Established in 2012, Dzyne Technologies (Reston, Va.) has achieved considerable success in engineering innovations, including a patented “roadable” submarine and several long-range, vertical take-off-and-landing (VTOL) flying machines. When the company launches its carbon fiber composite ROTORwing prototype unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in July 2014, it won’t be just another UAV. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
CNN & Georgia Tech to Explore Media UAS Use
Beginning this summer, CNN and Georgia Institute of Technology will embark on a joint research initiative to better understand the opportunities unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) present for media organizations, and to explore the access and safety issues that need to be addressed as part of any new regulatory framework. The project team will be staffed by senior members of CNN’s newsgathering team and researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
Boeing to Fly Unmanned MD 500 Demonstrator for South Korea
Boeing has begun work converting a single MD 500 Little Bird observation helicopter into an unmanned demonstrator platform for the Republic of Korea, with the goal of a first flight before the end of the year.
North Carolina State University Wins AUVSI Student Competition
The Seafarer Chapter of AUVSI held the Student UAS Competition 18-22 June, with North Carolina State University vaulting to the top of the list after taking second place last year. Continue reading
University of Denver Researchers Develop Radar-Based ‘Sense-and-Avoid’
The key challenge in developing a “sense-and-avoid” system has been developing technology that can reliably detect the presence – and the course – of other aircraft and to engineer it into a package small enough and light enough for UAS. Researchers at the University of Denver’s Unmanned Systems Research Institute may have the answer.
Australians Develop ‘Projector Drone’
Melbourne-based company, I-Drone, has developed the ‘Projector Drone’ which is capable of beaming news, games and advertising over the walls of buildings. The proof of concept aircraft is able to fly for 12 minutes at a time, features its own on-board data storage and a 500 lumens projector. Continue reading
Pix4D Creates High-Precision 3D Modelling using Consumer Grade Cameras
Pix4D’s pre-summer challenge was to create a highly accurate and very dense 3D model of Chillon Castle (Château de Chillon), Switzerland’s most visited historic monument. The 3D point cloud integrates the indoor and outdoor structures of this highly complex architectural object with a resolution of up to 5mm and is based on both aerial and terrestrial images acquired with DJI Phantom 2 Vision, GoPro Hero 3+, Canon 6D and Sony alpha 7r cameras with Fisheye lenses. Continue reading
McCain Foods to Deploy UAS to Monitor Potato Crops
The world’s largest producer of French fries is using the technology to pick up information from its potato fields. “We can integrate a lot of different data streams from drones and field sensors and package it into a system to help benefit growers and companies like McCain,” says Peter Goggin of Resson Aerospace.