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COX Engines aboard, the electro
powered MAV is actually a
dream.
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MAV
- Micro Air Vehicles!
Micro
Air Vehicles are affordable,
fully functional, military
capable, small flight vehicles in
a class of their own. Currently
under development, these vehicles
are to be fully autonomous and
guided by GPS and other guidance
and sensory systems. The ideal
MAV can carry a micro video
camera smaller in size than any
CCD camera commercially available
today and will utilize solar cell
technology for maintaining
long-duration flights.
I
t is possible to use MAVs to
inspect remote locations as well
as foreign regiments which may
not be accessible by non-micro
objects. For example, Georgia
Institute's "blitz" with an
attached microcamera can observe
terrestrial projects from a
near-ground distance and feed
data back to a ground system
locally or remotely to the site.
,br>
Other
micro vehicles may be used to
capture or sense indoor data such
as micro helicopters well suited
for autonomous interior
operations. The MAV may be used
to track nuclear, bacteriological
or chemical clouds. The sensor is
not the microcamera but an
appropriate one (i.e. Geiger
sensor). The MAV may also be used
for special operations,
preliminary inspections,
or
urban
scenarios in which the MAV senses
real time enemy troop
displacement.
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