Two California lawmakers have introduced two separate bills this week that would further regulate drones in America’s most populous state. If passed, one of the new state laws would require “tiny physical or electronic license plates” and inexpensive insurance, among other requirements. A second bill would compel drone pilots who are involved in incidents that damage property or injure people to leave their contact information—similar to what drivers must do following auto accidents. Continue reading
General Atomics Gets $57M Logistics Contract for UK
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $57,401,850 undefinitized contract action for MQ-9 contractor logistics support. Continue reading
High-Precision Open-Source UAS Autopilot Toolkit
Sentera LLC and the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering have developed a high-precision autopilot toolkit for use with unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The toolkit’s hardware and software are now available under a broad open-source license.
Fuel Cell Quadcopter Flies 2 Hours with 4K Video
EnergyOr Technologies Inc., a supplier of advanced PEM fuel cell systems for aerospace applications, has demonstrated the world’s longest multi-rotor drone flight in real-world operating conditions. On December 16th , 2015, EnergyOr’s H2Quad 400 flew for over two hours while recording 4K video, using a 3-axis stabilizing gimbal to control the camera. Continue reading
White Paper for the Canadian Federal Government
Preparing for Autonomous Vehicles in Canada. Recommendations for enabling the introduction of autonomous vehicles in Canada have been put forward to the federal government by the Canadian Automated Vehicles Center of Excellence (CAVCOE).
New Brushless Motor for Heavy Lift Drones
KDE Direct, a provider of motors and electronics for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), has announced the release of its new flagship technology product, the 8218XF-120 (HE) Multi-Rotor Brushless Motor. Specifically designed for commercial and industrial applications, the 8218XF-120 has the strength and technology necessary for heavy lift operations. Continue reading
New SkyStar 330 Tactical Aerostat
RT LTA Systems Ltd., designer, developer, and manufacturer of the Skystar family of aerostats for use in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communications applications, has introduced the SkyStar 330 system. The new system is based on the former SkyStar 300 platform which has been operational since 2007 and gained over half a million operational hours.
Unmanned AirMule First Untethered Flight
On 30 December 2015, Urban Aeronautics’ AirMule completed its first autonomous, untethered flight at Megiddo airfield in northern Israel. Continue reading