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Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

baesystems.com

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Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#101

Post by arminiusreturns »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #84
sandworm101 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says autonomy, not flight time. They may intend this thing to land and remain active as a remote camera for much ot its mission.

They're claiming flight time - in the battery section of the infographic it claims "flight times of more than 40 minutes". Tri-blade props are not the most efficient - we use them in racing applications because we want to generate maximum thrust and we don't need more than around 2-3 minutes per battery but we wouldn't use them in an aerial photo rig where we want long flight times - 2 blade props would be the go to.…

Since you seem to have some expertise in this area, I am going to use the opportunity to ask a bit of a diagonal question I've wondered for a while:

I've seen claims about increase in airflow from bladeless fan designs (I know it's a bit of misnomer, as the blades are just hidden) for home applications. Is there a reason bladeless designs haven't been used in the UAV realm? I assumed the claims were just marketing, or the weight increase offsets the effeciency, or something like that, but thought I would ask.

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#102

Post by Veen »

twic wrote: post #93
vkou wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A single medium-caliber mortar is a five-hundred-year-old piece of technology that can be carried and assembled by two men, has an effective range of ~1,000 to 5,000 yards, does not require line of sight to the target, can be operated by a high-school dropout, and has a kill radius of 30 meters . One can probably be picked up from an army surplus warehouse somewhere in the former Soviet Union/(some current conflict z…

Expert disruptive innovators, the Irish Republican Army, repeatedly proved this: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=IRA+%22mortar+at... Amongst other things, shooting down a helicopter, and having a go, separately, at the queen and the prime minister.

> Expert disruptive innovators

Is that tech industry slang for “murderous child-killing bastards”?

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#103

Post by navait »

bencollier49 wrote: post #5

It feels like they're paying ludicrous money for these. Can someone in the know explain what differentiates these from shop-bought or scratch-built drones? As per this article below, the Nano 1A UAV Quadcopter Bug drone sells for £4,500 (a tenth of the price of another model, the Black Hornet Nano): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/drone-nano-b... I appreciate that this is probably a variation on the o…

I looked at the cost, 45k GBP each and thought "that seems like a steal compared to US Defense prices".

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#105

Post by Sideloader »

Hmm...from a tech porn perspective it’s a cool little gadget. But given the shadow surveillance and police state that was erected post 9/11 and how often “national security” outfits have been caught playing fast and loose with the laws of the land, there is a good chance that bugs like this one will be eventually be used to illegally spy on domestic dissidents and whistleblowers.

Governments in most western countries have thrown out habeas corpus and have given themselves the right to indefinitely ‘disappear’ anyone they arbitrarily deem a threat to national security. Julian Assange and Edward Snowden come to mind.

I wouldn’t trust governments and intelligence services in the post-democratic west with this technology any more than I’d trust their counterparts in “classic” totalitarian states.

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#106

Post by regularfry »

colonwqbang wrote: post #81
regularfry wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd take a shotgun over a marksman. Buckshot is designed for objects in this size range.

Buckshot is designed for killing "medium to large game" like... bucks. Maybe you mean birdshot?

Erm... Yes. Slip of the brain.

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#107

Post by amelius »

mattivc wrote: post #27

I work with nano-UAVs. I am very skeptical that the 40 minute flight time is even close to being real. Especially with a quadcopter design. They are way to inefficient.

It says "a quick change battery provides flight times of 40 minutes or more".

In other words, not on a single battery/charge.

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#108

Post by CraigJPerry »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #101
CraigJPerry wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're claiming flight time - in the battery section of the infographic it claims "flight times of more than 40 minutes". Tri-blade props are not the most efficient - we use them in racing applications because we want to generate maximum thrust and we don't need more than around 2-3 minutes per battery but we wouldn't use them in an aerial photo rig where we want long flight times - 2 blade props would be the go to.…

Since you seem to have some expertise in this area, I am going to use the opportunity to ask a bit of a diagonal question I've wondered for a while: I've seen claims about increase in airflow from bladeless fan designs (I know it's a bit of misnomer, as the blades are just hidden) for home applications. Is there a reason bladeless designs haven't been used in the UAV realm? I assumed the claims were just marketing, o…

Well out of my wheel house unfortunately but i do know that “air multiplier” marketing speak is called something like the coanda effect.

A Tom Stanton video with his coanda effect quadcopter https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Irp_vnmUWZ4

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#109

Post by lopmotr »

amelius wrote: post #107
mattivc wrote: post #27

I work with nano-UAVs. I am very skeptical that the 40 minute flight time is even close to being real. Especially with a quadcopter design. They are way to inefficient.

It says "a quick change battery provides flight times of 40 minutes or more". In other words, not on a single battery/charge.

Unlikely. It also directly says 40 minute battery life. If changes extended it, it would be unlimited.

Re: Bug drone for UK army that weights 196g, has 40 mins autonomy and 2km range

#110

Post by jleahy »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #39
jleahy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because of the energy density (per mass) of Li-Ion batteries. You basically hit a wall at 20 minutes that's very hard to push past (it almost feels like a law of physics). But maybe they're using non-rechargeable batteries: zinc-air or lithium-iron-disulfide (ie. a 'lithium' AA battery) or something else? Trade offs are different for military.

The amount of batteries soldiers need to carry is ridiculous; a 72 hour patrol load out includes up to 25 lbs of batteries already!

Yes but there are no convenient charging points, if the battery runs out then you need to replace it, not charge it. All the more reason to throw used batteries away (they’re cheap and it’s less to carry).
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