Alexander Shkolnick is the president and co-founder of LiquidPiston, a Connecticut firm that has spent 13 years and $18 million rethinking the rotary engine that Felix Wankel created in 1960 and Mazda gave up on in 2012. On Monday, engineers yanked the 39-pound conventional engine out of a kart and installed the four-pound X Mini. Continue reading
Cornerstone Mapping Processing Thermal Imagery with SimActive
SimActive Inc., a developer of photogrammetry software, has announced the purchase of Correlator3D by Cornerstone Mapping Inc. Based in the U.S., they are primarily using the software to process large datasets of thermal imagery.
Big Potential for Drones in the Arctic
Kirt Ejesiak wasn’t very impressed with his first drone, purchased to take aerial photos of houses listed with his Property Guys real estate franchise in Iqaluit, Nunavut. But when a friend asked him to fly the drone over his roof to look for a leak, Mr. Ejesiak started thinking about other uses for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Leading UK Energy Firm Signs Up for UAS Inspections
Cyberhawk Innovations has secured significant works with FTSE 100 listed SSE Plc, one of the UK’s largest energy companies. The campaign, which began in May this year, will see Cyberhawk carry out close visual inspections of more than 600 blades using UAVs. Work will be completed across wind turbines at various SSE windfarms throughout Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.
Exo360 Offers 360-View Capture in 4K Resolution
Queen B Robotics is launching its flagship drone — the first capable of 360-view capture, which can capture video in 4K resolution. While the Exo360 is airborne the vehicle can be flown either manually via a remote control or autonomously through the smartphone app.
Small Rugged Embedded Computing Subsystem
The Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solutions Division in Ashburn, Va., is introducing the Parvus DuraCOR 311 small-form-factor rugged commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) embedded computing subsystem for demanding applications like unmanned systems.
Reno Fire Helicopter in Drone Incident
A helicopter operating during Wednesday’s Hawken Fire in Reno had a near miss with a hobby drone as the remotely-operated device flew underneath the aircraft.
FAA May Release Final Drone Rule this Week
The FAA may release its long-awaited final rule that would permit commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) this week. FAA published the notice of proposed rulemaking nearly a year and a half ago, and the UAS industry has been keeping up the pressure on FAA to finalize the rule. Continue reading

