UAV

ISRO drones help map disasters in NE India

The Shillong-based North-Eastern Space Applications Centre (NE-SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation has tested unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to assess several regional problems, ranging from measuring diseased paddy fields to damage caused by frequent landslides, according to the space agency. A fixed wing aircraft was testfl own on November 1.

Drone-based studies are new and currently confined to the north-eastern States. Depending on demand from other States, they could be extended to other places. Based on the images given by the drones, NE-SAC has created a land use map of Meghalaya’s Nongpoh town and a 3D terrain model.

MicroSurvey and Pix4D partnership

MicroSurvey and Pix4D have entered into a global partnership which will provide end-to-end solutions to a wide range of customers. By combining products and competencies, the companies bring expert solutions to customers adopting unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and photogrammetry technology.

The combined solutions for both forensic and land surveying markets will be available online and through existing MicroSurvey distribution channels.

Drone Services Market Worth 18,022.7 Million USD by 2022

The report “Drone Services Market by Industry (Infrastructure, Agriculture, Entertainment, Logistics), Application (Aerial Photography & Remote Sensing, Data Acquisition & Analytics), Type of Drone, Duration of Service, and Region – Global Forecast to 2022”, published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is estimated to be USD 705.3 Million in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 18,022.7 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 71.62% during the forecast period. Key factors expected to fuel the growth of the drone services market is the increasing demand for high quality and real time data, favorable changes in policies and regulations pertaining to the use of drones in civil aerospace and rising demand of drones in the commercial sector.

The aerial photography & remote sensing application segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period.

Intel acquires MAVinci

Intel has acquired MAVinci, a drone company serving the commercial UAS market with fixed-wing aircraft.

MAVinci team shall continue to focus on supporting current customers and growing the business. The team will collaborate with Intel’s Ascending Technologies team to provide a wide range of UAS offerings.www.mavinci.de/

Iranians develop firefighting drone

Engineers at a knowledge-based company affiliated to Sharif University of Technology, has been able to build a firefighting drone that relies on indigenous technology.

The unmanned aerial vehicle which is named Hodhod3 is a multirotor drone capable of performing vertical maneuvers. The drone has been designed to help put out forest fires. It can also be used for inspection by firefighters and assessment of power lines. https://financialtribune.com

DJI introduces new tools to develop drone apps

DJI has introduced a major expansion of its software ecosystem that allows developers to create drone apps and control drone operations that will bring aerial technology into a wide range of professional activities.

By opening and simplifying the software that operates drones, DJI wants developers to build on each others’ accomplishments to develop custom solutions for their own businesses or broadly distribute solutions for entire industries. http://www.dji.com

GeoSLAM and Blackdog Robotics sign partnership agreement

GeoSLAM Ltd, the UK based pioneers of SLAM based mobile indoor mapping systems, and Blackdog Robotics, a leading US manufacturer of modular robots, have joined forces to offer law enforcement and first responders a unique rapid indoor mapping solution. Through a combination of the Blackdog mobile platform (which can be remotely operated at distances of more than 500m without line of sight) and the GeoSLAM ZEB-REVO mobile indoor mapping system it is now possible to quickly map in 3D a hazardous or dangerous environment without putting personnel at risk. http://geoslam.com

Ford studies using drones to guide self-driving cars

Ford Motor Co. is studying a system to use drones to help guide selfdriving vehicles, including on off-road adventures, company officials said.

Drones launched from an autonomous vehicle would help guide it by mapping the surrounding area beyond what the car’s sensors can detect. Vehicle passengers can control the drone using the car’s infotainment or navigation system. http://phys.org

SimActive enables processing in the cloud

Photogrammetry software developer SimActive has announced that processing in the cloud is now officially supported by Correlator3D. Users can subscribe to an online computing service, such as Amazon EC2, and run Correlator3D on a virtual machine.

The main advantage of procesing in the cloud is the capability to use multiple licenses as required.