CASCADE Aerial robotics for acoustic sensing in complex environments

19th Oct 2022

Freshwater ecosystems provide essential ecosystem services including food and clean water and despite covering just 1% of the earth surface, support over 10% of all species on earth. These ecosystems are in crisis, with an average 84% decline in freshwater population abundance and 1 in 3 species at risk of extinction. Monitoring and evaluating the … More CASCADE Aerial robotics for acoustic sensing in complex environments

CASCADE – Unmanned Aerial Systems for Vertical Atmospheric Profiling

10th Mar 2022

Current approaches to vertical atmospheric profiling are limited in their temporal and spatial resolution, weather balloon-based sondes are rarely recovered leading to environmental harm and limited sensor capacity with launches happening in few locations across the UK radiosondes. This approach offers a fire and forget way to gather atmospheric profiles but is not in line … More CASCADE – Unmanned Aerial Systems for Vertical Atmospheric Profiling

UAS response to the volcanic eruption in La Palma

24th Nov 2021

Volcanic eruptions are powerful and destructive with almost unstoppable energy, hence the regular and precise monitoring of these events is critical for safety. In October 2021, the Cumbre Vieja volcano located on La Palma (Spain) erupted forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes and triggering an international response effort to monitor the state of the … More UAS response to the volcanic eruption in La Palma

CASCADE for water sampling at lake using Aerial-Aquatic drone developed at ARL, Imperial

2nd Sep 2021

Given the fast rates and spatial scales of anthropogenic effects (e.g. fast global warming), there is a pressing need to measure and predict the dynamics of biodiversity and ecosystems processes, This is particularly relevant for microorganisms such as plankton, which sustain important ecosystem processes (e.g. carbon and nitrogen cycles, energy transfer through food-webs) and services … More CASCADE for water sampling at lake using Aerial-Aquatic drone developed at ARL, Imperial

Unmanned Air Systems – A Capability and Research Landscape Review

14th May 2021

The Unmanned Air Systems – A Capability and Research Landscape Review was created by a partnership among some of the CASCADE members and industrial partners. The University of Southampton, Thales and QuinetiQ produced this document in 2019 as part of a ‘horizon scanning in unmanned aircraft systems’ exercise for DSTL. The 189-page document contains a … More Unmanned Air Systems – A Capability and Research Landscape Review

CASCADE applies for experimental BVLOS flight corridor (NBEC) from Cranfield Airport

7th May 2021

Integration of manned and unmanned aircraft is essential in developing cohesive and efficient use of airspace. Long term use of temporary danger areas to segregate unmanned traffic is not efficient nor easily scalable. Cranfield University has submitted an Airspace Change Proposal (ACP) to the CAA for a Temporary Danger (TDA) to enable safe development of … More CASCADE applies for experimental BVLOS flight corridor (NBEC) from Cranfield Airport

CASCADE tackles the automation of water sampling with a hybrid aerial-aquatic UAV

12th Oct 2020

SailMAV is a novel design concept developed at Aerial Robotics Laboratory, Imperial College London for a hybrid robot capable of both aerial and water surface locomotion. Aerial-aquatic mobility significantly facilitates applications involving aquatic sampling or underwater surveying. Water vehicles that can take flight can be rapidly deployed, access to remote areas, overfly obstacles and easily … More CASCADE tackles the automation of water sampling with a hybrid aerial-aquatic UAV

CASCADE drone flies beyond-visual-line-of-sight to deliver NHS supplies to the Isle of Wight

9th May 2020

The SotonUAV team at the University of Southampton has successfully completed the first delivery of the NHS supplies to the Isle of Wight using the Windracers ULTRA, a 350 kg unmanned aircraft developed as part of the CASCADE project. The drone took off from Lee-on-Solent and landed at Binstead, where team members collected the cargo … More CASCADE drone flies beyond-visual-line-of-sight to deliver NHS supplies to the Isle of Wight