SIM sells quadrotor Sky-Eye UAV to China

Germany-based SIM Security and Electronic Systems — manufacturer of the Sky-Eye quadrotor UAV — has sold an undisclosed number of the drones to China for use by a civilian police organisation, the company claimed this week. The Sky-Eye, which resembles the offspring of a Nerf boomarang and a UFO on skis, is almost identical to Germany-based Diehl’s BGT Defence SensoCopter system and is used primarily for surveillance. (Diehl controls the rights for military purposes.) Both feature the same moulded carbon fibre airframe and have a maximum take-off weight of 1.1kg, 20 minutes of endurance, and an effective operational radius of some 500m. Although details were not released, the company says it has sold a total of thirty Sky-Eyes to date.

Flight Global offers some technical specifications:

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Th[e] landing gear has now been replaced with both Diehl and SIM using IDEX to display current production configuration craft equipped with a traditional helicopter twin strut undercarriage made from machined composites. The new gear incorporates clip-in mounts beneath the central air vehicle fuselage dome to support a variety of commercially available sensors, ranging from mini CCD video cameras to standard production series Sony digital cameras.

The SIM version uses a commercially available 14.8v lithium-polymer battery but ongoing discussions are being held with manufacturers about longer life alternatives Degroote says. The four brushless and gearless engines used by the craft are individually controlled to provide air vehicle steerage. Flight operations are restricted to wind speeds of below 6m per second. The craft generates a noise signature of below 65db at 3m … 10h of training is needed for unskilled operators.

-read more in Peter La Franchi’s Flight Global report