Author Archives: The Editor

MIT Researches UAS for Automated Lighting

Lighting is crucial to the art of photography. But lights are cumbersome and time-consuming to set up, and outside the studio, it can be prohibitively difficult to position them where, ideally, they ought to go. Researchers at MIT and Cornell University hope to change that by providing photographers with squadrons of small, light-equipped autonomous robots that automatically assume the positions necessary to produce lighting effects specified through a simple, intuitive, camera-mounted interface. Continue reading

San Diego Gas & Electric Gets FAA Approval for UAS Tests

SDGELOGO

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently granted San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) a Special Airworthiness Certificate for a small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), allowing the utility to research, test and train flight crews on the UAS in a sparsely populated airspace in Eastern San Diego County. SDG&E is the first utility in the nation to be granted FAA approval for this technology. Continue reading

Royal Aeronautical Society Conference

Royal Aeronautical SocietyIntegrating remotely piloted air systems (RPAS) into civilian airspace in Europe is not going to be easy. Official programmes are many, work is extensive, detailed and ongoing, but anyone expecting an early resolution is going to be disappointed. This was the picture gleaned from a series of presentations at last month’s RPASToday: Opportunities and Challenges conference, run by the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.

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First Flight of Predator XP

Xport PredatorGeneral Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced the successful first flight of Predator XP, an updated version of the company’s flagship Predator RPA that has been licensed by the U.S. Government for sale to a broader customer base, including countries in the Middle East, North Africa, South America, and Asia. The flight occurred June 27 at Castle Dome Airfield, located at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground Range Complex in Arizona.

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