Drone Technology - Blog Posts

The emergence of drone technology has equipped emergency management organizations with robust capabilities that will enable them to cater more closely to the society. It has helped them to enhance their crisis management strategies and facilitate the optimization of resources. Although drones have received mixed reviews, especially in terms of privacy, their benefits during emergencies are unquestionable.

Drones can access environments that are difficult for relief workers, thus assisting in recovery efforts. Its benefits range from limited to escalated disasters, including floods, earthquakes, nuclear accidents, forest fires, and so on. Drones can be used for early detection, especially in the case of chemical accidents, where it is difficult for humans to carry out relief actions.

Nuclear and chemical accidents often lead to the release of toxic substances into the atmosphere. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive events lead to unsafe conditions for human beings. Evens In such circumstances, drones can assist in undertaking swift and effective countermeasures.

During earthquakes, drones can be deployed to monitor the extent of damage and prioritize the areas. They can be equipped with robust sensors to measure radiation, thus enabling the agencies to minimize fallout exposure for the relief workers. The drones can be used to assess the structural damage, especially buildings on the verge of collapsing. They are also useful in hard to reach areas such as tunnels and bridges.

Drones today are not just limited to military surveillance or tech-savvy customers. There have been several advancements in drone technology over the last few years, and with each advancement, drone technology continues to improve in itself.

Aerospace Innovations: https://goo.gl/sdpPUK

Moving toward an Information Age Air Force: https://goo.gl/ytcEVh

Engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts

Since the first airplane took flight over 100 years ago, virtually every aircraft in the sky has flown with the help of moving parts such as propellers, turbine blades, and fans, which are powered by the combustion of fossil fuels or by battery packs that produce a persistent, whining buzz.

Now MIT engineers have built and flown the first-ever plane with no moving parts. Instead of propellers or turbines, the light aircraft is powered by an “ionic wind” – a silent but mighty flow of ions that is produced aboard the plane, and that generates enough thrust to propel the plane over a sustained, steady flight.

Unlike turbine-powered planes, the aircraft does not depend on fossil fuels to fly. And unlike propeller-driven drones, the new design is completely silent.

“This is the first-ever sustained flight of a plane with no moving parts in the propulsion system,” says Steven Barrett, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. “This has potentially opened new and unexplored possibilities for aircraft which are quieter, mechanically simpler, and do not emit combustion emissions.”

He expects that in the near-term, such ion wind propulsion systems could be used to fly less noisy drones. Further out, he envisions ion propulsion paired with more conventional combustion systems to create more fuel-efficient, hybrid passenger planes and other large aircraft.

Barrett and his team at MIT have published their results in the journal Nature.

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