A UAS was recently used by U.S. Coast Guard Civil Engineering Unit (CEU) Providence, Rhode Island to inspect the construction of new Aids to Navigation (ATON) structures.
The inspections were conducted by Lt. Kieron D. McCarthy, who piloted the UAS from a small boat assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bollard (WYTL-65614), based in New Haven, Connecticut.
The UAS was hand launched from the boat, and helped the CEU inspect and approve the steel tower structures that serve as fixed channel markers at Housatonic River, Black Rock, and Duck Island.
According to McCarthy, using UAS saved the CEU more than 30 hours of work, while reducing the risk of having to climb the structures.
Technology
Technology
Florida's Collier County Sheriff's Office rescues missing man using UAS
In Florida, Collier County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) deputies recently used a UAS to find and safely recover a missing elderly man.
The man became lost for more than two hours after wandering from his residence. After the man failed to return to his residence, the Sheriff’s Office was contacted, and a ground search was conducted by patrol deputies, with help from the K9 Unit, Agriculture Unit, Traffic Unit and Investigations Division. Meanwhile, the Aviation Unit searched for the man by air.
SBG Systems debuting Quanta UAV Series during Xponential 2019
During Xponential 2019, SBG Systems is debuting its brand new line of Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), the Quanta UAV Series, which is dedicated to UAS-based surveying integrators.
To help UAS surveyors save autonomy for additional survey lines, SBG has designed a small, lightweight, and low-power INS offered on two levels of accuracy.
Aptiv establishes its China Autonomous Mobility Center
Aptiv has announced the establishment of its China Autonomous Mobility Center, which will focus on the development and application of Aptiv’s L4 autonomous driving technology.
With the opening of the China Autonomous Mobility Center, Aptiv is extending its autonomous driving operations to China, which will join Boston, Singapore, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas as one of Aptiv’s major autonomous driving engineering hubs.
“With high market acceptance to autonomous driving in China, we see a strong demand for autonomous driving technologies in the Chinese market.” says Karl Iagnemma, president of Aptiv Autonomous Mobility.
Purdue researcher improves UAS flight in windy conditions with patented design
Purdue University researcher Xiumin Diao has developed a patented design for drones that works in windy conditions, is more energy-efficient and can handle a larger payload.
The inspiration behind this design comes from a unique source.
“Our drone design was inspired by the wings and flight patterns of insects,” Diao, an assistant professor in Purdue’s School of Engineering Technology, says.
“We created a drone design with automatic folding arms that can make in-flight adjustments.”
Ambarella and Momenta develop collaborative HD mapping platform for autonomous vehicles
Ambarella Inc., a developer of high-resolution video processing and computer vision semiconductors, and Momenta, an autonomous driving technology company, have developed a collaborative HD mapping platform for autonomous vehicles.
The combined platform provides HD map technologies such as mapping, localization for autonomous vehicles, and map updates through crowdsourcing, thanks to the combination of Ambarella’s CV22AQ CVflow computer vision system-on-chip (SoC) with Momenta’s deep learning algorithms.
“We are pleased to partner with Momenta to provide a powerful and open HD map platform,” says Fermi Wang, CEO of Ambarella.
Army completes New Equipment Training for GA-ASI's MQ-1C ER UAS
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has announced that the U.S. Army has completed its New Equipment Training (NET) for GA-ASI’s MQ-1C ER Gray Eagle Extended Range UAS.
Covering new maintenance procedures, manuals and ground support equipment associated with the MQ-1C ER, the training—conducted at Fort Campbell, Kentucky—prepared the current Army Company, 160th Foxtrot, to operate the MQ-1C ER, while also preparing Echo Company to become the Army’s second Company to be trained to operate the UAS.
Intelligent Energy launching fuel cell power product for commercial UAS market during Xponential 2019
During Xponential 2019, Intelligent Energy is launching its 2.4-kilowatt fuel cell power product for the commercial UAS market.
Over the last year and a half, Intelligent Energy has launched four products designed specifically for commercial UAS. The company says that these products provide technology to the constraints of battery power, offering minimum downtime and fast refuel, which makes them an attractive option for the commercial UAS market.
Tally robots seek to free up store associates to focus on customers in Giant Eagle stores
Food retailer and distributor Giant Eagle has unveiled a pilot program with automation technology provider Simbe Robotics to deploy an autonomous shelf auditing and inventory analytics platform called Tally in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Akron areas.
Tally allows store associates to focus on customers instead of taking inventory by making sure that products are on shelves when and where customers expect them to be.
“When it comes to the food retail industry, shopper experience is everything. If a product is unavailable at the time our customer wants to buy it, we’ve missed an opportunity and disappointed our customer,” explains Giant Eagle spokesperson Jannah Jablonowski.
