Read or listen to all of the headlines in one place: excerpts from the DRONELIFE drone news of the week, June 10. Click on the links below to read or listen to each story in full.
Continue reading below, or listen:
Skywatch Drone Insurance on Top Industry Trends and Drone Bonks, Dips, and Disappearances
Best safety and risk management practices can mitigate liability exposure. As the industry matures, and operations become more complex, now more than ever, drone insurance should factor heavily in business decisions. In this article, Elad Shalev, Marketing Manager at SkyWatch.AI, drone industry insurance leaders, provides insights into the top three industry and accident trends, as well as tips to help drone businesses soar.
Founded in 2018, SkyWatch.AI was one of the first companies to use technology, analytics and telematics to better assess the risks of drone operations. That data ultimately informed a range of plans to reduce risk for drone operators globally. It also translated into more reasonable, affordable and flexible insurance options.
If you’ve loved the Dawn of Drones podcasts on DRONELIFE, you won’t want to miss Dawn Zoldi and Michael Pehel’s two new offerings: Full Crew and Full TILT. Hosted independently, these new podcasts move beyond drones into the wider world of technology – but to launch the new series, DRONELIFE’s Miriam McNabb joins drone industry veteran Romeo Durscher to discuss the news headlines of the week! Watch on the Full Crew YouTube channel.
DIU Announces Updated Blue sUAS List: 4 New Drones Added
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment (OUSD(A&S)) published an updated Blue sUAS list this week.
The update adds four new models to the Blue sUAS list, representing “the first companies that have passed the vetting required for onboarding policy-compliant, commercial small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) into the Department of Defense (DoD),” according to the DIU press release, as part of the DIU’s Blue sUAS 2.0 project. (As a clarification, only specific aircraft models are “Blue sUAS Cleared,” not companies or manufacturers that may offer multiple products to different customer bases.)
AT&Ts Flying COW® Drones: The Mobile 5G Hotspot
This past April, the AT&T drone team took to a field in rural Missouri to test its new Flying COW® (Cell on Wings), marking the first time AT&T has transmitted its 5G network from a drone. “We had intermittent, weak LTE signal at the flight location before we launched the 5G Flying COW,” said Ethan Hunt, UAS Principal Program Manager at AT&T. “We flew the drone up to about 300 feet, turned on the signal and it began transmitting strong 5G coverage to approximately 10 square miles.”
Zipline in Nigeria: Medical Drone Delivery Offers Instant Logistics
June 3, instant logistics leader Ziplinecarried out its first series of drone deliveries in Nigeria’s Kaduna State, completing its integration with local health systems and regulatory authorities…Zipline will run three distribution centers within Kaduna State, with a reach of 46,000 square kilometers enabling the company to deliver to roughly 500 health facilities. Zipline will initially deliver over 200 different medical products, including medicines and vaccines, with plans to expand in the near future. Zipline will carrot over the COVID-19 vaccine distribution model that it developed while working with the Government of Ghana to complete over 1.2 million deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines.
AgEagle Evolves: from Agricultural Drones to Flying Robots and More
AgEagle (NYSE:UAVS), a company that started its commercial life producing drones and software for the agricultural market, has evolved into a company that produces “flying robots,” across a broad spectrum of applications, both civilian and military.
Recently, the company announced that sales of its NDAA-compliant eBee TAC Unmanned Aerial System have increased substantially with shipments to both U.S. and NATO forces in the United States and Europe. The news follows the March announcement by the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit that it was adding the eBee TAC to its list of drones approved for DOD use, the first drone to be added as part of the Blue sUAS 2.0 project.
We continue our “Emerging Industry Leaders” month sponsored by the Sonoran Desert Institute with Carahsoft Partner, Aerium Analytics, a multi-disciplined drone solutions company based in Calgary, Alberta conducting operations across Canada and the U.S. AERIUM specializes in geospatial intelligence, data analytics, visualization and software development to clients in myriad industries.
Ascent AeroSystems Spirit on Blue UAS Cleared List
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has announced the addition of Ascent AeroSystems’ Spirit platform to the Blue UAS Cleared List of approved small unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
This new approval grants any U.S. government customer the ability to purchase and operate a Spirit without the need of any further technical review or approval. “We’ve been shipping Spirits since 2020, and our customers worldwide have come to appreciate the rugged versatility it delivers,” said Ascent AeroSystems VP of Business Development Paul Fermo. “We’re pleased that government and municipal customers will now be able to get the systems they need with a few mouse clicks.”
Speeder AUV by Mayman Aerospace Like a Motorbike with Jet Engines, More Power than an Electric Drone
This year’s annual Draper Venture Network CEO Summit saw the reveal of Mayman Aerospace’s flight-ready prototype of its Speeder Air Utility Vehicle (AUV).
The P2 Speeder vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle garnered a great deal of interest from Summit attendees, including host Tim Draper, with many taking a seat on the prototype for a glimpse into the future of flight. Roughly the size of a motorbike, the P2 Speeder prototype features eight jet engines. The final version of the aircraft is being designed to lift up to 1000 lbs and reach a range of 400 miles, as well as hit speeds of more than 500 mph while in unpiloted cargo mode.
Zipline Reveals Acoustic-Based Detect and Avoid Technology: Is This the Holy Grail for Drone Tech?
This week, instant logistics leader Zipline revealed a first-of-its-kind new Detection and Avoidance (DAA) system utilizing onboard acoustic-based technology.
This acoustic system is composed of a series of small, lightweight acoustic microphones and onboard processors used to navigate airspace and grant 360-degree awareness with a range of up to 2,000 meters. This innovative onboard system enables the aircraft to autonomously detect and maneuver around other aircraft and obstacles in real-time, making large scale autonomous commercial operations more feasible.
ParaZero and Sightec: Using Vision-Based Navigation to Increase Safety in Autonomous Drone Missions
Sightec’s NavSight AI-powered computer vision solution adds visual situational awareness and GPS-free, vision-based navigation to ParaZero SafeAir autonomous parachute recovery systems, ensuring increased safety in virtually any operational environment and offering a benchmark solution for enhanced mission containment and ground risk mitigation.
VoloConnect First Flight: Volocopter eVTOL Travels Further and Faster
The UP.Summit saw urban air mobility (UAM) leader Volocopter announce that its VoloConnect fixed-winged passenger aircraft completed its first flight this past May, making Volocopter the world’s first and only eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) developer to have a full fleet of individual aircraft configurations undergoing flight tests. With a range of over 60 miles and able to reach speeds of over 155 mph, the VoloConnect travels further and faster than any other Volocopter aircraft. Its six rotors enable vertical takeoff, and its two electric fans work in unison with its uplift-creating wings to allow for its high speed.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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