Look! Up In the Sky; It’s a … Whale?

Eurolink Systems, the Italian provider of hardware, software, data-management, and robotics systems, is launching Beluga, the first of a family of multi-roll, multi-mission, unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) with which the company seeks to enter the U.S. drone market.

Beluga’s sleek design is evocative of the Beluga whale, from which the vehicle takes its name. Researchers at both Eurolink and Italy’s University Niccolo ?usano studied the marine mammal’s morphology and translated aspects of its physiology into the design of Beluga’s fuselage.

Additional cues from nature and Signore Leonardo da Vinci were applied to the design of Beluga’s rotor-blades, which are patterned after the planform and cross-section of an owl’s wing. The non-ornithologically inclined are reminded that owls’ wings are virtually soundless in flight.

The end-result of Eurolink’s design-safari is an aesthetically-pleasing, whisper-quiet vehicle capable of carrying aloft a maximum payload of 33-kilograms or a lighter, 1.5-kilogram load for up to one-hour. Beluga is designed to fly in harsh weather conditions within a temperature-range of -25° to +55°C. The vehicle’s 110-kph (69-mph) top speed underscores its suitability to time-sensitive undertakings such as: emergency medical transportation of blood, plasma, and pharmaceuticals; search and rescue, security, surveillance, and military missions; and large-scale agricultural operations.

Pietro Lapiana – President and Founder of EuroLink Systems states, “Beluga is a culmination of EuroLink’s decades of technology innovation and experience, which has now been implanted into the Beluga family of mini-drones. Given our experience within the European market – it is now time to extend our influence and build our position and business base in the U.S. Market … “

Planned, future iterations of the Beluga platform include tilt-rotor and marine variants which—despite outward dissimilarities—will share a common electronic infrastructure and control-interface with the original model.

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