A world wide interest in NAVs

The current global situation with a continued fight against terrorism, several difficult regional conflicts and a growing need for surveillance as well as a continued demand for inspection of hazardous areas or buildings has lead to a high interest for Nano Air Vehicles (NAV). This is flying systems, small remotely controlled aircrafts about 75 mm long, weighing 10 grams. These aircrafts will be equipped with cameras, sensors and navigation systems and they will operate indoors as well as outdoors. The systems are planned to be so small and silent that they will be very difficult to detect, even at close range.

Especially in the US interest is high, with several programs working on such systems, but also in Europe and elsewhere NAV programs have started. For many of the projects the science part of it seems more important than the commercial side. As a result of this some European defence leaders do not foresee working NAV systems before 2020, while the US side trough their DARPA programs believe it will possible to achieve a few years earlier.

However, the technological development of parts and components needed to design functional NAV systems is going quickly. Thanks to the development of mobile phone handsets and portable navigation systems many of the necessary components are already available. By using the best of what is available or what will be available within this year, it is possible to develop real working Nano Air Vehicles now.

With the introduction of Nano Air Vehicles, a whole new field of opportunities is opened. For the first time ever it will be possible to operate in close quarters, inside buildings and even below the canopy of a dense forest.

Customers
The list of possible customers is long, here are some examples:
• Armed and Special forces
• Homeland security
• Police
• Fire and Rescue service
• Border control
• Aerial photography
• Archeology
• Surveillance
• Plant inspection