Drone News of the Week, August 4: DRONELIFE Headlines and Story Excerpts, 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 ending August 4, 2023.  Click on the titles below for the full story.

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Recently, XPRIZE announced 6 finalists for its $10,000,000 Rainforest competition to develop new biodiversity assessment technologies, all featuring the use of UAV technology and drones to improve scientific research and conservation in these increasingly endangered ecosystems.

Archer First Response Systems, Drone Rescue Systems Complete Latest ASTM Standards for Drone Parachute Recovery Systems

Archer First Response Systems recently announced that they were the first to successfully complete the latest F3322-22 ASTM Standard for the certification of Parachute Recovery systems on small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS). In collaboration with Northern Plains UAS, Drone Rescue Systems, and Freefly Systems, ArcherFRS completed 45 different flight scenarios and could then certify the Drone Rescue System’s DRS-Alta X parachute recovery system for Freefly’s Alta X.

Industrial Origami Vertiports: STILFOLD and KookieJar Partner

When delivery drones fill the skies, where will they land? Could it be in environmentally friendly, folded-steel vertiports? The Swedish air-mobility company Kookiejar has just partnered with their countrymen at design and technology firm STILFOLD to create new vertiport modules made with their “industrial origami” technology, which uses robot arms to fold affordable and sustainable steel sheet panels into new structures with only minimal components.

Skydio Donates Drones to Ukraine for Documentation of Russian War Crimes

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced today the delivery of nine Skydio 2+ drones to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. The drones, donated by Skydio, feature 4K cameras capable of capturing high-quality photo and video. The Office of the Prosecutor General will leverage this feature for the documentation of the more than 115,000 cases of destroyed civilian infrastructure, and evidence of human rights abuses on frontline communities and liberated territories.

NASA, uAvionix Partner on Developing Command and Control for Urban Drone Use

Urban operations pose special challenges for safe drone operations, including the problems of command and control (C2) in environments where the high usage of cell phones and other communications systems can result in less reliable connections.  Now, NASA and uAvionix partner to research the use internet-based infrastructure or air traffic control frequencies for C2 systems.

Drone Training is Critical for Troop Success: Can Simulation Tools Do the Job?

Drones in both warfare and civil operations are becoming more powerful – and high level training for pilots becoming more critical.  Drone training remains a challenge for government, state and large enterprise agencies trying to scale operations.  As simulation technology advances, can realistic virtual environments develop pilot proficiency to the standard required?   Here, an expert in simulation training software makes the case for using virtual tools to develop the next generation of drone pilots.

Drone-in-a-Box Infrastructure for Public Safety, Drone as First Responder (VIDEO)

Ondas Holdings’ business unit Ondas Autonomous Systems (OAS) and public safety UAS consulting group Skyfire Consulting have announced a partnership to provide public safety and Drone First Responder (DFR) markets in the United States with advanced autonomous drone solutions and services.  The partnership will take advantage of Skyfire’s deep domain experience and customer relationships, as well as the technology and expertise of OAS’ business units American Robotics and Airobotics, including Airobotics’ Optimus System automated drone platform.

Royal Mail Drone Delivery: Brazil’s Speedbird Aero Announced as New Aircraft Partner

Skyports Drone Services has announced Brazilian drone manufacturer Speedbird Aero as a new aircraft partner for the Orkney I-Port drone delivery project. Established in partnership with Royal Mail, Orkney Islands Council Harbour Authority and Loganair, the project seeks to provide an uninterrupted delivery service that is able to handle Orkney’s extreme weather and geography. The latest aircraft partner chosen to join Skyports Drone Services’ drone fleet, Speedbird Aero will provide its DLV-2 aircraft for Skyports Drone Services’ global delivery and logistics projects, beginning with three months of inter-island delivery flights for Royal Mail for the Orkney I-Port project.

The Top Ranked State for Drones May Surprise You: the Mercatus Center 2023 Scorecard

While the FAA has authorized pilot programs for companies like Amazon, UPS, and USPS, all of whom are fighting for a portion of the estimated $30 billion home delivery market, the US commercial drone space is still years away from broad regulatory and consumer acceptance across the United States. Adding to the regulatory confusion is the problem of FAA preemption, and the rapid proliferation of state and local drone regulations.

OhioHealth Will Use Zipline’s Platform 2 to Deliver Prescriptions to Patient’s Homes

OhioHealth will use Zipline’s new Platform 2 to deliver prescriptions straight to patients’ homes, as well as to transport lab samples and supplies between OhioHealth facilities. By 2025, the partnership is expected to form an initial network with the ability to deliver to almost 2 million people in the greater Columbus area. The partnership will enable faster diagnostic turnaround times, direct-to-home prescription delivery, and lower carbon emissions due to Zipline’s fully electric platform.

Pierce Aerospace, DRONERESPONDERS Announce Public Safety Remote ID Working Group

The final date for implementation of the Remote ID rule is rapidly approaching.  As of September, all pilots will be responsible for complying with the law.  Recreational flyers may either equip their aircraft with a Remote ID compliant transmitter, or fly in FAA-designated areas.  All commercial pilots – including public safety professionals – must ensure that their aircraft meets Remote ID requirements.