弗吉尼亚理工大学研究人员测试无人机帮助美国联邦航空管理局制定规则

    From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.
    这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

    The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, has chosen a university town in Virginia as one of six places to test drones. Drones are aircraft without human pilots. A drone can also be called an unmanned aircraft system, or UAS. The town, Blacksburg, is home to Virginia Tech University.
    美国联邦航空管理局(简称FAA)选择弗吉尼亚州的一个大学城作为六处无人机试验基地之一。无人机是指无人驾驶飞机。它也被称为无人飞机系统。该试验基地位于布莱克斯堡,这里也是弗吉尼亚理工大学所在地。

    The university has flown and researched unmanned aircraft systems for years. But now, the research has more meaning. Researchers at Virginia Tech send reports to the FAA to assist the agency in the development of national drone rules. The FAA says most business drones cannot operate legally now. The agency plans to announce rules for how drones can share airspace in the United States with major airplane companies.
    该大学对无人机系统进行了多年飞行和研究。但现在研究有了更多意义。弗吉尼亚理工大学的研究人员将向美国联邦航空局发送报告,用于协助该机构制定国家无人机规则。美国联邦航空局表示,大多数商业无人机现在无法合法运营。该机构计划宣布无人机如何同主要飞机公司共享美国空域的规则。


    研究人员在调试无人机

    The leader of the Blacksburg test center is Rose Mooney. She says that her researchers are doing new things with UAS.
    罗斯·穆尼(Rose Mooney)是布莱克斯堡试验中心的负责人。她说她的研究人员正在用无人机进行一些新的尝试。

    "UAS can do things that manned aircraft can't. Our first flight is going to be a larger aircraft that hasn't been flown unmanned in the national airspace."
    “无人机可以做到有人驾驶飞机无法做到的事情。我们的第一架飞机将是一架从未在国家领空无人飞行过的大飞机。”

    Air information sensors are common on manned airplanes. But researchers at the Virginia Tech University test center have added a sensor to their drones. The sensor records air speed and altitude, the height of the flight. The information is sent through tubes to a computer that examines stability. All of the information is then sent to the FAA.
    航空信息传感器在载人飞机上非常常见。但弗吉尼亚理工大学试验中心的研究人员在他们的无人机上也增加了一个传感器。该传感器能够记录空速和飞行高度。这些信息通过电子管发送到稳定性检测电脑。所有信息随后被发给美国联邦航空管理局。

    The federal agency may also rule on another device to guarantee greater safety. The device is a special eyewear that lets a person see the flight as if he or she is on the drone. Pilots on the ground can use this view to better direct the drone and keep it away from objects in the flight path.
    该联邦机构可能还会为另一种设备制定规则以保证安全性更高。该设备是一种特殊眼镜,可以让人看到这次飞行,如果他或她在无人机上的话。地面上的飞行人员可以使用该(眼镜提供的)视图更好地控制这架无人机,并使其避开飞行路线上的各个物体。

    Researcher Justin Stiltner says drones can be used to do jobs that are uninteresting, dirty or dangerous. They can fly into areas of radiation, or inside hurricanes or over croplands to examine corn. Professor Craig Woosley says farm studies are the main goal.
    研究人员贾斯汀·斯特勒(Justin Stiltner)表示,无人机能够用于做一些无趣、没人愿意干或危险的事情。他们能够飞入辐射区,或飞进飓风里,或飞跃农田考察玉米。克雷格·伍斯利(Craig Woosley)教授表示农场研究是主要目标。

    "We need to do better at how we do agriculture so we can continue to improve crop yields and that drives us toward ever more and more technology. "
    他说,“我们需要在农业上做得更好,这样我们就能继续提高作物产量,而这推动我们走向越来越多的科技。”

    Rose Mooney thinks using drones is a huge step forward in the flight industry. But drone use will not change until the FAA publishes new rules. And that is not expected to happen until late 2015.
    穆尼认为,使用无人机是飞机行业的一项巨大进步。但在美国联航航空管理局发布新规则之前,无人机的应用将不会改变。然而预计在2015年年底前,新规则无法出台。

    And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report . For more technology stories, go to our website 51voa.com. I'm Jonathan Evans.
    以上就是本期美国之音慢速英语科技报道的全部内容。更多科技新闻,请访问我们的网站51voa.com。我是乔纳森·埃文斯(Jonathan Evans)。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利,未经授权请勿转载,违者必究!)