Now in early production, the Dakota's capability already has been recognized by military organizations for surveillance and other missions, said Dave Felio, president and chief executive officer for Geneva.

The Dakota features a 16-foot wingspan and a 200-pound airframe, which was originally designed by Daedalus Research Inc., for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory as a rugged UAV test-bed.

It has been used as a sensor test platform and surrogate vehicle for several research and development efforts, including autonomous operations exercised by the U.S. Navy. In the future, commercial applications might include power line inspection, pipeline inspection, mapping and surveying, Felio said.

Geneva first acquired the rights to the Dakota in 2001. The UAV has since undergone a transformation, benefiting most from the addition of flightTEK, a compact, advanced flight control system developed by Geneva.

FlightTEK includes Geneva's patent-pending Variable Autonomy Control System (VACS) software, which runs on top of a real-time variant of the Linux operating system. More than just an autopilot, VACS serves as a true mission management system.

"With the addition of flightTEK, the Dakota is ready to take on precise, demanding missions," Felio said. "flightTEK gives the Dakota new loitering capabilities, as well as the ability to operate with various levels of autonomy."

Thanks to flightTEK, the UAV can be run by an unskilled operator. It can carry a payload of 50 pounds, travel at speeds of more than 100 mph and stay in the air for up to six hours.

To keep the UAV affordable, Geneva optimized the use of commercial off-the-shelf technologies in the development of the airframe and avionics, said Sean Fitzgerald, director of operations for Geneva.

"We can offer customers superior technology with greater precision and less manpower support than that offered by our competitors," Fitzgerald said.

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