Scott Simmie is a career multi-platform journalist now specializing in drones and other technology content creation.
He’s worked at senior levels for CBC National News and the Toronto Star, reporting from such locations as China, Russia, Thailand, Ethiopia and more. While at The Star, he covered the X Prize in Mojave – the competition that led to Virgin Galactic and sparked space tourism. He has reported from multiple conflict zones, as an EMMY Nominee, and is the co-author of three best-selling, non-fiction books.
Scott has been working in the world of drones since late 2014. His clients have included DJI.
Follow Scott on Twitter @scottsimmie
New research shows that dragonflies – even dead ones – perform a somersault maneuver if they are upside down in the air. And that could have implications for the design of some drones.
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Skydio’s X2D, a robust drone designed for rugged Enterprise and First Responder work, is in consideration for use by the US Army. The military has moved the drone into the next phase of a program where it’s assessing drones for Reconnaissance and Surveillance (R&S) activities.
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Just recently, the Federal Aviation Administration announced its new Remote ID rule. In a nutshell, drones will require a digital license plate down the road, which must be wirelessly transmitted. Before too long, some drones being manufactured will have this capability built-in, or you will be able to purchase a separate module that does the job. Now, the American Civil Liberties Union has offered its own take on the rule.
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The popular B4UFLY airspace awareness tool – used as a mobile app by many US drone operators – is now available via desktop/laptop.
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A new collaboration between FlytBase and Chinese firm Heisha Tech will result in an affordable drone-in-a-box solution that will work with a variety of off-the-shelf products, according to a news release. The announcement says the solution will achieve greater return on investment, faster payback, and the ability to deploy automated systems at scale.
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A new initiative aimed at ensuring the safe integration of manned and unmanned aircraft over Europe has kicked off. It’s a bit of an alphabet soup of acronyms, but it’s pretty interesting stuff.
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The largest organization representing unmanned vehicles – AUVSI – has announced a “hybrid” XPONENTIAL gathering for 2021. Part of it will take place virtually in May, with the balance of a real, live event in August. Let’s hope.
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Extraordinary people do extraordinary things. And that’s why we’re writing today about Oleg Sergeevich Dudrin: He flies FPV with a single hand.
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Custom FPV drones and elite pilots are helping to capture the action at Red Bull’s mammoth “Natural Selection” snowboarding competition. It’s happening at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. And it’s pretty slick.
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The amount of talent in the global community of drone pilots never ceases to amaze us. Today, we’re highlighting a pilot from Serbia who rips through abandoned buildings with a crazy level of skill.
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A new photo of the DJI FPV drone combo leaked today. Let’s take a look.
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We have received confirmation that DJI is producing a remarkable new style of controller for its upcoming FPV drone. Plus, our earlier speculation on several of the product’s features have also been confirmed. If you read just one story about the new DJI FPV drone prior to its release…make it this one.
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We thought we’d seen it all before. We hadn’t. And you? Just wait until you see this drone pilot take a dive with his drone over a waterfall, followed by a personal plunge into frigid waters to recover it.
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Big news from drone enterprise data company DroneDeploy: It’s raised another $50 million in capital that it will use to accelerate its development “beyond drones.” The news came in a release, which we’ll get to in a sec.
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We noted a couple of pretty interesting drone-related Tweets. Then we saw another. And then we thought: Let’s do a quick round-up.
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We are, as always, in a changing world. But few sectors are changing quite as rapidly as commercial and enterprise drones.
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We were spinning around online last night when something really outstanding popped out. It was a showreel from Poland. And you’ll see, in a moment, why we’re highlighting this work.
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Want to make your drone stand out from the crowd? Let there be lights, with some wild new propellers from GEMFAN.
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Chinese FPV drone manufacturer BETAFPV has announced a pretty sweet video contest. The prize? A gift certificate worth $1,250 in BETAFPV products – enough to keep you flying through 2021 and beyond.
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A social media post has alerted us to what appears to be a new DJI product: A radar unit for the Matrice M300.
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Three new directors, representing the wider PX4 community, have been elected to the Dronecode Foundation’s board of directors. That board, says a news release, “will guide the Foundation as it executes its mission to enable widespread adoption and accelerate the development of open standards.”
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One of the most lucrative drone delivery services has been in operation for a few years without the public even being aware. A Toronto Star report reveals that drones were used “dozens” of times on deliveries to the Ontario, Canada, prison in 2019, shuttling in tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs and contraband – including smart watches.
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A Canadian hunter has learned the hard way that drones and guns don’t mix – at least not in British Columbia. There aren’t a ton of details available, but we’ll tell you what we know.
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As you know, we’re pretty interested in Urban Air Mobility. In that vision of the future, we’ll see autonomous, e-VTOL vehicles carrying passengers above cities in the not-so-distant future. And one of them could well come from a Russian company.
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