Skyward, a Verizon company, has been awarded a temporary waiver from the FAA that allows its pilots to fly the Percepto Sparrow drone from their homes to inspect critical communications infrastructure near the Big Hollow wildfire in Washington.
The waiver permits operations 24 hours a day, with less than three miles of visibility, and no pilot or observer on site.
“At a moment when we are facing dangerous consequences of climate change and coping with a global pandemic, maintaining the Verizon Network has never been more important,” says Rima Qureshi, chief strategy officer, Verizon.
Technology
Technology
Walmart piloting drone delivery of at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits
Walmart announced this week that it will pilot drone delivery of at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits, which is a new way to provide additional, and contactless, testing options.
Walmart has partnered with an American clinical laboratory called Quest Diagnostics and drone services provider DroneUp to launch trial deliveries of collection kits in North Las Vegas starting this week, and Cheektowaga, New York in early October.
“There’s a lot we can learn from our drone delivery pilots to help determine what roles drones can play in pandemic response, health care delivery and retail,” Walmart says.
TuSimple, TRATON Group partner to develop self-driving trucks
TuSimple has entered into a global partnership with the TRATON Group to develop self-driving trucks. One of the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturers with its MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus brands, the TRATON Group is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.
The first of its kind in Europe, the partnership brings together a global OEM and SAE level 4 (L4) self-driving technology company. TRATON and TuSimple have launched a development program to operate the first SAE level 4 autonomous hub-to-hub route between Södertälje to Jönköping in Sweden using TRATON's Scania trucks.
TRATON has also taken a minority stake in TuSimple as part of the partnership.
AirMap awarded contract to provide UTM service to USAF's Agility Prime program
AirMap has been awarded a contract to provide UAS traffic management (UTM) services to the United States Air Force’s (USAF) Agility Prime program.
In preparation for scaling of advanced air mobility operations, the USAF will use AirMap’s UTM platform to support testing of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
“AirMap is proud to partner with the USAF to provide industry-leading UTM services for advanced air mobility operations,” says Larry Berkin, GM of the AirMap Defense Group, an AirMap business unit focused on providing mission-critical technologies to the US Department of Defense.
Lockheed Martin to provide LUSV study for U.S. Navy
As part of the U.S. Navy’s Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV) competition, Lockheed Martin will provide a study for a proven, integrated and capable payload ship that can patrol for extended durations.
Lockheed Martin is partnering with Vigor Works LLC as the team’s shipbuilder. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor, so it will manage the program, deliver platform integration, systems engineering, combat management, automation and cyber solutions.
MissionGO, Nevada Donor Network use UAS to deliver human organ and tissue
On Sept. 17, UAS solutions provider MissionGO and organ procurement organization (OPO) Nevada Donor Network completed two successful test flights carrying a human organ and tissue via UAS.
During the first flight, research corneas were transported from Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center to Dignity Health - St. Rose Dominican, San Martín Campus. The flight successfully demonstrated the viability, value, efficiency gains, and delivery speed of UAS when used to deliver lifesaving medical supplies and organs within an urban environment.
Teledyne Optech's CL-360 serves as building block for next gen, best-in-class UAVs
Teledyne Optech’s CL-360 is a survey grade 360-degree laser scanner that enables OEM hardware manufacturers and integrators to develop the next generation of best-in-class UAV, mobile, and terrestrial scanning solutions for various surveying applications.
Being a survey grade lidar scanner means that the resulting 3D points derived from the CL-360 are suitable for applications such as surveying or inspections. More specifically, the accuracy and precision (repeatability) of the points is greater than those obtained by lower performance lidar sensors or other methods such as photogrammetry, according to Mark Treiber, Product Manager, Compact Lidar.
Phoenix Motorcars, EasyMile to develop autonomous bus for city of Houston
The city of Houston will receive the first Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Buy America-compliant mid-size autonomous bus in the US.
Phoenix Motorcars and EasyMile will jointly develop the autonomous bus. Known for developing, deploying and servicing all electric drive systems for Zero Emission Commercial Vehicles, Phoenix Motorcars will equip its range of zero emission vehicle with EasyMile's driverless technology.
Persistent Systems unveils new Rugged Display and Controller for MPU5 MANET device
Last week, Persistent Systems unveiled the new Rugged Display and Controller (RDC) for the MPU5 mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) device.
The purpose built RDC is an alternative to third-party consumer Android phones used with the MPU5, offering improved ruggedness, ergonomics, and enterprise-class management in one of the few Android End User Devices (EUD) made in America.
“When you plug in the RDC, you instantly have a complete situational awareness capability,” says Brian Soles, Persistent’s vice president of Business Development.
Weekend Roundup: September 18, 2020
This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
Northwest UAV (NWUAV) has partnered with Hirth Engines (Hirth) as distributor for North and Central America. NWUAV and Hirth will work closely together to provide “seamless, continued support” for existing customers. (Hirth Engines)
