We’ve all heard about flying saucers......right? With most of us believing it belonged to Hollywood...or The Jetsons. Well fiction has now become reality.

Having exhibited their ‘hoverpod’ design at last year’s D+I 07 Conference, and recently meeting with DMO’s Western Australia Business Access Office staff, Entecho is seeking Defence interest and business, particularly in the rapidly developing area of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

“This is another example of the huge diversity of industry capabilities that are busily evolving out there in the regions,” said Peter Mack, Director of the BAO WA.

According to the company: ‘The Mupod is Entecho's Micro Unmanned CAV (Compact Aerial Vehicle), at one quarter the size of the Hoverpod. It may be easily transported and deployed anywhere. With no exposed blades, the Mupod will be safe to fly indoors or near other objects. With VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) capability, stable hovering and low noise thanks to electric motors, the Mupod will be ideal for many UAV situations.”

With a diameter of only 600 mm in flight, the Mupod is narrow enough to fly indoors, down hallways and through doorways (800 mm). The Mupod's flexible skirt acts as a protective buffer, so light contact with objects such as walls, poles or trees is no problem, unlike craft with exposed blades such as helicopters. Therefore, the Mupod is the ideal candidate for UAV missions in unstructured clustered environments. For transportability, the Mupod skirt can be retracted to be a compact 500 mm diameter, making it great for backpack deployment.

Whilst the company has made some in-roads with DSTO and are currently under Capability and Technology Demonstrator consideration, Entecho is a typical example of an SME that appreciates the guidance provided by the BAOs. With limited production facilities coupled with a potentially huge world-wide market, the company is also considering production licensing arrangements, particularly in the recreational hoverpod market.