UAVsTwo small, long-endurance UAVs unveiled
Danvers, Massachusetts-based CyPhy Works, a new robotics company, the other day unveiled two revolutionary small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs): EASE and PARC; the Extreme Access System for Entry (EASE) is an indoor flying UAV to help police, soldiers, and inspectors remain at safe standoff distances; the Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) is designed to fly vertically and remain hovering for unprecedented long durations without operator intervention
The EASE surveillance UAV during testing // Source: technologyreview.in
Danvers, Massachusetts-based CyPhy Works, a new robotics company, the other day unveiled two revolutionary small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs): EASE and PARC.
The Extreme Access System for Entry (EASE) is an indoor flying UAV to help police, soldiers, and inspectors remain at safe standoff distances. EASE boasts the long endurance, GPS denied navigation, and portability needed to act as a forward remote presence for improvised explosive device (IED) reconnaissance, building interior reconnaissance, hostage situations, and search and rescue. EASE will also be used for bridge and building inspection to help keep our population safer.
The Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) is designed to fly vertically and remain hovering for unprecedented long durations without operator intervention. PARC provides situational awareness (SA) through its imaging payload and extends the range of radios on the ground with a communications relay payload. Needing little deployment infrastructure, it provides SA in tight locations where the need is the greatest but infrastructure is least established such as combat outposts.
The company says that both EASE and PARC make use of a proprietary “microfilament” technology that transmits power, Ethernet protocol communications, and HD video. “The microfilament bears a resemblance to the effective use of tethers on underwater unmanned vehicles (UUVs), said Helen Greiner, CEO and founder of CyPhy Works, “But to be able to achieve a useful altitude or traverse useful distances, we had to engineer a completely new type of tether for the air domain, we call this a microfilament.”
This innovative microfilament eliminates common UAV pitfalls such as:
- Short time of flight
- Jamming (intentional noise to disrupt IED detonation signals and enemy comms)
- Spoofing (enemy hijacking the UAV to destroy it or use it against our forces)
- Interception (ISR information from UAV is intercepted and used by the enemy)
- Detection (enemy detects UAV RF link which gives away our position)
“What makes this innovative UAV approach so compelling,” said Matt England (LTC ret.), VP Military System of CyPhy Works, “is that it opens the door to a host of new applications for UAVs in the military and beyond.”
