"PiWings 2.0 is a tiny drone based on Raspberry Pi Pico and ESP8266 WiFi module".
For those of you who are microcontroller enthusiasts and/or drone enthusiasts.
PiWings 2.0 is a tiny drone based on Raspberry Pi Pico and ESP8266 WiFi module
#uavs
Drone-on-drone dogfights are a thing now in Ukraine. Well, these videos look less like dogfights and more like a small FPV drone sneaking up on a large, sophisticated reconnaissance drone.
"With Russian reconnaissance drones enabling devastating missile strikes deep in Ukrainian territory, Ukraine's military is turning to a novel solution: deploying agile, low-cost 'kamikaze' drones to take out their high-priced Russian counterparts in midair dogfights."
Drone dogfights: Ukraine’s novel strategy to counter Russian reconnaissance UAVs
Recharging drones while they're flying? Apparently some progress has been made towards this goal ad DARPA has provided additional funding.
"Dr. Ifana Mahbub, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas, and her team of researchers are developing wireless technology to transfer electromagnetic waves to and from far distances. Called far-field wireless power transfer, or power beaming, the technology would enable UAVs, or drones, for example, to recharge without having to land at power stations. The technology would mark a significant advance in wireless recharging, which currently is limited to transferring power via low-frequency electromagnetic waves between very short distances, such as to a cellphone from a nearby charger."
To solve the problem electromagnetic waves from scattering along the way, "Mahbub and her team use a system of transmitters, or smaller antennas called phased-array antennas, to steer the electromagnetic waves along a targeted path."
Seems useful for military drones. Maybe that's why it's getting DARPA funding.
Researcher charges ahead with new tech to power drones wirelessly
Recharging drones while they're flying? Apparently some progress has been made towards this goal ad DARPA has provided additional funding.
"Dr. Ifana Mahbub, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas, and her team of researchers are developing wireless technology to transfer electromagnetic waves to and from far distances. Called far-field wireless power transfer, or power beaming, the technology would enable UAVs, or drones, for example, to recharge without having to land at power stations. The technology would mark a significant advance in wireless recharging, which currently is limited to transferring power via low-frequency electromagnetic waves between very short distances, such as to a cellphone from a nearby charger."
To solve the problem electromagnetic waves from scattering along the way, "Mahbub and her team use a system of transmitters, or smaller antennas called phased-array antennas, to steer the electromagnetic waves along a targeted path."
Seems useful for military drones. Maybe that's why it's getting DARPA funding.
Researcher charges ahead with new tech to power drones wirelessly
Kaspersky, the company that makes anti-virus software that some of you out there probably use (although maybe you'll rethink that after reading this), has been accused of making neural net software that's been added to Iranian drones and sent to battle in Ukraine.
So you'll see this link is to "Part 2" of a story. "Part 1" is about how a company called Albatross located in the Alabuga special economic zone, which is located in "the Republic of Tatarstan", which is not a separate country, but a state within Russia that is called a "Republic" anyway instead of "Oblast" which is the usual word for what would correspond approximately to a "state" in our country (well, assuming your country is the US, which it might not be, as there are people from everywhere here on FB, but you probably have something analogous in your country, "Province" for example), and is located -- if you've ever heard of the city of Kazan, Kazan in the capitol of Tatarstan -- ok that was a bit long for a sub-clause, where was I? Oh yeah, a company called Albatross in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan got hacked, and what the documents revealed is that this company, "Albatross" was making "motor boats", but "motor boats" was a code name for drones (and "bumpers" was the code name for the warheads they carried), and more specifically the "Dolphin 632 motor boat" was really the Iranian Shahed-136 UAV, which got renamed to the Geran-2 when procured by the Russian military.
"Part 2" which is the link here goes into the Kaspersky connection. Allegedly two people at Kaspersky previously took part in a contest, called ALB-search, to make a neural network on a drone that could find a missing person. In the military adaptation, it finds enemy soldiers. Kaspersky Lab made a subdivision called Kaspersky Neural Networks.
The article links to a presentation regarding a neural network for a drone for agriculture, with slides about assessment of crop quality, crop counting, weed detection, land inventory, and such, but it goes on to describe searching for people and animals, UAV detection (detection of other drones in its surroundings), and even traffic situation analysis.
There's also a system called Kaspersky Antidrone, which is supposed to be able to hijack, basically, control of someone else's drone within a controlled airspace.
The article alleges Kaspersky was working with Albatross not only to deploy their neural networks to Albatross drones and to use them for detection of enemy soldiers but to develop them into artillery spotters as well. This is all with an on-board neural network that runs directly on the drone.
If true, this would indicate advancement of drones in the Ukraine war, which, so far I've heard very little of neural networks running on board on drones, as well as advancement of cooperation between Russia and Iran as well as integration of civilian companies such as Kaspersky into the war effort.
This information comes from a website called InformNapalm which I haven't seen before but they say was created by some Ukrainians as a "citizen journalism" site following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Kaspersky has denied the allegations (article on that below).
AlabugaLeaks Part 2: Kaspersky Lab and neural networks for Russian military drones
"AI is now dogfighting with fighter pilots in the air."
Well, that headline makes it sound like dogfighting exercises between human pilots and AI-piloted aircraft are happening now, but the article actually says, in a longwinded way, that this has been authorized and is something that should be happening soon. It has been done in simulation only so far.
The AI-piloted aircraft is the X-62A, a modified two-seat F-16D that was tested last year.
"The machine learning approach relies on analyzing historical data to make informed decisions for both present and future situations, often discovering insights that are imperceptible to humans or challenging to express through conventional rule-based languages. Machine learning is extraordinarily powerful in environments and situations where conditions fluctuate dynamically making it difficult to establish clear and robust rules."
"Enabling a pilot-optional aircraft like the X-62A to dogfight against a real human opponent who is making unknowable independent decisions is exactly the 'environments and situations' being referred to here. Mock engagements like this can be very dangerous even for the most highly trained pilots given their unpredictability."
"Trust in the ACE algorithms is set to be put to a significant test later this year when Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall gets into the cockpit for a test flight."
"I'm going to take a ride in an autonomously flown F-16 later this year. There will be a pilot with me who will just be watching, as I will be, as the autonomous technology works, and hopefully, neither he nor I will be needed to fly the airplane."
ACE stands for "Air Combat Evolution". It's a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program.
Article has lots of links to more information on AI in fighter jets.
https://www.twz.com/air/ai-is-now-dogfighting-with-fighter-pilots-in-the-air
FlowState: The FPV Drone Documentary. FPV as in "first-person view". The out-of-body experience of being in a state of 'flow', one with your drone. Blow the video up to full screen and crank up the resolution... unless you're prone to motion sickness. Jaw-dropping footage of stunts in 3 dimensions around "bandos" (abandoned buildings), skyscrapers, parking garages, other urban structures, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, other natural scenery, skateboarders, mountain bikers, skiers, snowboarders, base jumpers, wing suit jumpers, etc, drift cars, and more. Delves into the hobbyist culture behind FPV. Shows drone racing. Explores the the worry that FAA "RemoteID" laws may bring an end to the hobby. Introduces you to all the key players in the FPV community, which is a smaller and more tight-knit community than you may have thought.
FlowState: The FPV Drone Documentary (Full Film Official Release) - Joshua Bardwell
Anduril Industries announces Roadrunner and Roadrunner-M. This is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is a vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) vehicle that looks kind of like a stubby rocket with big fins. It uses twin turbojet engines. It's billed as an "interceptor" for ground defense against aircraft. There's a Roadrunner-M high-explosive interceptor variant. (Don't know what the "M" stands for -- "munitions" maybe?). It has it's own portable "hangar" that it launches from that is portable, so it can be launched from anywhere, controlled by one operator, and can come back and land when it is done with its mission and be reused for the next mission.
Anduril Industries is a company founded by Palmer Luckey, creator of the Oculus Rift and founder of Oculus VR, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014. Apparently the premise of the company is that Silicon Valley tech companies don't want to sell technology to the military, so Anduril was created to step in and fill that void and provide technology to the military that other Silicon Valley company are unwilling to sell. They already have a bunch of products which I never heard of, which are ALTIUS, Anvil, Dive-LD, Ghost, Fury, Menace, Sentry, WISP, and Lattice Command & Control.
ALTIUS (stands for Agile-Launched, Tactically-Integrated Unmanned System) is a drone that can be launched from a helicopter, as well as from the ground or naval ship, and can function as a loitering munition or perform other functions such as signals intelligence.
Anvil is a quadcopter designed to take out enemy drones. Basically by getting under them and whacking them from the bottom.
Dive-LD is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). It's designed for underwater reconnaissance, seafloor mapping, anti-mine operations, and anti-submarine warfare.
Ghost is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is not a quadcopter but uses a design more like traditional helicopters, and is designed for quiet flight. It's for reconnaissance missions. There's a new Ghost-X variant with upgraded propulsion, battery life, communications, multiple payload capability, and additional sensors.
Fury is a high-performance, high-end fighter jet, but unmanned. Can fly up to mach 0.95 and can pull 9 Gs.
Menace is, eh, it looks like one of those containers that you see on container ships & trains. But what it is is a rapidly deployable "expeditionary command, control, communications, and computing (C4)" station.
Sentry is a family of sensor towers. Anduril promises "edge" AI can deliver highly accurate awareness and identification of aircraft and other "objects of interest".
WISP (stands for Wide-Area Infrared System for Persistent Surveillance) is a rotating, 360-degree infrared sensor that uses AI for threat detection and situational awareness.
Lattice Command & Control is their software system for integrating information and controlling aerial vehicles. "Lattice uses technologies like sensor fusion, computer vision, edge computing, and machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect, track, and classify every object of interest in an operator's vicinity." See below for more on Lattice.
Anduril unveils Roadrunner & Roadrunner-M - Anduril Industries
"AutoFlight has achieved one of the world's longest eVTOL flight in history with a distance of 250 km (155 miles) on a single charge of the aircraft's lithium-ion batteries."
"AutoFlight's Prosperity aircraft uses rotors to lift the aircraft vertically for takeoff, then transitions to horizontal flight on the wing like a traditional airplane. The aircraft is capable of speeds in excess of 200 km/h, over a range greater than 250 km."
"A similar milestone was achieved by Joby Aviation in July 2021, when it covered a total flight distance of 154.6 statute mile at its electric flight base in Big Sur, California."
The aircraft was designed by a guy who made designs for Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren, and MINI, Frank Stephenson.
AutoFlight completes one of the world's longest eVTOL flights with its new Gen 4 aircraft
"Maple seeds inspire efficient spinning microdrone: a 50-gram samara drone can self-stabilize and hover for over 24 minutes." "Maple seed pods, also called samaras, are those things you see whirling down from maple trees in the fall, helicopter style. The seed pods are optimized for maximum air time through efficient rotating flight, thanks to an evolutionary design process that rewards the distance traveled from the parent tree, resulting in a relatively large wing with a high ratio of wing to payload."
"This particular design is symmetrical, using two sizable wings, each with a tip propeller. The electronics, battery, and payload are in the center, and flight consists of the entire vehicle spinning at about 200 rpm."
Drone that can fly in heavy rain. "You wouldn't want to fly most drones in a serious downpour, even most industrial-grade ones from DJI. Until today, DJI's state-of-the-art was the M300 RTK, a drone that took a barrage of water in marketing videos but where the fine print (PDF) says that snow and heavy rain are not OK for flying. But DJI's weather sealing and confidence rating have improved -- the new DJI M30 Enterprise, announced today, is explicitly ready for 'heavy rain, high winds, high altitudes, even in icy and snowy conditions from -20° C to 50° C.'"
DJI's newest drone can fly in heavy rain -- and has its own robotic dock
