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UAV NEWS
Parrot launching smartphone-controlled drones
by Staff Writers
San Francisco (AFP) May 11, 2014


Use of Intel data from Skeldar UAV expanded by Saab
Linkoping, Sweden (UPI) May 9, 2013 - Saab reports it has enhanced the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of its Skeldar unmanned aerial vehicle through product integration.

Integrated into the system is the company's Multi-Sensor Intelligence Cell, a flexible ground-based system to collect, process, analyze and report intelligence data.

Saab said combining Skeldar and MSIC gives users a tool that can close the "ISR loop" by delivering real-time sensor analysis for the mission commander to evaluate. Also, MSIC gives operators a 'sensor-to-shooter' capability by providing targeting coordinates from the sensor data.

"The MSIC has always been able to handle data from multiple ISR sources by acting as a stand-alone intelligence center," said Bjorn Klerestam, MSIC Product Manager at Saab. "Now we also have a system that enables us to scale-up the functionality of MSIC into a more integrated part of the ground control station of a UAS system like Skeldar."

MSIC has been in service with the Swedish military since 2005 and has been used for Swedish UAV operations in Afghanistan and for Gripen fighter reconnaissance missions.

Skeldar is a vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle with an endurance of five hours, a range of 93 miles and a speed of nearly 81 miles per hour. Its service ceiling is more than 14,000 feet.

The system was operationally deployed last year by a Spanish Navy vessel.

Wireless products maker Parrot unveiled a drone Sunday aimed squarely at smartphone or tablet owners keen on getting bird's eye views of the world.

Parrot billed its Bebop Drone as a flying high-quality camera that will land in the market in the final three months this year.

The Paris-based maker of wireless accessories for automobiles and handheld mobile devices did not disclose how much it plans to charge for the drones.

"The experience is like being a bird, an insect," Parrot founder and chief Henri Seydoux said while providing an early look at Bebop drones in San Francisco.

"You fly through the device and see the same thing as if you were a bird."

A Bebop drone can be controlled using smartphones or tablet computers powered by Apple or Android software, displaying on screens what is captured by its high-definition camera with a 180-degree "fish-eye" view.

The drones can also synch to Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets, letting wearers essentially look around by moving their heads as though they are actually flying.

Consumer targets for the drones, which are essentially motion-stabilized cameras, include people who want to capture aerial shots for movies made using smartphones or tablets.

Bebop drones link to mobile devices using standard Wi-Fi connections and have ranges of about 980 feet (300 meters).

Parrot said it will sell separately a Skycontroller accessory dock for mobile devices to boost flying distances to about 1.2 miles (two kilometers).

A homing feature lets people controlling Bebop drones order them to return automatically to where they took-off using GPS capabilities, according to Seydoux.

A 2.2-pound (one-kilogram) Bebop drone, whose camera is taken aloft by four propellers, buzzed like a swarm of bees as it swooped, circled and hovered in an inner courtyard at a historic former US mint building in downtown San Francisco.

The drones are designed to fly indoors or outdoors.

Imagery captured by drones is stored and can be digitally downloaded after Bebops return from flights, according to Parrot product manager Francois Callou.

Bebop drones will debut as communities and regulators grapple with privacy concerns, aviation risks and other issues raised by personal or business use of such devices in the skies.

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Iran says it has copied US drone
Tehran (AFP) May 11, 2014
Iran said on Sunday it has succeeded in copying a US drone it captured in December 2011, with state television broadcasting images apparently showing the replicated aircraft. Tehran captured the US RQ-170 Sentinel in 2011 while it was in its airspace, apparently on a mission to spy on the country's nuclear sites, media in the United States reported. "Our engineers succeeded in breaking t ... read more


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