Aviation News, Boeing, Airbus

Using an electric RC helicopter called a Draganflyer (manufactured by Draganfly Innovations Inc) MIT is developing a system to allow multiple flying craft to work together under computer control, performing surveillance and monitoring tasks. MIT calls this their UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) Swarm Health Management Project.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (PRWEB) February 26, 2007 — MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is using the Draganflyer RC helicopter in their UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) Swarm Health Management Project, which is focused on surveillance and monitoring of ground based objects or vehicles. The goal is continuous monitoring using multiple autonomous vehicles in swarms, with distributed intelligent computer control and minimal human supervision. The multi-vehicle testbed developed by MIT uses several Draganflyer four rotor electric RC helicopters and a computer tracking and positioning system to monitor and control multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. The components of the system communicate with each other through Ethernet connections.

Even though the vehicles used are unmanned, each one would normally require its own ground based pilot, operating it by remote control. What MITs system does is place multiple UAVs under computer control. This removes the need for constant human attention and piloting. Not just one, but multiple UAVs, can be directed with MITs system via a remote connection. A swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles could be used to monitor a convoy or keep watch over a border. This could be especially useful to the military. The use of multiple UAVs would allow constant aerial surveillance, with new vehicles launched to take the place of ones in need of recharging or those that have been damaged.

style='text-decoration:none;color:#748DA7; font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold'>We are extremely pleased that MIT has chosen our Draganflyer RC helicopters for use with this ground breaking project

The aerial vehicles used are quad-rotor miniature electric radio control helicopters called Draganflyers, measuring about two feet across, manufactured by Draganfly Innovations Inc. These electric RC helicopters are unlike standard model helicopters, because they use 4 rotor blades (one on each corner) to generate directional thrust which is used to maneuver. The use of four rotor blades makes the Draganflyer RC helicopter simpler and more reliable than a standard helicopter, eliminating the need for all of the mechanical linkages required for maneuvering using a conventional single main rotor. The Draganflyers used in MITs project are the same radio controlled helicopters used by many hobbyists, and are available from Draganfly Innovations Web site and on-line store. The specific models used by MIT are the Draganflyer V Ti RC Helicopter, and Draganflyer V Ti Pro Video RC Helicopter. “We are extremely pleased that MIT has chosen our Draganflyer RC helicopters for use with this ground breaking project” says Zenon Dragan, president of Draganfly Innovations Inc.

MITs system makes it possible to have a number of aerial vehicles flying completely under computer control, able to do tasks like surveillance or tracking, all while keeping each individual vehicle from colliding with any of the others. (We highly recommend watching MITs Swarm Project Videos to better understand MIT & Draganfly Innovations technology.) The vehicles can all be coordinated on the same task, or be used in groups or individually. The computer control allows for a swarm of UAVs to be flown at once. This removes the necessity for teaching pilots how to manually fly each aircraft, allowing the entire swarm to be directed remotely by a single person. The swarm of Draganflyer RC helicopters are able to launch, land, and recharge, all under computer control. MIT has even demonstrated the ability to land a Draganflyer on a moving object while completely under computer control.

MITs UAV SWARM Health Management Project is being developed by Professor Jonathan How, with graduate students Mario Valenti, Brett Bethke, Daniel Dale, Xiaojie Hu, and administrative assistant Kathryn Fischer. They are working with Boeings Phantom Works research unit. There is a large amount of interest in this project, and in UAVs in general. The worldwide UAV market is currently worth billions of dollars, and is expected to expand by a factor of three in the next decade.

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The fundament of any corporate culture is based on productivity. So it is the main productivity focus of a company that influences much of the corporate culture.

To see this relation, just imagine an investment company. A company that is dedicated to investments either in mutual funds, venture capital or managing third party investments. The company’s main productivity focus is in dealing with risk — exchanging risk between different partners. And this main focus will influence the culture of the organization. “Take risk, but in a calculated way,” could be a organizational rule.

Now think of the same company and the decision of the company to handle insurance products. The main business of insurance is also to do with risk, but in a different way — focused on avoiding risk.

What would be the impact of this decision on the culture of this organization? And why is this important?

Two Airplane manufacturers will — by sharing the same kind of business productivity — exhibit similar cultures. Engineering is an important factor, and the professional airplane environment is another factor that both will share. There will also be differences, for example when one company is European and the other American. One is Airbus, the other is Boeing.

Think of these companies at one moment in time, having both this similar business culture. Than take the impact of both company’s strategic focus on the culture of each organization. The first strategic focus is set on speed (by Boeing) the other strategic focus is set on Size (by Airbus).

Airbus was the first company that took the risk of redefining its strategy. The feedback loop — the time to develop and construct a new model is quite large. The initiative from Airbus to develop the new A380 model was (therefore) quite a challenge. It was a brave strategic move that required a even more serious implementation. And this implementation is where we — especially the Arab Emirates –are still waiting for. And at the moment it becomes clear that the implementation of the strategy is causing problems.

Atlassian Software Systems today announced the availability of the latest release of Confluence, the enterprise wiki. Confluence 2.0 is now the most widely used commercial wiki for knowledge sharing with over 700 customers worldwide. Confluence 2.0 introduces the industries most comprehensive round-trip WYSIWYG editor and a highly requested labelling feature, which facilitates tagging and indexing for fast search. Confluence is the choice of organizations such as Boeing, BMW, Citigroup, Cisco, Deutsche Bank, GE, MIT, Pixar, and Stanford University.

Sydney, Australia (PRWEB) November 17, 2005 — Atlassian Software Systems today announced the availability of the latest release of Confluence, the enterprise wiki. Confluence 2.0 is now the most widely used commercial wiki for knowledge sharing with over 700 customers worldwide. This new release introduces over 200 improvements including the industrys most comprehensive round-trip WYSIWYG editor, a highly requested labelling capability and much more.

Confluence 2.0 continues our commitment to deliver a truly professional-grade wiki for todays most demanding organisations. These users require enterprise-grade security, unlimited spaces, and deep searching, explained Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. “Our enterprise customers like the ability to integrate Confluence with their existing systems, and use the plug-in and macro frameworks for extensive customisation.” These flexible and practical capabilities allow companies to use Confluence for all forms of knowledge management, collaboration and file sharing.

style='text-decoration:none;color:#748DA7; font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold'>Our enterprise customers like the ability to integrate Confluence with their existing systems, and use the plug-in and macro frameworks for extensive customisation.

Based on the direct input from over one hundred customers, the new WYSIWYG editor makes Confluence more appealing to both business and technical users alike. The highly requested labelling feature and the ability to flag pages and spaces as Favourites also further Confluences ability to structure and retrieve information in a fast, flexible and pragmatic way. These qualities have made Confluence the choice of organizations such as Boeing, BMW, Citigroup, Cisco, Deutsche Bank, GE, MIT, Pixar, and Stanford University.

The release of Confluence 2.0 also brings the ability to export pages as Microsoft Word documents, an improved search interface, support for embedded Macromedia Flash and common video formats files, a dynamic RSS builder, interactive charting and over 200 other highly demanded improvements.

To download a fully functional free evaluation, try an online demo, or just find out more visit:

http://www.atlassian.com/c/PR-C/10723

To see the full Confluence 2.0 release notes, please visit:

http://www.atlassian.com/c/PR-C/10724

About Confluence

Confluence is the enterprise wiki. Confluence is a pragmatic, practical knowledge management solution that combines the simplicity of a wiki with the powerful features enterprises demand. Fine grained security, detailed content versioning, email integration, blogging, deep searching, agile document management and legendary technical support all come together to make Confluence the wiki of choice for over 700 organisations around the globe. By allowing anyone in the enterprise to easily create, update, search and secure their own content, Confluence is rapidly becoming the collaboration solution of modern business teams.

Confluence 2.0 is available via Atlassians web site. Confluences fair and upfront licensing policy includes free upgrades and support for twelve months. Confluence is a web-based application that runs on any platform and supports most major databases. Existing customers who wish to upgrade, or new users who wish to perform a free, fully-functional 30-day evaluation can download Confluence from the Atlassian website:

http://www.atlassian.com/c/PR-C/10723

About Atlassian Software Systems

Atlassian Software Systems is an innovative Australian software company providing enterprise software solutions to the worlds leading organisations. Recently recognised as Australias fastest-growing software company by BRW magazine, Atlassian has over 3000 customers in 55 countries, and has offices in Sydney and San Francisco. Atlassians mission is to build a different kind of software company - one that listens to client needs, values innovation in development and solves customer problems with brilliant simplicity. Atlassians commitment to legendary service provides consistent, high quality support for all their customers. For more information on Atlassian please visit: