Industrial SkyWorks has launched BlueVu for digital inspections from drone-data.
According to Industrial SkyWorks, BlueVu software eliminates the need for engineers and UAS pilots to examine thousands of images, while also providing clear, accurate, professional looking reports.
Some of BlueVu’s other key capabilities include project management function support, efficient tracking and control of inspection workflows, and anomaly identification and measurement.
Technology
Technology
Airbus' Zephyr S HAPS UAS flies more than 25 days
Airbus Defence and Space has announced that its solar powered Zephyr S High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) UAS has landed after flying more than 25 days during its maiden flight.
The maiden flight, which began on July 11 and is the longest duration flight ever made according to Airbus, proved the system capabilities and achieved all the flight’s engineering objectives. Airbus says that an application has been made to establish this as a new world record.
University of Western Australia testing autonomous bus on campus
Starting August 12, an autonomous bus will begin operating on the campus of the University of Western Australia (UWA).
The bus, which has been supplied by EasyMile, will be trialed over the course of a nine-day period, including Open Day.
“The trial will be used for teaching and research but it will also provide input into ways we can plan for a sustainable campus of the future,” says UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater.
“The University is spread over a wide area and it is interesting to investigate if vehicles like this could be used in the future as a sustainable transport link between places.”
Caltech engineers use UAS to herd birds away from airspace at airports
Engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a new control algorithm that allows a single UAS to herd an entire flock of birds away from the airspace of an airport.
The project was inspired by the 2009 "Miracle on the Hudson," when US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of geese shortly after takeoff and forced pilots to land the plane in the Hudson River off Manhattan.
“The passengers on Flight 1549 were only saved because the pilots were so skilled,” says Soon-Jo Chung, an associate professor of aerospace, and the principal investigator on the drone herding project.
Wing completes landmark UAS package delivery in Montgomery County, Virginia
On Tuesday, August 7, Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent corporation Alphabet, completed a landmark UAS package delivery in Montgomery County, Virginia.
After a woman hit order on a mobile app, Wing’s UAS traveled 1.4 miles and delivered a package of ice cream and other frozen treats to a Montgomery County residence in less than 10 minutes.
A two-year-old child retrieved the cardboard box, completing the “most advanced drone package delivery to ever occur in the United States,” according to those who conducted the operation.
Pierce Aerospace receives USAF SBIR award for its remote identification system for UAS
Pierce Aerospace has received a U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research Grant award for its work on Flight Portal ID, a remote identification system for UAS.
According to Pierce Aerospace, Flight Portal ID has received international attention for its “sensible approach” to solving the industry challenges of identifying UAS, including its recognition by the International Civil Aviation Organization last fall.
Cyberhawk completes oil tanker hull survey using UAS
Cyberhawk has announced that it has successfully completed the first full American Bureau for Shipping (ABS) Intermediate Hull Survey 4 on an oil tanker using UAS.
While at a shipyard in Singapore, Cyberhawk performed full class inspection across 19 tanks onboard an oil tanker, which included 12 Cargo Oil Tanks, two slop tanks and five ballast tanks.
“UAVs and robotics in general have taken inspection to a new level thanks to the time, cost and safety benefits being proven every day,” explains Chris Fleming, CEO at Cyberhawk. “However, digitizing the data captured is a transformational step for the asset management industry.”
U.S. Navy awards CACI contract to support deployment of counter UAS platforms
The U.S. Navy has awarded CACI International Inc. a $48.5 million single-award, “indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract” to provide integration, installation, sustainment, and engineering services to the Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) AIRWorks Rapid Development Capabilities Integrated Product team.
CACI develops, deploys, and integrates counter-UAS technologies with its SkyTracker product suite, providing “fixed site, on-the-move, and man-packable and small form factor technologies.”
Alert Innovation's Alphabot system designed to augment Walmart's online grocery service
Walmart, in collaboration with a startup company called Alert Innovation, is set to launch a pilot using “first-of-its-kind automation” to help associates fill online grocery orders “faster than ever before.”
Walmart will use Alert Innovation's Alphabot system to augment its online grocery service, which allows customers to quickly and conveniently order groceries online, select a pickup time and have those groceries delivered to their car in minutes.
Alphabot will work behind the scenes to make this process even easier by automatically bringing items from storage to associates, who will then consolidate the items in the order.
ACAMP's autonomous security all-terrain vehicle to patrol Edmonton International Airport
The Alberta Centre for Advanced MNT (microprocessor and nanotechnology) Products (ACAMP) has developed an autonomous security all-terrain vehicle which will be used to patrol the perimeter security fence at Edmonton International Airport in Alberta, Canada.
The vehicle, which is unarmed, is controlled remotely by humans but is capable of driving autonomously, as it uses machine learning to perform its tasks.
