Commercial
Bridge Inspections in the Age of Drones
Drones make bridge inspections safer and easier to document. A complementary 3-D bridge app developed by the Michigan Tech Research Institute also streamlines defect records.
Commercial
Transport
10,000+ Drone Flights a Day in Canberra by 2030
If the drone delivery scheme for Canberra takes off, there could be 11,000 flights a day, according to a scenario in a report written for the company behind the scheme. The economists at the AlphaBeta consultancy estimate that by 2030 there would be 5.6 million deliveries a year
Commercial
NASA Demos Drones for Disaster Recovery in Japan
NASA has partnered with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, to successfully demonstrate the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (known as UAS, or drones) on a use case to support emergency response and disaster recovery activities. This test, which happened in October 2018, connected JAXA’s Disaster Relief
Commercial
NYPD Unveils New Unmanned Aircraft System Program
On Tuesday the New York Police Department announced its Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program, which will be comprised of newly acquired Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or drones, and the licensed NYPD officers of the Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) who will operate them. Whether it's a search and
Commercial
AeroVironment Quantix Helps National Park Service Recovery Efforts from Southern California Fire
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that it is supporting the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program to assess the environmental impact of the Woolsey wildfire in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area of Southern California. Burning over 96,949 acres, the devastating Woolsey wildfire destroyed more than 616 park structures
Commercial
Imprisoned Hacker Ran a Drone Smuggling Ring
A notorious San Francisco hacker already serving a 13-year prison term has been charged with using a smuggled cell phone to loot consumer debit card accounts, then channeling the profits into a brash jailhouse smuggling caper that used a remotely-piloted drone to drop contraband into the prison yard. Max Ray
Commercial
Ameren Completes 60-mile Drone Flight over Power Lines
With thousands of miles of high-voltage lines, Ameren Corp. wanted a better and safer way to monitor its assets spread over rural territories beyond manual or helicopter inspections. The St. Louis-based energy company worked with Black & Veatch and Collins Aerospace to identify a solution: Beyond Visual Line of Sight
Commercial
Vodafone Conducts 4G Drone Trials Near Barcelona
Vodafone has conducted a 4G drone pilot at the BCN Drone Center in Moià near Barcelona,with the aim of defining a model of aerial coverage that allows the massive use of drones beyond the line of sight in a safe environment. This pilot makes it possible to ensure that
Commercial
ALTI UAS Launches Search & Rescue Enhanced VTOL
ALTI UAS has launched a Search and Rescue version of the ALTI Transition VTOL UAV. This comes after some of the worst fires in South African history recently swept through the area. The ALTI Transition SAR ‘Orange’ is a specific version of the ALTI Transition designed for search and rescue
Commercial
Singapore Bets Big on Drones
Hi-tech Singapore is planning to roll out a swarm of drones for tasks that include delivering parcels, inspecting buildings and providing security, but safety and privacy concerns mean the initiative may hit turbulence. Companies have already started testing the devices for commercial use, mainly in an area of over 200
Business
Schiebel Wins Contract With European Maritime Safety Agency
Schiebel, the market leader in Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Air Systems (UAS), was awarded the coveted maritime surveillance service provision contract by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-100 UAS was selected based on its impressive service record in the maritime domain, as well as
Business
Parrot Cuts More Jobs as Sales Nose-Dive
French drone specialist Parrot said Friday that it would cut around 100 jobs after its third-quarter sales slumped by 40 percent, putting a major dent in its revival plans. Parrot helped create the market for mass-market quadcopters in the late 2000s with easy-to-fly devices that won over millions of fans