Fox News reports that drones (UAV’s) are a new tool that teaches youngsters some pretty sophisticated science and math concepts.
Read the Fox story at http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/03/20/how-drones-teach-kids-science-math/
Middlesex Foundation Radio Hams success in UAV (Drone) competition
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/07/12/middlesex-radio-hams-success-in-uav-competition/
Parrot AR Drone 2.0
BBC News report that the European Space Agency (ESA) is turning to owners of terrestrial robot aircraft to aid those that journey into space.
The agency has released an App that makes use of the cameras on the Parrot drone to simulate docking with a virtual space station.
The Parrot drone quadcopter has proved popular with many iPhone owners as it can be controlled via the 2.4 GHz WiFi signal from the handset.
Data generated by the agency’s App will be analyzed to help fine tune navigation software for its own drones.
Read the BBC story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21828807
ESA Smartphone App Turns Drone into Spacecraft
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Technology/Smartphone_app_turns_home_drone_into_spacecraft
Middlesex Foundation Radio Hams success in UAV (Drone) competition
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/07/12/middlesex-radio-hams-success-in-uav-competition/
EMF 2012 badge of attendee Graham Shirville G3VZV
The technology camp EMF 2012 being held at Pineham Park, Milton Keynes runs from Friday August 31 to Sunday, September 2. BBC TV reports that two 20m high masts linked by microwaves have been erected for the event, one at the campsite and the other in the car park of a data centre 2.5 km away.
Among the weekend of presentations are some by radio amateurs such as Adam Greig M0RND (formerly M6AGG). Adam is a member of the UK High Altitude Society (UKHAS) and Cambridge University Space Flight (CUSF) and will be talking about High Altitude Ballooning. The balloons use 434 MHz for the telemetry and video image downlinks.
Students from Middlesex University Robotics department obtained their Foundation Licences after a Verulam Amateur Radio Club (VARC) course and went on to win UAVforge.
The amateur radio Foundation training course was part of the preparations by members of the HALO team to take part in the international UAVForge competition in the USA.
This is an international drone competition and involved the team taking on some of the world’s top engineers and universities. They succeeded in becoming the highest scoring team at UAVforge.
The HALO team comprised:
Witold Mielniczek M6HUJ
Mantas Brazinskas M6LTU
Mehmet Ali Erbil M6DUC
Dr Stephen Prior M6ESY
Their HALO Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) used a Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) system with a 900 MHz data downlink and a 5.8 GHz video downlink along with a 1280 MHz video feed.
Watch DARPA UAVforge Milestone 3 Live Fly Video – Team HALO HD
This video was shot from HALO and relayed over 3.2 km via a 1280 MHz live video feed using a 2.5 W Video TX with a Yagi antenna positioned 30 m up a tree.
Watch UAVforge 2012 Team HALO Attempt 2
Further information including a photo of some of the Middlesex University radio amateurs can be seen at http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/news-events/news/uavforge-final.aspx
Team HALO Win UAVForge Competition 2012 http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/robotics/uncategorized/
team-halo-win-uavforge-competition/
A 2009 paper on Development of a Co-Axial Tri-Rotor UAV http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/2873/1/Prior_-Development_of_a_Co-Axial
_Tri-Rotor_UAV_-_Middlesex_University_%28compressed%29.pdf
UAVforge http://www.uavforge.net/uavhtml/index.php
Verulam Amateur Radio Club (VARC) http://www.radioclubs.net/verulam/
10 year old Foundation licence holder interviewed on TV about his amateur radio DIY space projects http://www.amsat-uk.org/?p=8821/
AMSAT-UK 
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