Switzerland

Swiss specialized local weather forecasting company Meteomatics is set to get a boost from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, which is reportedly moving to provide funding to scale the startup’s drone-based meteorological activities, which in turn may help fill a gap in the US group’s own climatic monitoring profile.

Swiss drone delivery company RigiTech has further expanded its zone of international activity with the launch of trial beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of medical supplies in Uruguay.

Up-and-coming drone delivery company RigiTech has followed breakthrough successes in France and its domestic market of Switzerland with a new achievement in Denmark, developing a specialized payload lowering system that enables fast and precise transportation of parts to offshore wind farms.

Swiss tech company Meteomatics is set to launch its drone-based Meteodrone low atmospheric weather analysis platform in North Dakota today – a first in the US that the firm says will provide UAV and other aircraft clients a far clearer picture of rapidly shifting local weather conditions than standard forecasts produce.

Six months after getting mandatory approval from regulators, Swiss drone delivery company RigiTech began the first regular beyond visual line of sight (BVLOSL) operations in France on Monday, providing aerial shuttles of blood and biological samples between testing labs.

Commercial delivery drone systems developer Matternet says it has begun trials on an aerial transport route in Switzerland connecting participating hospitals and labs in what it says will be the world’s longest urban network thus far.

Switzerland delivered more bad news for fans of counter-drone raptor action – but a welcome development for animal rights activists – with the announcement by police in Geneva that two eagles trained to take out drones in flight are being reassigned to other duties.

It may not be the tastiest meal ever flown, but researchers in Switzerland have developed an edible drone designed to serve as life-sustaining nutrition for people stranded in emergency situations.

Swiss drone manufacturer and services company RigiTech has continued pushing the boundaries of its activities by staging a long-distance beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) aerial delivery over Lake Geneva, linking two medical labs.

Swiss mapping, surveying, and modeling tech company TOPODRONE has introduced its AQUAMAPPER solution that adds underwater LiDAR and bathymetry capacities to the company’s range of drone-transported data collection equipment.

Switzerland’s Meteodrone is working to address one of the main elements that can disrupt or even prevent the world’s expanding range of UAV activities: the often sketchy, abruptly changing  weather conditions at the lower altitude levels in which drones operate.

California-based drone logistics company Matternet, which has been working successfully with Swiss Post since 2017, says it will take over drone delivery operations from Switzerland’s national postal service starting January 1, 2023. In addition, Matternet will leverage its experience from operations in Switzerland to build Europe’s first city-wide drone delivery network.

’Tis the season to use creative narratives to celebrate togetherness and highlight the need for kindness on Christmas. And hitting the sweet spot for us right now is a holiday campaign from supermarket brand Migros, featuring the world’s most adorable delivery drone – Robin.

A Swiss research group has developed a drone-carried sensor that can detect the water content of terrain below, and are offering it as a cheaper and more accurate measurement supplement to existing technology like satellite imagery. Its creators say the device can optimize a variety of terrain management decisions in a world where drought and fires are becoming a major, recurring problem.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on Switzerland’s aviation sector and the supervisory activities of its civil aviation regulator, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA). One outcome of the same has been a steep reduction in the number of safety risk incident reports and occurrences involving drones in the country.

Swiss company Meteomatics is working with Thales to explore using drones to capture meteorological data for faster, more accurate, and cheaper weather forecasts. The company hopes to replace the traditional balloons, satellite, airborne, and ground-based techniques.

The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has turned to drone technology to make its lines safer and track potential rockslides before they happen. This is done with its in-house drone pilots and Drone Harmony’s Hill Scan software platform.

AirMap has partnered with the Swiss ANSP to provide drone pilots with official aeronautical information via skyguide’s new geo-awareness applications. The partnership will allow for skyguide users to access up-to-date airspace and active airspace schedule information.

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Some of our readers have sent us these drone videos that show the deserted streets in Chicago and Zurich as the coronavirus continues to spread around the world. By now almost all countries seem to have implemented some form of social distancing and governments are strongly advising people to stay home in an effort to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to flatten the curve.

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Parrot, Europe’s leading drone group, has been chosen to equip the Swiss Armed Forces with micro-drones as part of the ” Swiss Mini UAV Program” (Swiss MUAS) call for tender against major civilian UAV players.

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Grab a cup of coffee and watch the video below in which Yahoo Finance interviews U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao about the latest developments in the transportation sector. Of course, drones are discussed as well for a good part of the interview. However, it seems that U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao fails to understand that the FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID kills the consumer drone hobby by severely restricting it and making it more expensive.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NPRM for Remote ID for drones is exactly the kind of top-down, command and control policy that the Secretary states the U.S. government is not into. The interview took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

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