Eye in the sky: mini helicopters to the rescue

03 December 2003

Like the human eye, coastal surveillance tools are limited in their range by the curve of the horizon - without help, no one can see over the curve of the sea.

An academic at ADFA is developing mini-helicopters to overcome this dilemma and other surveillance problems.

Lecturer from ADFA's school of aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering, Matt Garratt, tinkers with his 1.5 m helicopter which sits neatly on his desk. The 7.5 kg uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) is a scaled-down prototype of a 100 kg helicopter platform which could be flown from coastal surveillance vessels used by the Australian Customs Service and the Royal Australian Navy.

The prototype has already demonstrated the preliminary generation of systems which would allow a UAV to maintain a stable position tethered above a ship which is being tossed about in high seas, and to land and launch from a heaving deck automatically.

When these aids to staying in position and landing safely have been fine-tuned, the full-size helicopter should be able to maintain position at more than 1000 metres above the ship.

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