Displaying items by tag: UAV

A Chinese drone maker has unveiled an unmanned warplane that can fly around for forty hours without needing to be refueled. ‘The Spy Hawk’ is invisible to radar and can scout ground targets from 9,800 ft according to its developers.

Footage released by Sea Hawke General Aviation Equipment Company Ltd shows the drone taking off from a runway in an unspecified location, and was widely shared across Chinese social media on New Year’s Day.

It is the first time the top-secret drone has been showcased to the public, as details surrounding the aircraft were previously shrouded in secrecy by the Beijing government.

A prototype was revealed briefly to spectators during the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai last November, but until now information regarding the aircraft remained widely unknown.

The Spy Hawk has a wingspan of 18m (59ft), can carry up to 370KG and is capable of taking a clear picture of a car's number plate while flying at the altitude of 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). The warplane can penetrate key enemy targets in a “highly threatening battling environment” says its designers, and is constructed of “world first” technologies.

The plane's deputy designer Wang Jianping says the drone is also equipped with China’s most advanced photo-electric aerial platform and contains seven different cameras that can turn 360 degrees.

It was announced last February by Sea Hawke that the drone had completed its first flight a month before. 

It is the fourth UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) from the Chinese company after predecessor stealth drones ‘Star Shadow’, ‘Sharp Sword’ and ‘CH-805’.

Nokia is to support Europe's first dedicated testing facility for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for traffic management. The facility, at Twente Airport, near Enschede in the Netherlands, will enable Nokia to develop and trial its UAV Traffic Management (UTM) system for the use of drones in proximity of urban areas, people, manned aircraft, other drones and hundreds of other objects.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Municipality of Enschede, the Province of Overijssel, Unmanned Systems Center B.V. and Area Development Twente, Nokia will design and deliver the infrastructure to test and develop the Nokia UTM system at Twente Airport through real-life simulations and commercial demonstrations.

The Nokia UTM solution will provide the flight automation, no-fly zone control and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) capability that will be vital for the safe operation of UAVs in densely populated cities, as well as remote rural areas. UAVs must be able to operate without endangering manned aircraft operations, requiring the development of highly dynamic no-fly zones together with enforcement of civil aviation regulations.

"UAVs are rapidly becoming commonplace tools in many industries, enhancing safety, security, inspection, maintenance and many other activities,” said Thorsten Robrecht, head of Advanced Mobile Networks Solutions at Nokia. “However, it is critical that they function faultlessly and safely in complex, real-world environments. This requires more than just a smart drone, but a system of intelligent traffic control that is thoroughly tested and fully developed. Nokia is the only communications vendor currently building such a system and we are working with regulators to achieve the necessary standardization."

The Nokia technology is underpinned by a combination of expertise in LTE and 5G development, a well as Mobile Edge Computing, to ensure the extreme low-latency and ultra reliability required for UAV traffic management. Drones equipped with Nokia's UTM modem (comprising an LTE modem, GPS transceiver and other telemetry modules), combined with the computing and processing power of the Nokia AirFrame platform, monitor airspace and flight paths. They can also handle the exchange of telemetry data as well as establishing dynamic no-flight zones, ensuring safe operation around other civil airspace users.

A Nokia UTM smartphone app, working with the UAV Traffic Management interface, provides drone operators with real-time flight permissions, real-time no-fly zone information as well as information about local regulatory rules, giving an extra degree flexibility and awareness.

 The Nokia UTM platform can also be adapted to the individual regulatory requirements of different countries, potentially providing the basis for global standardization of such systems. During an opening day event of Space 53, the test area at Twente Airport, visitors will be able to see a wide range of demonstrations of UAV uses in agriculture, search and rescue, public safety and airport anti-bird protection.