航空環境公司的長續航無人機Puma

????小型無人機如果用于民用用途，一般都是用來檢測輸電線、農田或基礎設施的情況。但小型無人機的一個主要缺限就是其續航能力不足。小型固定翼無人機的電量通常只夠飛行一兩個小時。

????從這個角度上看，加州門羅維亞市的航空環境公司（AeroVironment）研發的固定翼無人機Puma AE創下的9小時11分鐘的飛行紀錄可謂意義重大。Puma無人機只有13磅重，讓它起飛也非常簡單，操作者只要把它舉起來，像拋足球一樣把它拋出去就行了。這架無人機最近還通過了美國聯邦航空管理局（the Federal Aviation Administration）的商業飛行測試，而這也是第一次針對此類小型無人機的商業飛行測試。現在Puma已經獲準在北極地區進行商業飛行，再過幾年，等解決了美國航空規定方面的限制后，它也將可以在美國境內進行商業飛行。

????Puma AE無人機利用太陽能電池技術提高了續航時間。雖然目前該機型仍處于試驗階段，但是明年它應該就會投入量產。屆時，在北極工作的商業公司和科研團體就將擁有一款物美價廉、能長時間航行的航空成像設備了。

AeroVironment's long-endurance Puma

????One of the limiting factors of small UAS -- the kind that civilians might use to inspect power lines, food crops, or infrastructure -- is endurance. Small fixed-wing UAS can often only get an hour (maybe two) of power.

????So it's significant that Monrovia, Calif.-based AeroVironment's fixed-wing Puma AE recently logged a continuous flight lasting 9 hours and 11 minutes. The 13-pound, hand-launched Puma (to take off, the operator simply heaves it into the air like a football) also recently received a first-of-its-kind commercial flight certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, clearing it for commercial operation in the Arctic and, in a few years when national airspace regulations are settled, in the U.S.

????Though currently experimental, the solar-cell-augmented Puma AE should be ready for production sometime next year, offering commercial companies and research groups working in the Arctic an affordable, long-endurance source of aerial imagery.