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Africa Becoming a Hotbed of Civil Drone Operations

January 10, 2018January 9, 2018 theDroneInfoafrica drones, commercial drone use, drones0 comment

While drones have become ubiquitous around the globe, Africa in particular has embraced the technology for its utility in supporting aid and business operations. Aid agencies now use UAVs to deliver emergency medical supplies in various African countries while cargo operators deploy them to supply equipment for oil-and-gas companies engaged in exploration projects in remote areas. “Africa is leading the way in exploiting and implementing the use of drones,” International Air Transport Association (IATA) head of cargo transportation Celine Hourcade told AIN. Aid agencies use UAVs to deliver medical equipment,…

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GoPro is Quitting Drone Business Blaming Tough Rules in US and Europe

January 9, 2018 theDroneInfodrones, GoPro0 comment

Hi-tech camera firm GoPro is quitting the drone market saying politicians and lawyers had made it impossible for it to be successful. The company said hundreds of jobs would be lost as it blamed “a hostile regulatory environment in Europe and the United States” for putting paid to its Karma drone venture. Air safety officials in the US, UK and continental Europe have raised concerns about drone strikes on commercial aircraft. Meanwhile, privacy campaigners and police forces have issued warnings about people using drones to spy on neighbours or other…

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CIA Created Dragonfly Drone in the 1970s!

January 6, 2018January 3, 2018 theDroneInfodrones0 comment

Biologically inspired drones may be seen more often in future UAVs, but it’s nothing new. The CIA created a nano-sized drone of their own back in the 1970s. At a time when the government required a miniature listening device, they invented a mechanical bumblebee. Their initial design was too difficult to control, so they ditched the idea and invented the Insectothopter, a mini dragonfly drone. The CIA found some success in their drone design, but it was never operational because of its problem with wind. Regardless, a nature inspired insect…

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Agricultural Drones : From Detection to Diagnosis with Crop Mapping

January 5, 2018January 3, 2018 theDroneInfoagriculture, agriculture technology, drones0 comment

Data capture is near real-time and on demand with agricultural drones. There is not a remote sensing platform that is innately better at all things: satellites, manned aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) all fill a unique niche where they excel. Satellite data acquisition is nearly passive and allows for comparison of long-term trends. Manned aircraft are very cost-effective for larger acreages. UAVs (let’s just call them drones, shall we?) have as their key advantages: data capture is near real-time and on demand imagery can be extremely high resolution newest-generation…

N.C. Department of Transportation’s Drone Workshops Returning in 2018

Drones In The News

NCDOT Drone Workshops Returning in 2018

January 4, 2018December 28, 2017 theDroneInfo0 comment

The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Division of Aviation is bringing back its popular series of drone workshops for 2018. In 2017, over 500 attendees at four free workshops learned about drone flight operations, data management and dozens of various applications for government and commercial users. Presenters also provided updates on the latest changes in federal and state drone regulations and gave live flight demonstrations. The first workshop of the year will take place in Dallas in Gaston County on Jan. 24. It will focus on the use of drones by…

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Social Media Used to Crack Down on Illegal Drone Use

January 3, 2018 theDroneInfodrone regulations, drones, Ireland0 comment

Illegal Drone Use Monitored on Social Media People flying drones illegally may be caught via social media. As the number of drones registered in Ireland is set to pass more than 10,000 next year, the public is reporting illegally-captured photos and videos posted on social media to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). There are strict rules governing drone use under the Small Unmanned Aircraft (Drones) and Rockets Order, which came into force at the end of 2015. The order requires all drones that weigh over 1kg to be registered with…

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Seeing Government Uses, Pennsylvania County Vies for Federal Drone Project

January 3, 2018December 28, 2017 theDroneInfodrones, government regulation0 comment

(TNS) — With the speed of technology providing challenges to existing laws, the federal government is trying to get a handle on how to regulate the burgeoning billion-dollar drone industry. Berks County Commissioners Chairman Christian Y. Leinbach is pushing for local government entities and businesses in the region to play a part of helping decide how unmanned aircraft systems, known as UAS, will be used and overseen across the country. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao announced in October the details of the federal government’s UAS Integration Pilot Program,…

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Ballard launches next-generation fuel-cell system for drones

January 2, 2018December 28, 2017 theDroneInfoDrone Technology, drones, uav0 comment

Ballard Power Systems announced that the company has developed a next-generation fuel cell propulsion system to power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. Ballard has also received a follow-on contract from Insitu, a Boeing subsidiary, for extended durability testing of the 1.3-kW system to power test flights of its ScanEagle UAV platform. Ballard and Insitu have partnered over the past two years to integrate Ballard’s prior generation of fuel cell technology – a complete hydrogen power system for an unmanned fixed-wing and Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) platforms –…

Quaternium Claims to Have Set a Drone Endurance Record

January 1, 2018December 28, 2017 theDroneInfodrone record, Drone Technology0 comment

Quaternium, a European company that designs and develops multi rotor drones, claims to have set the world record of endurance with a flight of 4 hours and 40 minutes with its HYBRiX.20 fuel-electric quadcopter. In a release they state that “this flight time beats any former demonstration ever made with an electric, hybrid of hydrogen multicopter.” This flight would be 4 minutes longer than one made by Skyfront. You can view their video demonstrating the flight time here. From the video it appears the drone simply hovered for the time…

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The Air Force Studied Falcons to Develop a Bio-Mimicking Drone Defense

December 30, 2017December 28, 2017 theDroneInfodefense, Drone Technology0 comment

Nature is full of keenly adapted predators, and one of the best animal hunters out there is the falcon. These skilled predators have been able to adapt to nearly every habitat on Earth, and have long been used by humans to hunt game from the sky. Now, the United States military thinks there’s even more to learn from these raptors. The US Air Force recently funded a study by Oxford University zoologists that aimed to understand how peregrine falcons hunt for prey, and to model their predatory behavior into bio-mimicking…