NAV CANADA signs strategic agreement with Unifly

Canada’s civil air navigation service provider, NAV CANADA, has entered into an agreement with Japan-based Terra Drone Corporation’s portfolio company, Unifly, to help drone pilots plan future missions. As a strategic technology partner to NAV CANADA, Unifly will facilitate the deployment of a national system that would provide digital services for safely operating and managing drones in the Canadian airspace.

UAV Navigation is compatible with Trimble UAS1

UAV Navigation has announced that its flight control solutions for Remotely Piloted Air Systems/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (RPAS/UAVs) are compatible with the Trimble UAS1, a high-precision GNSS receiver. The core benefits of Trimble’s GNSS solution include centimeter-level precision and easy integration.

ideaForge and L&T Ink MoU for Unmanned Aerial Systems

ideaForge, India’s largest manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), India’s multinational engineering conglomerate and the largest private sector defence company have entered an MoU to offer drones and allied systems for defence use.

Both the companies will combine their strengths to offer hi-tech, integrated drone solutions to enhance security and surveillance. They will also offer anti-drone solutions to counter the threat of malicious or unintended usage of drones. www.ideaforge.co.in

First BVLOS Drone Waiver In South Africa

Iris Automation announced that customer United Drone Holdings (UDH) has been granted the first Beyond-Visual- Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) flight approval by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) to conduct longrange commercial flights with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

The SACAA’s approval for the flight was granted based on the utilization of the Iris Automation Casia onboard detect-and-avoid system, which was demonstrated during live flight operations that included the Casia system making automated maneuvers to avoid collisions with manned aircraft. The approval from the SACAA requires no visual observers or ground-based radars, enabling BVLOS flights with only two crew members. www.irisonboard.com

GarudaUAV Expands Service Coverage to the Entire Delhi Region

GarudaUAV has announced the expansion of its operations and maintenance (O&M) services to the whole of Delhi distribution region. The company now counts Tata Power- DDL, BSES Delhi’s Yamuna Power and Rajdhani Power as its clients for drone-based O&M services.

GarudaUAV helps the distribution companies to pre-empt faults by conducting drone-based maintenance and repair tasks. It creates thermal maps of and geo-tags various transmission and distribution assets like poles, pylons, overhead wires, grid sub-stations, transformers, switches and capacitors.

Using its AI-powered enterprise drone platform, it helps with timely detection of asset deterioration, corrosion, vegetation encroachment, plinth conditions and wear and tear of various components which, if undetected, could cause power outages. garudauav.com

New drone-powered haul router tool by TraceAir

TraceAir, a construction management platform powered by drone data, has announced the launch of the new dronepowered Haul Router tool, developed together with Independent Construction, the owner of one of the largest dirt moving fleets in the United States. The tool helps foremen to make data-driven decisions with regard to new or existing haul roads.

Moving dirt on a mass grading job can cost anywhere from $2.5 to $5 per cubic yard, depending on the haul road used. Even a small deviation from the optimal path can cost contractors a fortune in lost margins. For example, moving just 10% of 1mil CY dirt not in an optimal way will lead to losing $250k or more. It takes at least three experienced field employees to design and agree on a new haul road on a hilly job site.

Haul Router provides the best mathematically objective hauls for each given drone scan. Any employee can use the tool to design a haul road and export the results to feed into grading equipment. While developing the tool, TraceAir conducted multiple in-field interviews and grading site observations to understand how haul roads were designed, and their impact on various projects. Independent Construction also offered their expertise, sharing feedback on prototypes and co-executing numerous field tests.

Remote sensing to monitor forest encroachments in J&K, India

After starting the cancellation of illegal entries on forest land, the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) is using remote sensing technology and GIS to prepare vulnerability maps in all 30 forest divisions to track encroachments and map forest fire susceptible zones.

The encroachment of forests, especially in the Jammu division, has reached an alarming situation with hundreds of acres being illegally entered in the revenue records as private land. The plan will cover the Shivaliks, Pir Panjal range and the high Himalayan mountains in Kashmir. www.tribuneindia.com