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Everytime I mention Blimp In a Box my wife references what Justin Timberlake put in his box. Never really thought the bit was that funny.
After reading the article and pic, I am not sure about the writer's independent analysis. The description and pics shown are the old air bag. Not the new AP product. Did we have another test before the Dec 19th test? How did they sim an IED discovery in a parking lot?
Maybe it is just the audio stream/ my junky computer speakers. Interesting though.
Just catching up on a couple of days of missed reading. It sounds like a CG voice. Creepy.
Just curious, who is HW's group that created that audio comertial?
I found an interesting MAV video. Im sure Indy has seen it. It relates to the Argus at 0:28 into the video. Looks like it was produced by US Air Force Research Labratory located at Wright-Patterson.
I understand your radio silence on that subject from now on. I am not trying to shift any paradigms, I am just trying to look at things from a fresh perspective. I have 100s of ideas in my head and I am sure 99% will fail. I need to figure out which ideas are the 1%. Based on your comments to some of my posts (and lack of comments to others) I have an idea of where to start.
The last time I tried to bring any tech to GE (which was right after he came on board), he just gave me GV's cell # and told me to make the call. I think GE has come a very long way understanding the tech and R&D for this kind of tech.
off the shelf for the BIB non-military customers:
http://gizfactory.com/article/flir-scout-ps32-night-vision-monocular-for-non-military-application/
My appologies to all Emen/women. I did not mean for my post to sound so arrogant. Thank you for all you do.
Indy, I think this is close to LMAMS specs. If not, I bet we could tweak it. It is serious home built rig. We could work on the radio/sat links and attach this to an Argus. Major capabilities. My thought is to make LTA to kill the noise (but I suspect you loose much of the performance).
My statement to Jet was the shorthand version of the prior day's discussion. Thank you for clarifying my mistake. I must have missed the fact that it is specialized material. You say argus like. Do you think we (Eastcor) provided the material or is this a type of material that AP would have used in the past with DOD applications?
"1N1X1" Thank you, I think (I would never enter at E. I know one department where I would start O2/3). My only experience in imagery analysis is for my own work, or my own personal knowledge. But it looks like fun. I know two people that went to AFA. A cousin in that flew the F16-E. Made capitan by 28. And a budy who was on the baseball and power lifting teams. He now flies C-130s (and took a really cool pic flying over the palm in the Emirates).
you are correct. We had that discussion here yesterday. Indy recogized the ballon as it is the one he is flying in his profile pic. He also compared the sat photos on google earth. It looks like we replaced the lifting bag inside the box. The Fbook pics look like our box is attached to their trailer or our tech is rebuilt into their trailer.
I opined that it is likely that the DOD wanted to see the BIB tech operate with a DOD approved baloon and ISR package. The recycler is what AP does not have.
Interesting. I found an article that talks about its failures generally. If my calculations are correct, they are paying $12,000/month just to keep it filled.
And a crash from 50 ft, why did they jump? Were they afraid it was filled with hydrogen?
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20121214-389497.html
I found this in mide's post:
5 (Five) New ground station contracts pending...from the map stars they appear to be in Afganistan, Africa, India, Uraguay, and Houston with an existing one in Eastcor....didn't know that. Each station costs out at 4-5mm dollars..I thought I heard. Each ground station comes with 10K free mobile comm lines to GTC from Globalstar.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=65586932
I dont remember if any of the locations were specific. I know someone did post detailed notes from the SHM. I thought I read that there is a 2,000 mile coverage radius. This could help you guess where you would put the rest of them to get the most global coverage.
That is interesting news.
Bank, IMO tamron's internal image stabalization for stills is better than in canon ef lenses.
On a semi-related subject:
"Since filing for bankruptcy protection, Kodak has sold off several businesses, such as its online photo service, and said it would shut down other divisions, including the manufacturing of digital cameras."
"Kodak began mining its patent portfolio for license revenue in 2008. In January 2010, it sued Apple and RIM, saying that smartphone makers infringed its patent for technology that lets a camera preview low-resolution versions of a moving image while recording still images at higher resolutions."
"Kodak spokesman Christopher Veronda said each licensee will pay a portion of the total cost and then have access to all the patents."
"Apple Inc., Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Research In Motion Ltd., Microsoft Corp., China's Huawei Technologies, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are among the 12 companies paying to license the 1,100 patents"
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP3fc87f2095e447eaac48a2068777009d.html
IMO we will see even more cool tech come out in 2013 will all of these companies puting their R&D $ into Kodak's IP.
Bank, my specific reference was to the large pic of the mount on the Balloon Camera Systems page under the Aerial Photography Equipment tab.
It looks like a tamron lens and I cannot figure out if it is a prime with AF/MF (M/F controled by the mount strap) or if the strap controls telephoto with A/F only. How hard could it be to add a second motor and strap for more control?
BTW, I would buy a refurb t3i before I ever put my mark II in this rig (at least not until I already had its replacement in my hands).
I hate to be a downer, but I see this as nothing more than an excuse for the FAA to take another 6 months to sit on their collective tuchas (sp? Indy) to come up with hundreds of regulations to try to prevent something that cannot be prevented. Crazy people will allways be crazy. You cannot put the tech back in the bag. (if that makes sense)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/17/citizen-drone-warfare-hobbyist-explores-a-frighten/
here is the vid:
Gran, I agree about the caution. If the demo was a complete failure, do you think we would have heard anything about it? I dont. I think it would have been swept under the rug. IMO
Also, not sure if the end of the enhanced SEC scrutiny has anything to do with what is in, or left out of, PRs now.
I understand your perspective. My thought is that EWA and DOD saw the BIB He capability and wanted to see it with a DOD approved baloon and ISR package. Thus we saw the teaming agreement with a prime and now the new demo. As long as the tech is moving forward, we are not moving backwards.
I have not looked yet to see if Aerial Products was a participant at AUVSI this past year. It makes sense that this whole baloon switch/demo was orchestrated then. Just right amount of time to make the systems compatable. The statement in the 10 Q may not be far off.
I agree with your assesment of the sat photo. Although, you should have noticed the difference in shadow angle related to season given the N/S orientation of the buildings. I would put the sat photo closer to summer time (based on my farmer's knowledge of Florida sun), which must make the exact same placement of the dumpsters a driver quirk. The debris between the dumpsters has changed.
I just started looking at thier website. Like what I see. I already see improvements I could/would make to thier camera mount in the site photo.
Maybe Bank can help me. The camera looks like a Canon T2i or T3i with a Tamron lens but I cannot figure out which.
Haha. That is just my new scuba mount. Have you seen the 3 Black utube vid?
Indy, I have been thinking of LMAMS and my first thought was to add lifting gas to reduce total ISTAR total weight for the Argus and BIB. I was not sure how to do it and maintain LMAMS size requirements. Then I came across this article.
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA513823
"PSB UAVs may take a number of forms. This report discusses medium-sized UAVs with critical dimensions of ~10 ft; however, PSB technology can be applied to micro UAVs and larger UAVs. Pressurized structures can be used to augment or improve current UAV designs. Used in this way, pressurized structures can be used to replace components of UAVs. For example, the wings and fuselage of common UAV designs may be replaced with pressurized structures. An example of this is shown in figure 1 in which the wings of an aircraft are made from an inflatable frame. This type of approach is expected to improve the performance of UAVs slightly. It could also improve the portability of the UAV and possibly make assembly easier. Furthermore, it could reduce the cost of the UAV if the manufacturing techniques and materials are widely adapted. Greater increases in UAV performance may also be achieved through efficient and novel designs that take full advantage of the newer lightweight materials and buoyancy."
Interesting concepts. I think GV must be familiar with this paper. Are you?
Thank you for the well wishes for my project. I will need it. It has been many years since I last tried this and various parts of the tech have all changed.
There wont be any pictures until after christmas as my wife and I are hosting this year. Ive been instructed to clean the home office today, but WSGI keeps distracting me.
One of the coolest things about the Hero is that you can attach two together and shoot your own 3d video. Not sure how much 3d video is making it into ISR packages at this time.
I just finished an underwater mount for the hero and I will try to post a pic if I can figure it out.
I have a go pro hero 2 (I know the black is better but my wife wont let me buy a new camera every year). I generally use it for underwater work. It is the first thing I was going to attach to my newest project- home build uav. The cameras are built for actions sports and can take a beating.
I have a CMOS censor in my 5d Mark II. Not sure if you were talking about wide area surveillance or target tracking. I cant affod to pull it and add it to my ISR package.
"They started over albeit with an already large outstanding share base, no money and massive debts with no plans in place for settlement or scheduled payments. Let us not forget the other simple little overhang which was the SEC wanting to shut down the company?"
I agree 100%
They could have backed out and left JL to run the company. Not sure where the stock price would be now if that were the case. Instead, MC (to an extent) and GE chose to push on. Why? I dont know. Maybe it was our best and most underutilized asset GV?
Bank, I was thinking the same thing but you still need the glass. right?
Im comparing the first PR to this one. Differences are:
old: "The BIB system is packaged in a standard size crate that is mounted to the back of a HUMVEE, pickup truck or other comparable vehicle and can be rapidly deployed within minutes by a one man crew."
new: "The BiB turn-key aerostat system is packaged in a box that is mounted to or towed from the back of a MAT-V, HUMVEE, pickup truck or other comparable vehicle. It can be rapidly deployed within minutes by a two-person crew and is activated by the push of a button."
Old: "system is deployed by the push of a button and is designed to be completely automated."
new: missing designed to be completely automated
old: "Once the system is activated, the prepackaged envelope, which carries a day/night electro-optical/infrared camera with laser capable payload, automatically inflates to the applicable pressure and is secured to the vehicle by a fiber optic tether."
new: "automatically inflates to the applicable pressure and is secured to the vehicle by a data capable tether"
finally: they cleaned up the language of the recovery and redeployment. I dont think the removal of the specific language of retaining the lifting gas indicates it no longer does so.
I brought up some of this discussion with my wife over dinner. She mentioned a great movie released back in 1992 that predicted our current military use of drones and the children we use to control them: Toys. For those that have not seen it, it is almost Orwellian in its predictions with Robin Williams, Joan Cusack, Michael Gambon, and, of course, LL Cool J.
Not saying it is true, but I found this reference. Also it is interesting to know that you can print just about anything.
"Aug, 2011 - The world’s first 3D printed aircraft created by Engineers at the University of Southampton.
Jul, 2011 - Led by the University of Exeter, the University of Brunel and application developer Delcam, researchers in UK have presented the world's first 3D chocolate printer.
June 6. 2011 Shapeways and Continuum Fashion announced the first 3d printed bikini.
Jan, 2011 - Dutch 3D Printer manufacturer Ultimaker raised300 mm/second and the travel rate to 350 mm/second.
Jan, 2011 - Researchers at Cornell University began to build 3D food printer.
Dec. 8, 2010 - Organovo, Inc., a regenerative medicine company focused on bioprinting technology, announced the release of data on the first fully bioprinted blood vessels.
Nov, 2010 - Urbee is the first prototype car is presented. This is the first car ever to have its entire body printed out on a giant 3D printer. All exterior components - including the glass panel prototypes - were created using Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems at Stratasys' digital manufacturing service - RedEye on Demand.
2008 - Objet Geometries Ltd. announced that its revolutionary Connex500™ rapid prototyping system to be the first-ever system enabling the manufacture of 3-D parts using several different materials at the same time."
http://www.3ders.org/3d-printing/3d-printing-history.html
This might be slightly off topic but I hope our ISTAR discussion keeps it from being deleted.
All IMO: We killed the first head of the snake. Globaly AQ's relevance will only diminish. The later of the groups I mentioned is the next head of the snake. Right now they are based out of Africa but have been moving further into Arab teritory. We will only see more of them in the future.
I was leaving that as suprise for those that clicked on the link. If you hover your mouse, it gives a description and the website too.
"Do you really get this?"
Not sure how to respond. I have followed this company for two and a half years. I allways thought the tech was cool, but never was excited about it. I am getting excited about it now. In part I blame you Indy, in a good way.
I have no clue because I did not veryify any of the numbers with a second source. IMO, if they are correct and the way the quote is worded, various other terror groups either indirectly or unrelated to those mentioned (and those that politically cannot be classified in those mentioned categories); i.e. the Haqqani network, AQ Iraq, AQAP, AQNA, ansar al sharia, etc.
Thank you. I know it is not timely, but I found a blog with lots of photos from the event:
http://www.botmag.com/index.php/auvsi-conference-2012-photo-gallery
Ok. I really did laugh out loud.
To follow up on reducing TA collateral damage:
"During the Bush administration, approximately 25 percent of strikes targeted al-Qaeda insurgents, while 40% targeted the Taliban. In contrast, under the Obama administration eight percent of the missions have targeted al-Qaeda, and 51% have targeted the Taliban, reports the New American foundation. Only one out of every seven drone strikes killed a militant leader, according to data collected as of the summer of 2011, leaving a heavy civilian “collateral damage” of 32 percent at its peak."
http://rt.com/usa/news/lmams-suicide-drone-us-military-836/
Indy, you broght this up in an earlier post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-crashes-mount-at-civilian-airports-overseas/2012/11/30/e75a13e4-3a39-11e2-83f9-fb7ac9b29fad_story.html
Improving collateral damage is something of which we should allways be mindfull. This includes in TA arena. The switchblade looks like a good product. I think we can do better either land or air launched.
Do you know of any others trying to meet LMAMS goals?
Im learing, slowly
"even though no tear gas drops from the platform"
it certainly should be sold as an option...IMO
I think this was posted Nov. 13th...
The future person that will be the decision maker for the DOD airship program (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering- currently vacant) reports to Mr. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/docs/USD(ATL)%20Signed%20Memo%20to%20Workforce%20BBP%202%200%20(13%20Nov%2012)%20with%20attachments.pdf
"The original BBP emphasized the use of Fixed Price Incentive (FPI) contracts. In BBP 2.0, we are refining our guidance to emphasize the use of the appropriate contract vehicle for the product or services being acquired. The DFAR and FAR provide for a range of contract types for a reason: one size does not fit all. This initiative will focus on improving the training of management and contracting personnel in the appropriate use of all contract types."
"Increase small business roles and opportunities: Small businesses, as both prime contractors to the Department and sub-contractors within the supply chain, are effective sources of innovation and reduced cost. The Department will continue its emphasis on improving small business opportunities."
First it was the desert, now we have to endure the frozen tundra to free fly.
http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/sUAS_Artic_Plan.pdf