Micro-Air Vehicles to Get Insects and Bats Senses

Aurora Flight Sciences has been awarded a contract to develop navigation and control technology that will allow micro air vehicles (MAVs) to avoid collisions as they fly through urban and other cluttered environments. Due to their small size, MAVs hold great potential for providing valuable military intelligence while avoiding detection and destruction.

Aurora is partnering with Professor Sean Humbert and Professor Timothy Horiuchi, both of the University of Maryland, leveraging their expertise in bio-inspired sensing to create the technology that will allow MAVs to traverse urban areas without collision. This capability will enable unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct military intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions in environments in which enemy forces, assets, and activities are hidden or obscured.

Defense Update.