Tag Archives: first responder

382 Terrafugia Commaris UAV

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A flying car company offers the Commaris VTOL UAV for commercial operations, hazmat responders using drones, QF-16 target drones, endangered porpoises spotted from the air, the US Navy repels drones, AT&T COWs provide cell coverage, new drone rules in India.

Commaris Seeker UAV. — Commaris Seeker eVTOL.

UAV News

Terrafugia Inc. Launches New Brand and Commercial UAV

Terrafugia Inc. announced the launch of the new Commaris™ brand, along with the brand’s first product – the Seeker™. This electric, fixed-wing/VTOL aircraft is designed for autonomous commercial aerial applications. Commaris planned to debut the Seeker at the Commercial UAV Expo held in Las Vegas September 7-9, 2021. Terrafugia has been developing the Transition® Roadable Aircraft since 2006. The Seeker features a three-hour flight time, a top speed over 60 MPH, and a 15-foot wingspan. Multiple payload configurations are possible up to 10 pounds.

Rise of a Drone Program

According to the author, the drone is “One of the most significant advances in resources for hazmat response.” Drones allow safe monitoring on-scene, but equipment costs can be high. In response, multiple agencies can work together and private organizations can be a source of funds.

QF-16 drones provide live fire, joint training

A U.S. Air Force QF-16 drone is an F-16 assigned to the 82d Aerial Targets Squadron and used for training purposes. Up to four QF-16s can be remotely controlled by a single pilot and the QF-16’s can perform maneuvers that simulate an adversary fighter.

Endangered finless porpoises spotted off coast of Taean

The Korea National Park Service released footage of four endangered finless porpoises mating in the sea. The footage was shot using a “helikite” – an unmanned aerial camera drone-like device used to observe marine animals.

Navy Arming Surface Ships with Drone Repellent System

It’s called DRAKE (the Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare system) which was originally built by Northrop Grumman and used on Humvees during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it protects Navy vessels from curious eyes by jamming the drone’s signal.

AT&T COW drones restoring phone service cut by Ida’s extreme weather

AT&T’s COW drones (“Cell-On-Wings”) provide LTE coverage over a 40-mile range. They are tethered, hover at 300 feet, and can endure severe weather – winds up to 50 MPH, heavy rain, and hot and cold temperatures. These are effective at providing cell coverage to areas hit by natural disasters. The tethers have a fiber-optic cable for transmitting data to a solar-powered ground station and to provide power to the drone.

Video: When COWs Fly | Watch AT&T’s Cell on Wings (COW) in Action | AT&T

Nano drones may soon be allowed on domestic flights

Drone restrictions in India are relaxing but you still can’t take a drone with you on a domestic flight. This affects people taking vacations who want to bring a drone to capture videos. However, now a remote pilot license is not required for nano and micro drones used for non-commercial or personal use. Also, model aircraft and nano drones do not require a certificate. An airspace map for unmanned aircraft system operations is being planned by the government.

379 T-Mobile 5G Drone

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T-Mobile’s low latency 5G drone, high-speed UAVs that crash less often, a solar-powered UAV, first responder drone of choice, patrolling the beach with drones, and marketing real estate with drone videos.

UAV News

T-Mobile’s 5G off to the drone races

T-Mobile is partnering with the Drone Racing League (DRL) on a 5G drone with HD video. T-Mobile claims the drone is one of the world’s first racing drones to be equipped with an embedded 5G module that can live stream video straight to the internet. The module is made by Quectel.

Video from the Drone Racing League: Making of the Magenta 5G Drone

System trains drones to fly around obstacles at high speeds

Fast drones tend to crash because drone aerodynamics are difficult to predict at high speeds. Now MIT aerospace engineers are developing an algorithm that helps drones find the fastest route around obstacles without crashing. Drones trained with the new algorithm were found to fly through an obstacle course up to 20 percent faster than a drone trained on conventional planning algorithms. The results are published in the International Journal of Robotics Research as Multi-fidelity black-box optimization for time-optimal quadrotor maneuvers.

US Navy spends millions to develop a solar-powered UAV

The US Navy has awarded a $5 million contract to US-Spanish aerospace company Skydweller Aero to construct a solar energy-powered long-endurance UAV that could stay aloft for between 30 and 90 days. The aircraft flew in December 2020.

Video: Skydweller Aero Autonomous Software Flight Test – April 2021

As with consumer pilots, DJI drones dominate emergency responder fleets

A survey by the Airborne International Response Team (AIRT) and its Droneresponders affiliate found that DJI drones make up over 90% of the fleets flown by US first responder organizations. That compares with DJI’s 70-80% share of the commercial drone market. The AIRT + DRONERESPONDERS 2021 Public Safety UAS Survey was conducted in July 2021. Autel Robotics drones were the second most popular make, followed by Skydio, Parrot, and FLIR.

Brunswick County beaches have no lifeguards. Is technology the answer?

In March 2021, the Oak Island (North Carolina) Administrative department created the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Services division. The division provides aerial photography and video for Town departments. Current services provided include infrastructure inspections, project monitoring, pre and post-storm inspection, marketing materials, sand dune regulation enforcement, and beach safety observation.

Realtors shift to mini-drones to showcase properties to homebuyers in increasingly hot housing market

With contactless selling growing in importance during the COVID pandemic, companies that provide video services with drones are being created. Cain Costin and his wife Sarah formed Virtual Drone Tours that produce exterior and interior videos of properties using FPV drones. The videos on the Cain Costin YouTube channel show what’s possible.

Mentioned

The Volocopter at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Photo by Max Flight.

372 Great Lakes Drone Company

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An interview with Great Lakes Drone Company, producers of drone light shows. Also, first responders and augmented reality controlled UAVs, drones that locate trash, Wing drone delivery expansion plans, QR codes in the nighttime sky, and a drone that launches a drone.

Guests

We talk with Ashley Munson and Lindsay Nitz from Great Lakes Drone Company about producing drone light shows. Recorded at the 2021 Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo on April 17, 2021.

UAV News

New Headsets Let Police Control Drone Swarms ‘Hands Free’

Researchers want to support firefighters in Montréal during fire-related emergencies. Their solution is a swarm of drones and an augmented reality headset. They designed an AR interface using the Magic Leap 1 headset that can manage the UAVs in stressful situations.

Drones for the Environment: Battling Trash in San Francisco Estuaries

California researchers are using imagery from unmodified DJI Mavic 2 Pro drones and AI to find plastics and trash along the banks of creeks and streams. The idea is to collect the rubbish before it washes into the bay or the ocean.

Alphabet unit Wing seeks FAA OK to help expand U.S. drone operations

Wing wants to grow its drone delivery service beyond the Christiansburg, Virginia residents that are now supported. Wing is petitioning the FAA to consolidate remote pilot operations from local facilities “to regional operations facilities that are capable of safely controlling a larger number of aircraft simultaneously.” They also want to use a derivative version of the drones and change the operator line check requirement to every 12 months instead of every three months. The FAA says they’ll accept public comments on the petition before making a decision.

The future of advertising is here, and it’s a giant QR code formed by drones flying over Shanghai

Chinese video sharing and streaming site Bilibili created a large nighttime drone display that included a QR code in the sky using 1,500 drones. This was part of a light show celebrating a video game anniversary. Bilibili posted a video with the entire performance:

Video: Princess Connect! Re:Dive drone show

Valkyrie drone launches even smaller drone from inside payload bay

A Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie experimental “attritable” drone successfully released an ALTIUS-600 autonomous drone. The ALTIUS-600 is a small tube-launched drone made by Area-I and it was released from the Valkyrie internal weapons bay. The XQ-58A Valkyrie is designed and built by Kratos for the USAF Low-Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator program. The ALTIUS-600 is part of the ALTIUS family of autonomous UAS that can be launched from the air, sea, and ground from systems like the Common Launch Tube (CLT), Pneumatically Integrated Launch System (PILS), and other launch systems.

369 A Rescue Drone That Talks

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A rescue drone with 2-way voice radio capability, using trained bees and drones to find landmines, telehealth drones that visit your home, quadcopters that work together to deliver large packages, and delivering lifejackets for water rescues.

UAV News

Two Way Radio for Drones Means Rescuers Can Hear a Cry for Help

A rescue drone can be used to find you, but what if you could talk back to the rescue drone? Dotterel Technologies has a 2-way radio solution that could aid in search and rescue. This would allow a conversation with the person being searched for, or even the ability to listen for a cry for help to locate someone. A highly directional microphone array and real-time processor make this possible.

Video: Dotterel Aerial Audio – World’s First UAV with Two-Way Communication

How bees and drones team up to find landmines

Old landmines are a serious problem in some areas of the world. According to Landmine Monitor, 6,897 people were killed or injured by mines and explosive remnants of war in 2018. There are an estimated 80,000 landmines in Bosnia and Herzegovina and about 30,000 in Croatia.

The mines are difficult to find, however, bees can be trained to detect the scent of the explosives with their antennae. Now a team from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia have found a way to use drones to capture video of the bees that can be analyzed to indicate where landmines may be hidden in the ground.

New UC telehealth drone makes house calls

Telehealth has grown tremendously during the pandemic. But not everybody has the Internet. Now four Inventors from three colleges at the University of Cincinnati have collaborated to develop a semi-autonomous prototype drone that can be sent to people’s homes. The small quadcopters use navigational algorithms developed by UC engineers to maneuver inside a home.

Control System Helps Several Drones Team Up to Deliver Heavy Packages

A Georgia Tech Indoor Flight Lab is using multiple drones to lift a heavy package. A control algorithm directs a team of small drones. They measure thrust and altitude to estimate the weight of the package and could even be sent to your location to pick up a large package. The demonstration used four drones, but the control algorithm isn’t limited to that number. This solution might be better than a fleet of drones of different sizes and lift capacity. In many ways, controlling a group of connected drones is more difficult than controlling a swarm of robots that fly independently.

Video: Small drones work together to lift and deliver packages

Sheriff drones can now deliver lifejackets during water rescues

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s office announced they can deliver lifejackets to swimmers in need. A small quadcopter carries the lifejacket on a short tether and a button on the controller lets the officer drop the life jacket. The drone remains in the air some distance above the swimmer. This is part of their Water Safety Campaign. Video on Instagram.

UAV Video of the Week

Drone captures images of a reindeer ‘cyclone’

The video shows reindeer circling in a protective group with the fawns in the center. For more see Reindeer Cyclones Are Real, and You Definitely Don’t Want to Get Caught in One.

Video: This drone footage shows a reindeer cyclone in all its glory

351 Drones for First Responders

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A police department funds drones for response to 911 calls, paramedics in manned drones, public perception of drones, the U.S. government warns of drone attacks, a puffing drone, a heterogeneous drone swarm, and landing a UAV on a submarine.

UAV News

If you call 911 in this Georgia town, a drone might respond soon

Brookhaven, Georgia will be using drones as part of its first responder program. The police department’s UAS unit was funded for four drones to respond to 911 calls, witness crimes in progress, conduct investigations, and document crime scenes.Reportedly, Brookhaven would be the second U.S. city to adopt this program. The Chula Vista Police Department in California was the first in 2018.

Paramedics in manned drones to save more lives

Danish company Falck was founded in 1906 to provide fire, medical, and rescue services. They hope for a crewed UAS to deliver a first responder who can assess the situation and provide real-time triage.

New Study Shows Public Associates Drones Mainly with Photography, Toys and Military Operations

The ResponDrone Project is developing a situational awareness system for emergencies and twelve focus groups were conducted in six countries. The focus groups showed weak knowledge of the use of drones, including some negative feedback on drones relating to privacy issues. ResponDrone “recommends that emergency drones carry special identification, such as a specific colour or a logo, make distinctive sounds or have unique lights. Further, it is recommended that the residents are informed about flights and drills beforehand.”

The State Department Is Now Warning Of Impending Drone Attacks And How To Survive Them

An ominous announcement came from @TravelGov, the official Twitter for the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs:

#SaudiArabia: The Embassy is tracking reports of possible missiles or drones that may be headed toward Riyadh today, October 28. Stay alert. If you hear a loud explosion or if sirens are activated, immediately seek cover.

Later, @TravelGov tweeted that the alert had passed.

UAV Video of the Week

Drone footage shows gigantic floating hands