Carbon Fiber is Obsolete…At Least For sUAS Construction.

Carbon fiber is a strong and lightweight material for manned aircraft.  As long as it is protected from hitting other objects, it outperforms metal. But resin-based construction materials (carbon fiber, fiberglass and reinforced plastics) were never intended to survive the blunt force trauma and rough handling small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) confront in the field.  Resin-based materials crack and shatter when struck by objects at even medium velocities.  Any sUAS constructed from these materials is one incident away from never flying again.  Any sUAS manufacturer still using resin-based materials is using obsolete construction methods not suited for sUAS.

We know how much abuse these small aircraft are exposed to because we work in the field around these resin-based airframes.  Time and time again we witnessed one hard landing, one aborted take-off or one pilot error and the entire airframe and even the payload were damaged beyond repair.  We witnessed too many sUAS suffer only a minor bump on landing to discover that the airframe had a mission-ending crack that could not be repaired in the field.

We don’t use resin-based materials in the construction of Air Robotics products.  We discovered long ago that carbon fiber and fiberglass do not perform well in the environment in which these systems are being used. We have spent over three years perfecting our patent-pending construction methods and materials used in our Im IV-C. The result of our efforts is an airframe that is so tough that you can hit it with a hammer and run over it with a truck.  No other sUAS manufacturer will allow you to do that to their aircraft.

Português Brasileiro

 

Detecting Airborne Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Agents.

Air Robotics’ patent-pending method of detecting and mapping airborne Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) agents using low-flying small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) allows government organizations to quickly sample the air in an area of suspected contamination.  Real-time data collected by the sUAS and transmitted to a Ground Control Station delivers an ortho-rectified map showing the location of the airborne agents.  

Airborne chemical agent hits displayed on photo overlay.

In the Field

We spent a week in the field working with America’s finest.

Air Robotics Announces Patent-Pending Method of Creating Digital Elevation Models Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

Air Robotics, the world’s leading innovator of hand launched, small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS), is pleased to announce its patent-pending method of creating Digital Elevation Models (DEM) using low flying sUAS.  Creating accurate DEMs using sUAS is a challenge. The methods that work for manned aircraft do not work for sUAS.  The old processes require time consuming post processing and human intervention. Creating accurate contour models using data collected by sUAS are difficult to create and contain human induced errors.  The end user can not be sure that the DEM is a true representation of the terrain.  Air Robotics’ patent pending method delivers higher quality data, eliminates human induced errors and produces DEM’s with sub-foot contours.

Air Robotics Announces Patent-Pending Method to Detect and Locate Chemical Contamination Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

Air Robotics, a leading innovator of hand launched, small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS), is pleased to announce its patent-pending method of detecting and locating ground and waterborne pollutants using low flying sUAS.  This game changing method allows users to detect and locate chemicals on the ground and in the water.  Before, labor intensive and time-consuming manual soil and water collection and testing had to be done.  Even then, a clear understanding of the environment was not known. Air Robotics method delivers an ortho-rectified image showing the exact location and concentrations of chemicals and pollutants.  Selenium, iron, and even chemicals used in natural gas hydraulic fracking are only a few of the pollutants that can be clearly seen allowing users to initiate remedies before damage is done to the surrounding environment and ground water supplies.

Glycol spills seen in this multispectral image collected by an Im IV-C using Air Robotics patent-pending method.

Bullet Resistant Airframe

Im IV-C Bullet Resistant Airframe — Two shots at 100 yards. .223 and .30 caliber. No expansion. Complete pass through. Airworthy.

The Aircraft Is Just A Platform

The Teal Group released their latest study on the UAV market this week.  We found the following quote to be most interesting.

But big names in defence are not necessarily destined to succeed. Winners, says Zaloga, will be the companies that best understand the armed services’ requirements and master the integration of electronic systems to meet them, with a clear appreciation of the fact that the “aircraft is just a platform”.

Read the entire article here: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/03/29/354759/uav-market-set-to-double.html

U.S. Patent Office Issues Design Patent for Air Robotics Blended-Wing Body Aircraft

Air Robotics, the world’s leading innovator of hand launched, small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS), is pleased to announce the issuance of U.S. design patent D626,490 for its Payload Agnostic™ Airborne Vehicle System™ (AVS). The design patent covers the visual appearance and design of the Air Robotics AVS and strictly prohibits the production, copying, importation and/or use of products with a similar design without the express written permission or license from Air Robotics.

Jeff Imel, Air Robotics Founder, states, “Our design is based on over six years of intensive research and development.  The design blends the requirements of the aircraft to endure substantial physical abuse in the field, with the ability to, at the same time, deliver highly-efficient flight performance in the air.  This patented design enables our clients to perform airborne remote sensing in environments in which other aircraft would definitely become damaged beyond repair.”

Air Robotics is the first and currently only company to commercially produce an sUAS that is resistant to foreign object damage. The company has eliminated the two most vulnerable and limiting areas, the fuselage and the tail group, and constructed our AVS out of light-weight, energy-dissipating materials. The AVS remains operational even after being shot with an assault rifle, being run over by a truck, or hitting an obstruction during launch and landing. In situations where other sUAVs break down and become inoperable, the AVS remains ready for yet another flight. For more information about Air Robotics and its products, call (866)977-7796, contact us at sales@airroboticsllc.com, or visit www.airroboticsllc.com.

BAA-11-01-PKP

Is Clean Water Act Compliance Important to Your Company?

The pond at the bottom of the valley is contaminated. The picture on the left is a normal picture and you can’t identify the source of contamination. Air Robotics sensors identify the sources of chemical contamination. Sensors display the chemical contamination in the picture on the right as streams of orange cascading down the hills into the pond.

Is Clean Water Act compliance important to your company?  Testing your water only tells you if it is contaminated. Treating your water is not stopping the source of the contamination. Air Robotics patent-pending method can identify the source of water contamination and you are empowered to stop the contamination once and for all.

Email us today to learn more at cleanwater@airroboticsllc.com

Air Robotics proudly announces the release of the Im IV-C Payload Agnostic™ Airborne Vehicle System™.

The Im IV-C Payload Agnostic™ Airborne Vehicle System™ (AVS) has completed its flight testing program and is now available for general release. 

The Im IV-C is the only hand-launched, payload-agnostic, small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) with a payload capacity of over 200 cubic inches – over five times the capacity of current hand-launched sUAS.  Every sUAS on the market today has one thing in common: The payload is custom fitted inside of the airframe or fuselage.  However, Air Robotics patent-pending Modular Payload Lifting System™ (MPLS) pod is completely different. Our system makes the fuselage obsolete by delivering a true, payload-agnostic airborne platform to the market.  The MPLS pod and the Im IV-C platform work together much like a semi truck tractor and trailer.  The “tractor” in this case is the Im IV-C airframe that contains everything for flight, and the “trailer” is the Modular Payload Lifting System™ pod that contains the payload. The payload is field swappable in a matter of minutes – saving customers money and time by not needing to purchase a different sUAS for each specific payload they wish to carry.

SURGE-V  BAA-11-01-PKP