Read or listen to all of the headlines in one place: excerpts from the DRONELIFE drone news of the week, July 29.  Click on the titles below for the full story.

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Swoop Aero Collaborates with FAA and CASA for Joint Type Certification for Kite Delivery Drone

Australian drone logistics company Swoop Aero is undertaking a joint Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAS) certification project with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in order to stimulate growth within the global aviation industry.  Going forward, the project will allow for the flawless incorporation of drone technology throughout both urban and rural environments across the globe, utilizing Swoop Aero’s advanced Kite aircraft.

Soaring Eagles BVLOS Waiver: 27 Linear Miles for Infrastructure Inspection

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drone data collection company Soaring Eagle Technologies has been granted a Beyond Visual Line of Site (BVLOS) waiver for the inspection of up to 27 linear miles, marking the longest distance ever approved by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) for commercial infrastructure and transmission and distribution inspections. This distinction cements Soaring Eagle Technologies as the United States’ leading commercial BVLOS small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) commercial service provider. This new waiver will enable safer, more effective inspections for utilities and other critical infrastructure.

Statewide Micro-Weather Services in North Dakota for Advanced Drone Ops: TruWeather and Meteomatics

Commercial and military drone operators unnecessarily cancel or delay an estimated 30 percent of all drone flights.  The primary cause: inaccurate weather and wind hazard predictions based on a dearth of real time low altitude weather data. Grand Sky, a commercial uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) park located in Grand Forks, North Dakota plans to change that.  Grand Sky is home to Vantis, a new mission and network operations center for the state-wide beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) system in North Dakota.  Grand Sky has partnered with TruWeather Solutions, a U.S. micro-weather data and analytics company and Switzerland-based Meteomatics to launch the nation’s first state-wide micro-weather services to fill this critical weather data gap and increase flight time.

Top Tips to Implement an Enterprise Drone Program: From the Experts at DroneNerds

Implementing a drone program is one of the most efficient ways to modernize a business’ existing workflows. With powerful, versatile UAVs, organizations can automate manual processes, using the drones as front-facing sensors that link into existing IoT environments, collecting and processing data quickly.  Because commercial drone use is still in an early adoption phase throughout the market, many organizations may find the implementation process complex. To help guide organizations on their journey, Drone Nerds has shared tips that have helped their customers adopt and implement a successful drone program, from discovery to rollout.

Drone Cadets on Dawn of Drones, July 27!

Join Dawn with special guest Tony Reid Founder of Drone Cadets! Drone Cadets provides a unique Drone Education Program designed to produce safe and responsible drone pilots of any age. Their programs include a metaverse, AR & VR Apps, drone racing & drone coding!

The Southwest is On Fire. Pheonix Fire Department Will Fly Skydio Drones to Help Manage an Early – and Intense- Season

Leading drone manufacturer Skydio has been named as the Phoenix Fire Department’s platform of choice for its UAS program.

This newly-launched program was developed to increase safety for firefighters, as well as to enhance emergency response support within Phoenix.  As more and more public safety agencies begin to deploy drones, Skydio has seen a growing interest in its Skydio 2+and Skydio X2 drones, powered by its Skydio Autonomy autonomous flight software. These models are widely praised for their suitability in helping inexperienced pilots safely carry out operations and access necessary real-time data.

ANRA Drone Tracking Solutions Demonstrated in India: Monitoring Small Drone Operations

Leading airspace management provider ANRA Technologies, working alongside the ideaForge and Asteria Aerospace, completed a series of demonstrations of the live tracking of drones within India’s national airspace. Two different tracking methods were displayed, the first of which was a software plugin, and the second a strap-on hardware module which demonstrated a range of possible tracking approaches. Drones from ideaForge, Asteria Aerospace and ANRA possessing these abilities were all linked through ANRA’s SmartSkies Tracker Platform, allowing users to monitor simultaneous drone operations underway in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Bangalore.

Drones in Oil and Gas: American Robotics Reveals New Features

American Robotics has announced the addition of new capabilities to its autonomous Scout System drone to allow visual inspections of oil and gas facilities to be carried out autonomously. The newly added high-resolution RGB and thermal camera payloads, set for release in Q3 2022, will enable routine, high-value inspections of upstream and midstream oil and gas assets.

Drone Mapping: Global Mapper Mobile New Features Mean Higher Accuracy Data Collection

Using the internal location services of the iOS or Android mobile device by default, users can capture images and create points, lines, and polygon features in Global Mapper Mobile. With the addition of the Global Mapper Mobile Pro Module, Advanced GPS functionality supports Bluetooth connection to external GNSS devices and RTK connection for higher accuracy data collection. The latest update to the mobile app, version 2.3, extends GNSS device support to the new Juniper Geode GNS3 and Garmin GLO GPS units and incorporates a new method for connection through TCP/IP communication.

FAA Grants Approval for Flytrex to Double Drone Delivery Range

Today, on-demand drone delivery leader Flytrex announced that it has been granted approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to expand its current delivery radius from one to two nautical miles throughout all of its North Carolina and Texas-based operating stations. Alongside longtime partner Causey Aviation Unmanned, Flytrex will carry out deliveries of food, drinks and other goods to roughly 100,000 eligible customers qualified to opt into the service – as opposed to the previously eligible 40,000 customers. All flights will be conducted while maintaining the highest safety standards.