Tag Archives: Parrot

284 Lithium Metal Batteries

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New lithium metal batteries offer the prospect of greater capacity. Also, Parrot’s Anafi Thermal drone, a quadcopter over the Boston Red Sox, drones for sugarcane agriculture, the role of drones during the Notre Dame fire, parts delivery by drone for manufacturing, and indigenous people use drones to assert territory rights.

UAV News

Lithium-Ion Batteries Aren’t Good Enough for Electric Flight. But Maybe Lithium-Metal Is.

Cuberg says, “The Future of Batteries Is Here” and they have developed a lithium metal battery they say offers real advantages over Lithium-ion batteries. The California-based startup is backed by Boeing, venture capitalists, and the U.S. Department of Energy. A proprietary non-flammable electrolyte allows for higher energy density materials.

‪The Parrot Anafi Thermal drone captures heat signatures on a lightweight body

The Anafi Thermal drone from Parrot includes a FLIR thermal sensor in addition to the 4K HDR camera. Both are on the same gimbal and can capture heat images on still photos and video. The thermal image can be merged with the video image.

Video: GearBrain: Parrot Anafi Thermal drone for professionals

FAA probes drone sighting over baseball game at Boston’s Fenway Park

A drone looking like a DJI Phantom flew over a major league baseball game in Boston. DJI said, “Whoever flew this drone over the stadium apparently overrode our geofencing system and deliberately violated the FAA temporary flight restriction in place over the game.” The incident was reported to the Boston Police Department for investigation.

Boston CBS affiliate WBZ has footage: Drone Flies Over Fenway Park During Red Sox Game.

Police identify juvenile who flew drone at Fenway Park during Red Sox game

A joint investigation by the Boston Police, Massachusets State Police, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, and the FAA led to the identification of an unnamed juvenile responsible for the drone flight.

Using Drones for Sugarcane Agriculture

The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research–Remote Sensing Division is studying sugarcane yield reduction caused by invasive weeds such as Bermuda grass. UAVs with sensors can be used to monitor weeds, but sugarcane and Bermuda grass are spectrally similar. The research team described how texture features could overcome this limitation.

How French firefighters used drones to tackle the Notre Dame blaze

In combating the fire at Notre Dame de Paris, firefighters borrowed DJI drones from the culture and interior ministries. A Mavic Pro and a Matrice M210 with thermal cameras helped track the spread of the fire and provide information on how to best position fire hoses.

‪Aeroplane seat manufacturer deploys drones to keep production line moving

Collins Aerospace is using drones to transport parts from a storage center to the production line in order to increase efficiency and productivity.

Collins Aerospace unveils plans to redefine the future of electric flight with “The Grid,” the most advanced electric power systems lab in the industry

The Grid will be a 25,000-square-foot advanced electric power systems lab in Rockford, Illinois. Collins Aerospace intends to design and test systems like high-power generators for the next generation of more electric aircraft, including commercial, military, business aviation, UAV, and urban air mobility platforms. The Grid will support a hybrid-electric flight demonstrator project. Collins Aerospace expects the lab to be complete and fully operational by 2021.

How Drones and GPS Are Helping Indigenous People in Ecuador Save the Amazon

Indigenous people in Ecuador have been using technology to map their territory in the Amazon rainforest. “…marginalized communities around the world have begun to use new technologies to create their own maps and thereby demonstrate their deep local knowledge of their territories, which can help in their fight for land rights. The Cofan used a drone, hidden cameras, and GPS devices to track illegal activity by miners.

UAV Conference

Defence IQ’s Countering Drones Conference 2019 will be held July 9-11, 2019 at the Hilton London Olympia to discuss the key issues surrounding threat, risk, resilience, technology and incident response. Participants will get an understanding of what future drone threats look like and how to prepare for them, how to respond effectively to drone disruptions, how to protect your organization more cost-effectively, influencing future policy and demonstrating thought leadership by contributing to discussions with key industry experts.

UAV185 The DJI Matrice 200 Series of Drones

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New DJI Matrice 200 drones created for enterprise users, Parrot also sees a future in the commercial market, an RQ-7 Shadow goes on an unexpected cross-country flight, and swarms of drones may someday map oil spills.

DJI Matrice 200 series drone

UAV News

DJI’s Matrice 200 UAV line is built for work

DJI showed its new Matrice 200 series of quadcopters at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It’s a workhorse designed for commercial and industrial applications and comes in three models: the baseline M200 with one gimbal, the M210 with two downward-facing gimbals or one top-mounted gimbal, and the M210 RTK which adds real-time kinematic sensors for precise navigation.

All models use the DJI flight management system, the DJI Pilot app, subject tracking, autonomous circling, and ActiveTrack. Flighthub lets the pilot stream video to a remote station in real-time, and DJI’s Flightsense algorithm lets the M200 drones autonomously avoid obstacles. Significantly, M200s incorporate ADS-B receivers.

Parrot to pursue profits with commercial drones

After failing to meet revenue targets, Parrot says it will return to profitability by 2018 through an expansion of its commercial drone business. The Parrot CFO says, “Professional drones should generate at least 50 to 60 percent gross margin on the long run, where consumer drones cannot generate more than 35 percent of gross margin.”

Questions hover over Army drone’s 630-mile odyssey across western US

An Army Shadow RQ-7Bv2 launched from southern Arizona on January 31 lost the connection with its ground crew. The Shadow was found February 9 in a tree near Denver, 630 miles away.

Coming soon: Oil spill-mapping swarms of flying drones

The University at Buffalo’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has devised a method to quickly map oil spills with a swarm of off the shelf drones. The drones record if they are over water, over oil, or at the edge of the spill. They then share that information among themselves so they waste time covering an area already observed. When reaching low power, the drones return to the ship for a recharge, while new drones join the swarm already knowing what the others have found. Collision avoidance is accomplished via simple rules taken from nature. See the paper: A Swarm-Intelligence Approach to Oil Spill Mapping using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

UAV Video of the Week

DJI – Introducing the Matrice 200 Series

Mentioned

The UAV Digest has become a media partner with the ASCEND Conference & Expo, to be held July 19-21, 2017 in Portland Oregon. ASCEND comes from the team behind Drone360 magazine and will focus on the commercial UAS industry with expert speakers and critical analysis. Registration is now open and the coupon code theUAVdigest will get you a $50 discount.

UAV055 The Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership Gears Up

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UAS test sites update: Virginia gets FAA COA’s, Maryland starting, New Jersey delayed, Nevada moving slowly. Also, hobby UAV’s you can buy, UAS in the Netherlands, and a possible drone near miss.

News

The Drone You Should Buy Right Now

The Verge offers up their top five recommended hobby drones. These range across the spectrum in size, price, and capability.

FAA Announces Virginia Tech UAS Test Site Now Operational

The FAA granted Virginia Polytechnic Institute seven Certificates of Waiver or Authorization (COAs) for two-years. This is the last of the six FAA UAS test sites now operational.

Virginia Tech has the lead for the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP), which has members from academia, the government, industry, economic development agencies, and non-profit organizations in Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland.

The UAVs covered under the COAs are: Smart Road Flyer, eSPAARO (the electric Small Platform for Autonomous Aerial Research Operations), Aeryon Sky Ranger, MANTRA 2, Sig Rascal, and two AVID EDF-8 micro UAVs.

University of Maryland Opens UAS test site

The University of Maryland (another member of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership) has launched its unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test site based in St. Mary’s County, close to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aviation Division at Patuxent River and the Naval Air Systems Command headquarters. This site is intended to be a hub for UAS technology and policy issues for the University System of Maryland, as well as government and industry.

Drone testing delayed to protect migratory birds

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service postponed testing at another MAAP member, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, until November. Two endangered migratory bird species there are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act as well as New Jersey law.

Nevada drone testing off to slow start

To date, only one company has completed testing at the Nevada UAS test site. Conversations are underway with other interested companies, and the Site hopes to be financially self-sufficient by 2015. In the meantime, Nevada is looking at possible revenue from “indoor testing.”

Dutch drones miss out through tough rules

Dutch drone rules are stricter than in other European countries. It takes weeks to receive permission for test flights, and Dutch drone manufacturers fear they will be left behind. New rules are being considered by the Dutch government, but progress is slow.

UAS at the Beach

Much of the land in the Netherlands is below sea level. A series of breakwaters and dikes keep the land from flooding, but need to be monitored and maintained. Doing Inspections with a Microdrones MD4-1000 quadcopter, is a lower cost alternative to a manned aircraft.

Mini-UFO comes close to jetliner

An Air Canada Jazz pilot reported a near miss with a possible drone. The plane was still climbing at about 18,000 feet and spotted a “red and white vertical tube with rotor” less than 300 meters above the plane.

Video of the Week

Third Person Driving with a Drone

Can you drive a Mazda Miata while wearing video goggles linked to an overhead multi-copter equipped with a camera? Do not try this at home!

UAV040 A Multicopter First Flight

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David flys a multicopter, an Iranian RQ-170 clone, Embry-Riddle creates an unmanned masters program, Italy looks to build a UAV school, a US Airways flight encounters a UAV, Northrop Grumman and Yamaha team up, and Parrot has a new FPV drone.

David’s First Flight

Parker Gyokeres from Propellerheads Aerial Photography gives David the opportunity to fly a hexacopter, an AGL Hobbies UAP2-V2 with a Sony NEX camera on a 6-axis gyroscopic gimbal and a Naza-M.V2 controller. The video.

The News:

Iranian Version of RQ-170 Drone Unveiled

The Iranian IRGC Aerospace Force claims to have reverse engineered the captured RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone.

Embry-Riddle Worldwide to Launch Master’s Degree in Unmanned Systems

In August 2014, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University plans to offer a Master of Science in Unmanned & Autonomous Systems Engineering.

Italy May Build UAV School

The Italian Air Force in thinking about opening a UAV school that would be available to other air forces. Italy already provides manned aircraft training to foreign pilots at it’s Lecce facility.

Possible UAV incursion and near miss, Airliner-Drone Near Miss Spurring FAA to Clamp Down on UAVs, AUVSI: Uncertainties surround reported UAV and airliner airprox

The pilot of a US Airways CRJ-200 reported “a near midair collision” March 22, 2014 at 2,300 feet with a drone near the airport in Tallahassee, Florida. The pilot reported that the small unmanned aircraft involved looked similar to an F-4 Phantom jet. This comes from Jim Williams, head of the FAA’s unmanned-aircraft office.

Northrop Grumman, Yamaha Announce ‘R-Bat’ UAV

The Rotary Bat (or R-Bat) is based on Yamaha’s RMax agricultural helicopter, and will be part of Northrop Grumman’s Bat line of small unmanned aircraft systems. The R-bat is intended for search and rescue, power line inspection, and forest fire observation missions.

Parrot’s New Drone Lets You Simulate Flying, Feet on the Ground

The new Parrot Bebop quadcopter is essentially a flying high quality fisheye camera. FPV is provided by your smartphone or tablet. An option is the Skycontroller. This twin-joystick controller extends the Wi-FI range up to 2 kilometers. Normally, the range is 300 meters. The drones can also sync to Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets. AvWeb video from the AUVSI show in Orlando: Parrot’s DIY Bebop Camera Drone.

Video of the Week:

Incredible First Flight of the AT Black Knight Transformer from Mick

The Black Knight Transformer is an autonomous “flying truck” that is both a helicopter and an automobile. Missions include autonomous casualty evacuation and cargo resupply. This is video of the prototype driving and flying tests.