UAV advances Soar as market takes off

Developers strive to slash weight but gain the ability to gather and move more data.

The UAV market is growing at a rapid pace, driven by conventional military applications and the potential of a huge civilian market. This growth is prompting significant advances in design, as suppliers work to reduce weight and size while increasing the amount of data that vehicles gather and transmit.

UAV usage is growing so rapidly that the market is splitting into two segments, conventional large aircraft and smaller units that can be carried by a person or two. In both segments, the design challenges are similar. Engineers are striving to reduce the size of electronics to save weight and make room for more sensors. At the same time, they must devise techniques to handle more data, with more effort going into techniques that let the UAV determine whether information is important or not.