CyPhy Works touts new UAS platforms

A small company in Danvers, Massachusetts, known as CyPhy Works, is now marketing two small, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for both domestic security and combat applications.

These UAVs are unique in that they rely on a tiny cable to relay power, communications, and imagery, rather than on the data links that UAVs typically use to operate beyond line-of-sight (BLOS).

CyPhy Works said the cable - a thin strand of two copper wires known as a microfilament - provides a means to avoid the risk of jamming inherent to wireless communications, a capacity to operate in GPS-denied environments, and a continuous supply of power for long-endurance operations.

The two UAVs are known as the Extreme Access System for Entry (EASE) and the Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) UAV. EASE is designed for BLOS operations, with a range of about 300 m, and the company said the microfilament did not restrict the movement of the vehicle. PARC is designed to hover above its launch site at altitudes of up to 1,000 ft while operating BLOS, which is not normally part of its concept of operations.