Designed by the Dutch company Clear Flight Solutions, Robirds flap their wings and fly just like live avian predators. The “robirds” work like airborne, remote-controlled scarecrows, deterring live birds from venturing close to decidedly hazardous sites. Robirds indicate a definite shift from some of the more common methods of control—like culling wild birds near airports, placing chemicals on crops, or using loud noises to frighten flocks away. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
Matternet Tests Medecine Delivery by UAS In Bhutan
It’s one of the world’s first drone-based delivery networks, but it’s not in the Silicon Valley. It’s in Shangri-la. A Silicon Valley startup is piloting a low-cost drone-based delivery project in the remote Himalayan nation of Bhutan that could save lives in far-flung rural communities—and perhaps pioneer the system globally.
UAS Searches for Rare Mistletoe in Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DOE) recently collaborated on a project with longtime partner Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (RGB Kew), UK, to locate a mysterious Mistletoe species Dendropemon caymanensis known to be located only on Little Cayman. Continue reading
Five Hobby Drones Tested
Drones are the highly evolved descendants of the RC helicopters and model planes that hobbyists have been flying for decades. What changed? Basically, the rise of smartphones meant a lot of important components — magnetometers, gyros, batteries, cameras, accelerometers, radios, GPS modules, and processors — got a lot smaller and cheaper. Continue reading
Grand Forks AFB Hosts First Integrated UAV Flight
The 319th Operations Support Squadron supported a milestone in unmanned aerial vehicle aviation Aug. 1. For the first time, the Federal Aviation Administration authorized two UAVs to operate simultaneously in a traffic pattern of unrestricted airspace.
Seeker 400 Completes Second Round of Flight Tests
The Denel Dynamics Seeker 400 unmanned aerial vehicle has successfully completed a second round of flights tests at Alkantpan in the Northern Cape as part of its development process, Denel has announced. The tests included an evaluation of the system for range and performance with full payload on board.
Hummingbirds Hover Better than Black Hornet
When it comes to flight, nature just has the edge on engineers. This is according to a study comparing hummingbirds with one of the world’s most advanced micro-helicopters. Researchers found that – in terms of the power they require to lift their weight – the best hummingbird was over 20% more efficient than the helicopter.
UAS as Construction Inspectors
The small craft, barely a metre across, works its way up to the 11th floor, examining the façade for such damage as chipped or crumbling concrete, defective joints and the like. Keeping about two metres from the façade, the robot is on an inspection tour of the building. It’s equipped with a high-resolution digital camera that takes detailed images of each part of the building. In this case, the work is being done in Saarbrücken, Germany, and the operator is Christian Eschmann, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Non-Destructive Testing.