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> From: "Sardar" <sar...@spiritone.com> > Date: July 3, 2010 7:04:50 PM PDT > To: "Sardar" <recon1968br...@yahoo.com> > Subject: Military plans hummingbird-sized spies - Technology & science - > Innovation - msnbc.com > > Military plans hummingbird-sized spies > Nano Aerial Vehicle will help soldiers fighting in crowded urban areas > Advertisement | ad info > > Lockheed Martin > A prototype of the Samurai, a remote-controlled, battery-powered Nano Aerial > Vehicle with two flapping wings that weighs about as much as two nickels and > is just slightly longer than three inches. > by Ned Smith > > updated 7/2/2010 3:03:42 PM ET > a.. Share > b.. Print > c.. Font: > d.. + > e.. - > Soldiers fighting future battles in crowded urban areas will be able to > launch hummingbird-sized unmanned nano aerial vehicles - or NAVs - capable of > carrying sophisticated sensors and flying through open windows in buildings > to report back on enemy positions. > > A new project partly funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency > ( DARPA) called the Nano Aerial Vehicle (NAV) program aims to develop an > extremely small, ultra-lightweight aerial vehicle for urban military missions > that can fly both indoors and outdoors and that is capable of climbing and > descending vertically as well as flying sideways left and right. > > DARPA says the NAV program pushes the limits of aerodynamic and power > conversion efficiency, endurance and maneuverability for very small air > vehicle systems. > > The design the agency green lighted for further development actually will > look and fly much like a hummingbird. The winning concept, developed by > AeroVironment, is called Nano Scout (Nano Sensor Covert Observer in Urban > Terrain). It is a remote-controlled, battery powered NAV with two flapping > wings that weighs about two grams (about as heavy as two nickels) and is just > slightly longer than three inches. > > Lots of competition > The Scout is designed to fly forward at speeds of up to 20 mph, slow down to > one mph for precision navigation inside buildings, withstand five mph wind > gusts, operate inside buildings and have a range of over one-half mile. > > The Nano Scout was selected over competing concepts submitted by Lockheed > Martin, MicroPropulsion Inc., and Draper Laboratory at the end of the > program's first phase last year. > > An early prototype tested by the company has already reached a technical > milestone by achieving a hovering flight equal to that of a two-wing flapping > wing aircraft while carrying its own energy source and using only the > flapping wings for propulsion. A working prototype, scheduled for > demonstration to DARPA when the second phase of the NAV program ends this > summer, will have a flight endurance of 11 to 20 minutes. > > Story continues below More below > Advertisement | ad info > Sponsored links > Marketplace > But DARPA and AeroVironment aren't the only players with a wing in the NAV > game. Though its monocoptor design that is shaped like a maple leaf was > passed over for the second phase of the DARPA program, Lockheed Martin Skunk > Works' Advanced Development Programs is continuing its exploration of NAVs on > its own dime with the Samurai program. > > The company has built two larger mono-wing vehicles as part of the program, a > 30-inch flyer and a 12-inch version that is small enough to fit into a > backpack and fly through an open window to enter a building. The Samurai > design, says Kingsley Fregene, principal investigator for the program, is > inherently stable and has few moving parts, which makes it a robust, > aerodynamically clean airframe. Unlike more conventional designs, the entire > aircraft rotates. > > Nano-sized pack mules > Most of the excitement has been about the platform and getting devices in the > air and keeping them there. But the payoff for NAVs is in the payload. "A lot > of people can build aircraft that fly," Neil Adams told TechNewsDaily. > "Making them work is the critical element." > > Adams is director of tactical systems programs for Draper Laboratory, one of > the participants in the first round of DARPA's NAV program. > > Draper is a systems integrator that develops the mission management, vehicle > management and communications and ground control systems that make NAVs > smart. "What we do is the 'missionization' of these vehicles," Adams said. In > creating the payload for one of these tiny devices, he said, "weight is > always the issue. The size of payloads has to be designed with plenty of > margin." > > Because the normal operating environment for NAVS is congested urban areas > with little or no GPS signal availability, navigation is also a critical > element, said Adam. Much of Draper's work focuses on vision-based sensors and > systems. "If you don't have GPS or you have only intermittent GPS, most of > these things will fall out of the sky in a few seconds," he said. > > The enemies of success in the NAV world are size, weight and power (SWaP), > said Sean Humbert, a professor in the Aerospace Engineering department at the > University of Maryland who specializes in Nano Air Vehicles. > > Insect inspiration > SWaP places great limitations on the intelligence that can be built into NAVs > to let them operate autonomously. Researchers are looking at insects and > their nerve physiology for clues about how to design better nervous systems > for NAVs. "Little bugs don't carry around a Pentium processor," Humbert said. > And yet they're remarkably good at doing what they need to do. Perhaps, he > said, if we learn what's going on in their brains we can follow their lead. > > Humbert's department is studying bio-inspired microsystem technologies as the > principal member of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Micro Autonomous > Science and Technology (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance Center. > > "A lot of structures in insects are multifunctional," he said. "Biologically, > they're multitasking." > > The research is still in its early stages. "A lot of seminal research needs > to be done," Adams said, adding that the missionization of NAVs, though, is > not that far away. > > "Within 10 to 15 years, autonomous microsystems will be on the battlefield." > > > © 2010 TechNewsDaily > > > Show more text > > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38062588/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/
