The US National Transport Safety Board is increasingly using drones as part of its accident investigation toolkit, including for terrain mapping of air crashes, according to NTSB investigator Michael Bauer. Notable drone applications by the Board since 2016 include rail and highway crashes and general aviation accidents. Continue reading
India Successfully Demonstrates 10Kg Helicopter UAV
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited successfully demonstrated flight of a 10Kg Rotary Wing (Helicopter) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (RUAV) here in the presence of its Board of Directors, recently. The RUAV is of a 2-stroke petrol engine, twin blade main rotor and tail rotor, payload capability of 2.5Kg including live stream video camera and range of the vehicle is 8-10 Km with an endurance of one hour. Continue reading
Next Generation of Humanitarian Airdrops
To reach the more than 800 million people who are hungry worldwide, logistics are often a key issue. Assisting 80 million people in 80 countries each year, even WFP – the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives – cannot reach everybody to deliver life- saving humanitarian aid. Continue reading
Komatsu and Propeller Aero Partner for Aerial 3D Mapping of Construction Projects
With drones becoming an increasingly common worksite tool, Komatsu has identified aerial mapping and analytics as a key component of their Smart Construction initiative—a range of integrated hardware and software products designed to offer an end-to-end workflow for each phase of construction. Continue reading
DARPA Gives Small Autonomous Systems a Tech Boost
DARPA’s Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program recently completed Phase 2 flight tests, demonstrating advanced algorithms designed to turn small air and ground systems into team members that could autonomously perform tasks dangerous for humans – such as pre-mission reconnaissance in a hostile urban setting or searching damaged structures for survivors following an earthquake. Continue reading
Controlling Drones via Voice Channels

Robust real-time control. Thanks to communication via conventional voice channels, the technology can be used immediately. Credit: Fraunhofer HHI
Drone communications must be stable and widely available, should cost as little as possible, and work reliably even when out of sight. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institute, HHI in Berlin have found a solution: call a drone. “miracle cure” fluctuates greatly, depending on the material used and the environmental factors. Continue reading
ParaZero’s Parachute System Protects Drone Payloads

Drone safety systems company Parazero Israel Ltd has announced that its drone safety system has successfully saved hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of payload mounted on a commercial drone that almost crashed a couple of weeks ago. The mission was executed by a commercial drone operator in the homeland security domain.
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California Air Guard Drone Helps Fight Wild Fires

Air Force Maj. Nicholas Edwards, an intelligence analyst manager with the California Air National Guard’s 195th Airlift Wing, updates leaders from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on the Carr Fire in Shasta County, Calif., July 30, 2018. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Edward Siguenza
A team from the California Air National Guard‘s 195th Airlift Wing is being used as a reconnaissance and surveillance unit, providing the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection agency with up-to-date intelligence used to battle current wildfires. Continue reading



