DroneDJ

Two European UAV sector leaders have joined forces to permit Drone Harmony’s automated mission software to be used with ANAFI Ai aboard Parrot drones, improving data gathering performance on mapping and inspection flights.

Security, defense, and law enforcement UAV specialist Teal Drones has continued expanding its business base by landing a $1 million-plus contract with the US Customs and Border Protection service to supply its high-performance Golden Eagle craft.

Chargie is a device that prolongs phone and drone batteries’ lifespan by cutting off battery charging before it’s completely full.  It was invented and developed by a guy who one autumn afternoon almost lost his flight home because of a misbehaving phone battery. The device now has over 25,000 customers worldwide, is at its 4th generation and has been protecting lithium ion batteries since 2019.

The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights across the entire expanse of its 50-mile corridor in central New York – a liberty that will considerably enhance its efforts to develop a safe and reliable UAV U-space.

In the third and last installment of DroneDJ’s interview with Bobby Healy, the irrepressible Manna Aero CEO pivots from his plans to introduce drone delivery around Europe to discuss his strategy for launch in the potentially enormous US market. That involves certification of Manna’s proprietary UAVs; introduction and expansion of drone transport through widening suburban “cohorts of scale”; and raising the considerable capital that will require with, most likely, a Wall Street flotation. Should he get the company there, Manna might well have reached the solid, advanced state of growth to allow Healy to move on to his next challenge.

European aircraft and aerospace giant Airbus says it successfully tested a small-scale demonstration version of its future “cargo copter” drone, which is designed to transport 250 kg of payload across a maximum range of just over 300 kilometers.

We all knew this day was coming when someone, either Ukraine or Russia, would put a machine gun on a commercial drone to get the upper hand. However, a video shared on Twitter shows a DJI heavy-lift drone mounted with a small machine gun, showing just how crazy times are.

Spright, the drone division of aerial medical service provider Air Methods, is now one step closer to launching the first bidirectional American medical drone delivery network. The company has set the record for completing the longest beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flight by a commercial entity in the US.

Southern California Edison says it plans to spend an estimated $50 million in drone inspection services over the next three years to ensure that nearly 160,000 of its electricity poles are adequately maintained. The news comes a day after the utility was sued by a second group of families alleging that a “negligent reckless, and willful failure” to maintain electrical equipment led to the outbreak of the destructive Fairview Fire last month.

Drone delivery company Wing is moving to bolster activity in what’s already its most vibrant Australian market by taking a new approach to flight and logistics center location, beginning with trial services in the Queensland city of Ipswich.

The Air France group offered a first sign this week that it’s preparing to follow other airlines in embracing emerging advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft and services, with the announcement that its AFI KLM E&M maintenance unit is partnering with Toulouse-based vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plane developer Ascendance Flight Technologies.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority says it is conducting trials with Dutch drone manufacturer Avy’s new Aera 3 autonomous aircraft to see if it can support inspectors and shipping masters in their work. 

Norway has detained at least seven Russian citizens over the last few days for flying drones and taking unauthorized photos in sensitive locations. In the latest arrest, the drone pilot is reported to be the son of Vladimir Yakunin ― a former KGB general, close associate of Vladimir Putin, and ex-chief of Russian Railways.

Stakeholders in next-generation aircraft development and their future activity have hailed the signing of the Advanced Air Mobility Coordination and Leadership Act into law by President Joe Biden, calling it a milestone in the effort to launch and expand AAM services across the US.

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.

Next-generation aircraft developer Joby says it has applied for design certification of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) plane in Japan, which is expected to be a particularly promising market for urban air mobility (UAM) activities.

Germany-based drone start-up Quantum-Systems has bagged $17.5 million in new funding from investors, including billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel who cofounded PayPal and was the first outside investor in Facebook.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published guidelines explaining how UAS manufacturers and government agencies can measure the noise level of drones, ensuring they are not a nuisance to people and wildlife.

Manna Aero CEO Bobby Healy is preparing to nearly quadruple the company’s current potential client base in Ireland with the start of drone deliveries in a large Dublin-area town in a few months. From there, he plans to launch activity in European Union nations he considers ready for aerial services. Healy tells DroneDJ in the second part of our interview why he believes its regulations put the EU in particularly strong position to take the global lead in emerging UAV-based services; how Manna’s full-stack drone manufacturing and operation model gives it a business advantage; and why a trained programmer who successfully built two tech travel sector companies decided drone deliveries would be his next challenge.

Drone data collection, surveying, and infrastructure inspection company Soaring Eagle Technologies has added another Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) waiver to its collection – this one permitting virtually unlimited geographic range of mission operation.

Geek-inclined volunteers to Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion won’t be limited to piloting repurposed consumer UAVs anymore, thanks to a new app allowing anybody in the country to provide craft and position information on attack drones and missiles that aerial defense forces can use to neutralize those threats.

Tech entrepreneur Bobby Healy’s objective is as simple as it is enormous. He wants to use the momentum he’s created establishing Manna Aero as Ireland’s hottest aerial tech business to transform it into the biggest and best drone delivery company on the planet. And to do that, he’s readying its launch across the European Union in the coming months, with the US following hard on that.

In response to the summer’s record heat waves amid an enduring period of drought, UK utility Anglian Water moved to ramp up its use of drones to spot pipeline leaks faster – an effort that has already spared the company and its customers countless gallons of expensive wasted seepage.