Hundreds of feet above a snow-covered field, a boxy black device covered in propellers hovers next to the enormous outstretched blade of a wind turbine. From a corner of the machine, a nozzle sprays a liquid across the surface of the blade in a rapid smooth zigzag motion like a rogue car wash in the sky. Continue reading
Category Archives: Non-Military & Commercial UAS
US Dept. of Interior to Get 50 Fixed-Wing VTOL UAS

The U.S. Department of the Interior will soon have the use of up to 50 Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) fixed wing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The small aircraft support DOI’s land stewardship responsibilities with advancements in technologies that improve resource management and facilitate emergency response. Continue reading
Northwell Health to Combine Drones and Telehealth
One day in the not-so-distant future, Northwell Health could have a fleet of emergency drones that can quickly respond to an accident, an opioid overdose or even a terrorist attack, using telehealth to communicate with patients at the scene. Continue reading
Kitty Hawk Unveils Air Taxi in New Zealand
Kitty Hawk, the secretive flying-car startup funded by Alphabet CEO Larry Page, has finally taken the wraps off its flying taxi, which it calls Cora. In a quiet corner of Canterbury, a new type of autonomous, electric “flying car” has been secretly tested since October. Its creators hope a flying taxi service could take to the skies in New Zealand within six years. Continue reading
SigmaRail: Using Drones to Map Spanish Railways
Spanish tech company SigmaRail recently used drones to perform a survey of the Alicante-Murcia high-speed line in south-eastern Spain. The data captured has been used to create an accurate digital model of the rail corridor in order to validate performance and examine engineering priorities. Continue reading
Drones Are Cheaper than Weather Balloons
Norwegian scientists, currently on campaign in Finland, conduct their first autonomous landing with a model aircraft packed with weather sensors. This marks the next step in the process of automating meteorological data retrieval. Continue reading
Drones Speed Solar and Wind Farm Inspection
Duke Energy is the largest electric company in the U.S., delivering electricity to about 7 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest. More and more of that electricity is being generated by renewable technologies. The utility owns more than 1,700 MW of generating capacity through 15 wind farms and 17 solar farms in 12 states. Continue reading
Airbus, Audi & Italdesign Reveal Flying Taxi at Geneva Auto Show
Exactly one year after its Geneva world premiere in 2017, Italdesign unveiled Pop.Up Next,the fruit of a collaboration with Airbus and Audi at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show. Pop.Up Next consists of a modular, multi-modal system that enables transportation to enter into the third dimension by exploiting both urban ground and airspace. Continue reading




