Earlier this year, Intel kicked off its Make it Wearable challenge, a mission to take wearable technology and do things with it that haven’t yet been done — that, maybe, no one had even thought of yet. Team Nixie has begun developing a quadcopter that fits on your wrist. Continue reading
Category Archives: Non-Military & Commercial UAS
Smart Atoms Replace Spaxels
Smart Atoms are the latest enhanced and upgraded version of the spaxels, developed by Ars Electronica Futurelab. Instead of being equipped with LEDs, the quadcopters are interlinked as flying building blocks. This will make it possible not only to form visual likenesses but also to generate objects with material-virtual characteristics. Continue reading
Kirin Beer QuadCopters
Japanese brewery Kirin unveiled a new campaign for their Off White brand of imitation beer products known as happoshu. To help promote their cheaper beer substitute, Kirin will be dispatching six drones painted like pigeons to fly around and record the people of Taketa City in Oita Prefecture. Continue reading
FAA Exemptions for Commercial UAS Movie and TV Production
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced on September 25th that the Federal Aviation Administration has granted regulatory exemptions to six aerial photo and video production companies, the first step to allowing the film and television industry the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System. Secretary Foxx made the announcement on a conference call with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Chris Dodd, chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. Continue reading
DroneDeploy Raises $2M in Seed Funding
DroneDeploy, a startup that makes it possible for just about anyone to fly small drones and analyze the images they capture using a tablet or smartphone, has raised $2 million in seed funding. Investors included SoftTech VC, Data Collective, Red Point Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and AngelPad.
Queensland University UAS in Biosecurity Research Programme
A new three-year project will see Queensland-based university QUT joining an international biosecurity research programme involving unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The project will see UA (unmanned aircraft) fitted with new high-tech imaging equipment to test how effective they are in identifying pests and diseases in horticultural and grains industries. Continue reading
Truck-Based QuadCopter Delivers the Last Leg
The battery-powered Horsefly can carry a 10-pound package 20 miles in almost any weather. It costs just two cents a mile to operate, compared to 50 cents for a typical diesel-powered step van. Most of its deliveries would be less than two miles because it flies from the roof of the company’s battery-powered delivery van, known as the Workhorse. Continue reading
FAA Issues Requirement for All UAS to Show Aircraft Registration Number
The FAA UAS Integration Office issued an email to the industry outlining the requirement for all commercial UAS to bear an aircraft registration number when applying for a COA:
UAS, other than those owned by the Armed Forces, intended to operate under a new COA must be registered and marked prior to COA application. The aircraft registration number (N-number) must be entered into the “Aircraft Registration” field, of the System Description section in COA on-line.