Category Archives: Non-Military & Commercial UAS

Microdrones Expands into Asia with Aircam Acquistion

As part of an ongoing global growth initiative, Microdrones has acquired Aircam UAV Technology (“Aircam”), a 64 employee Chinese company with its main location in Foshan, an hour-drive from Guangzhou in Southern China, and a branch in Beijing. Aircam has developed a large Chinese and Southeast Asian customer base with a focus on surveying & mapping, utilities, and oil & gas industries.   Continue reading →

India Considers Drone Corridors and Droneports

 To address various challenges for safety and expansion of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in India, a task-force constituted by the Union government has proposed creation of “Drone Corridor” and “Droneports” in the country. Accordingly, the Ministry of Civil Aviation constituted task-force has recommended key principles and ideas in — Drone Ecosystem Policy Roadmap — that will guide the drafting of ‘Civil Aviation Regulations’ (CAR) 2.0. Continue reading →

New Study Shows Animals May Get Used to Drones

A new study published in Conservation Physiology shows that over time, bears get used to drones. Previous work indicated that animals behave fearfully or show a stress response near drone flights. Using heart monitors to gauge stress, however, researchers here found that bears habituated to drones over a 3 to 4-week period and remained habituated. Continue reading →

Delair Drone Data now Integrates with Trimble Business Center v5.0

Delair has announced interoperability of high-precision data acquired from the Delair UX11 drone with version 5.0 of the Trimble Business Center software. The integration enables geospatial professionals to simply drag and drop Delair UX11 PPK data directly into Trimble Business Center projects. Users can combine the high-quality flight data with other sensor data to rapidly create vivid orthomosaics and highly accurate surface models. Continue reading →

State Farm Gets First National FAA Waiver for Damage Assessment Drone Flights

State Farm drone pilots conduct drone flights with Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAPP) at Virginia Tech

State Farm just announced that it has received “the first national waiver to any company in the U.S. by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)” for the operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and over people. The waiver grants relief of certain FAA rules through 2022. Continue reading →

Israel’s Flytrex Closes $7.5M Funding Round

Israeli drone logistics startup Flytrex, which specializes in food and consumer good deliveries via unmanned aircraft systems, has raised $7.5 million in a series B funding round led by Benhamou Global Ventures, with additional investment from Btov. The investment follows a $3 million Series A funding round in June 2017, bringing the company’s total raised to $10.5 million. Continue reading →