Newswise — Ever since the Wright brothers innovated in the back of their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, aviation has been, at heart, a nuts-and-bolts endeavor. For all the sophisticated equipment Idaho National Laboratory’s Unmanned Aerial Systems team has at its disposal for testing high-tech cameras, radios and sensors, there is still a lot of gearhead ingenuity involved.
Here, a $500,000 high-tech surveillance camera is kept aloft on an aircraft powered by a 1/2-horsepower gasoline engine adapted from a Honda pressure washer. The launching catapult for the plane is basically an oversized potato gun.
The group operates both in Idaho Falls and at the INL Site from a base that includes a 1,000-foot paved runway, a control trailer and a newly built 1,500-square-foot hangar.
‘Workhorses’
The Department of Energy complex has noted INL’s strength in testing unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs (better known as drones). Over 20 years, the lab has developed capabilities to test new platforms and evaluate technology not only for DOE but also the Department of Defense and private industry. With 890 square miles of open high-altitude desert, a secure border, and a sophisticated wireless test bed, the INL Site has proven to be a great place for testing unmanned aerial vehicles against real-world conditions like severe weather, temperature swings and day/night operations.
The first UAV work at INL involved infrared imagery and sensors to monitor remediation work and, in the case of wildfires, to collect GPS information to better coordinate ground efforts. When the runway was installed in 2010, it allowed for the use of fixed-wing aircraft. Since then, INL has spent more than $4 million to train personnel, procure aircraft and establish support facilities. Overall, INL supports more than 40 types of unmanned aircraft using mobile control stations that incorporate power, communication, monitoring and data acquisition capabilities.
Continue reading: https://www.newswise.com/articles/send-in-the-drones
Here, a $500,000 high-tech surveillance camera is kept aloft on an aircraft powered by a 1/2-horsepower gasoline engine adapted from a Honda pressure washer. The launching catapult for the plane is basically an oversized potato gun.
The group operates both in Idaho Falls and at the INL Site from a base that includes a 1,000-foot paved runway, a control trailer and a newly built 1,500-square-foot hangar.
‘Workhorses’
The Department of Energy complex has noted INL’s strength in testing unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs (better known as drones). Over 20 years, the lab has developed capabilities to test new platforms and evaluate technology not only for DOE but also the Department of Defense and private industry. With 890 square miles of open high-altitude desert, a secure border, and a sophisticated wireless test bed, the INL Site has proven to be a great place for testing unmanned aerial vehicles against real-world conditions like severe weather, temperature swings and day/night operations.
The first UAV work at INL involved infrared imagery and sensors to monitor remediation work and, in the case of wildfires, to collect GPS information to better coordinate ground efforts. When the runway was installed in 2010, it allowed for the use of fixed-wing aircraft. Since then, INL has spent more than $4 million to train personnel, procure aircraft and establish support facilities. Overall, INL supports more than 40 types of unmanned aircraft using mobile control stations that incorporate power, communication, monitoring and data acquisition capabilities.
Continue reading: https://www.newswise.com/articles/send-in-the-drones
