Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/20/micro_air_vehicle_hover_n_stare_daleks_for_miami_heat/
Miami cops trial 'hover and stare' ducted-fan Dalek
Portable petrol powered perv-patrols for 'urban tactics'
Posted in Science, 20th February 2008 16:33 GMT
Miami police have purchased a small Dalek-like aerial surveillance droid capable of "hover and stare" missions. The American cops intend to trial the flying wastebin surveillance platform in urban "tactical operations".
"Hover-&-stare" in Army hands.
The machine in question is Honeywell's Micro Air Vehicle (http://www.honeywell.com/sites/aero/Surface3_C2BCFDD45-93F1-A559-929F-B19804F9A9BF_H76AC9EBC-A788-26B0-3EE8-18CBB5BDECF7.htm), or MAV, also in service with the US Army under the name Class I Unmanned Air Vehicle. Rather than conventional wings or rotors the MAV employs a vertical ducted fan, which allows it to hover about in confined urban terrain - or soar at 10,000 feet and 60mph. It can stay airborne for almost an hour, and carries nightsight and thermal-imaging cameras.
The so-called "hover and stare" abilities of the 18-pound, petrol-powered portable peep-bot have already been employed by US troops examining suspected roadside bombs in Iraq. It seems that the Miami heat are impressed too, following a demo by Honeywell at a test site in New Mexico. Miami-Dade police department helicopter pilots will now test the MAV above the mean streets of Florida in the coming six months, according (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/20/221686/miami-police-plans-urban-test-of-honeywells-micro-uav.html) to Flight International.
Honeywell apparently expect to shift large numbers of MAVs to police forces and military customers, having set up a line capable of scaling up to produce 100 hovering robo-oglers a month. This follows a large order placed by the American forces' bomb-disposal teams in January. ®