senseFly, a company that develops, assembles and markets autonomous mini-UAS, is using Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablets for humanitarian missions. Continue reading
Category Archives: Non-Military & Commercial UAS
Los Angeles Police Department Acquires 2 Draganflyers
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) recently acquired two advanced surveillance aerial devices from the Seattle Police Department to bolster their law enforcement resources. However, the LAPD is deliberating not calling them “drones,” to avoid stirring up any controversy based on the negative connotations associated with the word and the technology. Continue reading
South Africa Civil Aviation Authority Bans Camera UAS
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has executed an immediate prohibition on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or camera drones in South Africa. Film shoots intending to use this type of production equipment, now deemed illegal, will no longer be able to obtain film permits.
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FAA to Consider Exemptions for Commercial UAS Movie and TV Production
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration has announced that seven aerial photo and video production companies have asked for regulatory exemptions that would allow the film and television industry to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with FAA approval for the first time.
NASA Widens 2014 Hurricane Research Mission
During this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, NASA is redoubling its efforts to probe the inner workings of hurricanes and tropical storms with two unmanned Global Hawk aircraft flying over storms and two new space-based missions. NASA’s airborne Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel or HS3 mission, will revisit the Atlantic Ocean for the third year in a row.
UAS Map Melting Glaciers in Himalayas
Scientists at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a Nepal-based research institute, and colleagues at Utrecht University in the Netherlands used unmanned aircraft systems to map the Lirung glacier in Nepal in 2013. Their results will appear in the July issue of the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. Continue reading
First Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Survey Over London
KaarbonTech has become the first company to receive a special permission from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to fly a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle within London airspace. The first flight, commissioned by The GeoInformation Group, took place over Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the home of the London 2012 Games. Continue reading
Skycatch Raises $3M from Investors Including Google for UAS for Energy Industry
The egg white UAS lifted off from its ground station at a hospital construction site here, hovered for an instant, then zoomed off, sounding like a five-pound bee as it buzzed around the cranes towering over the six-acre project. Capable of carrying a high-resolution camera and other sensors, the quadcopter, a helicopter with four rotors that resembles a spaceship from a 1950s science fiction movie, was flying in a demonstration of its ability to serve a potentially lucrative new market for UAS: the energy industry. Continue reading