Unlock document.
This document is partially blurred.
Unlock all pages and 1 million more documents.
Get Access
Unmanned Aerial Systems
On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers made humans flying a reality when they
completed the first controlled and sustained heavier-than-air flight. Aviation is one industry
that is constantly evolving. Every year some new technological advance in aviation takes
the market by storm. Now 112 years later the new wave of aviation is about to take over
the industry. From military and government use, to a hobby, and possibly in the near
future, a way to deliver packages for Amazon are becoming more and more popular. UAVs
(unmanned aerial vehicles), or more commonly known as drones are becoming a very
exciting sector in the aviation industry.
A UAV is an aircraft that that is controlled remotely and does not require a pilot aboard the
aircraft in order for it to maintain straight-and-level continuous flight. It can be powered by
a jet engine, a reciprocating engine, and even an electric engine. UAVs come in many
different shapes and sizes. A military drone, although much smaller, tends to look a lot like
an airplane. When you go to a hobby shop the most popular ones for civilian use are
quadcopters. A quadcopter has four engines and four propellers. Generally, they are
electrically powered. They also range in size. Some quadcopters are able to fit into the
palm of your hand. Then they go up in size and up drastically in price. Most of the
quadcopters with a price tag of $1500 have some awesome features. If you are within
sensitive airspace such as class bravo, it will not fly into that area. If you lose sight of it,
with the flip of a switch the drone will fly back to you and land automatically. The
technology that is integrated into these systems is absolutely incredible.
The history of UAVs date back to World War I. On September 12, 1916 the Hewitt-Sperry
Automatic Airplane, better known as the “flying bomb,” made its first flight. These were a
very early version of what are known today as “cruise missiles.” Although these are piloted
in an unmanned system, they are not considered to be a UAV because they were the
explosive and they did not return from the mission. Reginald Denny was a pioneer of the
UAVs early development and by 1940 he had several prototypes all of which he had
demonstrated to the United States Army. He finally won a contract with the Army for his
RP-4 prototype. It would soon be developed into the Radioplane OQ-2. He manufactured
