An anthropologist friend of mine has worked on many assignments over the years, but his most interesting project qualified test pilots for the AirForce.
That's the plan behind the Power Line Urban Sentry (PLUS) project currently being run by the AirForce Research Laboratory and private firm Defense Research Associates, and it's already yielded UAVs that can land on power lines and charge in three hours.
" According to AirForce documents, this project calls for "a device that uses directed energy technology to prevent and abate unwanted plants (weeds) in areas that require control or defoliation.
Cohen and his team are tackling the next stage of research by using data from the U.S. AirForce under a joint research project with the University of Tennessee.
The Nellis project was developed through a complex arrangement between the AirForce and financial partners where power providers covered system construction costs in return for a guaranteed market along with substantial federal tax subsidies and other incentives.