As drones become a more common sight overhead, the government has started to think more and more about how to protect the skies. At CES 2017, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed that it is researching new ways to detect and defend against drones.
South Korea Plans Anti-Drone Laser Weapon
The Ministry of National Defense said that it plans to develop laser technology capable of shooting down North Korean drones by next year. Continue reading
UK OIl & Gas Creates Fresh Guidelines on UAS Offshore
Industry body Oil & Gas UK has created a fresh publication to give the industry guidance on the growing use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) offshore.
Northrop Upgrades Fire Scout Software
The US Navy and Northrop are upgrading software designs for the Fire Scout to harden its technology and secure video feeds from intrusion. Continue reading
Syracuse University Gets $230,000 for UAS Research
Six collaborative research groups from the University’s various schools and colleges have been awarded more than $230,000 in state revitalization funding for their projects in unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Projects include energy mapping of buildings, autonomous navigation and the development of regulations and policies to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles into communities. An additional $100,000 was also made available to support these projects via shared facilities and capabilities. Continue reading
Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) – Request for Information – Drones for Desert Locust Monitoring
Subsequent to his presentation at the RPAS CivOps 2016 conference, Keith Cressman, Food & Agriculture Organization (FOA) of the United Nations, has requested me to inform the international RPAS community of the current FAO Request for Information (RFI).
France Orders Thales Spyranger Mini UAV
French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has selected Thales’s latest-generation Spy’Ranger mini surveillance and reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to equip the French forces. Continue reading
Fixed-Wing UAS that can Land like a Bird
The very first UAV to perform a perched landing using machine learning algorithms has been developed in partnership with the University of Bristol and BMT Defence Services (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd.