Unmanned aerial systems

A UAS is an aircraft that flies without a human crew on board the aircraft. A typical UAS consists of the unmanned aircraft (UA), the control system, the datalink, and other related support equipment. A UAS can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload. Their largest uses are in military applications. A UAS is also known as a remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) and unmanned aerial system however, these are essentially obsolete terms. 

Model Based Engineering of an Unmanned Aerial System Jose Luis Femindez, Juan L6pez, and J. Patricio G6mez, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid and Unmanned Solutions, Spain. 

Mini-UAV Design of a Mini-UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) using a Fuel Cell Propulsion System. Development of a knowledge centre on PC technology. 

The pCAD provided for the first time true real-time agent detection capabilities with subsecond equilibrated agent responses. It offers robust performance for ground and unmanned aerial vehicle applications in an environment with dynamically changing humidity and temperature a palm-sized system fabricated with commercial off-the-shelf components and low-power operation with no consumables. 

Recent aircraft design has focused on the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This class of aircraft has been successfully adapted to perform many of the same roles as manned aircraft but at lower cost. The absence of a pilot eliminates many of the safety and life support requirements and also changes the control objectives. For example, rapid acceleration or a bumpy trajectory can hinder a pilot s ability to cOTitrol the aircraft but do not affect the control system of a UAV. Another advantage of UAVs is that they can be used in environments that are xmdesirable for humans. This may include a combat zone or a toxic chemical plume. Moreover, many mission profiles do not require a large payload, and UAVs can be built much smaller to perform these missions because they do not have to support the extra weight of a pilot. Advancements in miniaturization have simultaneously made it possible to build smaller and smaller aircraft. 

Avionics and Navigation. Condensed from the term aviation electronics, the term avionics has come to include the generation of intelligent software systems and sensors to control unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which may operate autonomously. Avionics also deals with various subsystems such as radar and communications, as well as navigation equipment, and is closely linked to the disciplines of flight dynamics, controls, and navigation. 

Military INS and GPS Uses. Flight instrumentation and avionics are used by military aircraft as well as civilian aircraft, but the military have many other applications. INS is used in guided missiles and submarines. It can also be used as a stand-alone navigational system in vehicles that do not want to communicate with outside sources for security purposes. INS and GPS are used in bombs, rockets, and, with great success, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are used for reconnaissance as well as delivering ordnance without placing a pilot in harm s way. GPS is used in almost all military vehicles such as tanks, ships, armored vehicles, and cars, but not in submarines as the satellite signals will not penetrate deep water. GPS is also used by the United States Nuclear Detonation Detection System as the satellites carry nuclear detonation detectors. 

Fuel cells are a mature enough technology that should be considered for larger underwater vehicles. The mass requiranents of fuel storage render the viability of fuel cells questionable for smaller systems, despite the successM use in several small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The testing of UAVs typically involved very short testing times and thus required limited fuel. 

Microtubular SOFCs have been successfully integrated into portable power xmits by Ultra Electronics AMI (USA). Figure 8 shows its 50 W and 250 W systems that use propane as the fuel to produce continuous power. The 50 W systems, miming on propane, provide power for ground sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles, and robots. The 250 W systems are fueled by propane or LPG and are used to extend military mission durations and deliver off-grid power for electronics, radios, and computers. The use of globally available fuels in such portable SOFC systems eliminates complicated logistics. 

Kim K, Kim T, Lee K et al (2011) Fuel cell system with sodium borohydride as hydrogen sotffce for unmanned aerial vehicles. J Power Sources 196 9069-9075... 

New and improved sensor and communication technologies create opportunities for designing embedded and mobile systems that are able to interact with their environment, and exhibit smart and autonomous behavior. Furthermore, collaboration between mobile entities can also be envisaged for improving their functionality as well as performance. Example applications include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and smart cars, where for instance, UAVs can be used for environmental surveillance and control, and smart vehicles coordinating their behaviors can be used to increase traffic throughput and improve mobility without the need of using more space for the respective traffic infrastructures. 

Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), http //www.auvsi.org/ AUVSI/AUVSI/Home/ (accessed July 20, 2010). This is a society of individuals and companies involved in the development and promotion of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Web site has news and useful links for those in the field. 

In modem warfare, the importance of individual soldiers as sources of information will increase. New systems and equipment will be designed to enhance a soldier s role as a link in a local surveillance network. There will be increased importance placed on communication between soldiers and other units on the battlefield such as armoured vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (Figure 11.4). To cater to all these needs, the personal equipment of a soldier could include head-mounted displays, GPS, digital radio and video cameras. When designing these systems, textile anteimae will play a role in optimising the system performance. 

Jenie, Y.L, Van Kampen, E.-J., de Visser, C.C., Chu, Q.P. Selective Velocity Obstacle Method for Cooperative Antonomons Collision Avoidance System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. In AIAA Gnidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Conference. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronantics (2013)... 

A UA is an unmanned aircraft it is one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). A UA can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely. It is also sometimes referred to as an unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). 

Lithium-ion battery technology is being introduced into power supplies used by the US Armed Forces for a variety of applications, including land (such as portable systems, small vehicles, and communication) marine (submarines and imderwater vehicles) air (unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]), and space (satellites and space ships) uses. In many cases, the same cells and design parameters that support coimnercial battery packs are used in military battery packs. This approach is expected to result in a major decrease in the total life cycle cost of the equipment these batteries support. Besides cost, military applications have special requirements for lithium-ion batteries ... 

An Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is an aircraft and its associated elements which are operated with no pilot on board. UAS is an overarching term for the entire system comprising an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which is applied to describe a self piloted or remotely piloted aircraft that can carry cameras, sensors, communications equipment or other payloads, as well those which support... 

An FoS is a set of systems that provide similar capabilities through different approaches to achieve similar or complementary effects. The mix of systems can be tailored to provide desired capabilities, dependent on the situation. For instance, the warfighter may need the capability to track moving targets. The FoS that provides this capability could include unmanned or manned aerial vehicles with appropriate sensors, a space-based sensor platform, or a special operations capability. Each can provide the ability to track moving targets, but with differing characteristics of persistence, accuracy, timeliness, and so on. 

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