Skirted on all sides by snow-clad pine forests, Latvia’s remote Lake Ninieris would be the perfect picture of winter tranquility — were it not for the huge drone buzzing like a swarm of angry bees as it zooms above the solid ice surface. The powerful three-meter-long (nine-foot) drone, sporting 16 spinning propellers, is fitted with long tow ropes with handles, the kind used in water-skiing. Continue reading
Category Archives: Non-Military & Commercial UAS
Amazon Patents In-Flight Transformer Drones
Amazon.com has patented technology for drones with retractable in-flight wings. Amazon originally filed for the patent in October 2014 under the name “in-flight reconfigurable hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle.” The hybrid foldable-wing design is covered in a patent that was published last Tuesday.
Kespry Announces Drone 2 with Greater Accuracy
Kespry has announced that it has enhanced the Kespry Drone 2 with higher performance features that deliver significantly greater accuracy and reliability. Continue reading
Great Sand Dunes National Park Aerial Mapping Project
UAS Colorado has announced the completion of an innovative mapping project using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) within the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in south central Colorado. This project was a collaborative effort facilitated by UAS Colorado that also included Black Swift Technologies (BST), the National Park Service (NPS), and Wohnrade Civil Engineers, Inc. (WCE).
Pivoting HexaCopter
Aeronautical engineer Dan Bosch was sitting around with his buddies Tom Brigham and Neil Puri talking about ways to improve unmanned aerial vehicles. The fixed wing kind are fast (over 100 mph) and economical, but can’t carry much of a payload and are bad at hovering. The rotor type, with four or six rotating blades, have great lift and hover well but are slow, topping out at around 40 mph. Continue reading
Challenger Aerospace Group Manta Ray
The Manta Ray from Challenger Aerospace Group is a Hybrid powered Tri-copter/glider/ UAV/Drone: The Manta Ray, like its namesake, can move swiftly from vertical takeoff , hover to smooth transition into forward flight, the Manta Rays unique design allows its wing morphing into a powered glider type UAV/drone giving the aircraft greater flexibility and distances. Continue reading
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Begins Use of UAS for Dangerous, Hostile and Life-Saving Operations
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) is taking full advantage of leading technology to gain a two-fold benefit: Obtain a more informative vantage point, and increase safety for sworn personnel and civilians during certain tactical response operations.
Cyberhawk Completes UK Rail Station Inspection
Cyberhawk Innovations has completed its first internal and external structural inspection for the UK rail network.