Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Articles

Welcome to Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine online! Here, you'll find information on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)- Search articles now, including such specialized devices as the Pointer UAV (Search articles now)and the UAV software (Search articles now) that drive them. This site provides information about the Pointer UAV and UAV software in current and archived articles from print issues of the magazine, as well as in Web-exclusive news stories, white papers, and Webcasts.

The Pointer UAV, a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle system, works well as a short-range "eye in the sky." Operated by the U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pointer UAV is a small, glider-like airplane powered by an electric motor that is able to operate close to the front lines. It uses a camera to take images, which can be viewed in real time by a ground-control station. In this way, soldiers in the field are able to gain an aerial picture of their surroundings, likely contributing to the success of their mission.

The Pointer UAV took its first flight with a black-and-white camera in 1986, and the system has received upgrades since that time. The United States Marines were the first to put the Pointer UAV in operation, in 1988. A color camera and GEN II night-vision camera was added in 1990, whereas 1995 brought such updates as global positioning system (GPS) AutoNavigation and infrared thermal imaging day/night camera capabilities.

At the same time, UAV software has received significant attention and upgrades. Look to Military & Aerospace Electronics' online news stories and articles for in-depth information about software solutions designed to benefit today's UAVs.

In "Rugged computers power the digital battlefield," from the January 2006 print issue, Ben Ames presents the challenges associated with equipping today's smaller and lighter UAVs with hard drives running advanced UAV software programs. Many manufacturers are meeting this challenge head on, devising solutions that enable users of UAVs to archive video, take snapshots, and share imagery with others via small-bandwidth radios. (See "Rugged computers power the digital battlefield.")

John McHale also investigates the topic of UAV software in "Networking Tomorrow's Battlefields." The article imparts ways in which today's defense professionals are planning future battles around a network-centric environment, of which UAVs and UAV software are part. (See "Networking Tomorrow's Battlefields.")

Such highly recognized industry names such as NASA, in its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are employing UAV software to record and utilize radar information. As part of its Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle-Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAV-SAR) program, NASA is using UAVs and UAV software to study the Earth through the measurement of surface deformations with millimeter-level accuracy. (See "Military storage designers call for hard drives.")

The items above provide just a taste of the many articles offered on the topics of the UAV, Pointer UAV, and UAV software.

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