US Military Unleashes Swarm of Micro Drones Over California
From Seeker: The Pentagon may soon be unleashing a 21st-century version of locusts on its adversaries after officials on Monday said it had successfully tested a swarm of 103 micro-drones.
The important step in the development of new autonomous weapon systems was made possible by improvements in artificial intelligence, holding open the possibility that groups of small robots could act together under human direction.
Military strategists have high hopes for such drone swarms that would be cheap to produce and able to overwhelm opponents' defenses with their great numbers.
The test of the world's largest micro-drone swarm in California in October included 103 Perdix micro-drones measuring around six inches (16 centimeters) launched from three F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, the Pentagon said in a statement.
"The micro-drones demonstrated advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying and self-healing," it said. Cont'd...
Amazon patents system to defend drones against hackers, jammers … and arrows
Alan Boyle for GeekWire: If there are any Robin Hoods out there who are thinking about shooting down drones while they’re making deliveries, Amazon has a patented plan to stop you.
The patent, filed in 2014 but published just last week, lays out countermeasures for potential threats ranging from computer hacking to lightning flashes to bows and arrows.
If nothing else, the 33-page application illustrates how many things could possibly go wrong with an autonomous navigation system for unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.
The “compromise system” that Amazon’s engineers propose relies on an array of sensors to orient the drone based on the sun’s position in the sky, if need be. That’s in case the drone gets confused by, say, lightning or a muzzle flash. Cont'd.. .
The Aggressively Flying Quadrotor
Steve Arar for All About Circuits: Recently, Vijay Kumar’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania in cooperation with researchers from Qualcomm has unveiled a quadrotor which can fly aggressively through a window. You may think that you have seen similar robots before; however, there is a big difference between previously designed robots and this new technology.
Generally, to exhibit challenging maneuvers, a quadrotor depends on an array of cameras mounted on the walls and some external processors. The image captured by the cameras is processed and the outcome is delivered to the robot. The computer can issue precise commands and the only thing that the robot needs to do is to follow the orders. However, the new robot performs both the image capturing and processing onboard.
The quadrotor carries an IMU, a Qualcomm Snapdragon, and Hexagon DSP. With the onboard sensors and processors, the robot is able to perform localization, state estimation, and path planning autonomously. Cont'd...
Future Drones Will Fly as Silent as Owls, as Steady as Bees
Glenn McDonald for Seeker: Want to know what drones of the future will look like?
So does David Lentink, editor of Interface Focus, a journal that, as its title suggests, looks at the interface of different scientific disciplines. Each issue zeroes in on a particular intersection of physical sciences and life sciences and invites the world's top scholars to publish their latest work.
The latest issue of Interface Focus brings together biologists and engineers to discuss a topic that's relatively straightforward and, well, pretty empirically cool:
"It's completely focused on how animals fly and how that can help us build flying robots," said Lentink, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford. Can't argue with that.
The new issue features 18 newly published papers on various ways that engineers are borrowing ideas from nature to make the next generation of drones and aerial robots. Several of the papers detail prototype drones that have already been built and tested. Cont'd...
Was That an Insect or a Drone?
The insect drone takes on the functions of larger UAVs, but reduces the larger drones down into a miniature undetectable device.
DRONE VOLT Expanding the range of drones with the "DV WING" for agriculture and mapping
DRONE VOLT, the French professional drone manufacturer is launching the "DV WING". This flying wing drone is dedicated to precision agriculture and construction work and will enrich the companys range of professional drones.
uAvionix Partners with PrecisionHawk to add on-board ADS-B to LATAS Enabled Drones
The integration of the uAvionix Ping ADS-B product line will allow for drones equipped with LATAS to receive alerts of nearby manned aircraft equipped with ADS-B technology.
Intel, Disney Light Up the Sky Over Walt Disney World Resort with New 'Starbright Holidays' Drone Show
Marks Public Debut of New Intel® Shooting StarTM Drone Fleet in the U.S.
Flirtey Launches World's First Pizza-By-Drone Commercial Trials, Delivers Domino's Pizza to Customer Homes
The deliveries were conducted in New Zealand as part of Flirtey and Domino's Pizza Enterprises ongoing drone delivery testing.
DJI Raises Bar For Aerial Imaging With Two New Flying Cameras
Inspire 2 And Phantom 4 Pro Give Creators Unique High-Performance Tools
Fly-off Provides Direct Comparison of Aerial Survey Drones
As the number of choices for drone based photogrammetry continue to grow it becomes increasingly difficult to determine which platform to select. A recent CH2M Hill sponsored fly-off provided a unique opportunity to compare between available platforms, and the resulting analysis reveals significant differences between leading systems.
Sentera Launches Disruptive Technology With Quad-Rotor Omni™ UAV
First UAV to provide data capture from virtually any angle - up, down, and all around
Sweden places ban on flying camera drones without surveillance permits
Zoya Teirstein for The Verge: The Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden just ruled that camera drones qualify as surveillance cameras and require a permit under Sweden's camera surveillance laws. The ruling requires owners to cough up a sizable fee in order to get their equipment off the ground, and paying to start the process is no guarantee a citizen will be granted the right to fly. County administrators will have to consider whether use of a "surveillance camera" overrides the public's right to privacy on a case-by-case basis.
Aerial photographers and recreational drone users may have to rely on alternative methods to get their footage. The justices said dash cams and cameras affixed to bicycle handlebars are not in violation of the public's right to privacy because the devices are within reaching distance of the people who operate them.
The ruling targets recreational and commercial users alike, and makes zero exceptions for journalists. Sweden's leading drone company Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) said up to 3,000 people may lose their jobs as a result of the court's decision. Cont'd...
"Future of Drones: Clearing the Flight Path to a Connected World" to Be Opening Day Keynote at Drone World Expo
Second Day Keynote to Address the Realities of Drone Delivery
A Drone Just Might Save Your Life Someday
In times of emergency, a drone is often the cheapest and most efficient way to find a missing person, deliver needed medicine, or survey a disaster scene.
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