Tag Archives: D-Fend

402 Domestic C-UAS National Action Plan

We discuss the C-UAS National Action Plan recently released by the White House. The Plan calls for specific measures that address shortfalls in the ability of law enforcement to protect against rogue drones.

Domestic Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems National Action Plan

Jeffrey Starr, CMO of C-UAS company D-Fend Solutions
Jeffrey Starr

In episode 401, we talked about the Domestic Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems National Action Plan issued by the White House. We wanted to explore this Action Plan in more detail so we invited Jeffrey Starr, the Chief Marketing Officer at D-Fend Solutions to join us for an analysis of the Action Plan.

The Action Plan seeks to protect against the increasing threat of UAS in unauthorized airspace by calling on Congress to “adopt legislation to close critical gaps in existing law and policy that currently impede government and law enforcement from protecting the American people and our vital security interests.”

In our conversation, we look at some of the elements of the Plan, including;

  • Extending detection and mitigation authority to State, Local, Territorial, Tribal (SLTT), and Critical Infrastructure Levels
  • Creating an authorized technology list
  • Placement of C-UAS mitigation equipment at critical infrastructure sites
  • A National training center
  • A Federal UAS incident tracking database
  • Establishing a comprehensive criminal statute

Jeffrey points out that the Plan safeguards the expansion of positive UAS activity while also protecting against malicious actors. He also makes the case that next-generation detection and mitigation technologies must be employed to overcome the limitations of legacy systems.

We thank Jeffrey for bringing his knowledge and experience to the conversation about the issues that the Administration’s Action Plan seeks to address.

D-Fend Solutions supports the growth of safe and secure drone adoption, along with innovative solutions that defend against rogue drone threats. Their technology has protected world leaders, gatherings, and organizations from the threat of rogue drones, including at the G7 Summit and championship sporting events. The company’s flagship offering is EnforceAir, which has been deployed worldwide at forward-operating bases, borders and ports, international airports, federal government agencies, and many other places.

346 The Longest Organ Delivery Flight by UAS

Long-distance organ delivery flight, a survey-grade micro drone, a UK drone zone, research on multi-fuel drones, heavy-lift drones, a UAV landing at a commercial airport, locating pregnant dolphins, Verizon’s wildfire drone waiver, and a former FAA Administrator lands a new job.

UAV News

Mission Go completes longest organ delivery flight via UAS in Las Vegas

In this MissionGO and Nevada Donor Network collaboration, two successful test flights were made. The first flight delivered research corneas from Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center to Dignity Health – St. Rose Dominican, San Martín Campus. The second flight delivered  a research kidney from an airport to a location outside of a small town in the Las Vegas desert. This was the longest organ delivery flight in UAS history.

IdeaForge Raises The Bar With The Launch Of RYNO UAV

The RYNO UAV is a survey-grade micro-drone from IdeaForge, a drone manufacturer in India. RYNO is designed for high accuracy mapping applications and delivers centimeter-level accuracy. The drone has a flight time of over 40 minutes and a range of up to 4 km. The performance of the RYNO UAV is claimed to be comparable to more expensive categories of drones.

U.K. has plans to create aerial drone zone superhighways to contain UAV traffic

The U.K. is establishing a commercial drone corridor called the “Arrow Drone Zone.” Airspace will be available to any fully automated drones, including flying beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS). The zone will be located in the town of Reading, to the west of London, and managed by Altitude Angel with their GuardianUTM O/S platform.

US Army funding research to allow drones to run on multiple fuel sources 

The Army awarded the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign a four-year, $8 million contract to research multi-fuel chemistry and investigate advanced propulsion technologies for high-speed air launches. Researchers will study the ignition chemistry of fuels using machine learning algorithms and develop materials for novel ignition assistant technologies for flexible-fuel drones.

Volocopter teams up with Schenker to deploy heavy lift drones

The two companies want to gain practical flying the VoloDrone before the VoloCity air taxi enters service. The drone Is remote-controlled, can lift up to 200 kilograms (440 lbs.), and has a range of 40 kilometers (25 miles). Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter said, “The logistics opportunity in the urban market is just as big as the passenger market.” 

Israeli Company Carries Out Historic First-Ever UAV Landing at a Commercial Airport

The landing was conducted by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with their Heron reconnaissance UAV. The landing at Ben Gurion International Airport was entirely remote-controlled. This is reported to be the first time a UAV was operated alongside commercial flights in civilian airspace.

Video: Heron UAV Landing at Ben Gurion Airport

Dolphin reproductive research aided by UH Drones

The University of Hawaii is collaborating with Dolphin Quest on a study to better understand the health of dolphin populations. A Ph.D. student has been operating a drone over a pregnant bottlenose dolphin at the Dolphin Quest facility. The goal is to detect pregnancy in female dolphins in the open ocean.

Verizon deploys remote network-connected drone during Big Hollow Wildfire

The FAA granted a special temporary waiver to Skyward, A Verizon company, that allows civilian operations to inspect critical communications infrastructure in the U.S. Company pilots can fly the Percepto Sparrow drone from their homes to inspect critical communications infrastructure near the Big Hollow wildfire in Washington. The waiver permits operations 24 hours a day, with less than 3 miles of visibility, and no pilot or observer on site. Skyward spent nearly a year testing and proving that it could safely fly without onsite personnel.

Former Head of Federal Aviation Administration Michael Huerta Joins D-Fend Solutions’ Advisory Board

The former top Federal Aviation Administration executive brings airspace management and airport safety expertise to the D-Fend counter-drone technology company. 

UAV Video of the Week

Colors of Vermont Fall Foliage Captured in Drone Footage

Vermont photographer John Rowe captured drone footage of the fall colors at Norton Pond.