Commercial
A new patent from Samsung has surfaced in which we see a drone designed to look somewhat like a Frisbee. The drone, at least per the patent’s illustrations, feature a circular design with a couple feet on the underside and an open grille on the top, a rotor presumably
Commercial
Over 2.5 million drones are expected to enter US skies this year, many of them requiring repairs after operational use. Unmanned Systems and Solutions (USAS) has opened their 120,000 square foot professional drone repair facility capable of quickly repairing drones from most major manufacturers. In partnership with a
Agriculture
AeroVironment, Inc. has announced that it has begun a year-long study with California State University, Fresno to research how unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and analytics could potentially detect varying levels of water stress in almond trees and give producers smarter insights to make more effective in-season decisions
Aerial Photography
China Daily website (chinadaily.com.cn) has joined forces with a drone maker to improve digital news coverage. The website and domestic drone company EHang Inc signed a collaboration agreement on Wednesday, which will see reporters given training on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) photography. The workshops will address the industry&
Business
Two Perth-based specialist firms in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) recently joined forces. C4D Intel, who also specialises in geospatial analysis, has formally announced the acquisition of Airbotix. Tech-startup Airbotix established itself using autonomous systems for applications such as inspection and testing, geospatial survey, scientific research and situational
Law Enforcement
Novadem will supply France’s National Gendarmerie with the NX70 UAS under a contract announced on 30 November. The company will deliver 19 UAS which will be used by the force for reconnaissance missions. The NX70 is Novadem’s newest generation UAS. Weighing in at less than 1kg it is
Commercial
Apple Inc. plans to use drones and new indoor navigation features to improve its Maps service and catch longtime leader Google, according to people familiar with the matter. The Cupertino, California-based company is assembling a team of robotics and data-collection experts that will use drones to capture and
Electronic Sub-Systems
The electronics were incorporated in the drone during the 3-D printing process which employs Stratasys ULTEMTM 9085 - a high strength, lightweight FDM material certified for use in commercial aircraft. The drone is jointly developed by NTU's Singapore Center for 3-D Printing (SC3DP) and Stratasys Asia Pacific,
First Responders
Boeing is planning to make fighting forest fires a lot safer for firefighters by using the latest technologies. Developed by their Insitu division, their system use large UAVs controlled via their INEXA Control system aided by Microsoft’s HoloLens.The system converts INEXA Control’s 2D maps into an accurate
Commercial
Researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington will lead a collaborative effort to use unmanned aerial vehicles to inspect highways and railroads remotely and develop guidelines for how to safely complete the task. Civil Engineering Professor Anand Puppala is the primary investigator on the two-year, $770,909 Texas
Regulations
California has had more disclosed unauthorized Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) encounters than any other state between October 2015 and September 2016—accounting for 21 percent of the reported encounters nationwide—according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). These encounters continue to pose a direct risk to public safety air assets.
Commercial
UK insurer Direct Line has a clever idea: drone streetlights you summon on your phone and that follow you around when you need them. As the video above shows, this is very much a marketing campaign rather than a real service, but the software behind it is open source and