior to a helicopter or other forms of manned aircraft. They help firefighters determine where a fire will spread through tracking and mapping fire patterns. These empower scientists and incident personnel to make informed decisions. These devices can fly when and where manned aircraft are unable to fly. They are associated with low cost and are flexible devices that offer a high spatiotemporal resolution.
An Aerial base station (ABS), also known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-mounted base station (BS), is a flying antenna system that works as a hub between the backhaul network and the access network. If more than one ABS is involved in such a relaying mechanism the so-called fly ad-hoc network (FANET) is established. FANETs are an aerial form of wireless ad hoc networks (WANET)s or mobile ad hoc networks (MANET)s.
Shield AI is an American aerospace and defense technology company based in San Diego, California. It develops artificial intelligence-powered fighter pilots, drones, and technology for defense operations. Its clients include the US Air Force, US Army and Brazil Armed Forces.
A loyal wingman is a proposed type of unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) which incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and is capable of collaborating with the next generation of manned combat aircraft, including sixth-generation fighters and bombers such as the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider. Also unlike the conventional UCAV, the loyal wingman is expected to be capable of surviving on the battlefield but to be significantly lower-cost than a manned aircraft with similar capabilities. In the US, the concept is known as the collaborative combat aircraft (CCA).
Anduril Industries, Inc. is an American defense company specializing in autonomous systems. It was founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey alongside investors and founders associated with Palantir and SpaceX. Anduril's strategy includes providing the U.S. Department of Defense with technology that Silicon Valley firms have eschewed due to their controversial military applications, including artificial Intelligence and robotics. Anduril's major products include unmanned aerial systems (UAS), counter-UAS (CUAS), semi-portable autonomous surveillance systems, and networked command and control software.
