A real-time data downlink connection to fixed or mobile ground stations for environmental monitoring is to be tested on an Italian unmanned air vehicle.
Further details of the downlink, including its data transfer rate, are not being made public before the tests, expected later this year. It is being developed by the Italian National Research Council's Biometeorology Institute (IBIMET) and aerospace firm Iniziative Industriali Italiane (III), formerly known as Meteor. These partner organisations have established a joint committee at III's facilities in Rome and a laboratory in the firm's hangar at Fiano Romano airfield, outside Rome.
The UAV involved, the III Sky Arrow 650 environmental research aircraft (ERA), is a pusher prop aircraft with a Rotax four-cylinder 98hp (73kW) engine. The lightweight carbonfibre high-winged aircraft will carry out the monitoring for IBIMET in Florence.
The ERA 650 is a variant of the III Sky Arrow 450T and 450TS. Unlike those versions it has a nose probe with sensors, development of which was supported by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The ERA 650 has gained European Joint Aviation Requirements and US Federal Aviation Administration certification.
The ERA 650 is already employed by the Italian Pianosa laboratory and the European CarboEurope programmes to study climate change. It is carrying out surveillance flights over Italian urban areas to analyse concentrations of CO2.
Source: Flight International
