Bruce Crumley

Safety avionics specialist Iris Automation has made a meteorological enhancement to its Casia G ground-based surveillance system with the integration of TruWeather Solutions sensors and services – a move aiming to add climate security to the company’s aerial detect-and-avoid protection.

With stolen drones increasingly becoming a favored tool by plotters of aerial criminal activity, both individual victims of theft and law enforcement officials could really use a centralized resource to track the resale and use of pilfered craft. Now they have one with the recently launched StolenDroneInfo, which scans various open-source sites for signs of filched UAVs turning up online or in the air.

The European Union’s main agency for maritime activity is once again deploying drones in partnership with member nations in a common effort to detect and pursue large shipping companies violating tightened limits on sulfur emissions, which are major contributors to global warming.

Despite the intense and increasingly deadly invasion of their country by Russia, defense forces in Ukraine haven’t lost their sense of humor, and are now using it to mock the reputedly formidable Russian Orlan-10 drone as a DIY assemblage of foreign parts.

Though it took a bit of preparing to get aloft, Alphabet-owned Wing Aviation is set to launch its drone delivery service in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area this week, a bit over five months after the company announced the expansion of its activities in the fast-growing region.

London-based builder of UAV and next-generation aircraft infrastructure Urban-Air Port is expanding its UK activity through a new project with the Leeds Bradford Airport to facilitate drone logistics and delivery services to the surrounding urban area.

A federal court has ruled a Texas law considerably limiting the use of drones to be unconstitutional, particularly articles restricting images collected by journalists using UAVs in their reporting.

If a single person were to be designed the “Drone Meister” of US government aerial operations, it might well be Mark Bathrick – the recently retired director of the Department of the Interior’s Office of Aviation Services (OAS), who assembled and oversaw the increasingly diversified use of the world’s largest fleet of non-military UAS. Creator of the agency’s “Drones for Good” program, Bathrick spoke to DroneDJ about how those operations evolved over the past two decades and how it’s likely to continue in the future.

Leading instant logistics company Zipline has said it has made over a million drone deliveries of COVID-19 vaccination doses in Ghana, marking another milestone in its efforts to help governments in Africa and around the globe broaden access to healthcare, improving treatment capabilities through fast and effective supply distribution.

Autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone manufacturer Volansi has unveiled its new VOLY 50 series of UAVs designed for long-haul transport of flexible payloads.

Vertical Aerospace, a UK developer of aircraft for future air taxi and other urban air mobility uses, is reporting even stronger than expected demand for its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, with a major leasing client circling back for additional orders.

South Korean developer of hydrogen power units for drones, Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI), has raised $22 million in new funding to muscle up its production of longer-flying, emission-free water-based fuel cells for drones.

High-flying drone delivery company Flytrex says it will launch fast transport of food orders in suburbs around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex as part of a geographical expansion of its existing partnership with restaurant group Brinker International. 

According to company lore, CEO Blake Resnick developed BRINC’s Lemur drone to assist law enforcement and security services in responding to the kinds of horror he witnessed during the 2017 Mandalay Bay shootings in his Las Vegas hometown – a helping hand the precocious tech boss is now extending to Ukraine rescue workers grappling with the nightmare inflicted by invading Russian troops. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that air industry veteran Billy Nolan has been named to serve as acting administrator when the agency’s outgoing chief Steve Dickson steps down at the end of the month.

American Robotics CEO Reese Mozer has no beef with drone deliveries, but he thinks all the hoopla surrounding aerial transport of burgers and burritos is drowning out news about farther-reaching UAV activities that are dramatically changing the way businesses operate. He tells DroneDJ about that transformative innovation, and how American Robotics’s (AR) leading role in the complete automation of critical drone services to industry is set to take wing.

Skyports, a global leader in vertiport and other urban air mobility (UAM) infrastructure design and construction, has raised $23 million in Series B funding that will be used to fuel the company’s work with cities around the world to prepare for looming aerial services like air taxis.

Leading drone company DJI announced today a much-awaited firmware update for its flagship Mavic 3 drone, which is designed to resolve slow GPS connectivity problems many users have complained about since the craft began shipping earlier this year.

Japanese automotive and motorcycle giant Suzuki says it is joining forces with aerial vehicle company SkyDrive in the latter’s efforts to produce an electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) flying car for urban air mobility uses like air taxis.

French aerospace, defense, and security giant Thales is reinforcing its ties with Australian-based counter-drone startup DroneShield in a joint effort to keep pace with the rising threats of malicious UAV deployment around the world.

Leading action camera maker Insta360 has released its new ONE RS product, whose interchangeable lenses makes it both cutting edge and a paragon of versatility for a wide variety of uses.