This is a concept given by Jameson and his colleagues at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL) in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The team wants to design a Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) based on the shape of a maple seed that would form a one-bladed helicopter. The best part of the design is that it is compact and has minimum number of moving parts. The team has received a funding of $1.7 million from DARPA that looks the prototype as a useful surveillance device that could be carried out by the soldiers to provide them with critical information related to those places those are hard to reach for them. It’s a single blade two inches long, with a tiny rocket thruster at its tip, which sets the blade spinning like a pinwheel at 15,000 rpm to produce lift. The whole device will just weigh about a third of an ounce with battery, sensors, navigation and communication equipment on it. The biggest problem that the researchers are finding to complete the project is maintaining the small size of the device, as until now there is no rocket thruster appropriate for this device. The team is working hard and hopes to complete the project as soon as possible. If completed successfully the device will have a top speed of 33 feet per second, and the nono-copter would be able to hover in place for at least a minute. It could then release a payload and return to the operator. Via: airspacemag
Tag Archive for DARPA
DARPA’s threat sensing blimp ISIS gets ready for prototype stage
Nemesis for all enemies, ISIS (Integrated Sensor is Structure program) airship by DARPA, will detect and track a multitude of air/ground targets, synchronized with providing wideband communications. This airship will hover above earth at an altitude of 70,000 feet and will be capable to ‘see’ out to 180 miles. ISIS will be equipped with a dual-band UHF radar for tracking ground vehicles or soldiers, and an X-band radar for spotting cruise missiles about 370 miles away. It will operate outside controlled air space and out of the range of most surface-to-air missiles. Life span of this blimp is estimated to be 10 years and it will remain aloft for a year at one go. This airship will house an active electronically scanned array (AESA) antenna. It will be highly sensitive owing to its large aperture, and will have a thickness of only one centimeter (0.4in). ISIS will be powered by solar energy during the day and hydrogen fuel cell can be run at night using water electrolyzed in the day. First, the 1:3 scale demonstration model will be built and be used to calibrate various performance characteristics. Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have been awarded a $400 and $800 million contract respectively for building these airships. This will take military surveillance capabilities to a whole new level. Via: Flightglobal/ Defence Talk