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Freefly Alta X
Read or take heed to all the headlines in a single place: excerpts from the DRONELIFE drone news of the week ending August 4, 2023. Click on the titles below for the complete story.
Recently, XPRIZE announced 6 finalists for its $10,000,000 Rainforest competition to develop recent biodiversity assessment technologies, all featuring using UAV technology and drones to enhance scientific research and conservation in these increasingly endangered ecosystems.
Archer First Response Systems, Drone Rescue Systems Complete Latest ASTM Standards for Drone Parachute Recovery Systems
Archer First Response Systems recently announced that they were the primary to successfully complete the newest F3322-22 ASTM Standard for the certification of Parachute Recovery systems on small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS). In collaboration with Northern Plains UAS, Drone Rescue Systems, and Freefly Systems, ArcherFRS accomplished 45 different flight scenarios and will then certify the Drone Rescue System’s DRS-Alta X parachute recovery system for Freefly’s Alta X.
Industrial Origami Vertiports: STILFOLD and KookieJar Partner
When delivery drones fill the skies, where will they land? Could it’s in environmentally friendly, folded-steel vertiports? The Swedish air-mobility company Kookiejar has just partnered with their countrymen at design and technology firm STILFOLD to create recent vertiport modules made with their “industrial origami” technology, which uses robot arms to fold reasonably priced and sustainable steel sheet panels into recent structures with only minimal components.
Skydio Donates Drones to Ukraine for Documentation of Russian War Crimes
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced today the delivery of nine Skydio 2+ drones to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. The drones, donated by Skydio, feature 4K cameras able to capturing high-quality photo and video. The Office of the Prosecutor General will leverage this feature for the documentation of the greater than 115,000 cases of destroyed civilian infrastructure, and evidence of human rights abuses on frontline communities and liberated territories.
NASA, uAvionix Partner on Developing Command and Control for Urban Drone Use
Urban operations pose special challenges for protected drone operations, including the issues of command and control (C2) in environments where the high usage of cell phones and other communications systems can lead to less reliable connections. Now, NASA and uAvionix partner to research the use internet-based infrastructure or air traffic control frequencies for C2 systems.
Drone Training is Critical for Troop Success: Can Simulation Tools Do the Job?
Drones in each warfare and civil operations have gotten more powerful – and high level training for pilots becoming more critical. Drone training stays a challenge for presidency, state and enormous enterprise agencies attempting to scale operations. As simulation technology advances, can realistic virtual environments develop pilot proficiency to the usual required? Here, an authority in simulation training software makes the case for using virtual tools to develop the following generation of drone pilots.
Drone-in-a-Box Infrastructure for Public Safety, Drone as First Responder (VIDEO)
Ondas Holdings’ business unit Ondas Autonomous Systems (OAS) and public safety UAS consulting group Skyfire Consulting have announced a partnership to offer public safety and Drone First Responder (DFR) markets in the USA with advanced autonomous drone solutions and services. The partnership will reap the benefits of Skyfire’s deep domain experience and customer relationships, in addition to the technology and expertise of OAS’ business units American Robotics and Airobotics, including Airobotics’ Optimus System automated drone platform.
Royal Mail Drone Delivery: Brazil’s Speedbird Aero Announced as Latest Aircraft Partner
Skyports Drone Services has announced Brazilian drone manufacturer Speedbird Aero as a brand new aircraft partner for the Orkney I-Port drone delivery project. Established in partnership with Royal Mail, Orkney Islands Council Harbour Authority and Loganair, the project seeks to offer an uninterrupted delivery service that’s in a position to handle Orkney’s extreme weather and geography. The most recent aircraft partner chosen to affix Skyports Drone Services’ drone fleet, Speedbird Aero will provide its DLV-2 aircraft for Skyports Drone Services’ global delivery and logistics projects, starting with three months of inter-island delivery flights for Royal Mail for the Orkney I-Port project.
The Top Ranked State for Drones May Surprise You: the Mercatus Center 2023 Scorecard
While the FAA has authorized pilot programs for firms like Amazon, UPS, and USPS, all of whom are fighting for a portion of the estimated $30 billion home delivery market, the US industrial drone space remains to be years away from broad regulatory and consumer acceptance across the USA. Adding to the regulatory confusion is the issue of FAA preemption, and the rapid proliferation of state and native drone regulations.
OhioHealth Will Use Zipline’s Platform 2 to Deliver Prescriptions to Patient’s Homes
OhioHealth will use Zipline’s recent Platform 2 to deliver prescriptions straight to patients’ homes, in addition to to move lab samples and supplies between OhioHealth facilities. By 2025, the partnership is anticipated to form an initial network with the power to deliver to almost 2 million people within the greater Columbus area. The partnership will enable faster diagnostic turnaround times, direct-to-home prescription delivery, and lower carbon emissions as a result of Zipline’s fully electric platform.
Pierce Aerospace, DRONERESPONDERS Announce Public Safety Distant ID Working Group
The ultimate date for implementation of the Distant ID rule is rapidly approaching. As of September, all pilots shall be chargeable for complying with the law. Recreational flyers may either equip their aircraft with a Distant ID compliant transmitter, or fly in FAA-designated areas. All industrial pilots – including public safety professionals – must be certain that their aircraft meets Distant ID requirements.