Read or listen to all of the headlines in one place: excerpts from the DRONELIFE drone news of the week ending May 19, 2023.  Click on the titles below for the full story.

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Drone delivery leader DroneUp and Israeli autonomous solutions startup Wonder Robotics have concluded an initial operational evaluation using DroneUp’s drone platform for improved autonomy and safety.

Drone Forensics is a Critical Aspect of Counter Drone Programs: SkySafe Develops Certification

Drone defense and airspace security company SkySafe has announced its launch of a new certification course offering in-depth training on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) forensic analysis.

Women and Drones Global Awards, Now at the Smithsonian! Nominations Open

Women and Drones will once again bring the UAS/AAM community together to celebrate the preeminent women in business, government, and education. The nomination process is underway for the Women in Emerging Aviation Technologies Awards. The 7th Annual Global Awards will take place at a new venue, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. on October 25th.

RedCat Will Send 200 FPV Drones to Ukraine

Military technology company Red Cat Holdings has announced that it will be filling a purchase order from Ukraine for 200 long-range, high-speed FPV (first-person view) drones. Scheduled to arrive in June, the FPV drones to be shipped possess an industry-leading power-to-weight ratio, granting improved maneuverability further enhanced by their FPV functionality. The drones are additionally capable of operation within GPS-denied and GPS-jammed environments.

Estonia Establishes Drone Sandbox: ANRA Technologies to Provide U-Space and CIS Tech

Leveraging funding from the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency, the Estonian Transport Administration has initiated a project to establish a drone sandbox to be built in Tartu. This sandbox would provide opportunities for the wide-scale development and deployment of unmanned aviation technologies, paving the way for innovative aviation concepts and safety standards, and enabling safe testing of automated aviation systems.

Speedbird Aero on the Drone Radio Show Podcast!

Manoel Coelho, CEO of Speedbird Aero on the Drone Radio Show Podcast! Coelho discusses the company’s drone delivery operations and logistics in Brazil and how the company is making a positive impact in people’s lives.

An Amphibious Passenger eVTOL: LIFT’s HEXA Capable of Water Takeoff and Landing

LIFT Aircraft recently tested the floatation ability of its HEXA aircraft in preparation for its upcoming public launch and U.S. Tour. During the flight, the aircraft was able to successfully execute a takeoff and landing from the water.

Censys Launches Nationwide Road Show: See Leading U.S. Manufactured BVLOS Fixed Wing

Censys Technologies is the U.S. drone manufacturer producing the Sentaero family of products, including the fixed with VTOL flying BVLOS missions for a wide variety of verticals.  Censys has a remarkable record of achieving BVLOS waivers, with a platform recognized for safety, endurance, and mission flexibility.

Meeting Photogrammetric Accuracy Standards: Free Webinar from SimActive, with Specialist from DAS Geospatial

Whether you are a seasoned professional in the geospatial field or just beginning, don’t miss SimActive webinar on how to meet evolving photogrammetric accuracy standards.  The webinar will be hosted by Eric Andelin, CP, Senior Workflow Specialist at SimActive and guest speaker Bill Johnson, CP, CMS, at DAS Geospatial.

Visual, 3D Models of Real World Structures: Pointivo Powers an Industry

You may never have heard the Pointivo name – but for a wide variety of industries, the product is mission critical.  Like the “Intel Inside” refrain of the 1990’s, Pointivo is the white-labeled software inside the platforms of drone industry leaders supporting the biggest names in commercial and residential property management, and the largest and most scaled TowerCo

The Systems that Support Drone Flight Beyond Visual Line of Sight: DeTect’s HARRIER BVLOS

BVLOS flight is critical to scaling industrial drone operations.  While a BVLOS rule has yet to be published, the FAA has indicated that they are committed to issuing BVLOS waivers that will help to inform future rulemaking.  Early waivers allowed drone flight beyond the visual line of sight of the pilot, but required a daisy chain of visual observers along the flight path, limiting the feasibility of long distance operations.  Now, the FAA is expanding permissions to allow flight without human visual observers with appropriate systems in place to detect air traffic and ensure safety.

Radiation Surveying: Elios 3 Indoor Inspection Drone Gets New Payload

Indoor drone company Flyability, in partnership with radiation detection leader Mirion Technologies, has announced the launch of a radiation surveying payload for the Elios 3 indoor inspection drone.

Teledyne FLIR’s SIRAS is Designed to Deploy Fast; That’s How a Texas SWAT Team Located a Felon by Drone

This past February, the new Teledyne FLIR SIRAS was deployed by a police SWAT team for a felony search in Texas. When a convicted felon escaped into a residential neighborhood, members of the local SWAT team were called out to assist with the search. As a result of the scale of the search area and the nighttime lighting conditions, aerial thermal imaging was decided to be the optimal mode of search.

DJI’s New Commercial Drone: Matrice 350 RTK is More Resilient, More Flexible, More Efficient

Today, drone and aerial imaging leader DJI launched the DJI Matrice 350 RTK (M350 RTK), an upgraded flagship drone platform offering more adaptable, safe and efficient aerial operations.

XTEND Acquires Drone Inspection Specialist Performance Rotors

Human-guided autonomous machine system developer XTEND has acquired drone inspection specialist Performance Rotors, allowing XTEND to improve its ability to offer human-guided, remote interactive operations in various inspection scenarios, as well as grow its global business.