Applications

COMETS addresses the development of innovative real-time distributed control systems and autonomous system coordination that could be used in many applications with important economic impact such as vehicles and transportation.

The UAV market is currently serviced by more than 50 manufacturers with over 150 aircraft designs. All of the UAV industry is poised to enter the commercial UAV market.

Today the UAV market is segmented in military applications (surveillance, target acquisition, combat aircraft, target drones) and civil applications (aerial photography, video productions, surveillance, weather and atmospheric monitoring, weather and atmospheric monitoring, and others). However, the applications are currently in a process of diversification. According to Frost and Sullivan, there is a long list of UAV applications and the following market segments can be identified:

1. Military: Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Real Time Battle Field Command Observation, Combat Aircraft, Target Drones, Logistical Supply and Combat Re-supply, Organic Ground Combat Support, Battle Damage Assessment, Search and Rescue, Fire Fighting, Non-lethal weapons (High Power Microwave), Chemical and Biological Warfare, Chemical/Biological/Nuclear Remote sensing, Monitoring and Early Warning, Rapid Smoke Camouflage Disbursement.
2. Civil Government: Surveillance, Border Patrol, Law Enforcement, Weather and Atmospheric Monitoring, Disaster Relief, Emergency Communications Relay, Airborne Early Warning (storms, terrorist attacks, chemical/biological/nuclear).
3. Civil State and Local: Law Enforcement (particularly rural), Fire Fighting, Search and Rescue, Highway/Road Monitoring, Weather, Aerial Surveying.
4. Commercial: Agriculture, Commercial Fishing, Package Delivery (FEDX/UPS), Merchant Marine & Shipping, Petroleum, News/media, Railway/Pipeline/Power line Monitoring, High Value/Risk Surveillance, Commercial Security, Aerial Surveying, Telecommunications, Internet (real time video and telemetry downlinks to the Internet for news, media, sports, science and industry applications).