China will promote the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to strengthen the nation’s marine surveillance, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said. The SOA verified and accepted a pilot program of using drones to undertake remote-sensing marine surveillance in Lianyungang, a costal city in eastern Jiangsu Province.

The British Geological Survey is to use a state of the art laser scanner to map volcanoes, glaciers and other natural phenomena. The RIEGL VZ-1000 purchased from 3D Laser Mapping will be used around the world to collect data that will be used to create photorealistic fl y-throughs, 3D height models and highly accurate area and volume calculations.

Spirent 8100 Location Technology solution was used by Signals Research Group (SRG) in the industry’s fi rst independent benchmark study of the performance of location technologies in chipset platforms and leading smartphone models.

The Japanese Cabinet Office issued an official announcement recently approving plans to procure and finance construction of the ground control system and the operation of the next phase of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). Procurement is going to be carried out using PFi(private finance initiative) scheme.

Javad has improved their GNSS protection filters to not only protect the L1 band against all interferences (including LightSquared 10L, 10H and 10R handset) but to protect against all other interferences which may come in any other GNSS band. This will be known as “J-Shield”.

Under the watchful eye of ESA’s Vecmap initiative, the Asian bush mosquito is about to get bitten in Belgium. First observed in Belgium in 2002, the Asian bush mosquito can spread viruses such as Chikungunya, Dengue, and West Nile. Vecmap tests the accurate mapping of mosquitoes in Europe and in particular, mosquitoes carrying diseases.

The next Galileo navigation satellite has touched down at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, to begin preparations for its launch in October. These third and fourth Galileo ‘In-Orbit Validation’ (IOV) satellites are due to be launched aboard a Soyuz ST-B vehicle in October. These new satellites will join the first two Galileo satellites – launched last year – in medium-Earth orbit at 23 222 km.

Dismayed over “negligible” returns from sale of satellite imagery, a Parliamentary panel has asked the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), India to be more competitive in data marketing. The Public Accounts Committee, in a draft report on activities of the NRSC, appeared to brush aside Department of Space (DoS) contention that remote sensing was treated as a “public good service” rather than commercial activity

Northern Constabulary are urging hill walkers not to rely solely on ‘smartphone’ apps for navigation. On two occasions in recently, both Police and Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team have been involved in the rescue of lost walkers who were relying entirely on apps which proved to be insufficient on their own.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Robust Robotics Group has developed a plane that can navigate itself without GPS. For decades, researchers have been working on creating helicopters that can pilot themselves without human guidance.