NASA explains why you won't get a drone delivery anytime soon

Delivery drones are great at exactly one job right now: generating buzz. However, NASA has told the New York Times that actual widget-shipping drones from Amazon or Google are still far in the future. And the space agency should know: it has taken on the task of developing an "air traffic control" (ATC) system for drones flying below 400 feet. Such a system would be run by computers without human aid, and take into account weather, air traffic, geographic obstacles and other factors. The space agency is quite familiar with existing air traffic issues, as it has been advising the FAA on the NextGen system for "real" planes. Armed with that know-how, it sees a number of problems for UAV couriers.

For one, a decent gust could easily push a drone into a building and crash it, so tracking weather would be a must, adding a layer of complexity. Maintaining separation between low-flying drones and obstacles and manned air traffic would also be tricky, especially in urban areas. Though Google and other companies have proposed obstacle avoidance systems for drones, we haven't seen any plans to tie it into the ATC system. And droneswould have to fly within the existing system in order to avoid no-fly zones, airports and other classified airspace. Finally, there's the acceptance issue. As one researcher put it, they'll need to operate in the "presence of a grandma doing landscaping and kids playing soccer" -- meaning noise and safety will be strong factors. The FAA will also have to be sure they can't be commandeered by "rogue elements" for illicit or dangerous purposes.

On the other hand, NASA is optimistic about commercial drones in lightly populated areas. It sees drones doing crop or pipeline inspections, two jobs that have already been partially authorized by the FAA. However, NASA thinks it'll take at least five years before remote deliveries over sparsely populated areas happen. And deliveries to densely populated areas -- necessary to make such services economically viable -- are much farther in the future. So enjoy the drone-and-pony shows for now, but don't count on getting a Blu-ray disk dropped on your doorstep in the near future.

  by Steve Dent | @stevetdent | TAGS: Amazon, ATC, Delivery,Drones, google, NASA,regulation, UAVs

Black Hawk Drone: Army’s Iconic Helicopter Goes Pilotless

• BY ALLEN MCDUFFEE  

Photo: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

The Army’s most iconic helicopter is about to go pilotless.

The U.S. Army and defense contractor Sikorsky Aircraft demonstrated hover and flight capability in an “optionally piloted” version of the Black Hawk helicopter last month. It’s part of the Army’s effort to reduce troops and costs, in this case by letting the five-ton helicopter carry out autonomous expeditionary and resupply operations.

Sikorsky has been working on the project since 2007 and convinced the Army’s research department to bankroll further development last year.

“Imagine a vehicle that can double the productivity of the Black Hawk in Iraq and Afghanistan by flying with, at times, a single pilot instead of two, decreasing the workload, decreasing the risk, and at times when the mission is really dull and really dangerous, go it all the way to fully unmanned,” said Chris Van Buiten, Sikorsky’s vice president of Technology and Innovation.

The Optionally Piloted Black Hawk (OPBH) operates under Sikorsky’s Manned/Unmanned Resupply Aerial Lifter (MURAL) program, which couples the company’s advanced Matrix aviation software with its man-portable Ground Control Station (GCS) technology. Matrix, introduced a year ago, gives rotary and fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft a high level of system intelligence to complete missions with little human oversight.

“The autonomous Black Hawk helicopter provides the commander with the flexibility to determine crewed or un-crewed operations, increasing sorties while maintaining crew rest requirements,” said Mark Miller, Sikorsky vice president of Research and Engineering, in a statement. “This allows the crew to focus on the more ‘sensitive’ operations, and leaves the critical resupply missions for autonomous operations without increasing fleet size or mix.”

The autonomous Black Hawk fits into the larger trend of the military finding technological ways of reducing troop numbers. Earlier this month, Darpa announced a new program called Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) that will develop a portable, drop-in autopilot to reduce the number of crew members on board, making a single pilot a “mission supervisor.”

The Army’s Aviation Development Directorate (ADD) chief, William Lewis, said the agency was moving in the same direction by “focus[ing] on developing, demonstrating and applying critical technologies that enhance the capability, affordability, readiness and safety” of the Army’s aircraft

This concept car uses its own reconnaissance drone to spot traffic jams

The idea of receiving traffic updates on your sat nav may suddenly seem tawdry next to this more futuristic alternative dreamed up by Renault: If you're driving along in its "KWID" concept car and you're worried about jams up ahead, you simply launch aquadrocopter drone from the car's roof, send it skyward using a control app on your tablet and then survey the road through its camera. Would it be distracting, trying to perceive two views at once without the multitasking skills of an Apache pilot? Whose insurer would pay out if your drone pranged someone else's? Fortunately, these questions need not concern us, as Renault readily admits that the KWID will probably never see the light of an assembly plant. And in any case, if the technology does come about one day, the parallel advent of semi-autonomous cars and mind-controlled drones would surely make it practical.

BY SHARIF SAKR   for Engadget

Aging F-16 Converted Into a Target-Practice Drone

A QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target from the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron flies over the Gulf of Mexico during its first unmanned flight at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Sept. 19. The 82nd ATRS operates the Department of Defense’s only full-scale aerial target program. The QF-16 will provide fourth generation fighter representation of real world threats for testing and training, say operators. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. J. Scott Wilcox)

After nearly 40 years as the cornerstone of the U.S. Air Force’s fighter fleet, the F-16 tried out a a new role last week:  robotic flying bull’s-eye.

A modified F-16 took flight from Tindall Air Force Base in Florida without a pilot so it could be blown to smithereens. The Boeing retrofit of retired Lockheed Martin F-16s will be used as target practice for training situations under the name QF-16.

“The QF-16 full-scale aerial targets will be used to test newly developed weapons and train pilots for the rapidly changing nature of warfare in a safe and controlled environment,” said Boeing in a statement.

“It was a little different to see an F-16 take off without anyone in it, but it was a great flight all the way around,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Inman, Commander, 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron. “It’s a replication of current, real world situations and aircraft platforms they can shoot as a target. Now we have a mission capable, highly sustainable full scale aerial target to take us into the future.”

During last week’s test, a pair of QF-16s aced taking off and landing on its own, as well as performing a series of simulated maneuvers. It also flew at 40,000 feet and broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.47.

Under an initial contract of $70 million, Boeing has modified six F-16s into the QF-16 configuration with low-rate initial production scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter and first production deliveries in 2015.

However, some are concerned about the potential for the Air Force to move the QF-16 from a training and testing vehicle to their use in warfare.

“I’m very concerned these could be used to target people on the ground,” Noel Sharkey from theCampaign to Stop Killer Robots told the BBC. ”I’m particularly worried about the high speed at which they can travel because they might not be able to distinguish their targets very clearly.”

But converting retired aircraft for the purpose of training and weapon testing is a move the Air Force has had success with in the past when they converted Vietnam-era F-4 Phantom fighters to pilotless aircraft for target practice. The inventory of those QF-4s are expected to be depleted by the end of 2015, hence the need for the QF-16s.

“Talk about cradle-to-grave value out of an airplane, in terms of taxpayers’ dollars, I mean right up to the very end, this airplane is providing payback,” said Air Force Lt. Colonel Ron Miller at the time.

The exact costs of the F-16 are unclear, but some versions of it are estimated at approximately $30 million. So using them for target practice makes more economic sense than shipping them to the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, home to billions of dollars worth of rotting aircraft.

BY: Allen McDuffee for WIRED Magazine

Scary, Galloping Four-Legged Robot

Last year when DARPA released video of its new robot designed to replicate the movements (and, eventually, speed) of a cheetah, some of us were creeped out by the machine’s ability to “chase and evade” at the rate of nearly 30 mph.

The only thing reassuring was that the Cheetah was tethered by an electronic leash of cables. Now MIT spinoff Boston Dynamics has released WildCat, the sequel to Cheetah, which can only move at 16 mph at the moment, but can do so while untethered.

Funded by DARPA, WildCat uses a combination of galloping and bounding to move and gain speed, as the video below shows, and can already recover from from stumbles and falls with ease.

It’s still not totally clear what military applications Cheetah or WildCat will have once fully developed (although one guess is to carry military equipment in war zones if it gets a quieter power source), but DARPA has previously said that Cheetah could be used for “emergency response, firefighting, advanced agriculture and vehicular travel