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Look here to find articles and citings in the press about AV, our people, our products and topics that relate to us. If you find something elsewhere that we have not posted, then let us know by sending us an email at info@avinc.com.UAS Drive Growth in Small Precision Missiles Market
February 03, 2012
Increased use of unmanned aircraft is driving demand for smaller precision-attack weapons.
Strike weapons is the only segment of the world missile-systems market expected to see significant increases in value and production through 2016, with the lightweight missile sub-segment projected to experience rapid growth.
Unmanned Aircraft A Controversial Surveillance Tool For N.D. Law Enforcement
January 31, 2012
Grand Forks, N.D. — In a first for local law enforcement in the region, 16 North Dakota counties will soon use two small unmanned aircraft to monitor crime scenes and track suspects.
Much like the unmanned aircraft flying over war zones in Afghanistan or along U.S. borders, these aircraft are small enough to into the back of an SUV. But each carry a camera and can provide streaming video to a police officer piloting the plane from the ground.
Will 100,000 Electric Cars Be Sold In U.S. This Year Or Not?
January 25, 2012
Technology market research firm Gartner announced yesterday that it forecasts plug-in car sales in the U.S. will top 100,000 vehicles during 2012.
But with 2011 sales figures much totaling just over 17,000 fully electric and plug-in hybrids, is it conceivable that total plug-in car sales will more than quintuple in just one year?
California Air Board To Vote On Landmark Electric-Car Rules
January 25, 2012
In a move that could reshape the American automobile industry, California regulators Thursday are expected to approve sweeping new rules requiring that 15 percent of new cars sold in California by 2025 run on electricity, hydrogen or other systems producing little or no smog.
Drones Fly Into Nascent Civilian Market Ripe With Energy, Environmental Applications
January 25, 2012
As a Russian tanker plowed through the frozen Bering Sea to deliver fuel to Nome, Alaska, earlier this month, it had an unlikely helper: a small drone that hovered overhead, sending images of the sea ice to researchers onshore who were plotting the vessel's path and planning oil spill contingencies.
Drone technology, which revolutionized the way the U.S. military spies and fights, is now opening vast new opportunities for environmental researchers and the energy industry. And the Arctic -- with its brutal temperatures and vast, unpopulated spaces making manned flight difficult and dangerous -- is ground zero for those efforts.
Channel Nine Australia: New Look At US Military Drones
January 21, 2012
The US military is redeveloping a form of technology that gives them the edge in combat without risking lives.
engineering TV: Top 5 Small Robots of 2011
December 19, 2011
What do a hummingbird, a maple seed and a skate have in common? They’ve inspired design engineers to come up with some of the most unique unmanned systems we saw in 2011. These are the Top 5 Small Robots.
Energy Companies Eyeing Drones to Survey Pipelines
December 18, 2011
New regulatory recommendations expected to be released by the Federal Aviation Administration soon could allow oil-and-gas companies to purchase light-weight unmanned drones akin to those used by the military.
Energy companies already use remotely operated vehicles to monitor and manipulate wells at extreme underwater depths, and unmanned aircraft companies hope that in the coming years, companies will be able to hire or buy aerial drones to survey pipelines, check on hard-to-reach parts of platforms and gather information after an offshore accident occurs.
UAV Makers Expect U.S. Defense Demand to Continue
December 17, 2011
DAYTON — The recent crashes of U.S. unmanned military drones in Iran and Seychelles won’t be major setbacks to America’s unmanned aircraft program, a defense industry analyst said.
“Unmanned systems, people recognize, are more liable to crash than other aircraft,” said Philip Finnegan, an analyst with Teal Group Corp. in Fairfax, Va. “They’re too expensive to be expendable. The goal is to bring them back.
“But, at the same time, there’s a recognition that the loss of an unmanned system doesn’t involve a loss of life,” Finnegan said.
UAVs: The future Of Irregular Warfare
November 21, 2011
What role is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) currently playing in providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to ground troops in irregular warfare environments? How will this function evolve over time?
Nissan, Sumitomo Bring Low-Cost Electric-Car Quick Charger to U.S. Market
November 11, 2011
HONOLULU, Nov. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Nissan North America Inc. (NNA -0.31%, news) today announced that it is bringing an innovative, low-cost DC quick charger for electric cars to the U.S. market. The DC quick charger is being launched as part of a global collaboration with Sumitomo Corporation, with the first installations planned for early 2012.
Nissan and Sumitomo also announced that they are looking to Nissan North America's preferred home charging station partner AeroVironment AVAV to be their wholesale and retail distributor, as well as the preferred provider for U.S. installation services.
Military Times: Jumping Robot To Get Tested In Afghanistan
November 07, 2011
Army Col. Peter Newell, head of the Rapid Equipping Force, walked through the streets of Kandahar, Afghanistan, with ground commanders, who pointed to the 18-foot walls that line the many compounds both inside and outside the city.
Unmanned Drone Attacks and Shape-Shifting Robots: War’s Remote-Control Future
October 22, 2011
Washington and Kandahar, Afghanistan
In the shadow of a heavily fortified enemy building, US commanders call in a chemical robot, or what looks like a blob. They give it a simple instruction: Penetrate a crack in the building and find out what's inside. Like an ice sculpture or the liquid metal assassin in "Terminator 2," the device changes shape, slips through the opening, then reassumes its original form to look around. It uses sensors woven into its fabric to sample the area for biological agents. If needed, it can seep into the cracks of a bomb to defuse it.
Unmanned Aerial Warfare, Flight Of The Drones
October 07, 2011
Why the future of air power belongs to unmanned systems
N SEPTEMBER 30th Anwar al-Awlaki and several of his al-Qaeda colleagues stopped their pickup truck on a remote, dusty road deep inside Yemen’s interior. He can have had only a split second to realise what was about to happen. But the missile strike that killed al-Qaeda’s most effective propagandist was no real surprise. It was just the latest example of the way America’s armed Predator and Reaper drones are changing the terms of combat with the country’s enemies, leaving them able to run but with nowhere to hide.
A Review Of Roles And Missions Could Reveal Opportunities To Reduce Defense Spending
September 08, 2011
Large defense cuts are coming. If the military is to avoid becoming a hollow force it needs to find new ways to save money while still maintaining critical capabilities.
MSNBC: Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems - The Future of Technology
September 06, 2011
LA Times: Pentagon Seeks Mini-Weapons For New Age Of Warfare
May 30, 2011
In an effort to cut costs and avoid civilian casualties, manufacturers are developing small 'smart bombs,' drones that resemble model planes and microscopic crystals to tag enemy targets.
Under mounting pressure to keep its massive budget in check, the Pentagon is looking to cheaper, smaller weapons to wage war in the 21st century.
Drones Becoming Special Operation Forces’ Indispensible Tools of War
May 20, 2011
It has been one of the hallmark traits of U.S. special operations forces: They take existing technology and use it in new and creative ways. A case in point is the way they employ unmanned systems.
In 2003 in Iraq, naval special warfare commanders grabbed a Marine Corps’ drone called the FQM-151 Pointer, developed in 1986 by AeroVironment for use by ground units, and updated it for a Sea, Air, Land (SEAL) team that needed eyes in the sky as it approached Baghdad.
“If something like Pointer had never been tried, who knows where [unmanned aerial systems] would be now,” said Cmdr. Robert Witzleb, director of technical special reconnaissance at Naval Special Warfare Command.
2011 Top Green Cars
April 14, 2011
Automotive valuation guide Kelly Blue Book named the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle the top green vehicle of 2011.
Kelly Blue Book is a widely used guide for car shopping — with terms like “blue book” and “blue book value” actually trademarked when referring to prices for a car. The company said the Leaf won out with a “ground-breaking combination of range, room and price.” The Chevy Volt, an electric car with a range-extending gas engine, came in behind the Leaf as the second best green car of 2011.
It’s Electric: AV’s Home Charger featured in Mad Money interview with David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy
January 25, 2011
Mad Money interview with David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy and featuring AV's Electric Vehicle Charger.
Drones on the Homefront
January 24, 2011
Unmanned aircraft, which have already revolutionized warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, are entering U.S. airspace. While drones have already been used to patrol the border and track forest fires, their most controversial use may be as surveillance tools for federal, state and local law enforcement.
Army: Tremendous Demand for UAVs In Afghanistan
December 17, 2010
The Army is working to meet its troops’ huge demand for unmanned aircraft systems, but the expected budget cuts will force the service to prioritize what they really need, officials said.
Among the organizing principles, said Lt. Col. James Cutting, Aviation UAS director in the Army’s G-3 office: The Army does not want unmanned systems for unmanned’s sake. A proposed new system must offer better capability or save manpower, Cutting said.
First Nissan LEAF™ Delivered to Consumer
December 14, 2010
San Francisco Bay Area resident Olivier Chalouhi has become the first person in the world to take delivery of a Nissan LEAF all-electric vehicle. At a special presentation on Saturday at North Bay Nissan of Petaluma in California, Chalouhi, a 31-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur who was the first person in the U.S. to place a LEAF order, took possession of a black LEAF SL in what Nissan described as an historic event representing “the first delivery of an affordable, mass-market, all-electric car since the first days of the automotive era.”
msnbc.com Environmental Entrepreneurs: Charging Electric Cars
December 14, 2010
LA Times: Charging Network a Goal as Electric Vehicles Come On Line
November 29, 2010
Visitors to the Los Angeles Auto Show are wooed by the vehicles' futuristic designs and the promise of fuel savings, but many tire-kickers raise worries about how they would keep the cars powered up.
Nissan Leaf Runs Equivalent Of 99 Miles Per Gallon
November 23, 2010
WASHINGTON – The Nissan Leaf, an electric car aimed at attracting environmentally conscious motorists, will get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, based on government testing.
Nissan Motor Corp. said Monday the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel efficiency window sticker, which provides information about the car's energy use, would estimate the electric car will achieve the equivalent of 106 mpg in city driving and 92 mpg on the highway.
New York Times: A Private Network for Recharging Cars
November 18, 2010
A utility with operations around Texas is planning a network of 50 to 150 charging stations for electric cars in the Houston metropolitan area to eliminate “range anxiety” and is talking with Nissan, Toyota and others about offering auto buyers a package that includes network access and a home charger.
The company, NRG, hopes to offer packages ranging from $49 a month, for cars with both electric motors and gasoline engines like the Chevy Volt that would not need access to the scattered charging stations, to $79 a month for buyers of the Nissan LEAF™.
KCET SoCal Connected: Drones Rising
November 11, 2010
Drones. They're in the news every day with reports of unmanned aircraft striking targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also represent an industry on the rise — one with a large base right here in Southern California. Correspondent Angie Crouch examines the current state of the industry and how UAVs might be in use over our own skies soon.
KCET: A Geek’s Guide to Drones
November 11, 2010
A Geek's Guide to Drones
Cars that drive themselves, planes that fly without a pilot — it sounds like something out of the film Transformers. But it's not science fiction anymore. Google has a self-driving car, and more companies than you might imagine are pumping out unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, though you may be more familiar with the term "drone."
Nissan Offers EV Charging At Dealerships
November 09, 2010
Over 90% of those 20,000 individuals who’ve gone ahead and reserved a brand new Nissan Leaf live within 10 miles of a dealership–a fact, apparently, that has inspired Nissan to install Level II (240 volt) charging stations at dealerships within select target markets, for use by its customers (no word on whether there’s a charge for the service).
More than 40 Level 2 (240V) charging stations have already been installed at dealerships, and by the time the New Year is no longer new, more than 150 dealers in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Tennessee will have four charging docks installed: two for operational support and two in customer-access areas.
Raven Helps Army Unit Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction
November 05, 2010
CBRNE troops battle heat, train-up for worldwide missions
By Michael Heckman, Sentinel Staff
They might have the toughest job in the Army and do it in an environment that would terrify most people, but digging foxholes in Texas dirt in 90-degree weather was the biggest challenge for a couple of CBRNE troops from Fort Lewis, Wash., who participated in operation Liberty Focus at Fort Hood.
“We’ve practiced the decon exercises before, but the most challenging part of this has been digging foxholes in the heat in full battle rattle,” Spc. Corri Irving, with the High-Risk Personnel platoon, 61st Chemical Company based at Fort Lewis, said.
