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Pressurised structures for buoyant UAVs promise new capabilities

16th April 2009 - 20:20 GMT | by Peter Donaldson in Orlando

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A material mainly used in sails for racing yachts could be the key to realising expanded capabilities for light UAV systems, according to Harris Edge, team leader, advanced mobility and manipulation at the US Army Research Laboratory. Edge was speaking at the SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing event here in Orlando.

Dyneema, a high-molecular-weight polyethylene fibre, is used to reinforce a polymer matrix to produce a material with strength comparable to Kevlar but which is nearly as light as Mylar. When used in pressurised and/or inflatable UAV structures filled with helium, the resulting vehicles can have either neutral or slightly

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Peter Donaldson

Peter Donaldson is a contributor for Shephard Media and is based in the UK.

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