Ishveena Singh

Singapore-based ST Engineering, Sumitomo Corporation, and Skyports are joining forces for a nine-month drone delivery pilot, wherein drones will be used for shore-to-ship parcel delivery of maritime essentials.

Singapore-based drone solutions company Avetics Global says it’s set to make confined-space inspection more accessible with an affordable new product, Lumicopter. Combining the DJI FPV drone with a custom-made protective shell and LED light, Lumicopter has been designed to fly in enclosed or hazardous facilities such as storage tanks, building interiors, powerplants, ships, etc.

Named the best international short ski film of 2021 at High Five Ski Film Festival, FLOW captures world-class freeride skier Sam Favret’s recent adventures (on empty slopes, no less!) amid COVID-19 lockdowns. The mind-blowing film is made 100% from aerial footage – using FPV drones, DJI Inspire 2 with Zenmuse X7, and DJI Mavic 2 Pro. It showcases the majestic beauty and high-intensity action of skiing Europe’s famed Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in such a grand manner that you simply must take out a few minutes to watch it now.

Israel has created aviation history by approving a drone to fly in civilian airspace and not restricting its flight to uncontrolled airspace. Following its certification by the Civil Aviation Authority of the State of Israel (CAAI), the Hermes Starliner UAS by Elbit Systems will now be able to fly at medium altitudes for a multitude of long-range missions, such as securing mass public events, environmental inspection missions, precision agriculture work, maritime search and rescue, as well as border security and anti-terror operations.

India has imposed an import ban on drones with immediate effect. The ban, which was notified by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, prohibits the import of drones in all forms – Completely Built-Up (CBU), Completely Knocked Down (CKD), and Semi Knocked Down (SKD).

Drone solution providers Censys Technologies and Soaring Eagle Technologies have secured a fresh beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This waiver covers a 12-mile distance, which the companies stress is the longest distance ever approved by the FAA.

Drone mission planning platform Drone Harmony has finally released an iOS app. You can now execute flights planned in the Drone Harmony software platform on iPhones and iPads running iOS 14.0 or later.

After five years of growth, DroneUp, which operates an on-demand drone delivery network that matches a database of more than 10,000 FAA-certified pilots to missions across the US, has undergone a branding makeover in efforts to evolve with its aspirations.

About 50 tons of floating debris – plastics, wood, cardboard, organic material, mooring lines – are collected every year from the docks in Belgium’s port of Antwerp. Not only does this waste pollute the waters, but it also has an impact on biodiversity and can cause damage to ships. This is why port authorities are now turning to drones to detect and clean up the debris as soon as possible.

It’s been a while since Google’s sister company Wing announced it was bringing a new, retail-based drone delivery system to Texas’s Dallas-Fort Worth area. Let’s take a look at how the company is preparing for the commercial launch of its drone delivery operations…

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is investigating a drug trafficking incident where a tiny DJI Mini 2 drone was used to smuggle 259g of meth – 10g more than the drone’s own weight – across the US border.

The Bondgate Tower in Northumberland, UK, is a 15th-century monument that is in danger of collapse, and as such, sits on the “Historic England’s Heritage At Risk” register. As part of conservation efforts, the historic gatehouse was recently mapped using a drone, and the results are so incredible, you need to see them for yourself.

Esri Site Scan Flight for ArcGIS, a popular cloud-based drone mapping software, has added support for the DJI Matrice 300 (M300) RTK drone with the Zenmuse P1 photogrammetry camera.

Singapore-based drone technology player H3 Dynamics is joining forces with Sitemark – a specialist AI-analytics company from Belgium – to launch a new robots-as-a-service solution for autonomous solar farm monitoring and inspection.

Skyward drone management platform now supports flight logs from some of DJI’s newest aircraft models, including the Mavic 3, Mavic Air 2, and Air 2S.

After years of anticipation, the drone delivery ecosystem is finally beginning to take shape in many parts of the world. But even as progress is made on the rules and infrastructure side, a singular factor wields the power to dash the hopes of drone deliveries en masse: the weather. Thankfully though, researchers are testing how 5G, mobile edge computing, and artificial intelligence can help drones detect, interpret, and respond to changing weather conditions in real time.

Pilot error, accidental damage, loss of data link, flyaways, accidental loss… These are only some of the reasons why Coverdrone customers made drone insurance claims last year. So now, the company, which provides insurance for both commercial and recreational drones, is sharing insights from its claims data to help operators understand the most common risks associated with drone operations.

Your favorite colonel is teaming up with Google’s sister company Wing to satiate those fried chicken hankerings. In about the same amount of time it takes for chicken to crisp up and get its golden hue, people in some parts of Australia will now be able to get their KFC favorites delivered by a drone.

In a series of tests conducted recently in Phoenix, a drone piloted by a Honeywell radar system has emerged triumphant in determining the best flight path and autonomously swerving around an intruder drone that did not have a transponder. This key achievement, the aerospace technology company stresses, will usher in the era of self-flying drones, air taxis, and other advanced air mobility vehicles.

The Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom ushered in a new era for camera drones when they were first introduced in 2018. DJI has now stopped manufacturing these flying machines in favor of the new Mavic 3. But if you’re one of the many photographers and videographers who agree that the iconic Mavic 2 remains a fantastic way to get pro-level aerial footage, you may want to stock up on a Mavic 2 Fly More Kit before they disappear from the shelves as well.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declared the SoFi Stadium in California’s Inglewood as a “No Drone Zone” ahead of this year’s Super Bowl. And to make sure that drone operators don’t take the safety advisory lightly, a minimum potential fine of $30,000 has been proposed, among other things.