Drone News of the Week July 22: DRONELIFE Headlines, All in One Place to Read or Listen

Read or listen to all of the headlines in one place: excerpts from the DRONELIFE drone news of the week, July 22.  Click on the titles below for the full story.

Continue reading below, or listen:

Zipline Continues to Expand US Medical Drone Delivery Services: Washington State

Zipline is rapidly expanding it’s commercial drone delivery services in the U.S., partnering with healthcare organizations.  Their newest partnership will bring medical drone delivery to the state of Washington.

Instant logistics leader Zipline announced a partnership with MultiCare Health System, a not-for-profit healthcare organization in Washington, to initiate the first commercial drone deliveries in the state. There, Zipline’s electric aircraft will autonomously deliver a variety of medical products throughout MultiCare’s network of facilities.

The BRINC Global Rescue Network Brings Drone Tech to Where it is Needed Most

Public safety drone specialist BRINCannounced today the formation of the BRINC Global Rescue Network, a new program committed to aiding in global humanitarian efforts. Composed of two dozen public safety professionals, military veterans, and current/former professional drone racing league members worldwide, the BRINC team will donate the use of equipment, staffing and expertise in order to assist first responders, NGOs and government agencies during natural disaster and humanitarian crisis situations. The team possesses a total of over 10,000 unmanned systems flight hours and has deployed to and operated in upwards of 55 countries.

Building a Drone that Resists the Wind as Well as a Bird Can: Animal Dynamics Works to Test the Stork in Realistic Environments

Bio-inspired autonomous systems developer Animal Dynamics has announced a collaboration with the University of Manchester for the improvement of its simulated environment in order to advance the commercial production of its Stork STM Uncrewed Aircraft System.

Wind simulation within a virtual environment allows for the exposure of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) to a variety of wind scenarios that would be too challenging or costly to recreate  in the real world. The advanced simulation software supplied by the Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil Engineering Division at the University of Manchester allows Animal Dynamics to perform more accurate simulations with simulated wind data, providing a means of testing flight control strategies for take-off and landing under challenging wind conditions.

DroneUp Expands into Europe with Strategic Hire

Autonomous drone delivery platform and leading drone services provider DroneUp has announced the appointment of Sebastian “Seb” Babiarz as its Poland-based head of European airspace innovation. With 20 years of drone and telecom experience, Babiarz was recently COO of drone-in-a-box provider Dronehub, and previously served as head of strategic business development at AirMap, which was acquired by DroneUp last year. Babiarz has also held the role of Head of AMS Drone Business at Nokia, where he created and grew business opportunities for drone services for mobile networks globally.

Improved Data Capture: Phase One and Drone Harmony Collaborate

Professional aerial camera provider Phase One and Drone Harmony, a leader in automation software for data acquisition workflows in the commercial drone market, announced that they will be collaborating to provide customers with increased productivity and dependable image quality for persistent and scalable operations.

The Worlds Largest Drone Superhighway: UKs Project Skyway

Today at the Farnborough Air Show, the UK government officially announced its Project Skyway, the largest and longest network of drone superhighways in the world.

The drone superhighway will connect cities and towns across the country, enabled by a consortium led by UTM (Unified Traffic Management) solution provider Altitude Angel, alongside BT, EE, and various UK tech start-ups. Over the course of the next two years, this group will develop 165 miles of drone superhighways linking airspace above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry, and Rugby.

AERODiMEO and Asylon on Dawn of Drones July 20!

Join Dawn and special guests Brent McLaughlin of Asylon Robotics and Karen DiMeo, CEO & Founder of AERODiMEO as we continue “Innovation Month.” Brent and Karen will discuss their unique partnership which has propelled Asylon as a market leader in some of the most advanced dual-use drones, robots, software, and AI for automated security operations. Learn about Drone Dog, Drone Sentry, their remote ops center and more! Turn up the volume for this Dawn of Drones Podcast, as we continue “Innovation” month sponsored by Class G – this is one you don’t want to miss!

Alphabets Wing Reveals New Drone Prototype: Increasing Capacity for More Drone Deliveries

Alphabet’s Wing new drone prototype will increase the payload weight – significantly increasing the variety of items that can be delivered by drone. In a blog post, Wing CEO Adam Woodworth wrote that Wing is developing an “aircraft library” – a “variety of different vehicles tailored for specific use cases.”  Having proven the viability of commercial drone delivery, Wing is now working to address supply chain issues througout the ecosystem – from the delivery of one small bottle of medicine to the delivery of larger objects.

Speedbird Commercial Drone Delivery Chooses Elsight for Drone Connectivity

Speedbird Aero is an emerging drone industry player, disrupting supply chain technology throughout Latin America and across the globe with industrial and medical drone delivery.  Remote operations and reliable, robust drone delivery systems require reliable and robust connectivity between drone and command and control platforms.  Speedbird has chosen Halo, Elsight’s bonded connectivity solution, to power it’s fleet.  The solution will enable Speedbird to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) for planned parcel delivery services.

Aloft Shows Record Growth as Drone Industry Matures

Aloft Technologies has announced a series of record flight and airspace safety milestones spanning its applications and UTM platform. The company recorded half a million LAANC authorizations in total, seeing record growth in June where total authorizations grew 58% year-over-year and commercial airspace authorizations grew 102% year-over-year. The B4UFLY app also saw record usage and adoption, surpassing 20 million airspace searches. Additionally, the Aloft UTM data network exceeded one million monthly airspace events in June with a quarter-over-quarter commercial revenue growth of 300%, the platform’s largest expansion to date.

Supernal eVTOL Vehicle Cabin Concept Showcased at Farnborough International Airshow

Hyundai Motor Group subsidiary Supernal unveiled its first eVTOL vehicle cabin concept at Farnborough International Airshow, offering a first look at how its parent company is utilizing automotive capabilities for the development of the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market.Supernal worked alongside the Group’s design studios to develop the cabin concept as the Company pursues certification for the commercial use of its eVTOL vehicle in the United States beginning in 2028 – following with the E.U. and U.K. soon after. Supernal is also working with external partners and the Group’s 50+ affiliates for the responsible co-creation of the comprehensive AAM value chain.

Multi-Drone Operating System FlightOps Delivers Medical Lab Tests by Drone

Last week, leading provider of multi-drone operating system FlightOpsemployed its software for the delivery of medical laboratory tests via drones, which maintained the quality of the transported samples while traveling between hospitals. This operation was carried out as part of a project by the Israeli Innovation Authority and Ministry of Transport seeking to promote the use of drones for public benefit. A variety of different medical tests, such as blood counts, urine tests and coagulation tests, were transported roughly 9.7 miles between Hillel Yaffe Medical Center and Sha’ar Menashe Mental Health Center.

Protecting the FIFA World Cup from Rogue Drones

Airspace security leader Fortem Technologies announced a significant milestone in its efforts to combat the growing global threat of rogue UAVs.  In collaboration with distribution partner Smart Communication Systems, Fortem will be providing the Qatari Ministry of Interior and Safety and Security Operations Committee (SSOC) with counter drone solutions for the FIFA World Cup, which is set to take place in Qatar this year from November 21 to December 18. The partners will also continue to provide counter-drone systems for other major events within the region.