By CYRUS FARIVAR
If all goes well, this year a remote-controlled portable airplane will be taking to the air over Southern California, providing a low-cost eye in the sky for law enforcement.
Chang Industry of La Verne, Calif., is one of dozens of companies working on portable unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.’s, that can be equipped with cameras to transmit live video feeds to law enforcement officers on the ground, miles away. While larger and more sophisticated unmanned aircraft have been in use by the military for several years, this new breed of U.A.V.’s is small enough to be transported in the trunk of a patrol car, for example, assembled and flown by officers near a developing crime scene.
Dr. Yu-Wen Chang, the company’s president, said that he expects to sell his Kite Plane, which has a wingspan of about 4 feet and weighs less than 5 pounds, for $5,000 apiece. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will be the first law enforcement agency to test the plane, probably in April, Dr. Chang said.
