sUAS News

FAA-Designated Nevada UAS Test Site and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS) have entered into a partnership with New York based training and education provider, SkyOp LLC, to offer drone training programs and courseware to the West Coast. Las Vegas will serve as the West Coast affiliate training center to proactively prepare and train the next […]

Airbus Defence and Space has successfully tested a new type of aircraft that will aid the development of future unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for series production. The unmanned jet-propelled demonstrator with the project name SAGITTA flew completely autonomously for around seven minutes over the test site in Overberg, South Africa, on a pre-programmed course. The […]

The market place for drones and Enterprise solutions is a busy place. There are thousands of companies offering drone-based solutions to Enterprise. Everything from a managed service to drone pilot training to some form of software platform. The options for the Enterprise customer are plenty and varied. The difficult task for Enterprise is finding the […]

Measure, a leading provider of drone services to enterprise customers, today introduced the industry’s first training, equipment and support toolkit designed for broadcast news organisations that want to use their own camera crews for drone- based news gathering. The toolkit joins Measure’s turnkey broadcast news service, giving media and broadcast companies the option to outsource […]

Drone Stuff This Week regular Bruce Simpson posted a VLOG this morning, all about Canadas proposed regulations. He is not delighted! On reading them nor am I. I cannot believe the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada can be impressed. Put quite simply if you are younger than 16 model aircraft flying may not be for […]

A whole heap of my that’s clever and obvious and hard. Hats off to the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) team that created it. I immediately want to try and build one, but wouldn’t know where to start. Efficient forward flight with all the benefit of VTOL. This craft was presented in the […]

uAvionix and ForeFlight join forces to announce the availability of Scout, a revolutionary portable, dual-band ADS-B receiver that delivers inflight weather and traffic information to the ForeFlight Mobile app in the smallest, most elegant form-factor on the market. Retailing at $199 USD, Scout is the industry’s most affordable off-the-shelf ADS-B In solution. Scout is easy to […]

Gary Clayton, Chairman of UAVS, has decided to step down from his role after a long and productive term in office, and has taken the decision that UAVS will cease to operate after he leaves office. ARPAS-UK recognises the pioneering work and value which UAVS has brought to the UAV industry over the last 20 […]

Farnborough International, organisers of the world-famous Airshow, today announced that record bookings were made during the month of June 2017. With Farnborough International Airshow 2018 exactly one year away, participation is already tracking way above previous editions of the Airshow, which has been held in Farnborough since 1948. In June, 76 companies confirmed their participation […]

DJI, the world’s leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology, condemns in the strongest possible terms a video posted by a drone user that records landing of aircraft at Tel Aviv’s Sde Dov airport. The user, Niv Stubenski, claims to have filmed the landings with a DJI Mavic Pro quadrocopter. As the world’s largest […]

Groupe ADP and DSNA Services, a subsidiary created by the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), decided, in a partnership, to combine their expertise to create the Hologarde project, where the aim is to co-develop a drone detection system that can be adapted to all sensitive sites. Edward Arkwright, Deputy CEO for Groupe ADP, stated that […]

During the recordings of the most downloaded series of the Games of Thrones, the NEO drone has been used in Iceland provided by the Dutch company Acecore Technologies. The recordings took place last winter at different locations in Iceland. According to owner and pilot Jorrit Linders the weather conditions were very extreme. It was for […]

Two very interesting things to come out of a Canberra Times report all about Google X testing their Separate Lift Thrust (SLT) delivery drone in Australia. Firstly, the design has changed a bit. It has fourteen yes count them fourteen motors, twelve for lifting and two for forward flight. Also, note the pitot tube stuck […]

Southern Cross Group and The Institute for Drone Technology sign MoU to investigate the practical deployment of Drone Technology across its Security and Facility portfolios. Southern Cross Group is proud to announce the milestone signing of a partnership agreement with “The Institute for Drone Technology”. This keystone partnership will allow Southern Cross Group to explore […]

Devon & Cornwall and Dorset Police have become the first police forces in the UK to launch a fully operational drone unit. The latest in drone technology has been trialled in the respective forces since November 2015 and such has been their benefit, an operational drone unit has been created; the first of its kind in […]

Today, the Drone Racing League (DRL), the global leader in professional drone racing, tested the fastest racing drone, and set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the Fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter. Hand-built by DRL’s Director of Product, Ryan Gury, and DRL’s team of expert drone engineers, the drones fly at unprecedented high speeds. The fastest racing […]

Aireon announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Saudi Air Navigation Services (SANS), Saudi Arabia’s Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP). SANS is managing one of the largest and busiest airspaces in the Middle East, and through this MoU, SANS will develop and analyze a concept of operations for space-based Automatic Dependent […]

ARPAS-UK, the professional trade association for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems in the UK, is delighted to welcome DJI, the world’s leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology, as a new member. Over the last few years, ARPAS-UK has been working to provide an invaluable platform and network of support to the drone industry and […]

The Property Drone Consortium (PDC), a collaboration that consists of insurance carriers, roofing industry leaders and supporting enterprises announced today that its president, Charles Mondello, joined the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Drone Advisory Committee Sub-Committee (DACSC). “We are pleased that the PDC will be a part of the FAA’s Drone Advisory Committee Sub-Committee,” said PDC […]

When you set out to be the world’s best at providing consistently accurate aerial surveying solutions, you want to align yourself with companies who share the same values. Trimble, the global leader in positioning technologies, was an early customer of Propeller. Over the past several months, our team has been working closely with theirs to […]

Eagle View Technologies (“EagleView®”), the leading provider of aerial imagery and data analytics for government and private-sector organizations, is advancing its technology-driven solutions through the use of machine learning processes. In April 2017, EagleView acquired OmniEarth, a developer of machine learning technologies and decision-making tools for the water resource management, energy and insurance markets. Through […]

As the drone industry is taking off, some individuals and groups have started using drones for malicious purposes around the globe. Many companies are watching the trend and are trying to get into the counter drone industry. They have introduced all sorts of drone guns, anti-UAS shotgun shells, attack birds, net cannons, lasers, missiles, radio […]

The question has arisen from time-to-time, as to whether a customer who willingly engages the services of a drone operator, knowing that he or she does not hold a Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate, could be subject to federal legal action. The answer is a qualified “yes.” This question has thus far centered around the […]

Elios was used for two different missions: to perform the required annual survey of underground tank rooms at the plant, and to investigate a suspected leak inside of the reactor building. Both missions were critical to the safety of the staff, minimising their exposure to harmful radiation. Elios’ ability to fly in confined spaces to […]

Sentera introduces the latest update to its high-precision sensor product line, the Quad Sensor. Featuring four fully customizable imagers, the multispectral Sentera Quad Sensor is a precision agriculture, data collection powerhouse. In its standard configuration, the sensor offers standard Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green NDVI, Normalized Difference Red Edge (NDRE), and high-resolution color data […]

VStar Systems and Martin UAV jointly announced the successful completion of an overseas demonstration of the new COMINT capabilities onboard the Martin UAV V-Bat aircraft. VStar Systems, a privately held aerospace and defense systems company, was invited to travel overseas to demonstrate the capabilities of its modular Signal Intelligence Sensor, MA-C2E/Lite. The sensor made multiple flights aboard the Martin UAV V-Bat […]

Today, PolarPro, developer of products inspired by adventure, announced availability of new cinematic lens filters and a purpose-built travel case for DJI® Spark owners looking to get the most out of their new gesture-controlled drone. Known for producing some of the industry’s highest quality lens filters for action cameras and consumer drones, PolarPro’s new Spark filter […]

There is a very disturbing trend in our industry that we, as responsible operators need to address in the most expeditious way possible. The trend is that of civilian/hobbyist operators obstructing public safety from performing their assigned duties. More specifically we are seeing more and more people flying drones in and around the vicinity of […]

Drones in America have evolved from simple bomb delivery vehicles to a broad spectrum of military and civilian aircraft, and the community has evolved to match. Today’s drone community owes much to the century of work and untold thousands of dollars that were spent to bring the civil National Airspace System (NAS) and the aircraft […]

FlytBase, Inc., a startup building developer platforms for connected intelligent drones, today announced the release of industry’s first Drone-API as a Service offering. While most modern businesses run on cloud-based applications, connecting drones to the cloud has been quite challenging. FlytBase plans to change that with their FlytBase Cloud platform. Over last few years, IoT […]

ALTI is looking to expand our network of international distributors! We are seeking and aim to appoint international agents in various countries including Australia and the United States, with the goal to establishing a long term, mutually beneficial relationship. ALTI is the world leader in small commercial and industrial VTOL (vertical take-off and land) unmanned […]

Skylogic Research, LLC, which operates under the brand Drone Analyst, just announced the start of its 2017 Drone Market Sector Research, which promises to be its most comprehensive study of drone market trends and usage to date. The online portion of this research seeks to get opinions about who is buying and using small unmanned aircraft […]

DJI has set up a new training programme for the development of civilian drones for public safety at the Technology Base in Twente, Netherlands. In preparation of the programme, DJI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Space53, the Enschede-based public-private partnership for developing unmanned systems. DJI and Space53 are planning to develop standard operating […]

Chinese company MMC, an industry-leading commercial and industrial drone manufacturer and the innovators behind hydrogen fuel cell technology for drones, have introduced the 2nd generation of their H1 – fuel cell – increasing flight endurance to an impressive 4 hour flight time. Overcoming LiPo Battery Limitations The H-1 Fuel Cell is a drone agnostic solution, […]

Carbomap, an environmental survey company, in collaboration with high performance LiDAR manufacturer RIEGL, UAVE and The University of Edinburgh, today announced the first successful demonstration flight of a RIEGL VUX-1LR survey-grade waveform laser scanner on a fixed wing, long range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This is likely the first time that such a high-performance scanner has […]

Medical samples transported 160+ miles by unmanned aircraft under temperature control in Arizona desert. Medical drone delivery records were set by Johns Hopkins researchers as they successfully transported human blood samples across 161 miles of desert. Throughout the three-hour flight, the on-board payload system maintained conditions, such as temperature, ensuring the samples were viable for diagnostic […]

Two bladed rotors mounted on the wingtip provide thrust in takeoff and landing, but scissor closed in flight to become part of the wing. Custom Joby electric motors directly drive both wingtip blades, as well the tilting tail rotor, and contribute to a low noise signature. Joby motor controllers drive the wingtip motors and provide […]

NLR is testing a large drone at Twente Airport this week. NLR is using the XCalibur+ Jet Trainer – a drone approved for professional use in accordance with the Assessment Specifications for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, Class 1 (AS-RPAS1) – to gain experience in operating drones powered by jet engines. The first test flights with the […]

SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) is going through the roof this weekend. Well in truth for all of the last week. Patrick and I have received news from several sources that some Part 107 operators are being asked to not turn up for work unless they have American-made equipment for Government gigs. Government Agencies, it is alleged, […]

Putting your trust in an external organisation to host and manage your data is not a decision that is made lightly. Your expectation is that the supplier will treat your data like it would its own, and ensure it is captured, transferred, and stored securely. We at Consortiq understand how important your data is to […]

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)s, commonly known as drones, will soon be a common sight over border zones, crime hotspots and city streets, as public safety and security officials and police departments discover the cost saving and efficiencies offered by drone patrol ‘armies’, says Airborne Drones, a South African-based international manufacturer of enterprise-grade drones. “Drones provide the […]

A few things to get out of the way first. I am not a lawyer and I am not a journalist, I just enjoy being part of the free flow of information, and occasionally writing an opinion on top of that information, so call me what you will. I don’t like politics and backroom deals […]

Piaggio Aerospace, a leading Italian aircraft manufacturer active in the business, defense and security sectors, today resumed flight test activity for the second prototype of its P.1HH HammerHead, the state of the art multipurpose Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) at Birgi Military Airport in Trapani today. P.1HH is an Unmanned Aerial System designed for aero, marine […]

The DATAhawkPPK is QuestUAV’s latest ultra-high accuracy fixed wing drone package. It is ideal for professional surveyors that need maximum geospatial precision for their customers, the aircraft provides survey-grade results within minutes. The accuracy of the DATAhawk PPK system has been independently validated by comparing the results of repeated aerial surveys with precisely measured verification […]

Veteran droners know all about Andrew Dunlop and his Millswood failsafe devices. Lovingly crafted for the Outback Challenge. Back in the day, BDJI (Before DJI). The Outback Challenge did more to advance the cause of geofencing than any other effort. Andrew is about to release a new, quite frankly tiny independant geofencing device. He explains it […]

senseFly, the world’s leading producer of mapping drones, today announces Always On, a new worry-free service package designed to keep professional drone operators working and ensure business continuity. Businesses are increasingly professionalising their drone operations, with UAV data acquisition developing in-line with this change, marking a move from using drones in pilot projects only to integrating […]

Kespry, the leading aerial intelligence platform provider, today announced that it has been selected by the CRU Group (Catastrophe Response Unit Adjusters) to provide its automated aerial intelligence solution to support the company’s global insurance claims operations. The announcement of the relationship with CRU comes on the heels of Kespry’s recent announcement of the company’s […]

SLANTRANGE, a leading provider of next­ generation drone­ based remote sensing, analytics, and data services for Agriculture announced today a new Data Collection and Analysis Agreement with Bayer CropScience LP, a world­ leading agriculture enterprise with businesses in seeds, crop protection, and non-agricultural pest control. “We are very excited to work with SLANTRANGE to support […]

Chaney Aerospace, LLC today announced they are providing custom ground control stations (GCS) for the UAS industry. Custom ground control stations give operators the advantage to design a professional tool that fits specifically to their UAS. Ground control stations can be used to fly the UAV, plan flights, retrieve data, and process data in the field. […]