With drones becoming an increasingly common worksite tool, Komatsu has identified aerial mapping and analytics as a key component of their Smart Construction initiative—a range of integrated hardware and software products designed to offer an end-to-end workflow for each phase of construction. Continue reading
Category Archives: News
DARPA Gives Small Autonomous Systems a Tech Boost
DARPA’s Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program recently completed Phase 2 flight tests, demonstrating advanced algorithms designed to turn small air and ground systems into team members that could autonomously perform tasks dangerous for humans – such as pre-mission reconnaissance in a hostile urban setting or searching damaged structures for survivors following an earthquake. Continue reading
Controlling Drones via Voice Channels

Robust real-time control. Thanks to communication via conventional voice channels, the technology can be used immediately. Credit: Fraunhofer HHI
Drone communications must be stable and widely available, should cost as little as possible, and work reliably even when out of sight. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institute, HHI in Berlin have found a solution: call a drone. “miracle cure” fluctuates greatly, depending on the material used and the environmental factors. Continue reading
ParaZero’s Parachute System Protects Drone Payloads

Drone safety systems company Parazero Israel Ltd has announced that its drone safety system has successfully saved hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of payload mounted on a commercial drone that almost crashed a couple of weeks ago. The mission was executed by a commercial drone operator in the homeland security domain.
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California Air Guard Drone Helps Fight Wild Fires

Air Force Maj. Nicholas Edwards, an intelligence analyst manager with the California Air National Guard’s 195th Airlift Wing, updates leaders from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on the Carr Fire in Shasta County, Calif., July 30, 2018. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Edward Siguenza
A team from the California Air National Guard‘s 195th Airlift Wing is being used as a reconnaissance and surveillance unit, providing the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection agency with up-to-date intelligence used to battle current wildfires. Continue reading
Japanese Drone Association Joins UVS International
The Japan Drone Consortium (JDC) has joined UVS International. JDC, founded in 2012 and established in Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan, is a duly registered national organisation federating Japanese drone manufacturers, operators, distributors, public & private R&D institutions, and various institutions & organisations with drone-related activities (including public organisations & universities). Continue reading
F-35A at The Royal International Air Tattoo
Munich Re Survey Shows Increased Drone Use in Agriculture
The popularity of drones is flourishing on the farm. Three in four U.S. farmers (74%) are currently using or considering adopting the technology to assess, monitor and manage their farm according to an April 2018 Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. survey of 269 U.S. farmers. Continue reading


