Archive for March, 2009

The Draganflyer X6 UAV helicopter, designed by Draganfly Innovations Inc. for aerial photography and videography, was used by the Forensic Identification Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) on February 21, 2009 to collect evidence in a homicide investigation in a remote area outside of Kenora, Ontario, Canada. This represented the first operational mission of a federally approved, commercially produced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle by an emergency service in North America.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (PRWEB) March 26, 2009 — From the pages of Popular Science Magazine’s “Top 100 Innovations of the Year“, Draganfly Innovations’ Draganflyer X6 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has made the significant leap to commercial utilization.

The six-rotor, one kilogram, electric, VTOL, UAV helicopter designed for aerial photography and videography was used by the Forensic Identification Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) on February 21, 2009 to collect evidence in a homicide investigation in a remote area outside of Kenora, Ontario, Canada. This represented the first operational mission of a federally approved, commercially produced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle by an emergency service in North America.

Then, in March, 2009, the Saskatoon Police Service announced that it will follow suit, becoming the first urban police service in North America to utilize the Draganflyer X6 Police UAV for aerial forensic purposes within city limits.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles such as Draganfly’s Draganflyer X6 helicopter are subject to Transport Canada aviation regulations. Prior to the Saskatoon Police Service being able to test the Draganflyer X6, Transport Canada officials were in Saskatoon for a flight demonstration, to undertake their standard risk assessment testing, and discuss technical issues with Draganfly Innovations.

Under the Special Flight Operations Certificate granted by Transport Canada, Draganfly Innovations personnel will operate the Draganflyer X6 Police UAV Helicopter while Saskatoon Police Service personnel will operate the cameras used for forensic support.

The use of UAVs goes back to the 1950’s with the military, but only recently has it evolved into police applications. One of the innovators was Identification Constable Marc Sharpe of the Kenora Identification Services unit of the Ontario Provincial Police.

“Having used a fixed wing UAV since 2007, I could see the potential for great benefits to our forensic support operations. It gave us the ability to collect aerial evidence quickly and at minimum cost,” states Sharpe. “However, it also became apparent that in order to improve and expand operational effectiveness, an optimal UAV would need certain attributes. It would need to be small and light, have Vertical Take Off and Landing VTOL capabilities, have a GPS hold system while hovering, be constructed of exceptionally strong materials and be completely transportable.”

The Draganflyer X6 met all Sharpe’s requirements for a Police VTOL UAV. Sharpe continued, “The Draganflyer X6 enables us to economically obtain high quality aerial photos of major case scenes in a timely fashion.”

About Draganfly Innovations Inc.:
Draganfly Innovations Inc. has been manufacturing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles including radio controlled helicopters, airplanes, and airships for the past eleven years. From toys to industrial tools for police and military, Draganfly Innovations Inc. strives for optimum performance and ease of use. Draganfly’s innovative products have been featured on CNN Headline News, MSNBC, Discovery Channel, and in magazines and newspapers such as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo.com, WIRED, GQ, Stuff, Maxim, The New York Times, and The London Times. All Draganflyer helicopters, including the new Draganflyer X6 are exclusively available from Draganfly Innovations Inc.

The Draganflyer X6 UAV Helicopter is being featured at this year’s Wired Magazine LivingHome 2.0 at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The exhibit is called: Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd and opens TODAY, March 19, 2009. The home-designed by Michelle Kaufmann Designs™ and built by All-American Homes™- also focuses on what the future may bring to consumers. New and unique home technologies are on display, courtesy of WIRED magazine.

» See the Draganflyer X6 at the Wired Home.

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry exhibit Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd allows guests to tour a functioning three-story, modular and sustainable “green” home that highlights unique eco-friendly technologies and products for the 21st century.

The freshly updated exhibit home will be open from March 19, 2009 through Jan. 3, 2010 and is proudly sponsored by ComEd, Dominick’s and the Motorola Foundation.

“Smart” technologies like the Draganflyer X6 are incorporated throughout the WIRED home, including a full-home automation system that allows homeowners to control heat, lighting, window coverings, security sensors, and video cameras.  A touch-screen tracks electricity consumption in the WIRED LivingHome on a real-time basis and compares it with the energy production from wind and solar power. The technologies will demonstrate how a home can inspire lifestyle choices and be equipped to save resources while residents are away, as well as keep a home and its occupants protected.

The Draganflyer X6 UAV helicopter is a “Smart” and green technology because it is safe, very quiet, a zero emissions vehicle, electric powered, small & compact, and lightweight. The Draganflyer X6 is a revolutionary GPS guided, hi-definition, aerial video and digital photography platform used by photographers, the movie industry, police, and other professionals.

Visit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry’s Web site to purchase tickets.

Comtex Brazil features the Draganflyer X6 UAV at the Sao Paulo International Security Conference 2009

Picture collage:

View more pictures in our Photo Album.

Gizmodo, the Internet’s premiere gadget and technology blog, featured the first published pictures of the Draganflyer X6 police edition UAV on the front page of gizmodo.com last night. We gave Gizmodo exclusive first-run pictures of the Saskatoon Police Draganflyer X6 as well as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Draganflyer X6. The OPP has begun using the Draganflyer X6 in crime scene investigations. The Saskatoon Police will begin using the Draganflyer X6 this summer.

» Read the Gizmodo Draganflyer X6 Police UAV article:

Gizmodo.com Home Page March 10, 2009: 11:00pm. Exclusive pictures of the Draganflyer X6 UAV Police Edition

Download a full resolution screen shot from last night’s Gizmodo.com home page featuring the X6.

The Draganflyer X6 Helicopter is the first North American, federally approved, commercially manufactured UAV legal for use by emergency services in North America. The Saskatoon Police and Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will begin using the Draganflyer X6 in police investigations.

The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, the Regina Leader-Post, and the Calgary Herald newspapers published the story below on March 10th, 2009.

Saskatoon police to use mini-helicopter at crime scenes

The Saskatoon police will begin testing a world-renowned local invention this summer to do aerial photography of crime scenes and collisions.

Draganfly president Zenon Dragan flies a mini-helicopter with a camera mounted on it for police to do aerial photography of crime scenes and accident scenes. Photograph by: Gord Waldner, Star Phoenix, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News Service

The force will test pilot the Draganfly X6, a mini-helicopter and the brainchild of a local company, Draganfly Innovations Inc., that has been making remote-control flying machines for more than a decade. They will become the first police service in North America to use such a device to aid investigations inside a city.

“It’s like a toy,” said Sgt. Jerome Engele, who spearheaded the movement to use the mini-helicopter and tested one at a police conference in Ottawa last year. “But it’s a lot more stable and has a lot of capabilities.”

The small remote-control helicopter, which uses six horizontal blades, has a built-in camera to help with aerial photography and video. Up until now, police have had to rely on beam trucks to take aerial photographs and capture images of an entire collision scene. That can be tedious, Engele said.

The software, which can extrapolate data from photographs based on a few measurements, also cuts down the time police have to remain on scene, he said.

“Say we have a major artery blocked in excess of eight hours,” he said. “Well with this we hope that we can do all our measurements and free that freeway up within half the period of time.”

The $15,000 Draganfly X6, though compact, is still regarded as an aircraft and comes under aviation regulations, so the company needs to demonstrate it can be operated safely in cities and has utility for police in investigating crimes.

March 10, 2009: Saskatoon Star Phoenix Front Cover

The pilot project will be watched closely by government and police agencies across the world, as companies such as Draganfly have been lobbying to have the vehicles granted wider use in cities.

“The potential is huge,” said Kevin Lauscher, 52, a retired police officer who went to work for Draganfly two years ago. “It gives police another view and an overall picture of a crime scene.

“These are small steps but this one is big because it’s the first time in North America this has happened.”

The operator of the X6 guides the helicopter by using a remote control and wearing video-goggles that show what the chopper sees through the camera. While Draganfly staff will pilot the helicopter at first, police officers will decide what to photograph. Engele said he expects trained police officers will pilot the choppers themselves after they take a course this spring and receive proper clearances.

It won’t fly higher than a light post and will only be used in fair weather conditions, he said.

The American military has grown to rely on similar unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to do aerial surveys and provide video to commanders on the ground.

The key in expanding the service’s use of the technology is going to be proving the images hold up in court, Engele said. The X6 was used previously by the Ontario Provincial Police to photograph a homicide scene in rural Ontario and could be used in tactical or surveillance operations, he said.

“You could use it for anything your brain can think of,” Engele said. “You can fly it inside an office and take a picture of the whole room to capture blood splatter.”

City residents can expect to see the mini-helicopter hovering above collision scenes around late-spring or summer, Engele said.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “I think this is really going to be beneficial.”

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post

The purpose of this exercise was to show the combined use of three different robotic platforms to search an area from a safe distance.This scenario takes us from 100m over the search area to a few millimeters above the ground.

Testing was done using three electric powered vehicles.

1. The Procerus autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle,
2. Draganflyer X6 semi-autonomous UAV helicopter, and
3. a ground based throwable robot from Recon Robotics.

The scenario: Live video is broadcasted back to the operator in all three platforms.

1. Procerus fixed wing UAV aircraft descends through 70 meters AGL to a final orbit altitude of 50 meters AGL over the entire suspect area.
2. Draganflyer X6 Helicopter sent in to suspect area and provides high resolution video and imagery of target.
3. The Recon Robotics Scout miniature UGV robot scout is thrown/dropped into the area to investigate.

» Read: Combined mission testing; fixed wing, helicopter, robot

Early UAVs Took the Form of Balloons

• 

  Montgolfier Balloon

  The Montgolfier brothers in France, were the first to experiment with balloons in 1782.

• In preparation for their manned flights they sent unmanned aerostats aloft. During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the Northern Union put incendiary devices on unmanned observation balloons and released them with the hopes of starting fires on the Southern Confederacy side of the battle lines.
• Japan released high altitude balloons into the jet stream in 1944 with incendiary bombs attached. The mission was to start forest fires in North America.
• The United States modified high altitude weather balloons in the early 1950’s under the top secret Project Gopher and Genetrix Strategic Reconnaissance Programs. The balloons were outfitted with automatically triggered cameras which were set to record wide angle views of the Soviet Union. The results of these free-drift missions was said to be partially successful.

History of Building UAVs

Most aeronautical experimenters built models of their designs in order to discover if they would work. This practice is still used today. John Stringfellow and William Henson from England combined their talents in 1848 to build a steam powered propeller driven model aircraft with a 10 foot wingspan called the Aerial Steam Carriage. This model successfully flew for a distance of approximately 60 yards.  Another Stringfellow model was flown on a wire guide inside the Crystal Palace of London in 1868. Eyewitnesses reported that the steam powered tri-winged aeroplane generated lift and only used the wire guide to keep from crashing into walls. The American experimenter Samuel Langley in 1896 successfully flew a steam powered model he called “Aerodrome Number 5” down the Potomac river for 3/4 of a mile.

The First Major American UAVs

The forerunner of today’s UAV is reported to be the American Navy Curtiss/Sperry “flying bomb“. This primitive cruise missile first flew on March 6, 1918. The Charles Kettering Aerial Torpedo, also known as the Kettering Bug, was a parallel effort backed by the American Army. Orville Wright acted as a consultant on the project. The “Bug” was a gasoline fueled propeller driven biplane which flew on a preset course for approximately 50 miles late in 1918. The guidance systems for both aircraft, composed of a gyroscope and barometer/altimeter were designed by Elmer Sperry.

The First Major German UAVs

The German Fiesler FI 103 V1, “Buzz Bomb” or “Doodle Bug” of 1944, was the first successful cruise missile. This ram jet powered weapon traveled at speeds up to 400 mph and was able to strike London from launch sites in France. Germany also developed and used the Henschel Hs 293 and Fritz-X radio controlled glide bombs. These weapons were launched in midair from a controlling mother ship and steered to the target by radio commands made by a human operator. On Sept.9, 1943, the Italian battleship Roma was sunk by two Fritz-X bombs.

WWII US Remote Controlled Flying Bombs

The United States also developed remotely controlled flying bombs during the Second World War. In  April of 1942 an Interstate BQ-4/TDR(TDN) drone aircraft was successfully guided into a target ship using a TV camera mounted in the nose for steering. Operations with the BQ-4 in 1944 resulted in 18 hits on Japanese targets.

1950 -1970 US UAV Programs

The 1950’s and 1960’s saw the advancement of UAV mission parameters, propulsion and guidance systems. The US Navy and Air Force started programs to convert surplus aircraft into target drones. These programs continue to this day. Purpose designed and built target drones such as the Ryan Firebee series of jet propelled UAVs first appeared in the early 1950’s. This drone, as UAVs were called in those days, was eventually converted into one of the first surveillance platforms.

One of the first nuclear armed UAVs was the Northrup SM-62 Snark cruise missile which became operational in 1960. Most of the UAVs from this era suffered from  reliability issues centered around their navigation and guidance systems.

The Lockheed D-21 mach 3+ reconnaissance drone was intended to be air-launched from the back of the mach 3 M-21 interceptor. The drone was stealthy and hard to observe on radar but was plagued by technical problems. The program was canceled in 1971.

UAVs In Modern Warfare

The development of UAVs continued in fits and starts with some military commanders questioning their usefulness. The attitude towards UAVs changed with the Israeli Air Force’s stunning victory over the Syrian Air Force in 1982. Israel’s coordinated use of manned and unmanned aircraft allowed them to destroy 86 Syrian aircraft in a short time over the Bekaa Valley with minimal losses. Israeli drones were used as electronic decoys, electronic jammers and provided real-time surveillance. It could be argued that this campaign ushered in the modern era of the UAV. These expensive and unreliable “toys” had come of age.

When the Persian Gulf erupted in “Desert Storm” in 1991 the UAV had a definite role to play on a tactical level. Since that time the UAV has become strategic in some instances with the expanding reconnaissance coverage provided by platforms such as the “Global Hawk“. This system can provide information that was once only possible to gather with satellites or high flying manned aircraft.

Since the first Gulf War there has not been a conflict where UAVs were not deployed. The global war on terrorism has seen the expanding use of all forms of UAVs. In 2002 a Hellfire missile was successfully launched from a “Predator” UAV at a moving car containing an al-Qaeda leader in Yemen.

Rotary Winged UAV Systems

Until the last 10 years all UAVs were of the fixed-wing configuration. One of the ultimate goals for UAV research was to create a rotary-winged UAV that did not need the special skills of a helicopter pilot to fly it. The full sized RQ-8 Fire Scout has recently fired missiles at targets and achieved good results. The mini-sized Draganflyer X6 Helicopter uses GPS guidance, is capable of autonomous flight, man portable and deployable in under one half minute and can carry a variety of HD cameras in an urban setting while being almost silent as it flies on electric power.

What’s Next in UAVs

UAVs have gone from being curiosities to practical autonomous systems which are as big as small airliners or the size of insects. The field of micro UAVs is the hottest area of aeronautical development at the present. What was once thought of as being a “good idea” but beyond the practical limitations of available technology has now become commonplace. It is expected civilian operators of UAVs will out number the military ones in the near future. The list of applications for UAVs keeps growing.

Article written by: Cam Tetrault