Tag Archives: journalism

UAV067 ScanEagle 2 Launched

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Insitu ScanEagle 2A new ScanEagle from Insitu, an Ohio UAS test site is up and running, students learning about UAVs in a precision agriculture program, ABC creating drone journalism policies, and a drone on an urban rescue mission.

News

Insitu Launches New ScanEagle 2 UAS

The new Insitu ScanEagle 2 features a slightly longer fuselage, the same wingspan, and a new engine from Orbital. Endurance of this fixed-wing system grows to 24 hours from 16.

US Navy seeks information on sense and avoid radar for Triton UAS

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has been unable to develop sense and avoid radar for the Triton. They’ve issued an RFI (Request for Information) and NAVAIR wants a scaleable SAA box that is modular and deployable to other platforms.

The Triton is a naval version of the RQ-4A Global Hawk, with a different wing to handle higher stresses.

WSRI conducts its first test of UAS aircraft

Wright State Research Institute (WSRI) conducted its first UAS research flight at Wilmington Air Park using a senseFly eBee

3D Aerial Solutions piloted the eBee used to conduct modeling and simulation research, to gather terrain data for 3D flight simulation environments. The flight operated under a recently awarded certificate of authorization (COA) from the FAA.

Sinclair sees UAS payoff in future jobs

Sinclair Community College in Ohio sees a coming boom in unmanned aviation opportunities, and they’re investing millions to help train a UAS workforce. They’ve spent over $5 million on curriculum, flight simulators, and more than 50 UAVs. The college will use its field house to serve as the largest indoor unmanned aerial vehicle flying range in Ohio.

Sinclair plans to open a National UAS Training and Certification Center using $5 million of their money and $4 million from State funds. Sinclair has partnered with Ohio State University and additionally, has established partnerships with Wright State University, the University of Dayton, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Air Force Institute of Technology, and other educational institutions.

LRSC students study ag potential of UAS

Lake Region State College’s Precision Agriculture Center in North Dakota wants its graduates to have UAV skills. The program offers both theoretical and practical core courses and hands-on training.

The average North Dakota farmer spends about $1.3 million per year planting and harvesting crops. UAS and satellite mapping can cut those costs 6-16%.

Changes to aviation laws will give media more freedom to use drones for newsgathering

ABC in Australia has a project to develop and regulate their use of drones for journalism.

Proposed changes to Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) rules would allow “low risk” operations, making it easier for the media to use sUAS for newsgathering.

ABC has developed a 3-day training course for camera operators that covers air safety rules, privacy policies, and flight training using Phantom 2 RPAs. ABC policy will prohibit using small drones over bushfires because of the high winds, low visibility, and possible presence of water bombing aircraft.

Drone used to rescue window cleaner dangling from tower block

A window washer in Abu Dhabi had a tense situation when his scaffold failed. The man was clinging to one of the windows ten stories up in the air. Police brought in a drone equipped with video and a speaker, calmed the man down, and instructed him on how to affect a repair and lower himself down.

Simpler rules for small unmanned air vehicles

Transport Canada announced at the Unmanned Systems Canada conference in Montréal, two exemptions that simplify small unmanned air vehicle (UAV) operations and safely integrate UAVs into Canadian airspace.

Under the new exemptions, a Special Flight Operations Certificate will not be required for UAVs under 2 kilograms and certain operations involving UAVs under 25 kilograms. The new approach will apply to commercial operations and contribute to a strong safety regime for those on the ground and in the skies.

Once the changes come into effect later this month, operators must check on Transport Canada’s website to determine if the exemptions apply to them and respect specific safety conditions, including requirements to operate within visual line-of-sight, maximum altitudes and away from built-up areas and aerodromes. In addition, Transport Canada is simplifying the application process and reducing the time it takes to issue Special Flight Operations Certificates for larger UAV operators.

In October, Minister Raitt launched the Government of Canada’s national safety awareness campaign for UAVs, which aims to help Canadians better understand the risks and responsibilities of flying UAVs. For more information, visit www.tc.gc.ca/SafetyFirst.

Video of the Week

BIZZBY SKY – Drones On-Demand

BIZZBY SKY is an on-­demand drone service using a real-time smartphone technology platform. The fully autonomous drone is capable of picking up and delivering small items. Under this concept, drones can be summoned to arrive within minutes to the pickup location.

UAV038 Lockheed Martin Builds sUAS

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Lockheed Martin Indago

Lockheed Martin gets into sUAS, Texas EquuSearch files suit, drones for weather forecasting and wildlife protection, a fixed wing VTOL drone, an Optionally Manned UH-60, a North Carolina UAS law, drone journalism goes indoors, and an unmanned R&D forecast.

The News:

Lockheed Martin Marks Significant Milestone in Research & Development for Unmanned Technologies

Lockheed Martin is advancing their push into the sUAS segment with their Indago VTOL Quad Rotor for mobile surveillance. The quad and accompanying handheld ground control station (GCS) and new Commercial Avionics Suite are intended for both Commercial and Military applications.

The 32 inch diameter Indago is man-packable, unfolds, and can be deployed in minutes, with up to a 45 minute flight time. LOS range is 5km, payload 180g. It folds into a 12x9x6 package.

Texas Nonprofit sues FAA

Texas EquuSearch has gone ahead and filed a lawsuit in a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court. The suit claims there is no basis in law to prohibit the operation of model aircraft for humanitarian search and rescue activities.

Drones could revolutionize weather forecasts, but must overcome safety concerns

The promise is that drones could be deployed to collect meteorological data for weather prediction models.

German mini drones rescue Bambis from hay shredders

Every year in Germany, about 100,000 animals are killed by combine harvesters cutting hay. Small aerial drones are being deployed in a wildlife rescue project to keep fawn hiding in tall grass from being shredded.

Five drones are being used in a pilot program where digital and infrared sensors find the young deer, radio beacons are attached to the animals, and farmers can subsequently detect the deer.

Arcturus UAV

Arcturus gets the Jump on vertical takeoff and landing for fixed wing UAVs

For some missions a rotary wing UAV is best, and for others a fixed wing UAV provides superior results. But what do you do when you need the best features of each? Arcturus UAV has a solution: Add-on electric rotors that bring VTOL capability to a fixed wing UAV.

Sikorsky demonstrates optionally piloted Black Hawk

The first flight of an Optionally-Piloted Black Hawk (OPBH) was conducted at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility.

The OPBH demonstrated autonomous hover and flight operations under the control of a man-portable ground control station (GCS).

North Carolina Legislative committee approves proposed law to regulate “drones”

The proposed legislation [PDF] contains privacy regulations, a drone operator knowledge and skills test developed by the state Aviation Division, and licenses for commercial operation of drones.

University of Missouri brings drones class indoors after feds complain

Last summer the FAA told the University of Missouri School of Journalism to stop flying drones outdoors. What did they do? They fly them indoors, of course.

Europe, Asia plan to spend big on drone development

Consulting firm Forecast International has a report out that predicts that by 2022, less than half the worldwide total spend on drone research will be by the U.S.

Videos of the Week:

Flying Robot Rockstars: KMel Robotics presents a team of flying robots that play musical instruments.

Meet Your Creator – Quadrotor Show: A troupe of 16 quadrotors dance to and manipulate sound and light at the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase 2012.

UAV016 From Jellyfish to Global Hawk

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ADCOM Systems United 40

This Episode:

UAS applications in Alaska, an autonomous drone with a robotic arm, a European “drone club” is formed, Turkey eyes the European drone market, a middle-eastern drone company gets some traction, a small UAV that thinks it’s a jellyfish, the Global Hawk achieves a milestone, and journalists flock to UAVs.

The News:

UAV industry takes off in Alaska

With its remote areas accessible only by air, Alaska is a ripe environment for UAVs: remote sensing, airborne surveillance, wildlife management, sea ice study, and many others. Alaska hopes to become one of the FAA test sites.

Helicopter drones level up, gain belly-mounted robotic limbs

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has attached a robotic arm to the underside of a small autonomous helicopter. They hope to accomplish tasks that humans can’t reach. DLR would like to create a fleet flying robots with arms that could work in small teams for construction and repair tasks.

Euro-UAVs: Europe opens ‘drone club’ to compete with US, Israel

Some European Union countries have banded together to advance their capabilities with Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones and become less reliant on the U.S. and Israel.

Turkey’s Drones Look to Europe, Middle East for Sales

Turkish Aerospace Industries is talking with European governments about their Multi-Role ISR UAV Systems, like the ANKA Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV System, which have been used by the Turkish Air Force for three years.

Adcom Systems has Three Customers for United 40 MALE UAS

United 40Abu Dhabi-based ADCOM Systems produces a number of UAVs, target drones, and support systems. The United 40 has been sold to three unnamed customers, and is designed for strategic missions, such as combat and battle damage assessment, intelligence and reconnaissance, border protection, and humanitarian aid.

Flying Jellyfish Robot May Be The Next Generation Of Surveillance Drones

Man has always mimicked birds, insects, and other animals to create flying machines. A New York University researcher has now developed a small flying device based on the motions of a jellyfish. VIDEO: A Tiny Mechanical ‘Jellyfish’ That Flies.

First War Mission for RQ-4 Block 40 Global Hawk

For the first time, an RQ-4 Block 40 Global Hawk has flown into a war. This Block 40 HALE is different in that it uses an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to provide Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) data to combatant commanders.

Drones Offer Journalists a Wider View

CNN, the Associated Press, News Corporation, the BBC, and others have discovered that drones can be invaluable journalistic tools – typically for good uses, but not always. VIDEO: Drone flies over debris fields left after Ilinois [sic] tornado.

Mentioned:

“Getting Started with Hobby Quadcopters and Drones” by Craig Issod, published June 10, 2013. A good overview for beginners. Available in paperback or as an eBook.

UAV013 Sally French is the Drone Girl

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Sally French's Pink Y6 Copter

This Episode:

Guest Sally French, also known as Drone Girl, uses aerial photography from drones to tell a story. She also works in multimedia production at 3D Robotics.

Sally still flies her original DJI Phantom copter with a mounted GoPro camera. She has built her own 3D Robotics Y6, and she looks forward to their Iris. We talk about using drones for journalism and other applications, where to go to learn about drones and how to fly them, and how to get started. As Sally says, “It’s a great time to be in drones.”

The News:

“Crash Happy” Gimball UAS Bounces Off Obstacles

The “Gimball” has a spherical roll cage with a gimbaled copter inside and an accelerometer. It can recover from collisions with objects and proceed toward along it’s specified path.

Get the feeling we’re being watched? Pierce Brosnan is filmed kissing Salma Hayek on beach by drone camera

Hollywood has discovered the utility of cameras on multi-copters to film movie scenes. Besides Brosnan and Hayek in the upcoming movie How To Make Love Like An Englishman. Other movies include Skyfall, Oblivion, Man Of Steel, Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight Rises, and Iron Man 3.

Post Photo: Sally French’s pink Y6 copter.