Practical uses
EagleRay can be used for aerial surveillance, and it can go underwater to take sonar readings. One example used in a North Carolina State News article was the EagleEye’s ability to track dolphins. The drone could be utilized for tracking fast-moving marine mammals, then EagleEye could conserve its battery in the water. Even though it wasn’t designed for military applications, the drone has potential for stealth operations.
Snapshot from Teledyne’s YouTube video shows the XAV operating like a PowerDolphin.
The XAV was designed to be a low-cost, scalable drone that can be recreated as a smaller or larger model.
This artist concept is a screenshot from Teledyne’s video, and it depicts the XAV’s ability to both fly and swim.
The project’s start
The EagleRay project started when four North Carolina State faculty members won a research contract from Teledyne back in 2014. By 2016, the researchers created a fully functional prototype. The university’s latest paper, which was published on September 2017, reports the results of 12 cross-domain missions performed with the EagleRay.
Photo was featured in an NCSU news article.
“This project has been extremely challenging and rewarding,” said NC State Ph.D. student Warren Weisler in an NCSU article.
NC State researches may have been working on this drone since 2014, but the EagleRay XAV is a proven experiment that is paving the way for future cross-domain drones.
