DroneDJ

A Christmas-themed drone light show organized Sunday night to “wow the people” of Perth, Australia, left onlookers suitably stunned as drones kept tumbling out of the sky and into the river below throughout the performance. “I did cry a little bit last night. I am trying not to think about it… but it was an expensive show for us,” the boss of the company behind the show said after the unprecedented fail.

A UK consortium of companies has launched a two-year, high-intensity autonomous drone operations (HALO) project to develop and test an uncrewed aircraft traffic management system (UTM) capable of integrating around the clock UAV flights at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Innovating botanists in Hawaii are again adapting tech loaded on drones to preserve native plants from extinction in areas too remote or dangerous for humans to access – this time on Hawaii Island to battle Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) fungus killing indigenous ʻōhiʻa lehua trees.

Tech giant DJI’s Black Friday 2022 sale has begun with the company’s first preassembled, ready-to-fly FPV drone combo coming down to $899 in its biggest-ever price cut.

Canadian drone hardware manufacturer and diversified service company Draganfly has announced it has been tapped by Ukraine aerial solutions specialist DEF-C to provide support for its work with civil and defense clients – and supply those customers with 30 reconnaissance UAVs.

Another day, another bountiful drop of banned substances into a prison by suspected drone pilots – this one involving an array of drugs discovered at a Canadian penitentiary just four days after a similar illegal delivery was discovered.

It has the body of a racing drone and the mind of a calculated assassin. Meet Elbit Systems’ Lanius: a “drone-based loitering munition” that leverages its top speed of 45 mph and high degrees of maneuverability to rush to a target before exploding.

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has joined a chorus of voices urging Congress to take steps to maintain or expand the counter-drone capacities of US security authorities, backing up his urging with revelations of the agency’s ongoing investigations into UAVs being equipped to transport homemade bombs.

As indicated just last month, drone delivery specialist Wing has begun demonstration flights in a northern suburb of Dublin as a walk-up to full services it has planned next year for Ireland’s capital, and beyond.

It’s been a while since pre-Christmas sales have been untethered from their initial starting date immediately after Thanksgiving, and now proliferate offers ­– and considerable savings on purchases – across November. Action camera specialist Insta360 is getting in on that with Cyber Monday deals that will extend bargains through Black Friday.

Urban air mobility (UAM) company Archer on Thursday is unveiling its production Midnight air taxi during an open house event at the company’s test facilities in Palo Alto, California, where the craft is being prepared for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification.

Sony has released new software v1.2.0 for its flagship Airpeak S1 drone and remote controller, as well as a new Airpeak Flight app v1.4.0. In addition to improving the shooting prowess of the drone, the update adds a new compatible zoom lens model and main gimbal control mode.

Terra, the all-in-one drone mapping solution from DJI, has been updated yet again to enhance both the product features as well as the data processing speed. Version 3.6.0 of the software brings rapid improvements to LiDAR point cloud missions and a 10% increase in computational efficiency of 2D reconstructions compared to previous DJI Terra versions.

Editor’s note: The DJI O3 Air Unit is available to buy now.

DJI might be prepping to release a couple of new products soon. According to leakers, the tech giant could unveil the DJI O3 Air Unit for FPV drones and a “Lite” version of Goggles 2 as soon as this month.

Although not ready for deployment just yet, a new UK anti-drone weapon known as DragonFire has delivered some impressive results in testing at the very time people in Ukraine are hoping for new tech capable of neutralizing the brutal missile and UAV attacks on the nation’s cities.

Despite their destructive, often lethal use in the war ravaging Ukraine, drones will be featured as the tools in the protection and preservation of thousands of Jewish cemeteries across Eastern and Central Europe during a workshop taking place today in Kyiv today.

DJI is planning to update the map services for some of its drone flight apps. If you are not using the latest version of the app/remote controller, you may not be able to view the map correctly. Here’s what you need to know…

With thousands of companies working with drones all around the globe, you may wonder which are the ones who are truly making a difference. Research firm Drone Industry Insights (DII) took stock of nearly 850 organizations whose core business is to offer drone services to third parties. Here are the top drone companies of 2022, according to DII’s assessment.

Nobody wants their drone to develop a mind of its own, stop responding to commands, and fly away. But what should you do when faced with the unexpected? Is there a way to recover a lost drone when Return To Home (RTH) and emergency flight pause have failed to help? Here’s the process DJI pilots can follow after a flyaway occurs…

Leading smart airspace security company Dedrone is integrating Axis Communication cameras into its counter-UAV command and control platform, adding multi-sensor visual assets to its array of artificial intelligence- and machine learning-enhanced tech.

Just a day before it is set to unveil its production air taxi known as Midnight, Archer announced its decision to locate its $118 million urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft manufacturing site in Covington, Georgia, about 35 miles southeast of Atlanta.

Leading UAV and aerial photography company DJI has just released a new firmware upgrade for the Mavic 3 Enterprise series, adding several new functions and features to the craft it calls the “everyday commercial drone.”

Editor’s note: Autel Robotics’ 2022 Black Friday drone deals are live now.

Autel Robotics has revealed its 2022 Black Friday deals. The company is offering EVO Nano+ and EVO Lite+ drones at up to a 35% discount in the US, with deals starting at $655. Both standard packages and premium bundles of the drones are going on discount.

A main selling point of companies developing next-generation electric aircraft is that the nearing launch of air taxis will not only provide passengers faster commute times across cities or to airports than current ground transportation, but also offer those services at costs close to those of regular cabs. A recent study, however, raises questions about what those prices will actually involve.