Captivating an International Audience-UAV Accomplishes World First
Published on September 10, 2010
September 10, 2010, Medicine Hat Alberta...A world first, the Aeryon Scout- an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operated by Marnie McVicar, vice president of business development for Aeryon Labs Inc and Sterling Cripps, vice-president and chief operating officer for the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (CCUVS), took flight outdoors at the 2010 Farnborough International Airshow, in Hampshire, England. A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) miniature UAV, the Aeryon Scout can provide constant visual surveillance as well as quick-connect payload programming; payloads include HD digital video, near-infrared and thermal imagery. Able to provide visual surveillance this UAV is used operationally by law enforcement.
“This year Farnborough offered its airspace and time to allow small UAVs to fly. It was ideal to use this opportunity to showcase the system, but little did I know it led to a tremendous success for Canadian technology; we were the first people to ever fly an unmanned air system at the Farnborough International Airshow,” said Sterling Cripps vice-president and chief operating officer for CCUVS. “We bought the Aeryon Scout to do technology demonstrations to help people understand what’s going on, what’s available and where we’re headed. It’s been developed in the last 3 years by quite an interesting group of very intelligent engineers- computer engineers. These people are smart to develop this; they built the Aeryon Scout from scratch.”
The Areyon Scout can operate at a distance of up to three kilometers for a duration of approximately 20 minutes, dependant on the payload. Controlled by a touch screen, the features include: map-based navigation, GPS camera targeting and integrated restrictions for altitudes, air-space and speeds. The Aeryon team is looking into additional payloads and collision avoidance technology, to detect and avoid such things as people, environmental and manufactured obstacles.
“The guys who founded it have a deep and long affection for flying things,” said Marni McVicar, vice president of business development for Aeryon Labs Inc. “They wanted to have an opportunity to turn what they have fun doing, into a business. There were two focuses of the system, making it fly, which the team is good at, and making it fly so it’s easy to use, which takes a whole lot more work. It’s not about having technical skills, but knowing how to design things so that non-technical people can use it to get information easily, safely and effectively. “
McVicar acknowledge CCUVS and Farnborough for the publicity and exposure gained at the airshow.
“I definitely give kudos to CCUVS for all the work they’re doing on behalf of UVS in Canada,” said McVicar. “They’re working hard to make Canada a player internationally; they’re phenomenal supporters for us and unmanned systems within Canada. “
Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Aeryon Labs Inc designs and manufactures small unmanned aerial vehicle systems used for aerial sensing applications. Equipped with commercial and technical backgrounds, the Aeryon team provides experience in a range of fields such as: computer and electrical engineering, video processing and software development. CCUVS has been working alongside Aeryon Labs Inc to assist in training and development as well as to streamline the application process with Transport Canada. For more information on CCUVS or to view the Alberta UVS video, visit www.edalliance.ca.