Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has provided an update on the Condor drone from successful testing at the Alma, Quebec Unmanned Aerial System Centre of Excellence.
On Sept. 1, DDC announced that it had successfully tested several critical aspects of the Condor, including triple-redundant communications system (satellite, cellular, 900MHz RF); triple-redundant navigational guidance system; triple-redundant autopilot system; monitoring of unmanned flights remotely from DDC’s Operations Control Centre in Vaughan, Ontario; general flight stability and performance; and fuel consumption characteristics.
Commercial
Commercial
Weekend Roundup: October 30, 2020
This Week (and last week) in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
Australian Defence Force (ADF) Academy has announced that in August, it received two Mk6 UGVs. According to private Jacob Joseph, the academy received the vehicles after undergoing testing at Exercise Talisman Sabre. (Army Technology)
Dive Technologies completes integration and build of first full-scale commercial LDUUV
Boston-based subsea robotics designer and manufacturer Dive Technologies Inc. has announced the completion of the integration and build of DIVE-LD, the company’s first full-scale commercial large displacement (LD) UUV platform.
At-sea testing of the UUV will begin this summer, and will be followed by commercial and defense demonstrations, which will include deep ocean testing.
“We’re thrilled to see the DIVE-LD come together after nearly two years of iterating on the design, prototyping, and lab testing,” says Jerry Sgobbo, CEO at Dive Technologies.
The dos and don'ts of the Defense Production Act: How manufacturers can take advantage
In the current uncertain business environment, manufacturing demand has visibly shifted — ventilators, masks and other key items are needed in vast quantities and at short notice.
As a manufacturer you want to keep producing, and the government’s Defense Production Act could enable manufacturing organizations to alter production to cater for the new demand.
Matt Medley, Senior Product Manager at IFS, an enterprise software company, explains how the act works and how it can benefit your organization if you are agile enough.
F-drones completes first commercial BVLOS drone delivery in Singapore
On April 19, F-drones completed the first commercial beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone delivery in Singapore.
The drone delivered two kilograms of vitamins over 2.7 kilometers in seven minutes to a ship managed by Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), which is one of the world’s largest privately-owned ship managers. EPS is F-drones’ first paying customer.
“EPS has been part of F-drones' test deliveries since November 2019, when they joined the Eastern Pacific Accelerator powered by Techstars,” says Gil Ofer, the head of Open Innovation at Eastern Pacific Shipping.
FAA highlights waivers that can help during COVID-19 pandemic
The Federal Aviation Administration is granting drone flight waivers to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an agency official, but some won't extend beyond current stay-at-home restrictions.
FAA safety liaison Rachel Carlstrom spoke during a video conference — sponsored by AUVSI's North Carolina chapter and media company MarketScale — and said various efforts within the Integration Pilot Program (IPP) are proving helpful during the COVID crisis.
Drone delivery company Zipline tapped for Ghana COVID-19 sample flights
On-demand drone delivery specialist Zipline has been contracted by Ghana’s Ministry of Health to return COVID-19 test samples from health centers in the most remote areas of the country.
According to an official statement published on April 20, the U.S.-based company has already started to fly missions from four launch sites across the West African country to laboratory sites in Ghana’s Capital, Accra and second city Kumasi.
The "contactless" service will allow Ghana’s government to respond to the pandemic and help save lives "more quickly," according to a statement released by Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo.
African Drone and Data Academy graduates first students
The African Drone and Data Academy (ADDA) has graduated its first students in March at a ceremony in Malawi, enabling them to build and operate drones and analyze the data from them.
The students are now licensed drone pilots by the government of Malawi, are certified AUVSI Trusted Operator Program Level 2 pilots, and have the skills needed to enter the drone and data analytics workforce, according to ADDA.
"This is just the commencement of great things from us," graduate Anne Nderitu, a student from Kenya, said at the graduation. "We have received world-class knowledge in the drone technology, and it is upon to use it to use this knowledge to lead an create a better Africa."
From Unmanned Systems magazine: From hobby to business: Creating a business map for new drone companies
The drone market of today is well over 40-years old, and yet it still feels a little like the wild, wild west in 2020. Why? What is collectively missing? What will get the drone market to the next level?
The answer: Stop acting like a bunch of technicians in love with products and start acting like business owners in love with customers. How do we correct this misguidance? By creating a business map; one for our business; and one for our overarching drone market with the help of AUVSI.
Mapping the business
