Category Archives: Research

NOAA Tests Drones that Hunt Hurricanes

Underside of the NOAA Hurricane Hunter plane with Altius-600 : Courtesy of Area-I

In clear skies over Maryland the week of January 11, NOAA scientists launched a new uncrewed small aircraft — a research drone — from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter plane to test its ability to gather weather data that could improve hurricane forecasts. Continue reading

MSU Uses Acoustic Anechoic Chamber to Develop Quieter Drones

Raspet Flight Research Laboratory engineer Hunter Vesa inside the acoustic anechoic chamber

A newly constructed interior room at Mississippi State’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory has been labeled the university’s quietest. Known as an acoustic anechoic chamber, the room, designed and built by Raspet’s engineers in consultation with expert faculty within MSU’s Bagley College of Engineering, absorbs reflections of sound waves. Continue reading

SESAR U-Space Partners Launch Smart City Air Mobility Trials

The revolution of urban air mobility (UAM) covers new concepts of operations, business cases, applicable regulations, and stakeholders and end users. This new business sector needs to be secured, invented, refined, structured and industrialized while staying sustainable and interoperable within the U-space framework. Continue reading

Micropillar Compression for Finding Heat-Tolerant Alloys

Metals containing niobium silicide are promising materials that can withstand high temperatures and improve efficiency of gas turbines in power plants and aircraft. But it has been difficult to accurately determine their mechanical properties due to their complex crystal structures. Now, scientists at Kyoto University in Japan have measured what happens at the micro-level when pressure is applied on tiny samples of these materials. Continue reading

FAA Announces $5.8M in 33 UAS Research Grants

 The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced $5.8 million in research, education and training grants to universities that comprise FAA’s Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), also known as the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE). Continue reading

Abu Dhabi University Students win Grant for AI-Powered Drones

Abu Dhabi University has announced that Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) has awarded an AED 150,000 grant to three proposals put forth by ADU Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineering students. The grant will support the winning proposals to build artificial intelligence-powered drones and robots, in preparation for EGA’s third edition of the AI Robot competition. Continue reading