2020 has been a year like no other. However, despite huge uncertainty and disruption, the unmanned industry continued to grow and innovate. In 2020 many new products were announced, along with milestone achievements for drones, robotic systems and autonomous vehicles. Here’s our round-up of the ten most read articles of the year on UnmannedSystemsTechnology.com.
1. World’s Smallest UAV SATCOM Technology Announced
Honeywell launched a new miniature lightweight satellite communications (SATCOM) system for UAVs that it claimed is the smallest in the world. Weighing just one kilogram, the new system was 90% lighter than the company’s previous smallest connectivity system. Read more…
2. Heavy-Lift Cargo Delivery Drone Begins Commercial Testing
Drone Delivery Canada announced that it would begin commercial operations testing of its long-range heavy-lift Condor cargo delivery UAV. The testing, which involved Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights, took place at the Foremost UAS Test Range in Alberta under a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC). Read more…
3. New UAV Combines Helicopter and Autogyro Technology
Airial Robotics unveiled a new UAV concept based on its Gyrotrak platform, a hybrid technology combining the autorotation principles of autogyros with the precision hovering of helicopters. Read more…
4. DJI Launches Mavic Air 2 Aerial Imaging Drone
DJI launched the Mavic Air 2 quadcopter drone, a compact folding platform featuring 8K functionality and a larger 1/2” camera sensor for high-resolution photos and videos – the first in the Mavic series to offer 4K video at 60 fps and 120 Mbps. Read more…
5. First Commercially Available 5G Drone Enters Production
Plymouth Rock Technologies’ (PRT) announced it would begin initial production of the first commercially available drone with 5G capabilities. The X1 multirotor UAS features integrated 5G command and control modules as standard. Read more…
6. Autonomous Underwater Glider Circumnavigates Atlantic Ocean
Teledyne Marine’s Slocum G2 Glider AUV completed a four-part circumnavigation of the Atlantic Ocean that lasted for over four years, covering a total of 22,744 km and spending approximately 1,273 days at sea. The trip was the first such journey to ever be undertaken by an AUV. Read more…
7. Miniature Hybrid UAS/UGV Introduced
Robotic Research announced the debut of the Pegasus Mini, a smaller version of the previously-introduced Pegasus transformable hybrid UAV/UGV that can both drive on land and fly. Read more…
8. HD LWIR Thermal Camera for Unmanned Systems Launched
Sierra-Olympic Technologies released its new Vayu Long Wave Infrared HD thermal camera, featuring the world’s first Full HD 1920 x 1200 x 12μm uncooled VOX microbolometer array – the highest resolution uncooled LWIR camera on the market at the time. Read more…
9. CR Flight Introduce Counter-Rotating Electric Drone Motors
CR Flight developed a revolutionary new counter-rotating motor technology for both VTOL and horizontal-flight UAVs, designed for high-performance drone applications such as precision agriculture, inspection, search & rescue, mapping & surveying, and cargo delivery. Read more…
10. AUV Explores World’s Largest Subterranean Lake
Stone Aerospace’s AI-controlled SUNFISH Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was used by a team of engineers and divers to explore and map Dragon’s Breath Cave, a large water-filled cavern beneath the Kalahari Desert. Read more…
