Next Big Future February 28, 2018 China’s domestically-produced UAV Caihong 4 (CH-4) is an upgraded version of the model which was first produced in 2015. The CH-4 can conduct effective air strikes on more targets, from longer distances with faster reaction. The drone flew for 15 hours, 20 kilometers above sea level well within near space. It is designed to reach altitudes of 65 km and fly for weeks on end. The plane can shoot 50-kilogram cluster bombs and an assortment of guided missiles… read more… read more.
Tag Archives: drones
Modeling Uncertainty Helps MIT’s Drone Zip Around Obstacles
IEEE Spectrum February 12, 2018 Researchers at MIT have developed a new motion planning framework called NanoMap, which uses a sequence of 3D snapshots to allow fast-moving (10 m/s) drones to safely navigate around obstacles even if they’re not entirely sure where they are. The key idea of NanoMap is to store a history of noisy relative pose transforms and search over a corresponding set of depth sensor measurements for the minimum-uncertainty view of a queried point in space… read more. Video.
Cyberwarfare is taking to the skies, aboard drones
MIT Technology Review February 6, 2018 Hovering computers will make it increasingly possible to hack equipment that doesn’t connect directly to the internet. While it’s not straightforward, hovering a drone close to a vehicle or building could enable people to hack devices that use wireless communication but were once thought relatively safe. Cyberscoop rounded up a selection of drones that hack into networks… read more