Trend: The market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which can reduce casualties and costs in many martial environments, may see significant growth in the next few years.
Emerging Technology Trends at ZDNet.com describes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) being developed at MIT. Excerpts below.
Link: » MIT’s smart flying drones | Emerging Technology Trends | ZDNet.com
MIT researchers have developed a multiple-UAV test platform which can be operated by anyone with a high-speed Internet connection. And these small and inexpensive helicopters could soon stay in the air for a week, automatically coming back to their base and landing to recharge their batteries.
Here are additional details provided by Lauren Clark, who wrote an article about MIT's intelligent aircraft for MIT News (September 26, 2006).
The test platform consists of five miniature "quadrotor" aircraft — helicopters with four whirling blades instead of one — each a little smaller than a seagull. It also includes an indoor positioning system, as well as several miniature autonomous ground vehicles that the UAVs can track from the air.
Each UAV [, costing only about $700,] is networked with a PC. The setup allows a single operator to command the entire system, flying multiple UAVs simultaneously. Moreover, it requires no piloting skills; software flies the vehicles from takeoff to landing.
If you think that the UAV business is small, you're wrong. According to the Boston Globe, it "will represent a $55 billion worldwide market over the next 10 years. Annual spending on flying drone systems could triple, to $8.3 billion in 2016 from $2.7 billion now."
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