Tag Archives: Black Swift Technologies

395 Counter-UAS Contract

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A $1B counter-UAS contract, Kittyhawk air mobility, sports game halted, no recreational drones in UAE, medical deliveries in the Navajo Nation, locating pets after a disaster, peeking at volcanos, an unidentified drone spotted, and a drone research contract at a UAS test site.

UAV News

US Special Ops Command Awards $1B Counter-Drone Contract

Anduril Industries has won a 10-year, $1 billion counter-UAS integration contract. Awarded by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), Anduril is to “deliver, advance, and sustain” counter-UAS sensors and systems in a layered configuration. Anduril’s cUAS Lattice system includes a solar-powered Sentry Tower with sensors and the Anvil sUAS, all running on the Lattice operating system. The system “autonomously detects, classifies, and tracks targets, alerting operators to threats and allowing options for mitigation or engagement.”

A Larry Page-backed drone guru expects you to be a future passenger. Here’s why

Larry Page funded Kittyhawk and picked up a portion of 3D Robotics, co-founded by Chris Anderson, now the Kittyhawk COO. Kittyhawk pivoted from air mobility with a pilot to pilotless.

I am a drone guy, and this was the perfect, obvious next chapter, just bigger drones and the use case is so much more obvious, moving people from A to B more quickly and as cheaply as a car is the kind of mission I can get behind. On the tech side, there is no reason we can’t move a significant fraction of people off the roads and into the sky.
Chris Anderson

Premier League clash between Brentford and Wolves halted for 19 minutes due to a DRONE hovering over the west London stadium

Play of the English Premier League was halted due to an “unofficial drone” flying over the field. Both teams returned to the dressing rooms while a helicopter was used to try and shoo the drone away.

UAE bans flying of recreational drones after fatal attack

Recreational drones and light sport aircraft have been banned in the United Arab Emirates. This follows a fatal drone attack on an oil facility and a major airport. Also, some people were flying drones outside the area of their permits, often into areas where drones are prohibited. The penalty for violating the ban is heavy: Six months in jail and Dh100,000 fine for flying drones in the UAE, prosecutors says.

Navajo Nation to use drones to deliver medical supplies

The “Healing Eagle Feather” project is a partnership between MissionGo and the Navajo Nation to deliver medical supplies and other essentials with drones to people in remote areas. Cargo includes insulin kits, prepackaged meals, large animal medicine, emergency communication devices, and anti-venom. In Episode 375 we talked with MissionGO’s Frank Paskiewicz, EVP of Cargo Operations, and Ryan Henderson, Lead Pilot.

Drones for Animal Rescue: Doug Thron Flies Around the World, Saving Pets and Wildlife After Natural Disasters

Douglas Thron is a photographer and drone pilot who travels to natural disasters and conducts animal rescues. He uses a Matrice 210 V2 drone with a FLIR XT2 camera and has found and rescued distressed animals around the world. The HBO Max TV show “Doug to the Rescue” chronicles the rescues.

Volcano-observing Drone Flights Open Door to Routine Hazard Monitoring

Under a long-term collaboration between NASA and Black Swift Technologies, the S2 UAS flew over the Makushin Volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The U.S. Geological Survey provided a payload that detects gases and collects visual and thermal images. The S2 fixed-wing drone is designed to carry scientific payloads in demanding atmospheric conditions.

Pilot Video And FAA Interview Reveal Bizarre Encounter With Unidentified Aircraft Over Atlantic City

An Air Force pilot flying a Diamond DA40 observed a strange drone above Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 16th, 2018. The KC-135 aerial refueling tanker pilot said the drone followed his aircraft.

Video: Unidentified Aircraft Encounter Over Atlantic City 9/16/18 Air-To-Air Video

FAA awards contracts for drone research at Grand Sky

More than $2 million was awarded to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. and Appareo Systems LLC. GA-ASI will focus on detect-and-avoid technology while Appareo will examine how radio signals function at different altitudes and in different environments. They’ll also conduct research to evaluate the use of LTE cellular networks for unmanned aircraft. The companies will work in conjunction with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, near Grand Forks Air Force Base.

UAV Video of the Week

Video: MONSTER WAIMEA BAY (part one) Heavy Carnage

Video: MONSTER WAIMEA BAY (part two) Taming The Beast

360 Mars Helicopter Ingenuity

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The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity travels to the Red Planet, UK Defence innovation criticized, Black Swift and GPS-denied navigation, online drone education, unmanned loyal wingman for the UK, Coke and Coffee drone promotion, and researching the impact of drones on ducks.

UAV News

6 Things to Know About NASA’s Mars Helicopter on Its Way to Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover is scheduled to land on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. It’s carrying Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter in what NASA calls it “a technology experiment.” If successful, it will be the first powered, controlled flight on Mars.

Video: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter: Attempting the First Powered Flight on Mars

Theseus, Daedalus and Icarus

Wavell Room argues that “UK Defence is well behind the curve” with respect to its Project Theseus for autonomous resupply on the battlefield.

NOAA Awards Black Swift Technologies Contract to Develop GPS-Denied Navigation for Drones

Loss of positioning signal (like GPS or GNSS) is an urgent situation for a drone. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded a contract to Black Swift Technologies. The company provides a commercially viable system that allows UAVs to navigate when GPS is not available. Black Swift plans to use a secondary navigation option with their diverse-source global positioning system (DS-GPS).

ODOT offers free online drone course

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is offering self-paced online courses for residents of Ohio. Sign up for the UAS Awareness Course or UAS Remote Pilot Certification Training at the ODOT website.

The United Kingdom Has Chosen Who Will Build Its First Prototype Loyal Wingman Combat Drone

The Royal Air Force says by 2023 they should have a prototype loyal wingman-type UAV flying. A $41 million contract for the prototype “uncrewed fighter aircraft” was awarded to Spirit AeroSystems as head of Project Mosquito. The drones would work together semi-autonomously with manned aircraft, such as the RAF Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35B Lightning, and the future Tempest stealth fighter.

Walmart perks up Coke promotion with drones

Coca-Cola has a new product line: Coca-Cola with Coffee. As part of the promotion, Coca-Cola and Walmart have teamed up where Walmart will provide drone-based home delivery to select consumers in Coffee County, Georgia through drone services provider DroneUp.

Duck count studies numbers and behavior with drones flying above them

University of North Dakota students and their student advisor have been counting duck pairs, recording nests, and studying how ducks react when a drone passes over them. The research project was performed last summer in the Missouri Coteau country of central North Dakota. Graduate student Mason Ryckman will use the findings in his master’s thesis, Protocols and Best Practices for Breeding Waterfowl Surveys Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Mentioned

Airplane Geeks podcast Episode 638 Geospatial Data for Airports, with guest Bob Vander Meer, vice president of business development for NV5 Geospatial.

306 Drone Registration

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Drone registration requirements in the UK and Singapore, automated safe landing technology, the speed of drone technology development, package delivery progress and issues, and counter-UAS technology funding.

UAV News

UK Drone Operators Have Until the End of November to Register With the Government

All drone owners and operators in the UK with droves that weigh more than 250g have to register them by November 30, 2019. Registration costs £9. Failure to register can result in a fine of as much as £1,000. In addition to registration, anyone flying a drone over 250g must also take an online education and test to receive a flyer ID. Users can now register as a drone operator and/or flyer at: register-drones.caa.co.uk.

Drones Reunited

In the UK, 26% of drone owners say they lost a drone. Drones United leverages off the new UK drone registration system to help owners reconnect with their lost drones.

Singapore mandates unmanned aircraft registration

Starting January 2, 2020, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) will require all unmanned aircraft over 250 grams to be registered before it can be operated. A sticker with a unique registration number must be affixed to each unmanned aircraft. The penalty for flying an unregistered aircraft could be up to S$10,000 or jail for six months, or both.

Are UAVs Properly Tested, or is Development Rushed?

Satellite-based drone connectivity encompasses a number of issues such as cost, weight, and power. “Validation of stable and reliable connectivity under all circumstances is paramount to the success of Beyond Line of Sight UAV operations.”

Automated Emergency Safe Landing Technology

Black Swift Technologies SwiftSTL (Swift Safe-To-Land) technology was developed to address catastrophic in-flight failures. It captures and segments images and autonomously identifies a safe landing location. This is accomplished through machine learning algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), and onboard processors to identify obstacles like people, buildings, vehicles, structures, etc. To learn more, see the white paper, “AI and Machine Learning’s Role in Enabling Automated Emergency Safe Landings of UAS – A Key Enabler for Safe Beyond Visible Line of Sight (BVLOS) Flights.” [PDF]

What if a delivery drone falls on your head? Thorny legal questions loom as services increase

This article poses questions about airspace ownership, privacy, and liability.

UPS drone makes first home prescription deliveries for CVS

CVS and UPS announced the first commercial delivery of prescription medications by drones to customers. UPS’ Flight Forward drones delivered to the front lawn of a private home and a retirement center. The drones hovered at an altitude of about 20 feet and lowered the packages.

UK government funds 18 projects to develop anti-drone technologies

The UK government approved £2 million ($2.57 million) to fund 18 projects to develop anti-drone and drone detection technologies. In April, 2019, the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) program under the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) asked the private sector to come up with new technologies that could detect approaching drones, and neutralize the threat.

285 Tethered UAS for First Responders

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An actively tethered UAS for situational awareness, a fixed-wing drone studies the atmosphere in Greenland, a larger “hive” drone releases a swarm of smaller “cicada” drones, Virgin Atlantic reports a drone near-hit, a drone that plants tree seeds, Wing receives FAA certification allowing delivery service in the US, and a drone powered by variable-buoyancy.

The Fotokite actively tethered UAS for first responders.

UAV News

Fotokite Launches Firefighter Situational Awareness System in Partnership with Pierce Manufacturing

The “Pierce Situational Awareness System by Fotokite” is an actively tethered UAS that integrates directly into public safety vehicles and firefighter operations. The Fotokite provides persistent aerial situational awareness and since they are tethered, no pilot licenses or authorizations to fly are required. The Pierce Fotokite systems have already been installed into Pierce fire apparatus, as well as command vehicles, and fire chiefs’ SUVs. The Fotokite Sigma Ground Station and Kite are available for first responders in general.

Black Swift UAS chosen for arctic research project in Greenland

The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, part of the University of Colorado Boulder, Is deploying Black Swift S2 drones from Boulder, Colorado-based Black Swift Technologies. They will conduct high-altitude, high-latitude atmospheric research studies in Greenland and create vertical profiles of the Arctic atmosphere. This will help understand how sublimation into the atmosphere affects climate conditions. The project is supported by the National Science Foundation and is part of the larger international East Greenland Ice-Core Project, or EastGRIP.

See NASA test a swarm of 100 US Navy Cicada drones

NASA’s Langley Research Center released a video showing four large “Hive” drones releasing over 100 smaller “Cicada” drones. The Cicada is a “Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft” and they fit in the palm of your hand. The Navy says, “Cicada is a concept for a low-cost, GPS-guided, micro disposable air vehicle that can be deployed in large numbers to ‘seed’ an area with miniature electronic payloads.” NASA is looking at the Cicadas as tools for meteorologists with sensors that measure temperature, air pressure, and wind-speed.

Video: It’s Raining Drones! NASA drops 100 drones tiny enough to fit in your hand

Virgin Atlantic jet carrying 264 passengers ‘came within SECONDS of crashing into two drones at 14,000ft as it approached to land at Heathrow’

The B787 Dreamliner with 264 passengers was flying at 320 mph over Essex when two drones were spotted. One drone was estimated to be 90 feet from the aircraft.

These tree-planting drones are firing seed missiles to restore the world’s forests

BioCarbon Engineering drones have been planting mangrove trees in Myanmar. The drones map the area, collect topography and data on soil condition, and combine that with satellite data. An analysis is performed that determines the best locations for the seeds, and the drone fires biodegradable pods into the ground. We had previously talked about a similar capability from Seattle-based DroneSeed.

Alphabet’s Wing becomes first drone delivery firm to win FAA approval in the US

As previously speculated, Alphabet’s Wing unit received Air Carrier Certification from the FAA. Wing is the first drone delivery company receiving this certification in the US, and it allows the company to start a commercial delivery service with drones. Wing plans to start the service in Blacksburg and Christiansburg, Virginia over the next few months. See also, Wing becomes first certified Air Carrier for drones in the US.

Wing package delivery drone. — Courtesy Wing.

Ultra-long endurance UAV flies using variable-buoyancy propulsion

The Phoenix ultra-long endurance autonomous UAV is powered by variable-buoyancy propulsion. It creates thrust by alternating between being lighter than air and heavier than air.
Researchers at the University of the Highlands and Islands in the UK use electrically-powered pumps and valves in the Phoenix.

Video: Phoenix: UK team trials first large-scale aircraft powered by variable-buoyancy propulsion.

280 Flying UAS Over People

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The FAA proposal for flying small UAS over people, a terrain-following fixed-wing UAS with active navigation, using drones and citizen science for animal conservation, a greater surveillance role for FAA Flight Standards District Offices, and an autonomous grocery delivery service.

UAV News

Small UAS Over People: A New Safety Paradigm

The FAA published a notice that would allow flying UAS over people without a waiver. Small category 1 and category 2 UAS would require fewer safety precautions than heavier category 3 drones.

Black Swift Technologies Developing Active UAS Navigation

Black Swift Technologies (BST) has been developing a terrain-following fixed-wing UAS. The Black Swift S2™ uses autonomous, active navigation around obstacles and over rugged terrain. Machine vision technologies and advanced sensors (including lidar and radar) make this possible.

‪How drones and AI are protecting endangered wildlife

Conservationists are using drones, citizen science, and artificial intelligence to replace manual methods for finding and counting animals. Volunteer citizen scientists label images from the drones which then train an AI engine. Zooniverse offers “people-powered research” where volunteers assist professional researchers.

FAA UAS Symposium Slated for June 3-5 in Baltimore

Presented by the FAA and AUVSI, the FAA UAS Symposium will be held June 3-5, 2019 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Stakeholders will gather to help define the rules and concepts that will govern the future of drone operations. See the symposium program for the extensive list of the topics to be covered.

UAS: The FAA Tightens the Screws

The FAA issued a new National Policy requiring local FAA Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) to immediately update their 2019 National Work Program Guidelines to include new Required Surveillance Work Activities for UAS operations. Details in FAA Notice N 8900.504, Expanded Unmanned Aircraft Systems Oversight [PDF].

‪Kroger and Nuro launching their autonomous grocery delivery service in Houston

In 2018, large supermarket chain Kroger and California-based robotics company Nuro piloted a self-driving grocery delivery service in Scottsdale, Arizona. Now they are expanding the service into Houston.

UAV Video of the Week

Stunning drone footage of a humpback whale breach in Hawaii – A Hawaii resident captured this stunning drone footage of a humpback whale breach off the North Shore of Oahu.

UAV248 Black Swift Technologies Eyes Venus

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A UAS for Venus from Black Swift Technologies, DJI building a new headquarters complex, MIT develops the Navion chip, DroneDeploy spells out commercial drone predictions for 2018 and beyond, and LiquidPiston is developing a rotary drone engine.

Black Swift Technologies awarded contract to develop UAS for atmospheric observations of Venus. Image courtesy Black Swift Technologies.

UAV News

Black Swift Technologies Awarded NASA Contract to Develop UAS for Atmospheric Observations of Venus

Black Swift Technologies announced it has been awarded a NASA contract to perform upper atmospheric observations of the planet Venus. They will develop an unmanned aircraft system based on the concept of dynamic soaring. Jack Elston, CEO of Black Swift Technologies said, “While there have been a variety of systems proposed for upper atmospheric observations of Venus, the planet’s high wind speeds pose a significant design challenge. Our solution will be designed to not only survive in the harsh wind environment, but also simultaneously perform targeted sampling of the atmosphere while continuously extracting energy, even on the dark side of the planet.”

DJI’s Shiny New HQ Has a Sky Bridge for Showing Off Drones

DJI is constructing new company headquarters in China. The 1.7 million square foot complex includes twin towers connected with a sky bridge. This sky bridge includes a giant indoor space for demonstrating and testing drones.

Video: Foster + Partners’ Shenzhen ‘drone’ towers

Chip upgrade helps miniature drones navigate

A team at MIT has developed a custom chip called Navion that is smaller, has lower power consumption, and increased processing speed. Applications for Navion include tiny “nanodrones.” The chip can process real-time camera images up to 171 frames per second as well as inertial measurements. Researchers say the chip can help vehicles navigate, “particularly in remote or inaccessible places where global positioning satellite data is unavailable.”

2018 Commercial Drone Industry Predictions: DroneDeploy weighs in on the future of drones in 2018 and beyond [PDF]

Drone data company DroneDeploy has eight predictions for the commercial drone industry in 2018. These are continued consumerization of drone hardware, more outside players entering the Industry, in-house drone programs replacing service providers, deployments of large-scale fleets, a new era of automation, acquisition of large data sets, use of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and real-time data collection and analysis.

US military wants quieter drones

LiquidPiston Inc. is developing the X4 engine that offers the possibility of quieter drones, greater flight time, and reduced thermal signature. With some similarity to the Wankel engine, the X4 has an oval rotor inside a triangular chamber. DARPA is interested in the X4 enough to invest $2.5 million in LiquidPiston to continue research and development of the engine.

LiquidPiston X Engine from LiquidPiston on Vimeo.

UAV193 Flying Drones Over People

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The impact of drones striking people, geo-restrictions in war zones, monitoring volcanic ash, structure inspections using UAVs and artificial intelligence, keeping wildlife away from crops, waste management with drones, swarming tactics, Project Wing update, and drone weaponization for law enforcement.

A UAS crash test dummy in a study of flying drones over people.

A UAS crash test dummy provided data for a UAS ground collision severity study.

UAV News

FAA Issues Study on UAS Human Collision Hazards

In order to create regulations for flying drones over people, the FAA needs to know what happens when a UAV strikes a human. A consortium of universities has been studying this, and their report identifies dominant injury types applicable to small drones. See: FAA and Assure Announce Results of Ground Collision Study.

DJI Mysteriously Turned Vast Swaths of Iraq and Syria Into Drone No-Fly Zones

Without much fanfare, DJI created no-fly zones over large areas of Iraq and Syria. Some speculate this was a move to thwart ISIS from using their drones.

CNN journalist evades DJI GEO restrictions in Iraq

A CNN reporter proved the no-fly zone could be defeated by covering the GPS on his DJI Mavic with tinfoil. Without GPS, the no-fly zones are disabled.

NASA Selects Black Swift Technologies’ sUAS for Volcano Ash Monitoring

NASA has awarded a contract to Black Swift Technologies to develop and deliver a sUAS solution to explore volcanoes. Black Swift will provide an airframe, avionics, and sensors to measure gases, temperature, pressure, humidity, and winds, as well as particle sizes and trace gases. All this for improved air traffic management systems and more accurate measurements of ashfall.

AT&T Labs working to combine drone video footage with artificial intelligence monitoring

AT&T Labs is studying how they can use artificial intelligence (AI) and video footage of cell towers taken by a drone. AT&T wants to eliminate the labor for physical inspections and video analysis.

Drones keep elephants away from people in Tanzania

In Tanzania, elephants sometimes graze on crops and destroy them, presenting a huge problem for the people trying to grow food. The U.S.-based nonprofit Resolve is testing the use of drones to drive the animals away.

Drones-The Latest High Tech Tool For Las Cruces Waste Management

A quadcopter is being used to map a regional landfill and provide volumetrics to the landfill management company. This information about the amount of air space remaining in existing landfill cells is critical for future development plans.

Service Academies Swarm Challenge: Controlling drone swarms

DARPA created the Service Academies Swarm Challenge where U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force academy teams compete and go from “zero to swarm in 8 months.” The research effort is an experiment where students develop offensive and defensive tactics for swarms of small UAVs.

Video: An Overview of DARPA’s Service Academies Swarm Challenge

Alphabet’s Project Wing Cuts Staff Before Progress Update

Reportedly, Google parent Alphabet has significantly cut staff at Project Wing. Yet sources say the program is still alive and a major progress update and demonstration is expected before summer.

Public Safety Committee Grounds Drone Legislation

Legislation proposed in Connecticut would have made that state the first in the U.S. to allow law enforcement to use weaponized drones. However, the legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee decided to let the legislation die. This was after drone attorney Peter Sachs wrote an email to all members of the Committee asking them to vote against the proposal.

UAV Video of the Week

Amazing Drone Footage – The USS Alabama From The Air – A Very Impressive Battleship

The USS Alabama (BB-60) is a South Dakota Class Battleship, launched on April 16, 1942. It served during World War II in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This video was shot using a hexacopter with a GoPro at the USS Alabama Memorial Park.

Mentioned

Drones flown in helicopter flight path at Franz Josef heliport ‘a huge risk’ to safety, police warn

UAV180 UAS Traffic Management Concepts

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Concepts for UAS traffic management (UTM) in urban areas, calls for a UTM system in Australia, Flirtey raises capital, a Great Sand Dunes National Park mapping project, and visualizing the airflow around a quadcopter.

UAS Traffic Management (UTM) concepts, courtesy AIAA

UAV News

Deciding Rules Of The Road For Urban UAS

If large numbers of drones are ever to provide delivery services in urban areas, UAS traffic management rules need to be created to safely manage the flow. From the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ 2017 AIAA SciTech Forum in Grapevine, Texas, we learn about some of the concepts that NASA’s Ames Research Center is looking at for UAS traffic management in urban areas.

There are three basic concepts:

Sky-lanes: Vehicles must follow the centerline of each lane, and fly in one direction.
Sky-tubes: Vehicles move inside each tube, and fly only in one direction.
Sky-corridors: Vehicles can fly in any direction, but the vehicles themselves must maintain safe separation.

Time to Build an Australian National Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) System

The Association of Certified UAV Operators (ACUO) wants the Federal Government to “launch a program to design, develop and implement a continent-wide unmanned traffic management (UTM) system as the only viable means of achieving the safe integration of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS)… into national airspace.”

ACUO and others wanted the Senate to disallow the recent CASA drone regulations, and ACUO has presented a proposal: ACUO submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport [PDF].

ACUO has three major concerns:

How comprehensive was the risk assessment and safety case used by CASA as a basis for creating the concept of “Excluded RPA?”
What is the likely impact of the removal of training and certification for operators of “Excluded RPAS?”
What is the capacity and integrity of CASA’s own mechanisms and systems for ensuring compliance with the deregulated system.

Drone delivery startup Flirtey raises $16 million to become a next-gen UPS

Flirtey wants to be the world’s premier independent drone delivery service. Now the company has raised $16 million in Series A funding. Crunchbase Pro reports that 95 drone companies raised at least $500,000 in equity funding in 2016. The average funding was $6.8 million. Total invested was $482.8 million.

UAS Colorado Joins Wohnrade Civil Engineers for Great Sand Dunes National Park Mapping Project

A Swift Trainer fixed-wing UAS from Black Swift Technologies was used to map a portion of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. The project used precision mapping with high-fidelity remote sensors to measure and monitor the dunes. Participating in the project were UAS Colorado (a non-profit business league), Black Swift Technologies, the National Park Service (NPS), and Wohnrade Civil Engineers, Inc. They plan to take the data they captured and compare it to airborne LiDAR data from the United States Geological Survey.

UAV Video of the Week

Watch Air Swirl Around a Quadcopter Drone’s Rotors

This visualization of the airflow around a DJI Phantom 3 demonstrates areas of low pressure, areas of high pressure, and disturbed air. To create the animation, a NASA aerospace engineer and a scientific visualization specialist ran a simulation on 1,024 cores of NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer. It took five days to compute. The results offer design implications for UAV efficiency and noise.