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Drone deliveries inch forward

For a cutting-edge tech, it’s pretty low-tech. Or, as Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos puts it, with the tact of someone whose business model depends on still-in-development regulations, “not scalable.” In Switzerland, where Matternet has worked with the Swiss Post to complete over 3,000 flights transporting medical samples, drones are monitored remotely from an operations center near Zurich.

Despite the challenges, the promise of US drone deliveries is attracting some big players. This week, Amazon received a Federal Aviation Administration certificate to begin its own drone deliveries, making it the third company after UPS (see video) and Alphabet’s Wing subsidiary to do so. Amazon also has drone development centers in the UK, Austria, France, and Israel. The company didn’t respond to questions about when and where it might start testing its flying delivery machines, but executives have made clear that they see drones as part of a strategy to deliver packages more quickly. The tech may have other benefits, too: Drones are battery-powered, and don’t spew emissions like a delivery van. Nor do they clog up roads.

Wired

 

Drones are the COVID-19 heroes - and villains?

They are helping in digital track and trace in China carrying large QR codes

They are delivering test results to labs in Ghana

They have been spraying disinfectants in Spain

 

They are helping in thermal and other inspections

Of course, they are also leading to surveillance state worries. My personal opinion - drones are far more visible to the person on the street than satellite or high-altitude, wide area plane surveillance. We would be naive to discount all the other positive use cases drones are showing.

Drones and FAA FAR Part 89

The FAA is now taking the first steps it believes will reduce the risk of drones to the flying public with a notice of proposed rulemaking that went live last week calling for transponder-like devices aboard all UAVs to identify these aircraft and each individual flight to ATC and possibly other aircraft in the air. The proposal will create a new regulation–FAR Part 89–that expects commercial and recreational UAS operating in the US–with very few exceptions–to be compliant with new remote identification requirements within three years of the effective date of the final rule. The agency states, “The remote identification of unmanned aircraft systems in the airspace of the United States would address safety, national security, and law enforcement concerns regarding the further integration of these aircraft into the airspace of the United States while also enabling greater operational capabilities.” This increased situational awareness, especially to pilots, is expected to become even more important as the number of UAS operations in all classes of airspace increases.

Flying Magazine

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UPS Flight Forward

UPS Flight Forward, which already delivers medical samples by drone at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, NC, is rapidly building out its ground and air infrastructure to meet the needs of a diverse customer base. UPS Flight Forward plans to deliver packages to consumers at their homes in the near future.

“As the country’s first fully-certified drone airline, UPS Flight Forward is rapidly building a robust customer base and a network of technology partners to galvanize our leadership in drone delivery,” said Scott Price, UPS chief strategy and transformation officer. “We will create new logistics and delivery solutions no one has ever considered. Previous industry thinking had been limited to only ground transportation technology. Now we’re thinking in three dimensions.”

UPS

 

 

 

Tech to combat the Burmese python

Evolution gave the Burmese python a nearly infallible camouflage, but technology is catching up.

A new camera developed by University of Central Florida researchers and the non-profit company Imec uses a special wavelength of light to expose the snake as an ethereal slither against black, a ghostly coil in the river of grass.

Because pythons are cold-blooded and adopt the temperature of their surroundings, thermal imaging proved useless in hunting the invasive species.

But the camera uses a near infrared 850 nanometer wavelength (humans see between 400 and 700 nanometers) to detect the snakes, which reflect light at that level differently than the flora and waterways of South Florida.

“This is a game-changer,” said Orges, noting that they also are working on mounting the camera on drones. “The way the hunters operate now, they drive the roads and look out the sides, so having a drone system would allow them to cover a bigger area.”

Palm Beach Post

 

 

 

Drones dream of becoming satellites

It is an exclusive airspace where spy planes roam, beyond the reach of weather and commercial passenger jets.

Now, the stratosphere is a frontier for competition between aviation and technology giants that say high flying, solar-powered drones could offer advantages over conventional satellites, including lower costs, easier maneuverability and quicker deployments.

Subsidiaries of Airbus SE, Boeing Co. BA -1.10% and Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. are developing stratospheric drones, which could fly unaided for months and take pictures or beam down internet services some 60,000 feet or more to the ground. They are betting the technology could create markets with military or commercial customers.

WSJ

 

Drone killing Laser

The U.S. Marine Corps is testing a prototype laser weapon that could be used by war fighters on the ground to counter enemy drones, according to a Wednesday news release.

The prototype Compact Laser Weapons System — or CLaWS — is the first ground-based laser approved by the Defense Department for use by ground troops, the Marine Corps explained.

Defense News

High-altitude cleaning drones

Aerones is building heavy-lift drones for operations that can get dangerous when performed by humans. The company has recently unveiled footage of a drone solution for high-altitude window cleaning. In the future, similar drones could be used for firefighting, and the company is already testing this kind of applications as well. 

Mashable

Here is another application - cleaning blades of tall wind turbines

 

The Mavic 2 drone

The original Mavic could see in front and beneath itself, but the new Mavic 2 can now sense possible catastrophe-causing objects from any direction.

Now that it’s adept at sensing things that are behind it, the Mavic 2 Zoom also adds a new automated flight mode called Dolly Zoom, which involves zooming in while flying backward to create a unique effect like you see in the movies without worrying about smashing it into your garage, which may or may not be what happened with a previous drone during its review.

Popular Science

Pushing UX, drone and other frontiers

Samsung’s latest patent is for a drone with an integrated display that’s able to detect the face and pupils of a person as well as their hand gestures and position. The patent shows a unit that features a display at the center with four propellers on each corner.

The patent describes a drone that can include a camera and observation system to transmit information to the main control unit. The system can track the users’ eyes, head, hands, or fingers in real time. The drone’s flight speed and direction can be controlled by moving your head, eyes, or hands, and the unit can also automatically track users without any additional gestures.

The Verge

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