Dron para restaurar comunicaciones luego de un desastre

WASHINGTON — Rare is the flying machine whose most interesting feature comes into play when it is sits stationary on the ground. Bell’s APT-70 tiltbody is, primarily, a resupply vehicle, a flying solution pitched at meeting urgent needs in small landing zones.

With all essential hardware for flying located in the airframe of the vehicle — instead of the detachable pod (delivering a 70-pound, or in the case of the smaller APT-20 version, a 20-pound payload) — the utility of the frame itself is what offers new options as a platform. And in a fixed position, it is what lets it work as temporary infrastructure.

“The APT-70 can function as a comms repeater,” said John Wittmaak of Bell, speaking at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

Wittmaak described a scenario where an APT-70 drone is used for resupply as part of disaster relief. After missions depositing water, food, cooled blood if need be and batteries, an APT-70 fitted with a communications signal repeater could land at a high vantage point, restoring signal to the cellphones of people cut off from communication until a more permanent solution can be found.

Such a relay rotorcraft could also land on a hill in an organically denied environment, where mountains and other terrain get in the way of useful radio signals. The ability of a commander to call into place a comms repeater would extend command-and-control capability into otherwise distant or difficult areas.