Important Innovations

Honeywell's New Unmanned Aerial Systems Unit Source:  Vertical Aerospace Capitalizing on Flying Taxis and Drone Deliveries Honeywell International, a major aerospace supplier,  is launching a new autonomous aerial systems business unit.  The strategic move is a bet on growth in the unmanned aviation market of flying taxis, packages and cargo delivered by unmanned vehicles and drones.  Honeywell expects that business will grow into a $120 billion market by 2030. And Honeywell expects to get 20% of that market. Technology Supplier Honeywell's area of expertise is building aviation electronics and autonomous flight control systems.  The company doesn't build the drones.  It supplies aviation electronics and autonomous flight systems to customers like Germany's Volocopter, which is building eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing) flying taxis.  Another customer is UK based Vertical Aerospace which has a prototype vehicle that can carry c...

US Military Adding Drones & Drone Defense Source:  FLIR's Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Drone New Innovation Arsenal The US has ordered $39 million worth of small reconnaissance drones for the US Army.  The Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Drones are manufactured by FLIR Systems. They are tiny, strategic, live video providing drones for soldier/operators on the battlefield. Nano-UAV's The drones are small enough to fit into a soldier's pocket or in the palm of their hand.  They are nano-UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and provide a view of the battlefield.  The tiny drones work day and night, with speeds up to 20 feet per second and at a distance up to 1.24 miles. Live Video They are nearly silent and provide constant covert surveillance of the battlefield for half an hour. During that time, they transmit live video and HD photos back to the operator.  They weigh an ounce and are a little more than 6 inches long.  This is incredi...

What's New Under the Sun Source:  DARPA The Silent Falcon Laser Powered Drones DARPA, the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, is ramping up a program to power drones solely by lasers.  It's part of the program that created The Silent Falcon, a solar electric, unmanned aircraft system that uses laser power. The Silent Falcon The Silent Falcon is designed for long range, long endurance military missions.  It uses solar arrays to charge its batteries and power its motors, avionics and payloads. Never Ending Flights DARPA is planning a test to demonstrate the feasibility of recharging Silent Falcon's batteries onboard, inflight by using a powerful laser.  The light energy transmitted by a ground based laser will be received by photovoltaic receiving arrays in the aircraft's vertical tail.  This will enable indefinitely long flights and eliminate the need to land to refuel.  DARPA expects to deliver this system to the US mili...