UAV (Avatar uninhabited aerial vehicle)

The Avatar is a low cost short range UAV. It is all electric hence very quiet. It is made from carbon fibre and designed for rapid assembly and deployment.

Avatar is typically operated at an altitude of 600 feet and has an endurance of around one hour. It is launched by hand from a clearing and is recovered by parachute. The video transmission on board has a range of five kilometres although images beyond this range can be acquired and stored on board the aircraft.

When disassembled Avatar comprises a package of 0.9 x 0.35 x 0.3 metres.

The ground station for Avatar is contained in a water resistant container and this provides a computer for mission programming and a video recorder for capture of the surveillance download.

Avatar contains a modem link for in-flight re-programming which has a range of 10km.

The Avatar aircraft and a ground station cost US$40,000 for one-off quantities. Additional aircraft cost US$25,000.

Avatar is in use with the Australian Army, Defence Science and Technology Organisation and Queensland University of Technology.