Micro Air Vehicles are the Military's Surveillance Drones of the Future

Micro Air Vehicles are the Military’s Surveillance Drones of the Future

Published on 18 January 2010 by Stan Shyshkin in Security News

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mav 300x138 Micro Air Vehicles are the Militarys Surveillance Drones of the Future As always, the military is working on creating smarter, smaller, stealthier, and more lethal weapons and tools. But from all the military drones that they have created so far, this latest class of drones beats all the others. This new class is the Micro Air Vehicle MAV. Designed to be the size of a bug or a bird, the MAV uses nature’s flapping wings method of flight to better get around an urban terrain and better adjust to the gusts of wind created by obstructions like building. Aside from flying like an insect or bird, the MAV will be designed to also look like them to avoid suspicion.

The MAVs will be used for many different purposes ranging from surveillance missions, marking threats and points of interest, and all the way to taking out targets by sneaking up on them and then detonating explosives built into them. Researchers say these drones will also be able to work in swarms and communicate with each other to better carry out missions and create a “big picture” of the mission they are on.

As for powering the MAVs, researchers say that they might be able to charge from the sun, wind energy, power-lines, or vibrating machinery, and be able to go on missions for days or weeks at a time.

(Via DesignWorldOnline)