Robotic hummingbird being built by U.S. to spy

William Atkins
Monday, 06 July 2009 18:07

Science - Energy

Actually, DARPA is contracting out much of the developmental work to AeroVironment (AV).

The U.S. Pentagon, according to the July 4, 2009 Daily Contributor article Military develops flying hummingbird spy cameras, has contracted with the company for $2.1 million to continue the development of the spy robotic hummingbird.

According to the AV website, the company “… develops and produces Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Efficent Electric Energy Technologies that enable our customers to rewrite the rules - of engagement, productivity, efficiency and safety - to their advantage. AV is relentlessly committed to delivering and supporting innovations that help our customers succeed.”

Additional information about the hummingbird spy bird is found on the DSO web site called “Nano Air Vehicle.”

It states, “The Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) Program will develop and demonstrate an extremely small (less than 7.5 cm), ultra-lightweight (less than 10 grams) air vehicle system with the potential to perform indoor and outdoor military missions. The program will explore novel, bio-inspired, conventional and unconventional configurations to provide the warfighter with unprecedented capability for urban mission operations.”

The article comes on to say, “Key objectives include the development of conformal, multifunctional structural hardware and strong, light, aerodynamic lifting surfaces/rotors for efficient flight at low Reynolds number (<15,000).”

The Reynolds number provides the ratio of inertial forces (resistance-of-mass forces, or dynamic pressure) to viscous forces (resistance of a fluid to deformational forces producing shear stress or extensional stress), which is used in the fields of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Or, it is also stated briefly as the dimensionless ratio of: dynamic pressure / shearing stress.

And, “The program will advance technologies that enable collision avoidance and navigation systems for use in GPS-denied [global positioning system-denied] indoor and outdoor environments and develop efficient methods for hovering flight and deployment or emplacement of sensors."

More information about the hummingbird craft is found on the AV website “UAS Advanced Development: Nano Air Vehicle.”