Author Archives: The Editor

Pentagon Addressing Use of Special Access Program Classification

It likely wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the United States Department of Defense (DoD) oversees a number of classified programs of which few know all the details. Known as “Special Access Programs” (SAPs), these are established to control access and distribution and provide protection for sensitive classified information beyond that normally required. As previously reported, this is a high state of enforced need-to-know, and only a minimum number of cleared employees are given access to SAP information. Continue reading →

Project with Automated Drones for Offshore Wind O&M to Reduce Downtime and CO2 Emissions

A new project in Denmark is developing a concept for wind turbine inspection and repair that employs fully autonomous drones operating from service operation vessels (SOVs), which are outfitted with charging stations for drones. The solution is said to significantly reduce downtime, CO2 emissions and operation and maintenance (O&M) costs if deployed at scale. Continue reading →

Safeguarding UAV Networks Against Active Eavesdropping

Scientists at the College of Computer Science and Cyber Security, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu and the National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Information System Security, Beijing, China have just published a paper entitled ‘Safeguarding UAV Networks against Active Eavesdropping: An Elevation Angle-Distance Trade-Off for Secrecy Enhancement‘. Continue reading →

New York Power Authority Receives FAA Waiver Allowing Automated Drone Operations

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has received its first federal approval to fly unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the pilot in command. In a significant step forward, this Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver enables NYPA to conduct fully remote drone operations such as asset and vegetative management inspections at its Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project in Schoharie County. Continue reading →