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Drone hobbyists guidelines – Stay away from emergency situations

  While drones are revolutionizing the business world and providing hobbyists hours of entertainment we are concerned about their misuse in emergency situations It is unfortunate that I once again find myself writing about hobbyist drone guidelines, especially in light of their recent misuse in emergency situations. The New York times has an article titled “Chasing Video With Drones, Hobbyists Imperil California Firefighting Efforts” that says it all.  Hobbyists, either trying to capture “that perfect shot” or misguidedly believing they are helping, are slowing down responders in emergency situations, leading…

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Drone Search and Rescue – Project ICARUS

  Project ICARUS was born out of a disaster, seeing that drone search and rescue was still far better theoretically than in practice. ICARUS, a drone search and rescue project in the EU, notes this on its website: “After the earthquakes in l’Aquila, Haiti and Japan, the European Commission confirmed that there exists a large discrepancy between (robotic) technology which is developed in laboratory and the use of such technology on the terrain for Search and Rescue (SAR) operations and crisis management. Thus, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and…

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Drones In The News 

Radiation from Fukushima – A battle for the drones

  Radiation from Fukushima has spread at low levels across the globe but remains disastrous in Japan – Drones will soon be entering the battle in the forty year decommissioning effort The Guardian reported in April of 2011 that Radiation from Fukushima had already spread across the globe at low levels.  This disaster has impacted the entire planet, of course, but at its origin the damage is immeasurable. The Japan Times is reporting that radiation from Fukushima has led to innovative thinking with drones being a new weapon in the arsenal: “A drone…

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First response and the use of drones

  Drones are clearly already playing a role in first response during natural disasters. Expect to see them used much more often in everyday first response situations soon. Drones providing Disaster Assistance When The Visual Arts Group received their Section 333 exemption to conduct “Research on UAS safety protocols and to develop an enhanced platform for first responder use” we felt it would be a good opportunity to understand their thinking on the use of drones in first response. All I can say is WOW. Here are the questions I would…

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Drones In The News Our Contributors 

Disaster Assistance in Nepal – GlobalMedic, Monadrone and Aeryon Labs

Following the earthquake in Nepal, disaster assistance from drone providers like Aeryon was immediate Drones providing assistance in Nepal We read the press release about Aeryon Labs, Monadrone, and Global Medic providing disaster assistance in Nepal and reached out to the team at Aeryon to get a bit more information.  You can read our questions and their answers here, followed by the original press release. Q. What prompted Aeryon to donate these drones for disaster assistance efforts in Nepal? We have been working with Global Medic since 2014 and donated a…

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Drones In The News 

Disaster Relief Drones – The future of emergency response

Disaster Relief Drones are the future This is not shocking news to anyone following the unmanned vehicle market. These vehicles are already playing a role in disaster relief, emergency response, and many other areas. However, the Red Cross, in combination with Measure, has delivered a study of this area that reaches this conclusion. It is good to see organizations such as the Red Cross looking to embrace drones. Recommendations made to the FAA by Measure in this report, as noted on their site, for disaster relief drones: ” Develop an…

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