This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World A proof of concept experiment by a multi-institutional research team shows that deploying sterile mosquitoes via drones could accelerate efforts to control their populations and reduce insect-borne disease. The project is a collaborative effort between French, Swiss, British, Brazilian, Senegalese and other researchers, and seems to be the most effective and practical approach to releasing sterilized male mosquitoes into the wild, where they compete with the other males for food and mates but produce no offspring. (TechCrunch)

Droniq, a joint venture of the DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung (German air traffic control) and Deutsche Telekom AG, has partnered with Sky Drone, a developer of real-time communication technology for drones. Through the partnership, Droniq will use Sky Drone’s technology for controlling UAS remotely in real-time and without any limitation in range to offer a complete hardware package for locating, controlling and transmitting data of drones during beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights. This technology is also part of the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system Droniq offers for the German market; a service that facilitates the safe integration of drones into public airspace and provides the basis for broad commercial use of drones over large distances.

Iris Automation has launched its new Waiver Resource Center (WRC), which gives UAS operators access to expertise and tools for managing the complex waiver submission process for all beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. A combination of software-as-a-service and expert aviation policy consulting that simplifies and accelerates the BVLOS waiver application process from beginning to end, the user-friendly tool provides critical regulatory expertise, reduces the time to submission and optimizes approval outcomes.

This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World To ensure that kids read this summer, Wing has begun delivering books to students of the Christiansburg, Virginia school district. The idea behind the deliveries came from Kelly Passek, a middle-school librarian who works for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. Passek was one of the first customers of Wing’s drone delivery service launched in Christiansburg last year. (Washington Post)