sUAS News

This year’s European Satellite Navigation Competition, the world’s leading innovation platform for forward-thinking applications in its field, centred on the topic of civilian drone use. On 25 October in Madrid, its 2016 edition culminated in an awards ceremony featuring prominent industry representatives and the winners of 32 categories, which included 11 drone applications. Rafael van […]

This time, last week’s controversial World Drone racing championship in Hawaii. How to make money with a drone, a Phantom 3 Professional no less from somebody that is. The golden Phantom and lots of nonsense. Join us every Tuesday night at 21:00 GMT if you really don’t have any better place to be.

Position Partners team with Propeller Aero to provide an out of the box survey solution. In Australia rules for sub 2kg platforms have been relaxed. Companies can start harvesting data faster than ever before. Aerial mapping for cm accuracy has never been so easy! With our new RPAS survey bundles, you get: Your choice of […]

PrecisionHawk, a leading provider of commercial drone and drone data platforms, continued its global expansion with the launch of its first office in Australia. Business development executive Nathaniel Hyde has been named director of Australia to lead the new Sydney office, which will provide industries including agriculture, environmental protection and energy with the full-stack, aerial […]

Sentera is enabling every drone user to unlock the power of their data by offering AgVault™ and OnTop™ Software Platforms at affordably-priced tiered subscription levels. An annual subscription is now offered at 79% price reduction, unlocking the power of drone data management for an even larger market segment. Sentera is an industry-leading remote-sensing solution provider […]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began issuing Part 107 waivers and airspace authorizations to drone operators starting August 29, 2016, the effective date of the new rule. As of October 24, 2016, the agency has approved 81 authorizations for flights in Class D and E airspace, and has issued 36 waivers of Part 107 provisions […]

Today, drone pilots can begin logging their flights with Airnest, a simple, free cloud-based logbook platform. By uploading flight logs, or simply flying with the Airnest app pilots are able to: Playback flights in real time Receive moment-by-moment flight metrics including battery performance, orientation, GPS status, speed, location, altitude and more Share flights by linking […]

Ken Long Baseball managers have long kept tabs on their star players to make sure they stay ready and rested for the big series. In addition to getting them to stay out of bars and dark alleys late at night, they now also have to make sure they don’t injure themselves by fiddling with a […]

He must do! How else could he have thought up the print your own landing pad concept. Alan Boyle of Geekwire reports that the Amazon boss spoke of such things at the recent Museum of Flight Pathfinder awards. “You just need a landing field. And if you have a landing field, you can mark it […]

The United States Department of Agriculture (APHIS division) has selected the Aeromapper Talon for their research on mapping agricultural areas that have been damaged by wildlife. Among the different payloads offered with the Aeromapper Talon they have chosen the standard 24 Mp RGB Sony camera as well as the Micasense Rededge multispectral camera. The cameras […]

HYPACK chose the Ellipse-D inertial navigation system to equip their new UAV-based surveying solution: the NEXUS 800. The NEXUS 800 is an out of the box turnkey system that tightly integrates hardware and software to provide an advanced and seamless solution for LiDAR survey planning, data acquisition, post processing and analysis, and product creation. The […]

Aerial platforms are rapidly becoming vital tools for businesses looking to more efficiently collect information crucial to their operations. As the first integrated aerial camera with an optical zoom up to 30x and digital up to 6x, the Zenmuse Z30 offers unparalleled image data capture. Enterprises are now able to capture the information they require […]

Marques Aviation Ltd (marquesaviation.com) has partnered with Robotic Skies (roboticskies.com) to develop and implement a global maintenance plan for the Marques line of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) products. As part of the agreement, Robotic Skies will provide warranty program and field support management for Marques customers through the Robotic Skies network of service centers around […]

Another quarter of the year has flown by (yes, I just did that) and there is no shortage of new drones milling about the skies of this blue marble. Q3 Update – October 2016 – https://joom.ag/OEsQ Gary, Editor of sUAS News, recently mentioned that in his neck of the woods, and besides his own fleet […]

Hurricane Matthew swept past the coast of North Carolina on the night of October 8th. This powerful storm had already wreaked havoc in the Caribbean and along the southern coast of the US. As it passed, it drenched low-lying inland areas with intense rain, and brought strong winds to coastal areas. At the Duke Marine […]

When I say won, I mean hearts and minds. Ballards Facebook live stream from Hawaii has gone viral among FPV racing enthusiasts. The stream started as a way of getting news back home to Bothwell, Tasmania. It has become the goto resource. Chris asks questions posed by those watching the feed. He also finds himself […]

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Gorongosa National Park is a 4000 square kilometer nature reserve in central Mozambique. In the 1950s it boasted some of the greatest animal densities in Africa, with over 500 bird species, abundant carnivore populations, as well as reptiles. The park originally began as a hunting reserve in the 1920’s and became a popular destination very […]

People are captivated by the limitless possibilities the drone industry offers, but with them comes a host of safety challenges, as hundreds of thousands of drones take to the sky. At the Federal Aviation Administration, we realise we can’t solve these challenges alone. We need the expertise and collaboration of key industry and government stakeholders. […]

The rollout has begun. No doubt many many thousands of them have been ordered so it may take a little while. Shipping notices are popping up all over social media! Expect end user experiences to start landing next week. DJI is pleased to let you know we’ve begun shipping the Mavic Pro starting today. As […]

DCNS, a world leader in naval defense, and Airbus Helicopters are joining forces to design the future tactical component of France’s Naval Aerial Drone (Système de Drones Aériens de la Marine or SDAM) program. By pooling naval and aerospace skills and expertise, the teaming of DCNS and Airbus Helicopters will be equipped to address all […]

Very very clever marketing from Drones Direct in the UK, for a mere UKP 19999.97 ($24,391) you can own your own gold plated drone. Excellent Friday fodder may it bring floods of folks to your web store. Fly in First Class with the Rolls Royce of the drone world – the DJI Phantom 4: Gold […]

Silent FalconTM conducted a series of successful Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) demonstration flights as part of NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) system. NASA’s UTM program is developing a civilian traffic control system for autonomous low altitude Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations. This will create a safer flight environment. “The ability to […]

Tiaan had a long day on Tuesday, he witnessed a six hour flight of the new ALTI Transition in South Africa. He spoke about his experiences during our weekly chat that evening. The 2.8m wingspan seperate lift thrust platform uses a base px4 board from Drotek which is connected to a proprietary avionics stack. This […]

Hangar, a software company specializing in autonomous data capture using drone technology, announced a $6.5 million Seed financing led by Lux Capital. Hangar will provide high-quality aerial data across multiple industries more consistently and affordably than ever before, utilizing a combination of advanced software and drone technology. This announcement comes immediately following the launch of […]

Today sees the launch of ‘400ft Britain’, a drone photography and videography competition hosted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), in partnership with VisitEngland to educate people about using drones safely while celebrating the UK’s beautiful countryside and supported by leading aviation players. Drones are the latest ‘must have’ piece of kit for photographers and […]

Leave the flying to the professionals. That’s the message coming from The International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) out of concern for spectator safety and the safety of air show pilots who will fly nearly 10,000 performances at over 300 North American events this year. Carrying forward and supporting the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) “No […]

The Unmanned Safety Institute (USI), a subsidiary of ARGUS International, Inc., and the world leader in UAS flight safety education, and remote pilot training and certification, and Global Aerospace Inc., a leading provider of aircraft insurance and risk management solutions for the aviation and aerospace industries, announced today that they have expanded their joint partnership […]

Drone Sports Association (DSA), the leading global drone racing and drone sports entertainment company, announced today that the first ever Drone World Championships “Drone Worlds” will be presented by GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) and {code} by Dell EMC. LowePro, Horizon Hobby, AirVuz and EY have also signed on as major partners for the marquee event October 17-22, […]

The data gathered was from a source in the FAA which requested to remain anonymous. It is current as of October 18, 2016. 1. Remote Pilot Pass Rates Are Close to Private Pilot Knowledge Test Pass Rates. Interestingly, the individuals taking the remote pilot exam had a pass rate of 88.29%, which is close to the […]

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NVdrones, a start-up that provides cloud-based software solutions for drone fleet management, today announced compatibility with DroneDeploy flight logs as well as the ability to create beautiful and comprehensive flight reports at the push of a button. NVDash, the company’s flagship product that hundreds of drone companies already use to manage their fleet, is now […]

Silent Falcon UAS Technologies has been granted an Airworthiness Statement by the Airworthiness & Flight Safety Review Board, part of the Ames Research Center division of NASA. This Statement allows the Silent Falcon UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) to participate in the NASA UTM (Unmanned Traffic Management) project headed up by the NASA Ames Research Center. […]

In mid-October NASA partners will fly five unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly called drones, beyond visual line-of-sight of their human operators-in-command, to test planning, tracking and alerting capabilities of NASA’s UAS traffic management (UTM) research platform. During the test, two of the drones will fly beyond visual line-of-sight, and up to three drones will fly […]

Now this I like, I use DroneDeploy for my flight planning I personally find the flight planning app the best of the bunch. I’m more than happy that I will be able to automatically import my flights into Skyward. My friend Stuart in the UK reckons he has more than 350 hours flown with his […]

Aeryon, the premier provider of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), announced today at the IACP 2016 conference in San Diego, CA, the availability of a UAS solution to qualified Public Safety agencies on a monthly subscription basis. The solution provides agencies the option of a turnkey monthly program, with fees as low as $99 per […]

Funded through a $203,220 Environmental Protection Agency award, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Zhenghong Tang and Wayne Woldt plan to develop a methodology to use unmanned aircraft systems to conduct dynamic monitoring and precise assessments of playa wetland habitats. Areas the team plans to focus on include hydrological conditions, vegetation and energy levels, and wildlife usage […]

In an effort to offer fans new and innovative sports entertainment, Eurosport today announced its partnership with DR1 Racing, the leading international drone racing series, to exclusively distribute content for broadcast in 70 countries across Europe and Asia-Pacific. The first episode of the DR1 Invitational from Los Angeles will air on Eurosport 1 on Tuesday, […]

Watch out co, a robot is going to take your seat! I had to check it wasn’t April 1st! The first step towards FedExs autonomous caravan fleet I wonder? Aurora Flight Sciences is breaking ground in the world of automated flight through its work on the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program. On October […]

The Unmanned Safety Institute (USI), a subsidiary of ARGUS International, Inc., announced today that it has been accepted as a “Training Provider” to the FAA Safety Team’s (FAASTeam) Program. USI has also made available their professionally developed Small UAS Safety Ground School course through the FAASTeam website at www.faasafety.gov. This course sets a sturdy foundation […]

Dutch startup Birds.ai is flying to Las Vegas this January to showcase a live demonstration of its computer vision software at CES 2017. Birds.ai’s cloud-based program can automatically measure, track, and report the status of assets in industries like agriculture and infrastructure. It is also one of the very few AI or machine learning software […]

The image credit tells a story, reduced resolution! But we can glean a couple of things from the visit of Year 5, Steeple Morden School. Cambridge News has the story here. The Mk 24 is an Octocopter. It has what looks like a parachute up top and I thought of interest the slightly canted motors. Is […]

Flyability is an EPFL spin-off developing and bringing to market collision-tolerant and safe drones. The company aims at making a significant change in the use of drones by allowing them to enter spaces where no robot can currently penetrate and allow them to fly in contact with humans without risk.Flyability has received multiple awards for […]

ScanEagle N202SE was the first unmanned aircraft to perform an FAA-approved commercial beyond visual line of sight flight in the United States’ National Airspace System. Now through a donation of the historic aircraft to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, visitors have the opportunity to view this ScanEagle and learn more about the part […]

The DRONEMASTERS from Berlin, Germany are inviting to their first DRONEMASTERS MeetUp in the U.S. It will take place in San Francisco on Oct., 20th and will be hosted by Nightingale Security. DRONEMASTERS MeetUps are an established series of events in Europe to network with startups, corporates, investors, public stakeholders and scientific institutions across all industries and branches. They connect professionals and amateurs, who are interested in […]

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) successfully flew an Optical Bar Camera broad-area synoptic sensor on an RQ-4 Global Hawk high altitude long endurance unmanned aircraft system (UAS), marking the first time the legacy U.S. Air Force camera has been flown on a high altitude unmanned aircraft. The Optical Bar Camera has provided panoramic and unalterable imagery […]

Keystone Aerial Surveys, Inc. became one of the first commercial Part 107 UAS operators to receive a Class D airspace authorization from the FAA. Under Part 107, commercial UAS operations are not possible within Class B, C, D or E airspace without an airspace authorization from FAA Air Traffic Control (ATC). Commercial operators wishing to […]

Well done Helen, Al and everyone else at AJS Today we had our audit by the UK CAA as the final step towards attaining a UK CAA Restricted – National Qualified Entity R-NQE status for unmanned aircraft systems. We are pleased to report that after the audit today we were informed that we were successful […]

Southwest Florida commercial drone company, Soaring Sky, has started an After School Program aimed at developing drone industry leaders in middle and high school. The STEM-based program emphasises drone design, programming, and engineering, as well as basic flight skills. The higher-level program will also prepare students for industry certification, which would allow students to work […]