UK sends hand-held helicopter drones to war zone
Ron Czapala
Posts: 2,418
http://news.yahoo.com/uk-sends-hand-held-helicopter-drones-war-zone-101428321--finance.html
British soldiers in Afghanistan have been issued with surveillance drones so small they can fit in the palm of a man's hand.
The Scandinavian-designed Black Hornet Nano weighs as little as 16 grams (roughly half an ounce) the same as a finch. The 4-inch (10-centimeter) -long helicopter is fitted with a tiny camera which relays still images and video to a remote terminal.
The military said Sunday that the toy-like Hornet is capable of flying even in windy conditions.
It said the Hornet was developed by Norway's Prox Dynamics AS as part of a 20 million-pound ($31 million) contract for 160 units with southern England's Marlborough Communications Ltd.
British soldiers in Afghanistan have been issued with surveillance drones so small they can fit in the palm of a man's hand.
The Scandinavian-designed Black Hornet Nano weighs as little as 16 grams (roughly half an ounce) the same as a finch. The 4-inch (10-centimeter) -long helicopter is fitted with a tiny camera which relays still images and video to a remote terminal.
The military said Sunday that the toy-like Hornet is capable of flying even in windy conditions.
It said the Hornet was developed by Norway's Prox Dynamics AS as part of a 20 million-pound ($31 million) contract for 160 units with southern England's Marlborough Communications Ltd.
Comments
You have to love Military contracts
The world's most expensive skeet target ? How high do they need to be, before they are invisible to a naked eye ?
I see Walmart has biodegradable targets, at Eleven cents each..
C.W.
Also, some other specs:
Rotor Span 120 mm, Mass 16 gr including Camera
Maximum Speed 10 m/s, Endurance up to 25 minutes
Digital Data Link, Range 1000 m Line-of-Sight
GPS Navigation or Visual Navigation through Video
Autopilot with Autonomous and Directed Modes
Hover & Stare, Automatic Search Patterns, Preplanned Routes
25minute flight time, and GPS navigation?
The camera has pan/tilt, too...
Unfortunately, it's considered Military grade HW and is on the restricted sales list, so you can't have one.
(Unless you hapen to work in a government organisation belonging to a country we're not currently disliking)
Check out some of their other stuff:
http://www.proxdynamics.com/r_d/micro_helicopters_and_ornithopters/
A 1gram 1Channel RC ornithopter, a 3gram 1Channel RC helicopter...
If it can be built small, these guys build it even smaller...
EDIT: They're currently looking for 'qualified employees'...
Skills wanted:
- Design of analog and high-speed digital electronics
- Radio and antenna design
- Low-level programming, firmware
- Elektromechanics
- PCB layout and production technology
- Microprocessor systems
They want preople with good skills in both Norwegian and English, but I expect that they'll skip the Norwegian requirement if someone really qualified applies.
There is the slight snag that you'd need to get a security clearance, though.
The benefit is of course getting to move to Norway. ;-)
http://www.proxdynamics.com/careers/rd_engineer_hardware/
(Page is in Norwegian only, link because of email addy)
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640x360/legacy/episode/b00788r5.jpg?nodefault=true
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dad's_Army