First ever drone pizza delivery takes place in New Zealand (Drone News)

ronjor · Jul 30, 2019

Drones grounded after crash near playing children

Drones carrying lab samples between hospitals in Switzerland have been grounded after a crash 50 yards from where pre-school children were playing.
The drone crashed in woodland after a rope holding its emergency parachute broke, in May, IEEE Spectrum reported.
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ronjor · Jul 31, 2019

FAA upgrades drone management app B4UFLY with real-time flight restriction info

Khari Johnson@kharijohnson July 31, 2019
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today introduced an update of B4UFLY, its app for helping pilots and less experienced operators ensure drone flights are safe and compliant with federal law.
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ronjor · Aug 2, 2019

August 2, 2019
First U.S. FAA-approved 'beyond-line-of-sight' drone flight completed
Bryan Pietsch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it had approved the first drone flight beyond the operator’s sight line, a major advance for retailers like Amazon.com Inc seeking to speed up deliveries by drone.
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ronjor · Aug 5, 2019

UK coastguard plans drone rescue trial in south-west England

BBC
The UK's Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) is seeking to use drones to aid emergency rescue operations and carry out surveillance of ships off the south-west coast of England.
The agency has invited specialists to bid for a £990,000 contract before a deadline of 19 August.
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ronjor · Aug 6, 2019

Drone operators folded into national aviation management system of Switzerland

By Greg Nichols for Robotics August 6, 2019
Safety is an integral part of burgeoning drone economies, and some countries are moving forward with integration.
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ronjor · Aug 11, 2019

Watch a Drone Take Over a Nearby Smart TV

Andy Greenberg 08.11.19
For all the focus on locking down laptops and smartphones, the biggest screen in millions of living rooms remains largely unsecured, even after years of warnings. Smart TVs today can fall prey to any number of hacker tricks—including one still-viable radio attack, stylishly demonstrated by a hovering drone.
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guest · Aug 16, 2019

Police costs for Gatwick drone fiasco double to nearly £900k – and still no one's been charged
August 15, 2019
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/16/gatwick_drone_investigation_costs_double_no_arrests/

Sussex Police's probe of the infamous London Gatwick airport drone fiasco of Christmas 2018 has doubled in cost to nearly £900,000 – and the bungling force still hasn't arrested the person or persons responsible.
Reports dating back to March showed the force had spent £419,000 by that date, meaning the cost of the investigation has doubled over the past five months.

Commenting on the cash spent on the Gatwick drone investigation, sUAS News' Mortimer told The Register: "The police can't be blamed for the Gatwick drone fiasco; the chain of command that called them out for an alleged incident with no evidence to support it needs to face scrutiny. I believe Gatwick Airport should pay the bill for a false alarm or tell the world what really happened."
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guest · Aug 18, 2019

Drone Beats Ambulance in Race to Deliver First Aid to Patients
Medical drones arrived 90 to 120 seconds faster than an ambulance
August 16, 2019
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/drone-vs-ambulance-drone-wins

In Rwanda, drones routinely swoop through the skies, delivering blood products to hospitals. It’s been a medical coup for the drone industry, covered in IEEE Spectrum’s recent feature report.

Now, a team in Iraq and Australia has developed another way to use drones in healthcare—as part of a system that detects when an elderly person has fallen, then delivers first aid.
Described in the journal Sensor, the drone system successfully reached every fake test patient in a busy city in northern Iraq, and arrived 90 to 120 seconds faster than an ambulance.

“That may not sound like a really long time, but if you weren’t breathing or your heart had stopped during that 90 seconds, it would seem like a very long time,” says co-author Javaan Chahl, a professor of sensor systems at the University of South Australia.
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ronjor · Aug 21, 2019

Australia using drones to spot crocodiles near swimmers

BBC
Drones using artificial intelligence to detect crocodiles near swimmers are being used in Queensland, Australia.
Developed by Little Ripper Group, and the University of Technology Sydney, they can detect up to 16 different types of marine life, including sharks, and it says the system is 93% accurate.
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guest · Aug 21, 2019

FAA approves drone delivery in suburban North Carolina
Agency is taking slow, cautious steps toward a buzzing commercial drone industry
August 21, 2019
https://www.zdnet.com/article/faa-approves-drone-delivery-in-suburban-north-carolina/

The FAA has been taking methodical steps on the path toward commercial drone usage. Some in the industry groan that it's actually been dragging its feet.

The waivers are part of the FAA's UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP), which is designed to bring state, local, and tribal governments together with drone operators and manufacturers to accelerate safe commercial drone integration. The program is being seen within the sector as something of a springboard for drone manufacturers.

"Regulation is crucial to the future of widespread drone delivery, both for safe operations and public acceptance, which is why we have been working diligently with the FAA to adhere to the highest standards of safety," says Yariv Bash, CEO and Co-Founder of Flytrex.
Of course, this is just a preliminary step, far from a massive rollout. For example, Flytrex's drones will operate along one delivery route only, [...]
But for industry watchers, these are steps in the right direction. Commercial drones are a foregone conclusion, and we'll be seeing more applications like infrastructure inspection and drone delivery in the coming years.
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ronjor · Aug 23, 2019

FAA asks public not to attach guns, bombs, or flamethrowers to drones

By Sean O'Kane@sokane1 Aug 23, 2019
The Federal Aviation Administration would like you to know that drones and weapons are “a dangerous mix.” The government agency sent out a notice on Thursday “warning” the public “that it is illegal to operate a drone with a dangerous weapon attached.” A dangerous weapon is broadly defined as “any item that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury.”
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guest · Sep 2, 2019

Parrot's latest drone includes an immersive cockpit headset
September 2, 2019
https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/02/parrots-latest-drone-includes-an-immersive-cockpit-headset/

Parrot launched its 4K Anafi drone last year with the view to balancing a decent camera and plenty of features with a price tag that wasn't prohibitively expensive. Its latest model, the Anafi FPV, does the same, but with a heap more fun, focusing on total "flying immersion" via a cockpit glasses headset.
Like its Anafi predecessor, the FPV quadcopter comes with a ton of in-depth manual controls for piloting and imaging, 4K HDR video and 21-megapixel images, plus a decent 26-minute battery life. It's also pretty lightweight at just 283g.

Pair your smartphone to the model with the corresponding FreeFlight 6.6 app, place your phone in the included cockpit glasses, put them on your head on your head, and take flight. The 180-degree tilting camera -- with 3-axis stabilization and 3X zoom -- will give you an exhilarating view at speeds of up to 31mph (50km/h).
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guest · Sep 10, 2019

Electronic License Plates for Drones May Come Soon
New drone standard for remote ID submitted for approval
September 10, 2019
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/robotics/drones/drone-remoteid

Drones may soon carry electronic license plates, thanks to new guidelines for a remote ID system for unmanned aircraft recently submitted for approval.

The newly proposed standard, ASTM WK65041, sets up guidelines for how drones can identify themselves to remote observers, as well as for how to set up systems to read that data.

“We’re working with a lot of drone manufacturers on this standard—DJI, for instance,” says Philip Kenul, chairman of ASTM International’s Committee F38 on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which helped develop the newly proposed standard. “Many other companies are working with us as well, such as Google Wing and Amazon, and will comply with the standard.”
The drone can also be identified if it is connected to the Internet—say, over a cellular link through its operator. This option can prove helpful if an observer does not have the remote ID app, if the drone is out of range or moving too quickly for the app to acquire its Bluetooth or WiFi signals, or if high humidity in the air is degrading the Bluetooth or WiFi signals.
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guest · Sep 11, 2019

This one-ton glider delivery drone is designed for battlefield cargo drops
The Silent Arrow can carry up to 1,631 pounds of goods
September 11, 2019
https://www.techspot.com/news/81843-one-ton-glider-delivery-drone-designed-battlefield-cargo.html

Shown off at the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) show in London, Yates Electrospace Corporation’s (YEC) Silent Arrow GD-2000 is a 2,000-pound glider delivery drone that can carry up to 1,631 pounds of cargo.

As reported by New Atlas, the drone, which has a wingspan of 28 feet, is either carried aboard a cargo plane or tethered beneath a helicopter with its spring-deployed wings folded in. Once within 40 miles of a target, the Silent Arrow is released and glides autonomously and silently to its destination. The drone is currently a single-use model, but a reusable glider and a reusable electric take-off and landing version are being developed.
Production of the Silent Arrow GD-2000 begins next month.
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Minimalist · Sep 11, 2019

BT Launches Counter Drone Solution

BT’s Enterprise unit has launched its Counter Drone Solution to help businesses detect, track, and identify drones which breach airspace and site limits.
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https://www.silicon.co.uk/e-innovation/research/bt-counter-drone-solution-285819

guest · Sep 11, 2019

National airspace should be redesigned around drones, Interior official says
September 11, 2019
https://www.fedscoop.com/federal-drone-use-airspace/

Airspace under 400 feet should be redesigned so federal, state and local governments can take full advantage of drones, the director of Interior’s Office of Aviation Services said Tuesday.

Bathrik said he welcomes additional investment in small drone infrastructure but hopes that regulators don’t do too much much with that airspace under 400 feet for fear that it could stifle simple line-of-sight operations.

“As a pilot who, even at 30,000 feet, has lost radar contact in clear air and lost a lot of cell phone calls down low, I worry about…whether we need to invest in the infrastructure,” he said. “I worry that we’re going to overregulate and over-equip drones that don’t ever need to fly beyond visual line of sight.”
State and local governments have an opportunity to weigh in on federal regulation of airspace below 400 feet by supplying the Federal Aviation Administration with much-needed data, said Darshan Divakaran, UAS program engineer within the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
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guest · Sep 12, 2019

Eco-activists arrested by Brit cops after threatening to close Heathrow with drones
September 12, 2019
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/12/activists_drones_heathrow/

The group announced at the end of August that they were planning to disrupt the airport – one of the world’s busiest – this coming Friday and would meet with the police and airport authorities to discuss their plan. On Tuesday, they reiterated that plan, stating that they were prepared to go to jail to carry out the action.

Predictably enough, the police arrested them. “Earlier today (Thursday, 12 September), three men and two women aged between their 20’s and 50’s were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance in relation to operations at Heathrow Airport on Friday, 13 September,” reads the Met’s official statement.
Just a bad idea
The issue of drones in the airspace around airports is a serious problem: at the end of last year, Gatwick was closed for more than a day after drones unexpectedly appeared. Two weeks later, the same thing happened again.
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guest · Sep 13, 2019

Travel Bloggers Arrested in Iran For Flying Drone Without a Permit
September 13, 2019
https://gizmodo.com/travel-bloggers-arrested-in-iran-for-flying-drone-witho-1838089033

Two Australian travel bloggers have been arrested in Iran for flying a hobby drone without a permit. The bloggers often take photos with their drone and publish them to social media, but the couple disappeared from the internet in June after posting from Pakistan.

The couple were reportedly arrested in July but their identities were only revealed by Zeraati this week since the Iranian government has not yet acknowledged the arrests.
Both King and Firkin have been traveling on Australian passports, according to the Guardian.
But there has also been plenty of criticism by commenters who say that the couple should have known better about flying a hobby drone in Iran.
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guest · Sep 19, 2019

Wing will test drone delivery in the US with Walgreens and FedEx
September 19, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/wing-will-test-drone-delivery-in-the-us-with-walgreens-and-fedex/

Wing, the drone delivery company that started its life within the Google X lab before spinning out into its own thing under the Alphabet umbrella, is prepping for takeoff.
Wing says the pilot program is limited to the small Montgomery County town for now as they work with locals to figure out what works and what doesn’t. The company declined to give any sort of timeline for when the program might expand to other parts of the US.

When the customer places an order, one of Wing’s delivery drones heads for a pickup location. [...]
Once in flight, Wing says its drone cruises at about 60-70mph, with a range of about 6 miles each way. Once the drone arrives at the delivery location, the same tether line lowers the package. When the drone detects that the package has reached the ground, the package is released and the drone heads back home. All in all, Wing estimates that they can make a delivery within about 10 minutes of a customer finalizing their order.
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guest · Sep 20, 2019

NUIG drone completes first delivery of essential diabetes meds
September 17, 2019
https://www.techcentral.ie/nuig-drone-completes-first-delivery-of-essential-diabetes-meds/

NUI Galway (NUIG) has made aviation history with the successful delivery of diabetes prescription medications from Connemara to Inis Mór. Medications and a blood sample were transported via drone in minutes flat as part of its Diabetes Drone project.

Accessing diabetes medication can be a challenge in remote geographic regions, particularly when natural disaster strikes. The drones return flight totalled just 32 minutes; meaning it would allow island residents to access necessary medications, irrespective of weather conditions.

“It is extremely important that we have a way to deliver fridge medications such as insulin to patients in emergency situations which this drone delivery system allows us to do,” said Pauline Forde, pharmacist, Staunton’s Allcare Pharmacy, Galway.
“Our IoT network technology ensured the drone was contactable and connectivity thresholds were met and sustained throughout the flight, from ground level in Connemara to 130m across 18kms of water, to landing on Inis Mór,” said Debbie Power, IoT Country Manager, Vodafone Ireland.
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guest · Sep 20, 2019

ronjor said: ↑

FAA asks public not to attach guns, bombs, or flamethrowers to drones
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Take cover, it’s a drone with a nail gun!
September 20, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/20/take-cover-its-a-drone-with-a-nail-gun/

The FAA has warned against equipping your drone with weapons such as flamethrowers and handguns. But can a nail gun really be considered a weapon [...] Let’s hope not, because roboticists at the University of Michigan have made a roofing drone that uses that tool to autonomously nail shingles into place.

In a video shot in UM’s special drone testing habitat, the craft flies up, approaches its bit of roof, and gingerly applies the nail gun before backing off and doing it a couple more times.
It’s very much just a tech demonstration right now, with lots of room to improve. For one thing, the drone doesn’t use onboard cameras, but rather a system of static cameras and markers nearby that can tell exactly where the drone is and where it needs to go.

Currently the drone is also free flying and uses an electric nail gun; this limits its flight time to about 10 minutes and a few dozen nails. It would be better for it to use a tether carrying power and air cables, so it could stay aloft indefinitely and use a more powerful pneumatic nail gun.
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guest · Sep 22, 2019

Suspected drones disrupt Dubai flights
Septemer 22, 2019
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-09-drones-disrupt-dubai-flights.html

Flights at Dubai's international airport, one of the world's busiest, were briefly disrupted Sunday due to "suspected drone activity," officials said.

Two arriving flights had to be diverted, it said, while media reports said the planes had landed at a smaller airport in the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah.

"Dubai Airports can confirm that flight arrivals were briefly disrupted at Dubai International from 12:36 (0836 GMT) to 12:51 (0851 GMT) UAE local time this afternoon due to suspected drone activity," a spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.
Flights at the airport have been disrupted several times in recent years by recreational drones, with the last incident occurring in February.
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guest · Sep 25, 2019

DJI launches new industrial drones for agriculture and new services for industry customers
September 25, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/24/d...ture-and-new-services-for-industry-customers/

DJI announced two new drones and a new initiative to support first responders during natural disasters and recovery missions with drone technologies as it moves to consolidate its position as the leading drone technology provider.

For first responders, the company is working with pre-selected U.S.-based partners to equip state and local public safety agencies with hardware and software from the company.

“This program builds on DJI’s growing commitment to the public safety industry, as more than 900 public safety organizations across the United States, including the Los Angeles Fire Department, are deploying DJI drones for lifesaving activities,” said Romeo Durscher, Director of Public Safety Integration at DJI.
DJI also took the opportunity to show off its drones as a platform for other technology developers, with FLIR Systems introducing its first multi-gas detector integrated with the DJI Matrice 210 drone for applications in chemical, industrial and environmental monitoring.
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DJI:
DJI Commits Drone Technology To Increase Support For National Disaster Response Efforts
DJI Introduces P4 Multispectral For Precision Agriculture and Land Management

ronjor · Sep 27, 2019

Last year’s Gatwick drone attack involved at least two drones, say police

Natasha Lomas@riptari 27 sep 2019
Today Sussex Police have released an update on their multi-month investigation into who was operating the drones — with thin findings, saying they have “identified, researched and ruled out 96 people ‘of interest’”.
Although they are now sure that drones played a part in the disruption. The report confirms that at least two drones were involved. The police are also convinced the perpetrator or perpetrators had detailed knowledge of the airport.
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guest · Sep 27, 2019

The Dangers of Delaying FAA Modernization
September 27, 2019
https://www.wired.com/story/the-dangers-of-delaying-faa-modernization/

Many of our air traffic controllers are relying on 50 year-old radar installations and antiquated equipment to safely guide passengers through our increasingly crowded skies.

The number of drones registered with the FAA tripled over the last three years, to 1.3 million. Local governments, law enforcement, and farmers are increasingly utilizing them to patrol neighborhoods and monitor crops and livestock.
Taking into account all of these emerging flight technologies makes it clear that a more robust air traffic control system is urgently needed to keep order in the skies and maintain the forward momentum of America’s aerospace and tech innovators.
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First ever drone pizza delivery takes place in New Zealand (Drone News)

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