Author Archives: The Editor

New High Performance Fixed Wing Aircraft for Commercial Grade Surveying

FuturaBaam.Tech has announced their company launch as well as the launch of their brand new fixed-wing aircraft, the Futura. The Futura was designed specifically for the commercial surveyor and centred around the strong belief that current commercial UAV systems fall short to accomplish timely and accurate data collection in the field.

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Agribotix Partners with senseFly to Offer Agricultural Drone & Data Processing Solution

Agribotix_senseFly_Solution

Agribotix has partnered with senseFly, a producer of professional fixed-wing drones, to offer a new combined solution for professional users. This premium technology solution combines the top drone, sensor and agricultural data processing technologies available today to make collecting and analyzing aerial data easier than ever, with several times more coverage, per flight, than is possible with most quadcopter solutions. Continue reading

US Air Force Wants Midair Drone Refuelling

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The U.S. Air Force wants drones that can be refuelled in midair by other drones. The reason is simple. While drones like the RQ-4 Global Hawk can stay in the air for more than thirty hours without getting tired, bored or feeling the urge to urinate, even an unmanned aircraft needs to refuel sooner or later. That means the drone must interrupt its mission to return to base, or a manned tanker aircraft will have to fly to where the drone is to refuel it. But since the whole reason for robots is to keep humans out of harm’s way, sending a tanker and its fighter escorts into hostile airspace to top up a drone defeats the purpose. Continue reading

Hyperspectral Imaging Reveals Coral Health

A hyperspectral camera was used in the project to collect data in 270 colour bands, which is far more than the human eye can see - Queensland University of Technology

A hyperspectral camera was used in the project to collect data in 270 colour bands, which is far more than the human eye can see – Queensland University of Technology

A high-definition camera and drone have captured an aerial view of Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef in an effort to monitor the health of the pristine region. Queensland University of Technology researchers scanned 40 hectares of Ningaloo Reef, the largest existing fringing reef in the world, over 30 minutes, 100 metres above the sea surface. Continue reading

Japanese Drone Services Company Sets Up in Queensland

image001A Japanese drone services start-up has chosen Queensland for its regional office after being inspired by the Palaszczuk Government’s drive to advance innovation and entrepreneurship across the state. Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Jackie Trad said Terra Drone, a Japanese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provider, made the decision to come to Brisbane as a result of the Premier’s trade mission to Japan in November 2016. Continue reading