Volaero Drones, which is a professional UAS services company based in Miami, Florida, has teamed up with Bill Booth Outdoors and Bruni Infrared to track pythons in the Florida Everglades, using UAS and thermal technology.
More than 100,000 Burmese pythons are estimated to be living in the Everglades, and they are reportedly “ravaging the wildlife.”
The state’s small mammal population is being decimated as a result of the python population multiplying exponentially, thanks in large part to the fact that female python can lay up to 80 eggs per clutch.
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Farmers Insurance launches UAS program
In an effort to “enhance the claims experience for customers who have suffered significant damage to their roof following major weather events,” Farmers Insurance has announced that it is launching a UAS program.
Farmers conducted field tests to examine the “most effective and customer-centric ways” of utilizing UAS technology with its existing claims operation. Now, the company will expand its use of the technology to help with residential property damage assessments, as it seeks to provide a more enhanced experience for its customers.
3DR integrates Site Scan with DJI’s UAS, also launches Enterprise Atlas platform
3D Robotics (3DR) has announced that its Site Scan software platform is integrating with DJI’s UAS.
Through this partnership, Site Scan customers will now be able to use DJI's UAS for their jobs while maintaining the same workflow as before, as they continue to use 3DR’s mobile app, Site Scan Field, to collect data.
DJI’s UAS will work seamlessly with Site Scan and all of its capabilities, including autonomous flight modes, multi-engine cloud processing, and its suite of tools designed for construction, which includes those used for performing topographic surveys, measuring stockpiles, and exporting native Autodesk file formats.
From Unmanned Systems Magazine: UNMANNED SYSTEMS GO OVER, ON AND UNDER BRIDGES TO MAKE INSPECTIONS CHEAPER AND FASTER
America has a lot of bridges, more than 600,000. Many of them are in disrepair or are reaching the end of their planned lives.
According to the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers, 9.1 percent of the country’s bridges were structurally deficient in 2016, meaning that drivers made an average of 188 million trips across a deficient bridge every day.
Inspecting bridges, then, is a critical activity for many states. Several states are looking at bolstering that activity by using drones, including Minnesota, which has been studying their use for years and is planning to make them a standard part of its bridge inspection toolkit.
Evans Incorporated launches PropelUAS for UAS program implementation
Evans Incorporated, which is a “human-centered solutions consulting firm,” has launched PropelUAS, which is a new division that the company says is “changing the game and forging the future of UAS Program implementation process and technology.”
PropelUAS will form “an innovative, full-spectrum experience, from ‘Idea’ to ‘Operations’ (IDEA-OPS),” using its team of unmanned systems, air traffic control, aviation training, human factors, airports, and aviation strategy experts.
AeroVironment to supply Australian Defence Force with its Wasp AE UAS
On July 25, AeroVironment, Inc. participated in a signing ceremony for the formal execution of contracts to deliver its Wasp AE UAS to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), starting on July 1, 2018.
The UAS will be delivered over a three-year period, and AeroVironment is enlisting the help of several Australian partners, including XTEK, General Dynamics Mediaware and Sentient Vision, to provide the UAS.
To serve the immediate needs of ADF, and expand AeroVironment’s global support capabilities, XTEK and AeroVironment will provide local maintenance, training and field support.
To meet the needs of ADF and the Australian industry, the Wasp AE will be modified with Australian content.
Pioneer Aerial Surveys signs UAV-MAG contract to perform survey for Quantum Pacific Exploration
Starting in August, Pioneer Aerial Surveys, which is the wholly owned subsidiary of Global UAV Technologies, will conduct a survey for Quantum Pacific Exploration (QPX), after signing a UAV-MAG contract in Chile.
For Pioneer Aerial, this will be its third international survey, and its first contract for a UAV-MAG survey in South America.
“The QPX contract marks a significant step in Pioneer Aerial’s acceptance as the leader in UAV-MAG surveys worldwide,” says Michael Burns, President of Pioneer Aerial Surveys.
NOAA partners with UMD UAS Test Site to investigate UAS in Satellite Data Validation
In an effort to determine whether or not UAS can be used to validate satellite data more efficiently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has partnered with the University of Maryland Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Test Site.
NOAA regularly measures temperatures and light wavelengths from earth, and compares those results with results sent down from space.
While this process helps make sure that weather forecasts aren’t manipulated by inaccurate data, it is labor intensive and hard to conduct over large regions, which limits how directly the two data sets can be compared.
Through this partnership, NOAA and the UAS Test Site will investigate the potential of UAS saving time and money while collecting more data over a wider region.
North Carolina State University to research tracking UAS thanks to NASA grant
Thanks to support in the form of a three-year, $1.33 million grant from NASA’s University Leadership Initiative, researchers at North Carolina State University will launch a project that seeks to research and develop high-performance communications, networking and air traffic management (ATM) systems, which includes navigation and surveillance for UAS, as well as manned aircraft.
The NC State Group will work with David Matolak from the University of South Carolina (USC), Hani Mehrpouyan from Boise State University, and Benjamin Boisvert from Architecture Technology Corporation (ATCorp) to develop “multi-band radio designs, “millimeter wave” (mmWave) propagation measurements/modeling, navigation and surveillance techniques for manned/unmanned aircraft, and ATM simulations.”
Lyft setting up unit to develop autonomous vehicle technology
According to the Associated Press, San Francisco-based ride-hailing service Lyft is setting up its own unit, called “Level Five,” to develop autonomous vehicle technology. The unit is named after the industry term for fully autonomous vehicles.
Lyft says that it will open its network, and invite automakers and tech companies to use the network to transport passengers in their self-driving vehicles and gather data along the way.
Initially, the network will be open to Lyft’s current partners, which includes companies such as Google's Waymo autonomous vehicle operation and General Motors.
