Ishveena Singh

The world’s largest drone manufacturer, DJI, says it will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine “in light of current hostilities.” This move makes DJI the first Chinese company to pull out of Russia since the country launched its invasion of Ukraine two months ago.

Update [May 10, 2022]: DJI Mini 3 Pro drone is available to pre-order now from DJI’s official store, Amazon, and B&H Photo Video. Read Top 10 things you need to know about DJI’s new drone.

Wait, what just happened? DJI is yet to confirm when it plans to release the Mini 3 Pro, but a seller has accidentally revealed the complete specs and features of the drone online. A Dutch retailer has created a listing for the sub-250-gram drone, which tells us EVERYTHING save the product’s release date.

A Singaporean man has been slapped with a $37,000 fine (SGD $51,000) for flying a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom drone unlawfully in September 2020. If he’s unable to pay the fine, the drone pilot will face a jail time of 100 days.

ModalAI, a Blue UAS framework manufacturer of autonomous drone technology, says it has developed the world’s smallest and most advanced autopilot built in the USA. Weighing only 16 grams, ModalAI’s VOXL 2 is designed specifically for GPS-denied, autonomous drones with obstacle avoidance.

Lucid Drone Technologies, a Charlotte, North Carolina–based startup that manufactures commercial spraying drones for cleaning external surfaces, is joining forces with T-Mobile for IoT connectivity and fleet management services. The news should excite property management and facility maintenance companies looking for IoT solutions to reduce risk and cut costs for exterior cleaning.

DJI’s top-shelf enterprise drone, the M300 RTK, is built for the not-so-average job site that requires greater flight time, more payloads, and enhanced protection against collisions. And such job sites must be many because Hextronics, a manufacturer of drone docking stations, says it has been witnessing an increasing demand for a solution that’s tailored for the DJI M300 RTK and can support high endurance and operations in extreme weather conditions.

When it comes to the consumer drone market, nothing can get more bang for the buck than DJI products. But, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made it clear that commercial technology can have clear military applications too. Both Russia and Ukraine are widely using DJI drones, primarily for reconnaissance purposes. This has prompted the world’s largest drone manufacturer to reiterate its stance that DJI deplores any use of its products to cause harm.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has kicked off a large-scale emissions monitoring campaign in the Baltic Sea this week. As part of the project, drones are being deployed through Germany to remotely measure the sulfur content in ships’ exhaust plumes and detect violations of the applicable limits.

In a time when companies across the board are increasing prices to catch up with the rising costs, a drone startup is looking to buck the trend. SkyeBrowse, whose reality capture platform allows DJI and Autel drone users to create accurate 3D models within minutes, is lowering its annual subscription cost by 20%.

We may just have to wait a little longer for DJI to add a new offering to the safest drone category weighing less than 249 grams. The release date of the rumored Mini 3 drone has reportedly been pushed to May. In the meantime, we now have a better idea of how much the DJI Mini 3 could cost as new leaks have emerged revealing the European price list.

Counter-drone specialist Dedrone has launched a portable drone detection unit, DedroneRapidResponse, that can identify, locate, and analyze nearly 300 drone types. The company says it has developed this sophisticated technology following the requirements presented by St. Petersburg Police Department for the 2022 Firestone Grand Prix, an IndyCar motor race.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has invested another $4.4 million in drone research through its Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) program. The grants – focusing on the areas of electromagnetic compatibility, UAS detect and avoid classifications, and cybersecurity oversight – have been awarded to seven US universities.

As the new and improved United States Football League (USFL) began its inaugural season on Saturday night, every attempt was made to give fans as much access to the teams and players as possible. One technology that had many viewers talking about it was the use of drones during gameplay.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new high-resolution photos of the DJI Mini 3 drone that were leaked during the weekend.

So, you use DroneDeploy to visualize and analyze your Skydio drone data? You can now upload imagery captured on any Skydio drone directly to the DroneDeploy cloud platform without ever touching your SD card!

Freefly Systems’ all-electric Alta X drone has become the second drone to be approved under the Blue sUAS 2.0 program.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is funding a new three-year research project on the use of passenger-grade air taxis and cargo drones to complement helicopter and ship deployments when servicing offshore wind farms. The idea is to fly technicians and materials out to sea using drones, and reduce the time and cost it takes to service a wind turbine.

Inkonova, a Stockholm-based underground drone mapping specialist, has been acquired by mining consultancy firm RAMJACK. While the terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed by the companies, Japan’s Terra Drone Corporation had also announced in 2018 that it had picked up a “significant stake” in Inkonova.

Wisk Aero, a California-based manufacturer of passenger-grade air taxis, has joined forces with UK vertiport developer Skyports to explore how autonomous eVTOL operations can be safely integrated into the national airspace system (NAS). The two firms have released a novel Concept of Operations (ConOps) that outlines the upgrades, retrofits, and procedure changes that will be required for the safe transport of passengers in an autonomous eVTOL aircraft.

The rumored DJI Mini 3 is expected to launch later this month. Following a massive video leak that has revealed at least four major features of the highly-awaited drone, a DJI tipster has shared the pricing for the entire Mini 3 and Mini 3 Pro series. And according to this leak, the Mini 3’s price tag is going to be anything but “mini.”

It’s no secret: GoPro is the first choice for most in the First-Person-View (FPV) drone world. But pilots don’t just strap on a GoPro camera to their small, cinewhoop-style drones. They strip down as much weight as they can, sometimes going as far as sawing the GoPro apart to engineer a better solution.