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ATM Magazine had the opportunity to attend Mobile World Congress 2023 and the amount of discussion around this topic was more than could have been imagined before the event. The topic of drones and urban air mobility (UAM) is crossing many segments of the telecom industry. High altitude solutions are also foreseen to play a key role in telecommunications in the future.

Samsung Electronics on Thursday announced that it has secured standardised 5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN) modem technology for direct communication between smartphones and satellites, especially in remote areas.

Funded in part by a grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the infrastructure test platform will support research projects in mobility technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous ground vehicles, mobile edge computing, public safety communications, and more.

A great under-reported story of our present troubled time in America is how a small group of patriotic citizens in North Dakota stood up to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and utterly defeated them.

A recent report by Verizon and the FAA indicates that mobile connectivity is a valid and desirable form of control over drones and UAVs. A paper by Ericsson from 2019 explores the topic and addresses the requirements needed to support drone operations.  Drone connectivity experts Elsight agree,

Next Generation Aviation, both the passenger-less uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and passenger-carrying Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), had a banner year in 2022 with announcements, approvals, certifications, new deployments, amazing statistics, and engagement from government stakeholders. Industry highlights included the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Beyond Visual Line of Sight Aviation Rule-making Committee (ARC) Report that focused on the necessity and opportunity for advanced operations at scale, the first airworthiness certifications in the United States, the expansion of drone delivery around the world, the adoption of Performance Based Regulations (PBR) in new countries, and, rumor has it, the recognition of new risk assessment methods for UAS by international regulators in SARPS out for review. So, it's that time of year once again to ask, "What's in store for next year?"

AURA Network Systems (AURA)  has closed a $30.9 million Series A funding round. "It is the latest milestone for the company, which operates the nation's only coast- to-coast network designed to solve one of aviation's most pressing problems: How to enable the commercial viability of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) market by providing secure and reliable voice and data communications," says the funding announcement.

Air6, Consortiq, Wonder Robotics win "Pitch the Press" at Commercial UAV Expo 2022

Drone connectivity experts Elsight on flight beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), and how drones and mobile networks make BVLOS feasible and safe, right now.

This past April, the AT&T drone team took to a field in rural Missouri to test its new Flying COW® (Cell on Wings), marking the first time AT&T has transmitted its 5G network from a drone.

Galaxy Unmanned System LLC Awarded AFWERX D2P2 SBIR to help usher in Advanced Air
Mobility (AAM). Galaxy Unmanned Systems and subcontractors Waterlines AeroDesign LLC,
COMSovereign, Unmanned Experts, and the University of North Texas will be working together to understand existing AAM environments.

The Air-One, first fully functioning vertiport opens in Coventry, UK: a prototype for advanced air mobility

Micro weather data and analytics firm TruWeather Solutions has joined forces with safety avionics pioneer Iris Automation to integrate TruWeather's micro weather services and cost-effective weather sensors into Iris Automation's Casia G ground-based surveillance system (GBSS).

Telelift is a revolutionary drone-based cell tower, designed to provide network coverage to a large area quickly. Telelift can lift an EnodeB to an altitude of 100-400 feet AGL and is programmable for up to six weeks of continuous flight.

Unleash live, an Australia-based creator of video data analytics platforms, has teamed up with Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink to connect with and navigate drones in real-time via a satellite hookup.

Visual communications solutions provider Canvas GFX, Inc, today announced that Zipline, the global leader in instant logistics, has selected Canvas Envision to optimize visual documentation processes across the organization.

Associated Elements provided by physical and digital infrastructure will support advanced UAS ecosystems. New FAA guidance addressing requirements for these elements present a path forward to scalability and highlights associated challenges.

The latest report from Drone Industry Insights (DRONEII) ranks drone companies around the world to produce the 2021 list of top drone service providers.   DRONEII researcher Lukas Schroth writes that the new report "ranks the top drone service providers in the world using company size & development, market shares, and public attention as key parameters."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working with industry and public stakeholders to develop a traffic management system for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also known as drones. The UAS traffic management ecosystem (referred to as UTM) involves developing a framework of interconnected systems for managing multiple UAS operations. Under UTM, FAA would first establish rules for operating UAS, and UAS-industry service providers and operators would then coordinate the execution of flights.

The Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) concept enables the warfighter — and/or another aircraft — to instantly determine if an entity encountered is friendly or hostile. With aircraft, the specific technology employed is an IFF transponder, that listens for an interrogation signal and then sends a response that identifies the broadcaster. 

Skyward, A Verizon company, and UPS Flight Forward today announced collaborative efforts to deliver retail products with drones connected to Verizon 4G LTE, as well as 5G testing and integration for delivery. The companies aim to deliver retail products via connected drones at The Villages in Florida.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office is asking for public comment on a new statute for its UAV or "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" program. The department has used UAVs or drones for several years in various ways, but a change in Minnesota State Statute shows that the department now needs to accept public comment on the policy outlining how drones will be used.

Under the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program earlier this week, Iris Automation conducted a live drone flight demonstration for the City of Reno Fire Department of its Casia onboard Detect-and-Avoid collision avoidance system, which enables safe beyond visual line of sight drone operations.

Portland-based Global Energy Transmission has demonstrated fast wireless charging for drones that gives delivery, inspection, or surveillance drones essentially unlimited range.

A missing 93-year-old Missouri woman was found safe thanks to a drone and thermal cameras.

An unmanned aircraft system developed by Textron's Bell subsidiary for cargo delivery has flown beyond visual line of sight in an urban area as part of a NASA project to showcase commercial UAS missions with industry partners.

Amazon is launching a new Ring security camera that's fixed on top of a flying drone.

Skyward, a Verizon company, has been awarded a temporary waiver from the FAA that allows its pilots to fly the Percepto Sparrow drone from their homes to inspect critical communications infrastructure near the Big Hollow wildfire in Washington.

Manatee County officials are partnering with a private drone company to become one of the first government agencies in the nation to use autonomous drones as part of a 911 emergency response.

Gulf Coast State College plans to use a new $7 million grant to expand its drone program and address lessons learned in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

A report submitted to Congress by the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau on spectrum allocation for unmanned aircraft recommended proceeding with rulemaking to enable the use of the 5030-5091 MHz band in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

In hopes of being on the cutting edge of technology, the city of Monroe, Wash., is now operating an Unmanned Aerial System program. The drones are available for a wide variety of uses in the city.

Verizon announced a slate of new GPS-related services thanks to the development of Real Time Kinematics, which when paired with 5G will be able to support location accuracy for drones, Internet of Things devices, and more.

The Virginia Department of Transportation is one of the key stakeholders in a new project to enable sharing of information about unmanned aerial systems, to address key safety and policy concerns while keeping the airspace open, secure, and integrated within Federal Aviation Administration control.

If you are lost in a rural area or simply attempting to hide from police, the Moose Jaw Police Service now has new technology to find you either way.

As the annual hurricane season hits Florida, Israeli-made autonomous drones are helping the state's major power utility keep customers connected.

PrecisionHawk trumpeted it's patented unmanned air traffic management syttem. In other sectors this might be news akin to former Vice President Al Gore's assertion that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet." But in the drone industry, it's par for the course.

A new wide-area motion imagery sensor could make the R1-21A Blackjack an even more powerful tool for the war fighter, allowing the small UAV to simultaneously monitor 5 square miles.

In a recent webinar hosted by AUVSI NC, a panel of experts gave their best advice to state agencies preparing to use UAV for hurricane response.

A survey conducted by the DRONERESPONDERS non-profit program shows that the size and scope of public-safety unmanned aerial system (UAS) programs are increasing, but funding for those programs remains an issue.

In the 1970s, AeroVironment founder Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr. became the first to design and build an aircraft that successfully achieved controlled human-powered flight, giving birth to the company's reputation of achieving the impossible in aerospace engineering. Now, as the company begins its 50th year in business, it's preparing to break yet another barrier by enabling a first-of-its-kind mission on Mars.

In this recent commentary, AUVSI's Brian Wynne says that as Congress considers the National Defense Authorization Act for FY21, it should fully fund unmanned maritime systems research and development efforts to allow innovation to flourish and for military and commercial operators alike to reap the benefits.

AiRXOS CEO Ken Stewart, who has more than 25 year of leadership in the tech space, recently sat down virtually with Inside Unmanned Systems to discuss the evolution of next-generation unmanned traffic management and drone certification.

In a narrowly focused and carefully crafted survey, almost 300 U.S.-based, law enforcement, fire and emergency services personnel answered some critical questions about how public safety drone programs in the AIRT and DRONERESPONDERS Spring 2020 Public Safety UAS Survey.

Researchers have come up with a way to pinpoint the location of drone operators seeking to cause harm or disruption in protected airspace. 

AeroVironment experienced a stellar Q4 despite coronavirus-related disruptions. The market also clearly believes that AeroVironment is well-positioned, given the fact that the company is now more valuable than it was prior to the pandemic.

Aquiline Drones, the first black US-based drone and cloud technology company, offers a new drone training program, Flight to the Future, which they hope will help Americans who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19.

Drone giant DJI this week launched a new mapping solution to optimize rescue drones. Drone Rescue Map is an online reference that globally tracks events involving life-saving drones.

Samsung announced recently that it will use drones to ensure the quality and smooth operation of the 5G network antennas.

The FAA has awarded a contract to develop and test a system for managing unmanned drone traffic at the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems to ANRA Technologies, IT-infrastructure provider Switch.