DroneDJ

Dutch drone maker DeltaQuad says its latest Evo aircraft with a flight time of up to 2.5 hours is now integrated with a combined Yellowscan LiDAR and RGB system. As such, the fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone can offer colorized LiDAR mapping for up to 500 hectares in a single flight.

In what appears to be an example of new thinking arising at the right time to meet to shifting aerial demands – especially under the influence of Ukraine’s defense of the Russian invasion – San Diego-based company Firestorm Labs is preparing to offer entirely modular drones whose 3D-printing manufacturing process aims to offer considerable flexibility and speed of production in fulfilling defense and security users’ needs.

A new law in Illinois gives police the authority to deploy drones in expanded scenarios – for notably monitoring crowds during large public events – but prevents law enforcement from using any facial recognition tech during aerial operations, apart from critical situations like potential terror plotting.

Following reports that problems have slipped into the latest firmware version 3.7.0 of Terra, DJI has issued a quick fix for the all-in-one drone mapping platform.

With the recent increase in activities related to advanced air mobility (AAM) using electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to move people and cargo between places, national regulators are also finding ways to coordinate a safe and harmonized introduction of new technologies in the civil aviation system. The latest development in this direction comes from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

German drone maker Quantum-Systems is joining forces with US-based mining intelligence software company Strayos to empower mining businesses with advanced technology and AI-powered automation.

Aerial transport company Drone Delivery Canada has added new capacities to its growing array of UAV activities by obtaining approval from regulators for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of dangerous goods as part of its Care by Air program.

It’s no secret Russia’s cakewalking expectations to invade and quickly take over Ukraine were upended in large part by defenders’ wide-ranging and extremely effective repurposing of comparatively cheap consumer UAVs into munitions-dropping strike vehicles. Now the US Army is moving to replicate that example, representing a potential boon for small drone partners.

Canadian drone hardware and software solution specialist Draganfly has moved quickly to adapt the activity of its transport and situational awareness UAVs in Ukraine to provide emergency aerial support of efforts to rescue flooding victims in Kherson.

The state organization tasked with managing and maintaining England’s network of major roadways, National Highway, has introduced a new drone flight management system to facilitate access and operation of pilots wanting to fly UAVs near principal ground transport arteries.

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

Eve, the urban air mobility (UAM) unit of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, has announced joint plans with United Airlines to launch future air taxi flights across the San Francisco Bay Area as an aerial commuter option to the region’s frequently clogged roadways.

Pressure is beginning to build on government agencies and state-linked organizations in Australia to halt using DJI drones, with proponents of grounding craft produced by the China-based global leader pointing to blacklisting in the US in making their demands.

Archer Aviation, one of the companies driving the nearing launch of air taxi services, has announced its hiring of former top Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official Billy Nolen to oversee safety operations in the continued development of its electric vertical takeoff and landing plane (eVTOL).

Supernal, the advanced air mobility (AAM) unit of South Korean automotive giant Hyundai, has taken a minority shareholding stake in micro-climate specialist TruWeather Solutions, whose hyper-localized atmospheric tech solutions will be used in operating safe and comfortable air taxi services.

I’m trying something new. Each week I’m going to recap my favorite stories from the past week as well as our discussion during the weekly live stream. I’ll fill in some of my opinions on the topics, throw an interview in here or there, and see where it goes from here. Hope you enjoy it.

Skydio has pushed out a software update to enable Remote ID on Skydio 2, 2+, and X2E drone models when flown with the Skydio Enterprise Controller, Skydio mobile apps (with or without Skydio Controller), or Skydio Beacon/Beacon+ (with or without Skydio mobile apps).

The US House of Representatives has added to Washington’s flurry of legislative initiatives in recent months surrounding future airline, drone, next-generation aircraft, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) activity, with a new committee proposal that – among many, many other things – sets deadlines for creating new rules on beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations by UAVs.

Want to convert your phone video into a 3D model? One of the fastest and easiest drone reality capture platforms out there, SkyeBrowse, has just updated its proprietary videogrammetry software to make this possible! In addition to DJI and Autel aircraft, SkyeBrowse now supports raw video files from all drones, phones, GoPro, and video cameras.

Autonomous drone solutions provider Percepto has raised a whopping $67 million in Series C funding. Led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), this fresh equity and debt funding brings the total investment in the drone company to more than $120 million to date.

Flag carrier Korean Air is forging ahead with its trail blazing test program using drone swarms for inspection of its planes to measure wear of fuselage components, and detect any weaknesses or damage requiring repairs.

Specialized drone services company sees.ai has obtained what it describes as unprecedented authorization to conduct routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) inspections of live overhead electricity infrastructure in the UK.