Table of Contents

Drone News for Week of August 13th 2018

Drone NewsBytes "Your Unfiltered Drone News Source"

RoboTiCan’s Goshawk drone takes down rogue drones in an unconventional way

RoboTiCan is ditching the nets as their Goshawk drone uses its large frame to collide with hostile aircraft, sending them falling to the surface while still staying airborne.

Toddler’s Popsicle-by-Air Marks Milestone in U.S. Drone Delivery

From her home in a wooded hollow in Virginia hill country, Brianna Smith and her two-year-old son Jack entered the aviation record books on Tuesday. Just six minutes after a technician from Alphabet Inc.’s Wing clicked the “Confirm Order” button on a smartphone app, a drone operated by the company had flown from a simulated store more than a mile away, hovered over her lawn and lowered the ice cream and Popsicle she’d ordered.

Family seeks help from drone pilots to find missing woman in Colorado

A family who is searching for their daughter has asked the drone community to assist them in trying to find out where she is. They have been searching on foot using cadaver dogs but the area they are searching is very large. They are asking for assistance from the drone community in Colorado to help search from Longmont to Rollins Pass outside of Nederland.

Caltech Researchers Are Training a Drone to Herd Flocks of Birds Away from Airports

The algorithm, developed by researchers at Caltech, draws on computer models of the behavior of birds inside flocks, such as collision avoidance and velocity matching. It can allow a single drone to fly alongside flocks of birds to adjust their paths away from air traffic.

KDOT launches its first flight in federal drone program - Shared by Chris Kaufman

Today, Kansas did something nobody else in the country could do, take a drone beyond the line of sight. Kansas Department of Transportation and 30 other Kansas groups kicked off a federal program called UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP). The event took place in Gypsum where almost 50 people watched officials test ways to fly commercial drones much farther than before.

New ‘heavy lifting’ drone gets green light from Transport Canada

A drone that can haul up to 25 pounds as far as 60 kilometres is slated to begin test flights in Canada’s skies this week.

Drone images show hundreds of Indonesia earthquake survivors swarming onto rescue boats as death toll soars to 347

The latest death toll of 347 was reported by state-run Antara news agency, while separate figures estimated 70,000 people had been left homeless. Rescue efforts were hampered as 234 aftershocks struck the islands, but many survivors were pulled from the rubble. These included a 10-month-old baby rescued from the debris on the Gili Islands.

"We have limited ability to control what people do with our products" says drone company DJI

The Shenzhen-based drone manufacturer has built features into its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that aim to enhance their safety and security of the UAVs. It is also working on new developments. "While we build some prudent safety and security features into our products, we have limited ability to control what people do with them," said DJI. "As with any technology, if people decide to misuse our products in any way, they have to be responsible for their actions."

26 Days in the Air: Airbus Drone Smashes World Record

A Zephyr S HAPS drone (High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite) successfully landed in Farnborough, the UK upon finishing its first trial flight. The drone was in the air for 25 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes, breaking the world record for a pilotless aircraft. It will now go to Australia for a 100 day attempt.

Drone seen flying illegally on Mukilteo side of Paine Field

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an unauthorized drone flight over Paine Field this week. Officials say it created a potential hazard for aircraft landing and taking off at the airport.

Drone flights may detect Longmont emerald ash borer infestation

Longmont will be gathering data from drone flights to help determine the spread of the destructive emerald ash borer in parts of a southwest area of the city. The ash tree is a very commonly planted tree in many communities. The emerald ash borer has killed tens of millions of ash trees in the United States. Once the emerald ash borer population builds in numbers, ash mortality is near 100 percent.

YouTuber creates giant Lego helicopter drone!

Woodworth’s creation was inspired from a 6396 International Jetport Lego set that was released in 1990. The giant Lego helicopter is ten times the size of the original toy helicopter.

Lincolnshire Charity Uses Drones to Locate Homeless People in Rural and Coastal Areas

The P3 Charity in Lincolnshire, England has successfully begun implementing UAVs in its efforts to locate vulnerable homeless people in remote areas.

Near Kiev found a plantation of cannabis with a drone

In the framework of operation “poppy” with Aero investigation in Irpen Kiev region employees of Department of counteraction of narcocrime of Kyiv found planting 300 bushes of hemp

Automakers are implementing drone-like obstacle avoidance systems into their vehicles

The Ford F-150 in the video used a mixture of radar and camera technology to scan ahead of the vehicle. According to Ford’s press release, their PCS is designed to provide a warning to the driver once it detects an incoming obstacle, and it can also automatically apply full braking force by itself.

Electric vehicles and drones set to disrupt transport

Drones can help to unlock data that was previously hard to access. Drones can be used as a valuable tool to capture data more accurately, efficiently, and safely. In the Irish context, drones are being used to survey motorways throughout Ireland. This not only provides more accuracy it reduces the number of staff inspections. The aim of current drone use is to reduce the number of road closures needed for routine checks and to enable the faster assessment of any road damage.

Drones Find Place in Public Service in New York Towns

From city planning to emergency response, the aerial technology is making it easier for municipalities on Long Island to serve the public, officials say.

FAA approves drone test site for flight without chase plane

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved a North Dakota drone test site for flight beyond the pilot’s line of sight. The two-year certificate of authorization for the Grand Forks-based Northern Plains UAS Test Site allows large UAS to fly 30 nautical miles around the adjacent Grand Sky technology park without a chase plane beginning April 20.

What Does It Mean to Create a Drone Program for Construction Enterprises?

Construction professionals have been working through what it could mean to utilize drone technology in order to create efficiencies for a long time now, but regulation was always cited as a barrier to entry. Many construction stakeholders determined that the potential value of creating a drone program did not outweigh the actual costs and headaches associated with adoption under Section 333.

New blockchain-enabled drone to revolutionise cargo industry

Russian aviation engineers have built a new type of drone which is capable of delivering large amounts of cargo, fighting fires and spraying insecticides and fertilizers. The drones can carry up to 880 pound and can travel up to 220 miles over eight hours.

UK researchers to create drone experiment corridor

The National Beyond visual line of sight Experimentation Corridor (NBEC) being created in Bedfordshire will be the first area in the UK where unmanned aircraft and manned aircraft can fly in the same airspace. The NBEC will cover around 12 miles between unmanned drone developer Blue Bear Systems Research and Cranfield University’s airport.

The Drive Checked out the SureFly Passenger Drone in NYC Aug. 13

The Workhorse Group took over New York City’s Flatiron Plaza Monday and braved the drizzly weather in order to publicly display two of its most exciting new products: the range-extended, lithium-ion battery-powered W-15 electric pickup and the personal hybrid electric, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) SureFly passenger drone.

RUSSIAN troops thwart mass DRONE ATTACK on Syrian base shooting down five intruders

FIVE drones have been shot down by Russian air defences outside one of their Syrian bases in the past 24 hours alone, in just the latest example of the unmanned vehicles being turned into weapons of war.

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Australia Drone News

Drone company flying blood around Rwanda says Australia could be next

Australia’s civil aviation regulator says a similar program would need permission to stretch the current rules but could get off the ground soon.

Drones to boost endangered turtle monitoring as rangers navigate around crocs, feral pigs

Rangers involved in a massive population survey of endangered turtles are trialling drones to help them locate vulnerable nests faster to ensure their protection from predators.

Brisbane to get 10 drone launch pads

DRONES are set to become a common fixture in the Brisbane sky, with 10 launch pads to be permanently rolled across the city. It follows a surge in demand from drone enthusiasts who have taken part in Brisbane City Council’s Australian first trial of the drone zone parks since December last year.

Qld govt pushes to become ‘drone capital

The Queensland Government is forging ahead with its plan to make the sunshine state the drone capital of Australia. The world’s leading minds in drone technology will converge on Brisbane for one of the largest unmanned automated vehicle conferences on the globe.

Drone taxis could be in Australian skies 'within three years'

Drone taxis could soon be a reality in Brisbane as entrepreneurs seek to attract trials and testing for “personal transport drones” as early as this year. “We will have flying taxis hopefully in Queensland. We’re trying to attract a couple of companies to do their trial and testing this year,” Drone entrepreneur Dr Catherine Ball told 7 News.

Parazero UAV safety systems now available in Australia

The SafeAir systems for DJI Matrice 200 and 600s monitor operational parameters while the drone is in flight, cutting power to the rotors and deploying a ballistic parachute system in the event of a critical failure — even featuring an audio buzzer to warn bystanders of the aircraft’s descent.

Australia drought: Thirsty cattle swarm New South Wales water truck

An Australian farmer has shared drone footage of cattle swarming around a water truck in the drought-hit state of New South Wales.

RangerBot Underwater Drone Kills Starfish in Mission to Save Great Barrier Reef

RangerBot uses autonomous technology and a high tech vision system to tackle the problem of the crown of thorns starfish. It does this using four ‘robot eyes’ and an injection system that mimics a method currently employed by divers to control crown of thorns starfish.

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