NASA Dryden’s DROID small unmanned research aircraft executes a hard right climbing turn to avoid crashing into a rocky desert ridge during flight tests of a miniature ground collision avoidance system for small unmanned air vehicles. The DROID – short for Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone – provided good data for project engineers as they flight-validated the collision avoidance software Installed in a smartphone connected to its autopilot that enabled automatic fly-ups or turns when the aircraft neared terrain.
