In late May, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona used a UAS to search for a man who went missing in the woods near Clay Springs, Arizona.
It was the first time that the sheriff’s deputies used a UAS during a search and rescue operation.
Deputies requested the help of NCSO’s UAS for the search, and within 45 minutes of arriving on the scene, the UAS pilots located the man, about “a quarter of a mile east and 350 yards north” of where his motorcycle had been found earlier.
The man was described as “disoriented and dehydrated ” when found, but in good health.
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SOAR Oregon opening new hangar at Pendleton’s UAS Range
On June 10, a ribbon cutting will be used to officially open a new 9,600 square-foot hangar at Pendleton’s UAS Range (PUR), which is located at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton, Oregon.
The hangar is being opened by SOAR Oregon, which is a statewide nonprofit based in Bend, Oregon that seeks to encourage the growth of the UAS industry in the state.
Vahana, an electric, self-piloted vehicle being developed by A³, which is the advanced projects and partnerships outpost of Airbus in Silicon Valley, will be the first occupant of the new hangar, thanks to a partnership that was struck in November 2016 between Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. (MTSI) and SOAR Oregon.
Through that partnership, the two worked together on a flight test project for Vahana.
Humanitarian UAV Testing Corridor launches in Malawi
On June 29, the Government of Malawi and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) launched an air corridor, known as the Humanitarian UAV Testing Corridor, to test the potential use of UAS for humanitarian efforts.
The Humanitarian UAV Testing Corridor, which will be used to facilitate testing in the areas of imagery, connectivity, and transport, is the first corridor in Africa, and one of the first in the world, that has a specific focus on humanitarian and development use.
“This humanitarian drone testing corridor can significantly improve our efficiency and ability to deliver services to the world's most vulnerable children,” says Christopher Fabian, UNICEF Office of Global Innovation Principal Adviser.
AERTEC Solutions to Present TARSIS UAS at ‘HOMSEC’ International Security Technologies Trade Fair
AERTEC Solutions plans on showcasing its ‘TARSIS’ fixed-wing UAS at the sixth edition of HOMSEC, which is an International Security Technologies Trade Fair that began on March 15 in Spain.
Specifically, AERTEC Solutions will showcase its TARSIS 75 and TARSIS 25 versions, which are built to conduct observation and surveillance missions for the military, as well as civilly.
A real version of the TARSIS 75 light tactical UAS will be displayed on its corporate stand (G01). This UAS has a wingspan of 75 meters, can fly at a maximum speed of 110 km/h, and has a maximum takeoff weight of 12 kg.
With the ability to operate autonomously for 110 hours, the UAS can conduct its missions from both the runway and a catapult, and can land with assistance from a parachute.
Canadian UAVs, Lockheed Martin Conduct First BVLOS UAS Inspections of Pipelines and Powerlines in Canada
Canadian UAVs and Lockheed Martin CDL Systems have conducted the first beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) inspections using UAS in Canada, at the Foremost Centre for Unmanned Systems in Alberta.
Using Lockheed Martin’s Indago 2 UAS, which was compliant with Transport Canada, several pipelines, well sites and power lines were inspected during the flights.
“Canadian UAVs has been focused on creating an end-to-end paradigm in coordination with Transport Canada to conduct these operations outside of Restricted Military Airspace where our customers have a substantial regulatory and logistical needs to acquire actionable data,” says Canadian UAVs Inc. President Sean Greenwood in a press release.
AkitaBox partners with PrecisionHawk to use UAS technology for facility inspections
AkitaBox, which is a facility management software company that automates maintenance, planning and inspections, has announced a partnership with commercial UAS and data company PrecisionHawk, which will result in the two working together to integrate aerial data into the facility management workflow.
Through the partnership, AkitaBox’s customers will have access to PrecisionHawk’s UAS packages and services to improve visibility for inspections, surveys and scans of a worksite. AkitaBox is hopeful that by offering better data capture capabilities, it will advance technology in the facility management space, which can ultimately yield better business outcomes for its clients.
Redkite wide-area sensor completes successful advanced flight testing aboard Integrator UAS
Logos Technologies has announced that it has successfully conducted advanced flight testing of its Redkite wide-area sensor aboard the Insitu Integrator UAS.
Testing confirmed that the Redkite was capable of capturing stabilized, wide-area motion imagery (WAMI), and could successfully stream it to multiple handheld devices on the ground from the payload bay of the UAS.
This latest demonstration, which was the second successful airborne test with the Integrator, took place in Boardman, Oregon.
WhiteFox Defense Technologies demonstrates Its DroneFox technology during Xponential
During Xponential 2017, San Luis Obispo, CA-based WhiteFox Defense Technologies, Inc. demonstrated its flagship technology, the DroneFox, which is built to respond to dangerous small UAS.
Designed to detect, identify, and mitigate UAS with a multi-mile range, the DroneFox is a SWaP-C optimized, portable technology, which uses a “master signal” to track and temporarily take control of UAS.
Using the “master signal,” the operator of the DroneFox can choose a course of action from a variety of responses, including land, return to launch, confiscate, and reroute.
The DroneFox is different from jammers and other non-kinetic products because it can select the exact signal it wants to manipulate without interfering with any others signals, even other UAS.
Oklahoma State University students and others use UAS to gather data on weather
About 60 students and staff from Oklahoma State University (OSU), and the universities of Kentucky, Oklahoma and Nebraska, are spending the week of June 26 flying UAS at OSU’s Unmanned Aircraft Flight Station, to collect data on weather.
This is the second year that the universities have come together to test UAS and their ability to improve weather forecasting, and the students seem to enjoy the collaborative environment as they work with students from different universities on a shared challenge.
OTSAW Digital releases security robot equipped with its own drone
A startup company in Singapore called OTSAW Digital has released its four-wheeled security robot, named O-R3, which includes a drone that can be launched after intruders.
Because of its “drone-in-robot design,” the O-R3's range can extend significantly in comparison to the typical ground-based autonomous robot, giving the O-R3 capabilities that ordinary security robots wouldn’t have.
“[If] you have obstacles on the ground, we can launch a drone that has an aerial view of where the intruder is hiding, maybe on the other side of the wall, on the fence, or the gate, stuff like that,” says Ling Ting Ming, CEO of OTSAW Digital and its parent company ActiV Technology, through an article with Mashable.