AUVSI: Lockheed Martin shows off Samarai
The first public flight of the Samarai UAS, which resembles a 'winged seed', or samara, such as the seed of the maple tree, was conducted at Unmanned Systems North America on 16 August.
Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technologies Laboratories revealed the existence of the UAS at last year's conference, but could only show video of the system. Since then the team behind the design has continued to develop the UAS, which has its roots in biological design.
'There have been big improvements in the UAS, William Borgia, Director, Intelligent Robotics Laboratory told Shephard. 'We've been improving the control for stability and streaming video.'
Unlike a traditional aircraft the Samarai only has one control surface. That coupled with varying the power is the only way to guide it in flight. 'The only way we can do that is with intelligent control technology as a human operator wouldn't be able to control it,' stated Borgia.
Borgia believes a Samarai type UAS could have a number of applications. One possible use would be for urban surveillance. The design also means that the UAS could be dropped from altitude and auto-rotate in to position.
Although the current system has been developed largely so that the company's scientists can look at the issues of this type of control Borgia acknowledged that it would be possible to spin the UAS out in to a real product. 'We've been talking to other divisions in the company about its possible use,' he said.
Looking at the further development of Samarai Borgia said the design team would look at scaling the technology down. 'I'd like us to be able to do as well as nature can,' he added. However, shrinking the system down to the 5cm scale of a maple seed changes the control dynamics.
More from Uncrewed Vehicles
-
Navantia, SAES and Perseo to jointly develop line of uncrewed underwater vehicles
At FEINDEF in Madrid, Navantia, SAES and Perseo announced an intention to develop a line of uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs).
-
British Army eyes new small armed UAS capability
The UK MoD has released a request for information on small armed UAS which could be used by the British Army.
-
General Atomics delivers first new build extended range MQ-9A to US Marine Corps
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) has delivered the first new build MQ-9 Extended Range (ER) to the US Marine Corps (USMC).
-
Highway landing opens door to future MQ-9 Reaper capabilities
The US has landed an MQ-9 Reaper UAV on a highway for the first time as part of Exercise Agile Chariot.
-
SOF Week 2023: AeroVironment introduces VTOL kit for Puma AE UAS (video)
AeroVironment has introduced the Puma VTOL kit, designed for plug-and-play integration into Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE small uncrewed aircraft systems.