Weekend Roundup: April 3, 2020

April 3, 2020 | AUVSI News

This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World

As part of a modification to a previously awarded contract, the Navy has exercised contract options with Boeing worth $84.7 million to buy three MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial refueling tankers. According to the contract announcement released by the Pentagon on Thursday, April 2, the three MQ-25s covered by the contract options are to be completed by August 2024. (USNI News)

During the annual Women in Aviation International (WAI) Conference that took place in early March, AUVSI’s former VP of Regulatory and Safety Affairs & Chief Pilot Tracy Lamb presented a keynote address. A Ph.D. student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Lamb led the development of the Trusted Operator Program, which is the world’s first safety certification program for drone pilots. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is helping first responders ensure that the drones that they buy meet their specific mission needs. Through its First Responder Robotic Operations System Test (FRROST) program, S&T’s National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) assessed small, commercially available UAS for priority needs of first responders back in Nov. 2019. (Homeland Security Today)

University of Arizona researchers are working on a project that could prove autonomous vehicles can improve traffic flow and decrease fuel consumption. The goal of the project is to demonstrate for the first time in real traffic that using intelligent control of a small number of connected and automated vehicles can improve the energy efficiency of all the vehicles by reducing traffic congestion. (Chamber Business News)

The Air Force is pushing to deploy its first Global Hawk UAS within this year. Since bringing in the RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) in Dec. 2019, South Korea has been working to put it in operation. (Yonhap News Agency)

The FirePoint Innovations has announced the final three teams to design a UAS concept for the US Army under the FirePoint C3 competition. The teams are the Buhler High School Science Club from Wichita; Team Vol Air from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Pistol Pete’s Propulsion Posse from Oklahoma State University. (Army Technology)

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has announced the 11 winners of the DISCOVER Competition, which is the first stage of the Powering the Blue Economy: Ocean Observing Prize. To help accelerate the growth of the blue economy and the development of the marine energy sector, 10 of the winners received $10,000 each, and one grand prize winner received $25,000. (StreetInsider.com)