If there’s ever a radiological catastrophe in the U.S. like the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, the stewards of the former national nuclear weapons proving ground in Nevada expect to be ready to deploy remote-controlled drones to check for contamination. Continue reading
Category Archives: Non-Military & Commercial UAS
BVLOS UAS Energy Industry Flight Tests in Virginia
American Aerospace Technologies, Inc. (AATI) announced that it has successfully completed flight tests for the energy industry utilizing Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) from the Farmville Regional Airport in Farmville, VA. The campaign just completed was the first in Virginia where flights originated at an operating airport, and the first with an end-to-end system that delivered critical data to end users in near real-time. Flights with AATI’s RS-20 UAS were conducted May 10-13.
Commercial Spray Service on Napa Valley Vineyard
Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. announced the inaugural commercial operation of its RMAX remotely piloted helicopter for agriculture spraying service in the U.S. The RMAX flight was completed this week in California for Napa-based Silverado Farming Company, a leading vineyard management company.
Online Quoting Platform for Commercial UAV Insurance
Skyvuze Technologies, an agency providing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) insurance, is working alongside organizations on the cutting edge of a new online quoting platform that is scheduled to be launched over the next couple months.
Hermes 450 Inaugural Flight in North Dakota Ag Project
The Elbit Systems Hermes 450 aircraft took off from the Hillsboro airport on May 20th. to start a summer-long project that will take pictures of farmland in the fertile Red River Valley. The test is meant to show whether the larger drone is more efficient to capture imagery of agricultural land than satellites or smaller unmanned aircraft.
Lancair Evolution to Become an OPA
Spectral Sky is tapping the capabilities of experimental amateur-built kit airplanes to fill the need for lower-cost manned and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for aerial data collection, real-time reconnaissance and data delivery for commercial and government customers. Spectral Sky is a commercial spin-off of Unmanned Systems, which does contracting on larger government UAS programs. Continue reading
Airborne Inspectors Could Help Control Corrosion
It has long been recognised that drones also have potential in the offshore wind industry where, it is anticipated, they could provide significant cost and efficiency benefits. Work undertaken to date in the RepaKorr project suggests that these potential benefits extend to new, more cost-effective ways to detect corrosion. Continue reading NBAA Highlights Advantages of Integrating sUAS
With more than 2.5 million small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) operating in the U.S., and the FAA poised to release its new Part 107 rules governing commercial sUAS use, interest in the technology has never been higher. Continue reading