Monthly Archives: August 2018

UAV257 Solar-Powered Quadcopter

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A solar-powered quadcopter, a drone assisting in the study of whales, using drones to fight cocaine, capturing intruder drones, improving crop yields with a drone service, and a quadcopter with legs.

A solar powered quadcopter from National University of Singapore.

A solar-powered quadcopter. (From the left.) Mr Yeo, Mr Goh, Assoc Prof Danner, Mr Kuan and Mr Teo. Courtesy National University of Singapore.

UAV News

Asia’s first fully solar-powered drone lifts off

This prototype solar-powered quadcopter was developed by the engineering students at the National University of Singapore. It uses 148 silicon solar cells on a four square meter carbon fiber frame. The prototype weighs and can be controlled by remote or fly autonomously.

100% solar-powered quadcopter drone

The Scientists Who Study Whale ‘Defecation Events’

Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute is studying whale feces because analysis allows them “to document the reproductive and stress hormone variation of gray whales.” When a gray whale defecates, the result is a brown plume in the water. It dissipates fast and there isn’t much time to collect a sample. The researchers are using drones to follow the whale while they watch for the plume. A small chase boat then arrives to collect the sample.

Gray whale defecation event

Columbia is now using an army of drones to poison cocaine crops

The Colombian government is testing ten drones that spray herbicide to kill crops. Loaded, the drones weigh about 50 pounds. The herbicide application is more precise than spraying from an airplane and less expensive.

The DroneHunter knocks killer drones out of the sky

Fortem Technologies is developing the DroneHunter that captures intruder drones. In an NBC video report on this Counter Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS), Fortem CEO Timothy Bean said the DroneHunter, “patrols the airspace, detects any unwanted objects in the airspace, enemy drones or other robotics, pursues them, and then safely captures them and tows them away to a safe location.” DroneHunter autonomously detects intruder drones, shoots a net at 80 MPH to a target drone up to 25 feet away, captures the enemy drone and carries it away.

Company promotional video (see the NBC report for the DroneHunter in action):

Fortem Technologies: Enabling the Benefits of a Drone World

https://youtu.be/H3KzPUDIo6A

Pollen Systems Launches Drone-Based Data and Analysis Solution to Improve Vineyard and Crop Yields

Pollen Systems Corporation in Bellevue, Washington announced a managed service that helps farms and vineyards monitor their crops. Subscribing farms and vineyards get weekly visits by a certified Drone Technologist. The Pollen Scout UAV captures RGB, NDRE (Normalized Difference Red Edge), and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) images. These help farmers identify issues with crop growth, irrigation problems, pests, and diseases. The Pollen Scout is already flying at several early adopter vineyards in Washington State.

Watch this delightful aerial robot dance with its dangly legs

University of Tokyo researchers have developed a quadcopter with spindly legs. The Aerial-Biped senses the forward velocity of the quadcopter and automatically manipulates the legs through servos – giving it a dancing-like motion. Paper: Aerial-biped: a new physical expression by the biped robot using a quadrotor. Abstract:

“We present a biped robot which can move agiler than conventional robots. Our robot can generate bipedal walking motion automatically using the proposed method. By using a quadrotor for balance and movement it is possible to make an agiler movement, and generate a gait interactively and in real time according to the motion of the quadrotor using the optimized control policy of the legs. Our system takes the velocity of the quadrotor as an input and legs motions are produced so that the velocity of the foot in contact with the ground to zero, and bipedal walking motion is generated. The control policy is optimized using reinforcement learning with a physics engine.”

Aerial-Biped: a new physical expression by the biped robot using a quadrotor

 

UAV256 Commercial Drone Training

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Our guest owns a commercial drone company, provides drone training, and produces a podcast where he interviews other commercial drone operators.

Guest

Chris Anderson provides commercial drone training and produces The Drone Trainer Podcast.

Chris Anderson is the CEO of The Drone Trainer and offers online drone training courses as well as producing The Drone Trainer Podcast.

Chris has owned and operated a commercial drone operation since January 2014, working in real estate, construction, mapping, 3D modelling, inspections, and a variety of oilfield applications. Chris has provided in-person training to clients across several industries, and as of early 2017 has expanded into an online delivery platform where he’s worked with students from all around the world.

In The Drone Trainer Podcast, Chris interviews drone pilots from all over to uncover how they market their business, what equipment they fly, the challenges they face, and tips for succeeding as a commercial drone pilot.

We talk with Chris about the background and experience of the people who are starting their own drone business. That includes their business objectives, the market they focus on, the equipment they use, and the challenges they face. Chris tells us about the online video training resources he offers, and we touch on the future outlook for the industry.

 

UAV255 Virginia UAS Integration Pilot Program

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Project Wing demonstrates package delivery under the Virginia UAS Integration Pilot Program, Zephyr achieves altitude and duration records, DARPA recharges drones with lasers, drone-themed tours entice enthusiasts, FAA details shortcomings with many waiver applications, and DroneSeed raises venture capital.

Virginia UAS Integration Pilot Program

Wing package delivery drone flying under the Virginia UAS Integration Pilot Program.

UAV News

Country’s first long-distance, residential drone delivery touches down in Montgomery County neighborhood

Alphabet subsidiary Wing is a partner in the Virginia UAS Integration Pilot Program, which had proposed package delivery in Wise County, Montgomery and Roanoke counties, and Loudoun County. Under the Pilot Program, Wing can now fly long distances, over people, and beyond visual line of sight. Demonstration flights are underway.

Zephyr claims new endurance record

The Airbus Defence and Space Zephyr ‘pseudo-satellite’ has achieved an endurance record with a 26-day flight. At the same time, the solar-powered production-standard Zephyr S also set an altitude record for a UAV in its class at 70,740 ft. A Zephyr has previously held the record with a 14-day flight in 2010. Note that the record still has to be officially ratified by the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale).

Drones Recharged by a Laser Could Fly Forever

DARPA’s Stand-off Ubiquitous Power/Energy Replenishment – Power Beaming Demo (SUPER PBD) uses lasers to recharge drone batteries. The Silent Falcon drone has solar panels on the wings and batteries in the fuselage. When batteries get low lasers are aimed at the solar panels to recharge them.

Tour operators take a flyer on multi-thousand-dollar drone photography trips

The New York Times Journeys travel program now offers the Drone Photography Journey, departing June 2019 for an eight-day trek around Norway. Daily drone-photography sessions will be led by a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer. You can bring your own drone or use one of theirs. As an alternative, Airbnb Experiences offers single day, lower cost drone experiences.

FAA: Why Most Drone Rule Waiver Applications Crash and Burn

In 2018 to date, the FAA has reviewed 11,345 waiver applications, and only 16% of them were approved. At the FAA webinar on applying for Part 107 operational waivers, the agency noted that almost 8,000 of the rejections were for incomplete information and another 800 made “an insufficient safety case.” The biggest issue: not reading the requirements and leaving information out or not being specific enough.

A Seattle Startup Is Pioneering a New Way to Use Drones in Agriculture

As we described in Episode 195, the FAA approved delivery of agricultural payloads by DroneSeed with drone swarms. The company planned to plant tree seeds and spray fertilizer and herbicides on trees. In this update, we see that DroneSeed now has eight employees, they raised over $3 million in venture-capital backing, and two large timber companies are now DroneSeed customers. One pilot operates up to five drones, each carrying four gallons of payload with a 20-minute spray time. Planting tree seeds could take another year or so.

UAV254 Unmanned Aviation Companies Partner Up

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AgEagle is set to acquire Agribotix, Skysense and Avansig partner on indoor surveillance drones, DARPA investigates high-speed indoor drones with partners, Boeing and SparkCognition bring AI and blockchain to unmanned aircraft system traffic management, GE Aviation links with Korea’s Kookmin University to study future systems and possible uses for UAVs.

DARPA Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program.

DARPA Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program. Courtesy DARPA.

UAV News

AgEagle Signs Agreement to Acquire Agricultural Analytics Company Agribotix

AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. is acquiring Agribotix, LLC. AgEagle offers 3 fixed-wing drones for precision agriculture, while Agribotix is a precision agriculture software company that provides imaging and data analysis. AgEagle plans to integrate the Agribotix FarmLens data analytics platform into AgEagle’s offerings. FarmLens software takes remotely sensed imagery and develops crop reports.

AgEagle plans to hold a conference call on Tuesday, August 7, 2018, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time to discuss the acquisition of Agribotix and new sustainability initiatives. The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay here. Details:

Conference Call Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Time: 1:00 p.m. Eastern time (12:00 p.m. Central time)
Toll-free dial-in number: 877-473-2646
International dial-in number: 702-374-0792
Conference ID: 3462458

Get Ready for Indoor Surveillance Drones

Avansig and Skysense announced a joint venture to develop a fully automated indoor drone security service. Automated drone “security guards” would follow a pre-programmed route, livestream video, and flag any detected security concerns. The drone would return to a charging pad when batteries get low.

Skysense is currently focused on research, development, and production of charging pads and “droneports.” Avansig is a Spanish information and communication technology company that produces “smart drones” for indoor navigation. Press release: Avansig & Skysense – Autonomous Drone Solution for Indoor Surveillance.

Faster, Lighter, Smarter: DARPA Gives Small Autonomous Systems a Tech Boost

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has completed Phase 2 of its Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program. DARPA says, “The goal of the FLA program is to explore non-traditional perception and autonomy methods that could enable a new class of algorithms for minimalistic high-speed navigation in cluttered environments.” DARPA wants to develop small autonomous UAVs that can fly up to 45 mph with no communication links to the operator and without GPS guidance.

Video: Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) Phase 2 Flight Testing

Boeing to Establish New Aerospace & Autonomy Center

The Boeing Aerospace & Autonomy Center “advances the development of next-generation aircraft and the enabling technologies that allow for safe, autonomous flight.” Boeing says their Aurora Flight Sciences subsidiary will operate the 100,000 square foot center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It will be located in a new 17-floor building in Kendall Square on the east side of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. When the Center is opened in 2020, both Boeing and Aurora engineers will move in.

Boeing, SparkCognition to shape the future of travel and transport

Last month at the Farnborough Air Show, Boeing announced it is collaborating with artificial intelligence (AI) technology company SparkCognition to deliver unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) solutions.  Boeing and SparkCognition will track unmanned air vehicles in flight using AI and blockchain technologies, then allocate traffic corridors and routes. They also say they’ll “provide a standardized programming interface to support package delivery, industrial inspection and other commercial applications.”

GE Aviation Signs Agreement for Future Systems Studies with Kookmin University

GE Aviation and Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to study various future systems, procedures and possible uses for UAVs. Kookmin University established the Defense UAS Research & Development Center in April 2018. Alan Caslavka, president of Avionics Systems for GE Aviation, said, “This collaboration builds upon our experience with Kookmin University in Aviation and recent indigenous new UAV testing in South Korea. Our ongoing work with Kookmin will help validate various technologies as we work globally to accelerate safe unmanned air systems.”

UAV Video of the Week

How to shoot surfing with a drone

Surfer Today has tips and techniques for creating videos of surfers with drones. They describe selecting the right drone, drone settings and where to film from, as well as drone altitude, flying techniques, and best angles. The article finishes with a video:

Koa Smith Skeleton Bay 2018: 1 wave, 8 Barrels

Mentioned

We’d like to welcome a new sponsor: Corporate Service Supply and Manufacturing, a DJI Enterprise Dealer that provides DJI equipment and support for commercial and public sector users of unmanned aerial systems such as law enforcement, public safety, and construction. To learn more, visit theuavdigest.com/css

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