Terra Drone raises $70M funding
Terra Drone Corporation has raised $70 million (8 billion Japanese yen) in Series B funding with investments from Mitsui & Co., Ltd., SBI Investment Co., Ltd., Tokyu Land Corporation, Kyushu Electric Power T&D, and Seika Corporation. The round also saw the funding by Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport …

Daily drone-based parcel delivery service in the Middle East
UVL Robotics has launched the first in the Middle East service of day-to-day parcels delivery based on drones. The payload of flying couriers is 6.6 pounds. Delivery drones are able to cover a distance of more than 25 miles. Previously, the UVL Robotics team obtained all official …

Financial support by govt. of India to promote drones in agriculture
In a major boost to promote precision farming in India, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has issued guidelines to make drone technology affordable to the stakeholders of this sector. The guidelines of “Sub- Mission on Agricultural Mechanization” (SMAM) have been amended …

PLI of Rs. 120 crore is provided for Indian manufacturers of drone and drone components
The Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for drones and drone components has been notified on Sept. 30, 2021 to push the production of drones.
The details of this scheme are as follows:
i. An incentive of INR 120 crore (approximately $16 million) has been …

Ministry of Civil Aviation releases India’s airspace map for drone operations
The drone airspace map comes as a followthrough of the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021 released by the Central Government on 25 August 2021, the PLI scheme for drones released on 15 September 2021 and the Geospatial Data Guidelines issued on 15 Feb 2021. All …

Trial run of delivering vaccines by drones
The Telangana government in India holds a trial run of delivering medicines and vaccines using drones. It is a part of state government’s ambitious ‘Medicine From The Sky’ project. On the first two days, the drones will be flying in the visual line of sight – between 500 and …

DroneShield releases CompassOne
DroneShield Ltd. has released CompassOne, a self-contained navigation solution for fixed site, vehicle and marine applications. The device provides real-time militarygrade location, orientation and direction sensing for deployed static and on-thego assets. The device can be used both in counter UAS systems and general situations requiring satellite navigation. CompassOne can operate stand alone …

UAV LiDAR to inform carbon emission reduction policy making
A specialist team at the University of Wiconscin-Madison (UW-Madison) used the Routescene UAV LiDAR system to detect and visualize forests in Northern Wisconsin, USA as part of the CHEESEHEAD project. The objective of this wider project is to improve weather forecasting by understanding further how vegetation and …

ICAO Council makes progress on new RPAS standards
During its ongoing 222nd Session, the ICAO Council has adopted new and amended Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) driving important progress on the international safety and interoperability of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).
The new provisions will become effective on 12 July 2021, and applicable as of 26 November …

NHAI makes drone survey mandatory for all national highways projects
In order to enhance transparency, uniformity and leverage latest technology, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), under Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has made mandatory use of drones for monthly video recording of National Highway projects during all stages of development, construction, operation and …