UAV

New aircraft to carry full range of UAV scanners by LiDARUSA

LiDARUSA a global leader in the design and integration of economical LiDAR sensors announced a partnership with Innoflight Technology, a manufacturer specializing in UAV systems for surveying, mapping, and inspection. As a result of the partnership, LiDARUSA is offering the Galaxy 950 platform to carry any of its sensors while consistently providing flight times over 30 minutes.

Innoflight and LiDARUSA’s partnership is another step for both companies to offer turn-key solutions focused on quickly and safely acquiring high quality data. Innoflight designed the Galaxy 950 to simplify the flying aspect of remote sensing with UAV. The helicopter includes a parachute, automatic takeoff/landing, and extended visual line of sight capabilities to maximize productive time. www.lidarusa.com

Airbus Enters the Commercial UTM Market

Airbus UTM has been participating in unmanned traffic management (UTM) for more than 2 years, originally as part of the company’s innovation division. They are developing a digital air traffic management solution, and have developed a low altitude authorization and notification capability (LAANC) application.

To date, these solutions have been used within the company: but the LAANC capability is now available to the public via a new partnership with leading drone platform DroneDeploy. With this partnership, AirbusUTM’s first commercial product becomes immediately significant in the marketplace. www.airbusutm.com

TerraView Unveils Enterprise UAV

TerraView, a California-based aerial technology company recently unveiled the RangePro X8 — an industrial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to fly for more than 70 minutes in real-world conditions with a standard sensor payload. Proudly engineered and assembled in the USA, it was engineered specifically for industrial, first responder and government enterprise data capture. It is a versatile platform. Compatible with multiple payload types, it is easily adaptable to a wide range of business needs. https://terraview.com

Robotic Skies partners with SqwaQ

Robotic Skies, network for commercial UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems), and SqwaQ, a global SD-WAN network company offering a powerful new redundant comm-link that enables drones to fly unlimited-range BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight), have signed an agreement that grants the Robotic Skies Service Center network access to distribute, retrofit, and provide field MRO services for SqwaQ communications equipment.

SqwaQ’s patented, postcard-sized communications modem aggregates the bandwidth of up to twelve individual 3G/4G/LTE connections. This powerful multi-redundant, massive throughput enables reliable drone command and control nationwide, with simultaneous streaming of pilot view cameras, as well as downward facing cameras and sensors. https://roboticskies.com

EIA Canadian leader in using drones for safety

A different kind of aircraft landed at Edmonton International Airport recently as a highly specialized drone was used to conduct runway safety inspections as the airport continues to be a leader in the growing technology.

AERIUM Analytics, on behalf of EIA, flew a Microdrones mdLiDAR1000 to collect Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) and imagery data of EIA’s runways. The data collected will be used to more accurately predict when to conduct preventative maintenance on runways, taxiways and aircraft handling aprons, enhancing safety. The Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS or drone) operation was approved by Edmonton Airports in collaboration with Nav Canada and is part of the ongoing AERIUM RPAS operations at EIA, which is one of the only airports in Canada using this technology. www.airport-technology.com

Airborne Response Launches AirborneBeyond BVLOS UAS Testing Program

Airborne Response has unveiled their new AirborneBeyond™ program designed to provide UAS manufacturers and enterprise customers concierge-style, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) testing capabilities outside of the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS).

The AirborneBeyond program offers coordinated UAS fight testing at certified, proven aviation facilities in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and other select locations throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

The program was created to offer additional flight-testing options for UAS manufacturers and enterprise users with specialized requirements. Some of the characteristics of the available airspace include over 100 nm distances, operating ceilings up to 30,000 ft, asphalt runways, air traffic control towers and an array of local engineering and fabricating services. www.airborneresponse.com

Uber Eats unveils new delivery drone design

Uber Elevate unveiled a new food-delivery drone at Forbes’ Under 30 Summit in Detroit.

Although the company declined to reveal the hexa-copter’s designer, Uber Elevate head Eric Allison told conferencegoers the UAV is vertical and horizontal flight-capable (which sounds a lot like Amazon’s drone design). With a range of 18 miles and an 18-minute flight time, the six-rotor aircraft can carry “enough food to feed two adults.” Allison expects the program to roll out later this year in San Diego where Uber Elevate has been testing urban aerial delivery via the UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP).

Unlike other drone-delivery initiatives, Uber Elevate’s will use landing zones rather than store-to-door flights. Uber drivers will meet a meal-laden drone at a “staging area. The drive then delivers it to the customer. www.business-standard.com

Pix4D introduces new products

Pix4D has introduced two soon-to-be-released offerings: Pix4Dsurvey and Pix4Dreact.

Pix4Dsurvey is a tool that bridges the gap between photogrammetry and computer aided design and drafting (CAD) tools, which replace manual drafting – and they are used extensively in engineering and construction projects.

Pix4Dsurvey is a standalone product, and allows users to take data from multiple sources including Pix4Dmapper. The product is designed to provide seamless merging of photogrammetry point clouds and images, LiDAR and third part point clouds in a single product. It helps users optimize vectorization and extraction of essential information, such as bottom of top of curbs and catenaries.

Riegl launches lightweight airborne lidar for UAVs

The Riegl miniVUX-2UAV is a lightweight airborne laser scanner designed specifically for integration with unmanned aerial vehicles and systems. Riegl added the new miniaturized UAV sensor to its portfolio of professional solutions for UAV-based surveying.

The sister type of the miniVUX-1UAV sensor, the miniVUX-2UAV offers 100 kHz and 200 kHz PRR. With the 200- kHz PRR, the sensor provides up to 200,000 measurements per second, and thus a dense point pattern on the ground for UAV-based applications that require the acquisition of small objects.

The Riegl miniVUX-2UAV makes use of Riegl waveform lidar technology, allowing echo digitization and online waveform processing. Multi-target resolution is the basis for penetrating dense foliage, and the wavelength is optimized for the measurement of snowy and icy terrain. In addition to the standalone version of the miniVUX-2UAV, Riegl also offers fully-integrated solutions.

Sensefly releases eMotion 3.8.0

senseFly released the latest version of its popular flight-planning software, eMotion 3.8.0.

With it, senseFly drone operators can enjoy a host of improvements and added functionality, including the ability to fly up to four drones simultaneously from a single computer. Drones operators that need to efficiently map large areas and/or large project sites will benefit greatly from eMotion 3.8.0’s new multi-drone feature.

While the senseFly eBee X fixedwing drone can map up to 500 ha (1,235 ac) at 400 ft in a single flight, the introduction of multiple, simultaneous drone flights offers even more coverage and in less time

Maxar Technologies and Australian Space Agency sign cooperative agreement

Maxar Technologies recently announced that it has signed a joint statement of strategic intent and cooperation with the Australian Space Agency.

Under the statement, Maxar and Australian Space Agency will investigate collaboration in areas of mutual strategic interest related to Earth intelligence and space infrastructure capabilities, and space-related Australian education and training initiatives.

These projects may include development of next-generation space robotics, ground stations focused on optimized servicing of large satellite constellations, optical and communications satellites, space-based maritime surveillance and artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that extract insights from Earth observation data at scale. www.maxar.com.