Athena Technologies announced today from the Farnborough
International Air Show the release of two revolutionary "micro" size
navigation solutions for manned and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). The
Micro INS(TM) and the Micro GuideStar(TM) both include Inertial
Navigation System (INS), Global Positioning System (GPS) and air data
sensor system (ADAHRS), and the Micro GuideStar(TM) also includes full
flight control capability. The Micros are available to navigate and/or
autonomously control many different types of vehicles, such as drones,
missiles, target UAVs, hand-launched UAVs, ground robots, and general
aviation aircraft for various commercial applications. In addition,
the smaller, lighter systems can be used by the military as personal
navigation and tracking for land warriors.
Each Micro solution is the size of a small cell phone, weighs only
four ounces (115 g), and offers plug and play integration into an
aircraft or ground vehicle in record time, reducing the overall time
to market for vehicle manufacturers. Based on low cost, high
performance Micro-Electromechancial Systems (MEMS) sensors with high
MTBF (Mean-Time-Between-Failure), the Micro INS and Micro GuideStar
perform with the highest level of precision and reliability but at an
affordable price. The affordability also enables vehicle manufacturers
to use multiple Micro systems for extra redundancy and reliability for
unmanned applications. The combination of the Micro with other
technologies, such as voice recognition technology and sense and avoid
systems, provides a near term solution for the safe integration of
manned and unmanned aircraft in the National Air Space.
Dr. David Vos, Athena Technologies CEO and CTO commented: "We are
pleased to release our newest and smallest Micro INS and GuideStar
products, offering customers miniaturized, all-in-one solutions with
computer, sensors and optional mission management and flight control
software. These new products use the same field-proven technology that
has evolved over two decades and that is today being used to navigate
and control more than a dozen UAV platforms, tallying well over
100,000 flight hours."
About the Micro INS(TM) and Micro GuideStar(TM)
-- Dimensions: 4.5 x 2 x 1 in3 (114 x 51 x 25 mm3)
-- Volume: 8.0 in3 (130 cm3)
-- Weight: 4 ounces (115 g)
-- Built-in tri-axial magnetometer with automatic hard iron
compensation
-- Built-in air data system pressure transducers including static
and airspeed
-- Kalman filter INS/GPS providing high accuracy navigation and
control state vector
-- 0.1(degree) attitude accuracy, 0.3(degree) heading accuracy
-- Electrical and mechanical design and manufacturing process
that meets stringent environmental requirements, including
temperature, shock, vibration, electromagnetic interference
(EMI) and humidity
-- C/A Code GPS Receiver, WAAS enabled and differential ready
(Optional integration with external GPS receiver, including
SAASM - Micro GuideStar only)
-- Software module providing Athena's full suite of advanced
flight control capability (Micro GuideStar only)
Athena is exhibiting at the Farnborough International Air Show,
from July 16-21, 2006, in the UAV Pavilion in Hall 1, Stand B16. The
company is also hosting a press conference luncheon about integrating
manned and unmanned aircraft in the National Air Space on Wed, July
19, at 1:00 pm in the Farnborough International Media Centre, Hatfield
Room, Hall 1-A.
About Athena Technologies, Inc.
Athena Technologies is a premier developer and producer of
navigation and control systems. Founded in 1998, the company produces
the GuideStar(TM) family of versatile, compact and cost-effective
flight control systems for applications such as Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs), target drones and missiles. The company is an
independent, privately held firm with headquarters in Northern
Virginia, USA. Additional information is available at
www.athenati.com.
