We have seen many UAVs in the past like PHANTOM, SenseFly and much more recent AeroDrone; and this unmanned aerial vehicle has its own reason for being developed, to be precise, disaster relief operations. To assess the extremity of disaster in areas where relief supplies are needed, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) has developed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) called PUMA-AE. Manufactured by Aero Instrument Byron USA, this unmanned aircraft weighs only 5.9kg and has a wingspan of 2.8 meters. With the capability of carrying a payload of around 0.5kg, PUMA-AE drone can be equipped with a camera so as to bring back important video or image feed of the disaster struck areas. Having a wind speed of 25 knots, maximum flight altitude of 5000m, the UAV can attain a flight time of 2-4 hours and a flight distance of 15kms in one go. The UAV works on radio relay system which communicates with the affected area and the disaster relief point.
PUMA-AE unmanned aerial vehicle has a very negligible sound footprint as it is nearly unheard while in operation from a distance of just 50m. The UAV is waterproof and has autonomous flight electric start where the user has to throw it from hand to give it the air needed for flight. According to NICT, two aircrafts can be flown simultaneously at around 2km of distance from each other to further increase the area of coverage for disaster relief. The UAV will make its maiden test flight on March 26 and 25th between 9AM to 4PM to analyze the various performance criterions.
Via: NICT
Comments
