Various UAVs were on display at the 2014 Security & Policing Event, 11 - 13 March in Farnborough, UK.
The exhibition featured a Live Demonstration Zone, allowing exhibitors to present their equipment to the audience.
Below a few UAVs showcased at the event:
COBHAM Surveillance UAV
aerovironment Qube
aerovironment Puma AE, Raven and Wasp AE
Altura Zenith ATX8
www.diesunddas.co.uk
Comments
I spoke with the exhibitors, quite a few do claim at least 40+ minutes of flight time (with payload).
But the time-slots for the live demonstration at the event were 30 minutes (including set up time) - I did see a few of them fly ... but no presentation of endurance.
Have anyone actually seen any on them fly 50+ minutes with payload? And in that case, there must be some revolutionary battery tech available that we do not know about..
I'm not sure that, given the current state of the art, the designs wouldn't look rather generic to a lot of us, especially those of us that actually build. We'd be very familiar with the technology, even if some of it is not currently within our reach - I'm thinking the GCS as opposed to the aircraft itself. Although it wouldn't take too much savvy to put together a very capable command and control GCS similar to what we've seen in military craft.
I, like Jared, am not convinced by the stacked prop designs - these do have a practical efficiency limitation. 25% may not seem a lot but considering this is an airborne vehicle I tend to think that as much safeguard, efficiency and over-engineering is an absolute must. Particularly as these vehicles will operate over territory that we are forbidden from flying over (civilian built up areas, crowds of more than 1,000, close proximity to property without owners consent yadda yadda yadda).
However, I do think that the way forward is for the hex and octo designs that can incorporate motor redundancy more easily than a quad.
An interesting collection of UAV, even if the intent behind is somewhat sinister (what next? personal cctv badges and buttons on all civilians? but thats another whole discussion.).
It all comes down to what the UAV is being used for. If there was a universal need for 75 minutes flight time, I would agree with you. It's like putting a long range fuel tank on your car - you could do it, but do you really need to? There is what the UAV is designed for and there is the intended use.
I have a quadcopter with a 20 minute flight time that carries my camera. I only need to be in the air for less than 5 minutes to get the still-shot I need. I'm not going to spend more time or money getting longer flight times when I don't require this.
all those multirotors with overlapping props are loosing around 25% efficiency, what is a 50+ flight time when you can have a 75min flight
I'm not sure what you're talking about Jared. Some pf these fly for 50+ minutes on a single battery and have lots of R&D behind them.
all i see is 80% badly design multirotors.
They look cool, but are ridiculous and generic designs.
There is so many things you can do witch vastly improve efficiency
Thanks for sharing the great pics! Some nice looking machines there!
MIB Nightstalker
SkyRanger
Aibotix
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