The UAV Digest

Pentagon interest in cargo drones for disaster relief, thermal imaging for search and rescue, BVLOS UAS for medical deliveries, drones that act like sheepdogs, drone laws in Japan, “drone parenting,” and a UAS remote ID whitepaper.

Drones that locate wildlife and select sick livestock, the FAA looks to Kittyhawk to redesign the B4UFLY app, an expanded role for LANNC, principles for autonomous vehicles in the city, a tourist is jailed for misusing a drone, and speculation about stealthy drones.

NUAIR Alliance and UAS stakeholders establish a plan to support integration into the NAS, drone privacy bill killed, drone tech for bee populations, applications for LiDAR-equipped drones, complaints in the UK, new drone marking rule, shoot-down in Australia, SWAT team UAV, ag drone fleet, Boeing’s UAS from Australia.

Drones for wildlife management and conservation: bears and drone noise, elephants and poachers, Kakapos and artificial insemination, and STEM drone projects. Also, DHS and the Northern border, an Iranian drone, and a base jumping video.

President and CEO of Simulyze Kevin Gallagher speaks about UAS Traffic Management.

A FLIR Systems acquisition and a nano-UAV contract, proposed drone rules for Australia, testing UAS in the wind, a market forecast for drones, and Amazon tests UTM.

Drone reports halt flights at Newark, Boeing and Airbus urban air mobility projects, multispectral camera-equipped drones, a UAV that launches like a bird, the Facebook drone project, U-Space for harmonized UTM, a bladeless drone.

FAA draft NPRM for night flying and flights over people. Three UAS UTM Pilot Program projects awarded, drones survey Africa and identify illegal activity in India, Japan will issue underwater drone guidelines, and a NASA quadcopter for Titan.

A long endurance fuel cell drone, new drone laws for Canada and the UK, another airport incursion, terrorists and UAVs, the world’s smallest and lightest weather station, and using drones to insert sensors in the soil.

Recent drone news and a few predictions for the unmanned aircraft industry in 2019. UAV News NYC police to use camera drones for security at Times Square NYE party What’s the best anti-drone technology? Rain, it turns out. The New York Police Department had planned to utilize drones with cameras for the Times Square New Year’s Eve party, but inclement weather prevented their use. Drones likely to be regulated by state, city governments in 2019 With Gatwick and the Aeromexico 737 incident, safety is on people’s minds. State and local governments are likely to continue to legislate drone rules that address safety and privacy. Gatwick Cops: Some of Those Drones Could've Been Ours The Sussex Police department's chief constable says some of drone sightings might have been police surveillance drones. However, 92 of the 115 reported sightings have been confirmed. Gatwick drones: Army withdrawn from airport The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the “military capability” has been withdrawn from Gatwick. That capability is believed to include the Israeli-developed Drone Dome system. Also, Gatwick said it had spent £5m to prevent future attacks. ‘Just look at Gatwick': Drone regulations welcomed, but WA Senator calls for 'deeper' focus A bipartisan Senate inquiry into drone safety regulations reported out in July 2018, but the Australian federal government didn’t respond. Until now. Severn Bridge shuts after man scales tower to fly a drone On Dec 31, 2018, the M48 motorway crossing the Severn River between England and Wales was closed for a time until the drone operator came off the tower. He was arrested and is out on bail. Camera drones to hunt killer sharks in new patrols on Australian beaches A fleet of drones will monitor 50 beaches along a 1,300-mile coastline for sharks. The drones will use "SharkSpotter" software developed by the University of Technology Sydney. From the Press Release: In a collaboration with industry partner The Ripper Group, SharkSpotter is a world-first software system that allows for faster reaction times to potential shark threats. Westpac Little Ripper has a suite of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVS, drones) created to react quickly and efficiently to situations at sea where lives are at risk. The drones are loaded with the SharkSpotter AI application which can efficiently distinguish and identify sharks in real-time using image processing techniques, state-of-the-art sensors and software. Video: Little Ripper Lifesaver Drones Spot Sharks Electronically https://youtu.be/HItdecoGK3A See SharkAttackData.com for worldwide shark attack data. Predictions for 2019 David and Max offer a few industry predictions for 2019. Mentioned The Lego Sky Police Drone Chase. Counter UAS Conference 2019 The UAV Digest is pleased to be a media partner for Counter UAS Conference 2019 aimed at the defense industry and to be held April 16-88, 2019 at the Hilton London Kensington, 179-199 Holland Park Ave London W11 4UL, United Kingdom. Counter UAS 2019 addresses the key questions being asked by joint forces about the nature of the growing UAS threat and the appropriate tactics, techniques, technologies, and procedures to counter it. The UAS industry has grown considerably in recent years and our...

A rogue drone repeatedly violated Gatwick Airport airspace with massive consequences. Separately, a drone is suspected of colliding with an airliner. Also, ANSI releases a standardization roadmap, and drones are being used to study peatlands in Australia, deliver items over a mobile network, locate nests of protected birds, and support Mars rover tests. UAV News Rogue drone pilot taunts police: Army join snipers in cat and mouse game as Gatwick drone is spotted over runway AGAIN just minutes before it was due to re-open - with chaos set to last until Christmas Eve Gatwick Airport was thrown into chaos as the airport was shut down after a rogue drone repeatedly entered the airspace. Some 760 flights were grounded and 110,000 people were stranded. A drone buzzed the airport many times and the authorities were hard-pressed to remove the threat. ANSI Standardization Roadmap for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Published The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced the publication of the Standardization Roadmap for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Version 1.0). The roadmap was developed by the Institute’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standardization Collaborative (UASSC) “to coordinate and accelerate the development of the standards and conformity assessment programs needed to facilitate the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system of the United States.” The roadmap examines 64 issue areas and identified 60 gaps with no published standard or specification. Using Drones to Monitor Peatlands Researchers in Australia are interested in monitoring peatlands and they are using ultra-high spatial resolution imagery from drones. The researchers want to test the viability of creating hydrological models that monitor hydrological changes and assist in the rehabilitation of damaged peatlands. Vodafone Conducts UK’s First Drone Delivery Over a Mobile Network Vodafone has made a drone delivery over a 4G mobile network. The Christmas drone made a short 800-meter flight and delivered festive treats. Video: Vodafone brings Christmas cheer with UK’s first drone delivery over a mobile network https://youtu.be/H5jNVhBbuZY Boeing 737 damaged in possible drone crash near U.S.-Mexico border Aeromexico Flight 773, a Boeing 737, was struck in the nose on final approach to Tijuana International. The damage was substantial and the incident is under investigation. Drones can detect protected nightjar nests Cardiff University ecologists conducted a pilot study in South Wales using drones with thermal imaging sensors to locate ground-dwelling nightjars without disturbing the birds. Self-driving rovers tested in Mars-like Morocco Three autonomous SherpaTT rovers were tested for over two weeks in an environment close to that of Mars. Prior to the tests, ESA used a drone to map the location and create high-resolution digital elevation models. Is someone getting a drone for Christmas? Raleigh will help you find a place to fly it. The City Council of Raleigh, North Carolina approved a policy for where and when people can fly drones in the city’s parks. The city parks department then created a website with the rules and a map showing where you can take off and land: Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) Guidelines in Raleigh Parks.

Drone surveillance systems for your home, around your yacht, and at maritime ports. Also, Intel inspects bridges with drones, a drone down under flies over an Airport, and a former FAA Administrator finds a home with drones. The "Bee" drone surveillance system. Courtesy Sunflower Labs. UAV News Sunflower Labs is building a drone surveillance system for high-end homes Sunflower Labs is developing an outdoor home security system with three components: an autonomous drone with a camera called the “Bee,” sensors that also light up the area called “Sunflowers,” and a self-charging station for the done called the “Hive.” The Sunflowers identify people, cars, and animals and determine speed and direction of approach. The Bee flies autonomously to the scene, guided by the Sunflower sensors, and streams live video. When the Bee is done, it returns to the Hive which recharges the drone, protects it from the weather, and houses the system’s computer. Port of Amsterdam trials GPS-based UAV monitoring system Martek Anti-Drone Systems is providing its M.A.D.S. (Marine Anti-Drone System) in a 4-week trial at the Port of Amsterdam. Port customers are looking at their own legitimate drone operations but there is also the opportunity for illegal drone operations. The Port wants to find out who is flying what, where, and why. Martek also markets its system to yacht owners. When a threat is detected, M.A.D.S. creates an electronic exclusion zone around the yacht. If a drone enters, the system blocks the drone’s control/video communications signal, which initiates the drone’s fail-safe mode to land or returns to its operator. Intel Collaborates with Two Departments of Transportation for UAS Bridge Inspections Intel’s Falcon 8+ drone hardware and software were used for bridge inspections and the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge over the Ohio River connecting Ohio and Kentucky, and the Stone Arch Bridge in Minnesota, a pedestrian and bicycle bridge. The 8-lane Daniel Carter Beard Bridge would normally experience lane closures for the inspection. With inspection by drone, this was not required. Inspection hours at the Stone Arch Bridge was reduced by 28 percent, at a cost savings of about 40 percent. Video: Intel Commercial Drones Speed Up US Bridge Inspections. https://youtu.be/IqwXI67PSIE Hunt after drone flies near plane at Perth Airport A drone was spotted flying over Perth Airport, first by a pilot in a plane taking off and then by an airport worker. Air traffic control alerted all pilots and the Federal Police and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority were notified. Neither the drone nor the operator has been found. Mr. Michael Huerta, Former USA FAA Administrator, has Joined ParaZero's Advisory Board Huerta is now on the Advisory Board at ParaZero, the drone parachute system we talked about in Episode #262. Mentioned The UAV Digest will be attending the 4th Annual FAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Symposium, February 12-14, 2019 at the Baltimore Convention Center. The FAA, industry, academia and other government agencies will discuss the latest topics related to the growing use of UAS and its integration into the national airspace. Registration for the 2019 event is now open.

Drone programs for the public safety sector, post-emergency reforestation from DroneSeed, package delivery from Wing and Amazon, a new Airbus high altitude pseudo-satellite flight base, and a proposed BVLOS infrastructure for North Dakota.

Audi and Airbus demonstrate a drone taxi, Piaggio Aerospace goes into receivership, drones map the Great Wall of China, drone recovery by parachute, industry concerns about the pace of drone regulations.

We're taking this week off to be with friends and family over the Thanksgiving holiday. We'll be back next week.