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It's been over a year since the Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee published its report and recommendations, which ran to nearly 400 pages.
Although the FAA has remained relatively silent on its stance regarding those recommendations, it has increasingly leveraged its various authorities to allow complex BVLOS operations across a range of use cases. Additionally, key players within the private sector continue to collaborate on the required physical and digital infrastructure needed for persistent BVLOS across the country.

Last-mile delivery is undergoing perhaps the biggest transformation in its history, especially with robots and drones emerging as potential game-changers in the rapidly evolving segment.

As MatrixSpace has developed a name in the industry, their engineers have developed a ground-breaking product.  Today, they've launched a radar  – small, lightweight, and incredibly powerful.  The ability to detect the size, precise location, and the movement of objects could be a game changer for advanced drone operations and airspace awareness systems.

An Unmanned Traffic Management system will facilitate the safe integration of existing commuter aircraft and future air taxis and delivery drones.

WindShape, a Swiss-based company operating in the drone industry, will open an indoor drone testing and validation operation at the Skyway36 Droneport and Technology Innovation Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

A patent originally filed on April 12th, 2017 by Ford Motor Company for multiple drones which could be used to jump start future Ford vehicles has been published and assigned serial number 11614063, as reported by Ford Authority.

A U.S. House hearing held last week on the topic of advanced air mobility featured a discussion of the future of unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, in the United States. It also served as a legislative hearing for The National Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Act. This is a bill that would enable a coordinated Federal initiative to accelerate civilian UAS operations. The act would also support research and development related to advanced air mobility (AAM).

Companies offer emerging technology solutions for the urban air mobility market.

As the drone industry grows and new manufacturers enter the market, is the use of open source drone platforms growing?  The Dronecode Foundation, the organizing force behind the PX4 open source drone ecosystem, has published their Year in Review report for 2022: and the metrics tell an interesting story.

NASA's Ames Research Center will leverage NextNav's TerraPoiNT commercial grade network to capture inflight data on drone navigation, detection and collision avoidance as part of BVLOS testing for its urban air mobility (UAM) program.

If the FBI thinks drones are a threat, why doesn't congress?

uAvionix today announced that the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) Beyond Program received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations using uAvionix SkyLine™ Managed C2 and Detect & Avoid sensors on the Emerging Aviation Technology Center UAS Test Range. This marks the second BVLOS waiver by the FAA for the combination of uAvionix SkyLine software and SkyLink™ hardware in as many months and allows drone pilots operating at the CNO range to leverage only an Electronic Observer while meeting requirements to remain well-clear of crewed aircraft while the uncrewed aircraft is beyond the pilot's visual range of sight.

The future air mobility industry made steady progress in 2022, but stakeholders must maintain the momentum to help the industry gain scale and meet certification timelines.

Berry Aviation, Inc. is pleased to announce the expansion of their executive leadership team by welcoming Tom Ballenger as Vice President of its Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) group.

Drone corridor plans overcome biggest challenge in UAV sector, enabling stakeholders to scale up tech solutions to business problems.

In a first for North Dakota's Vantis network, the FAA has granted uAvionix approval to operate drone flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) in North Dakota.

Aerial strategy and infrastructure specialist DronePort Network has formed a partnership with Osage LLC to develop and manage the large, multi-purpose Skyway 36 aviation facility, whose use by fixed-wing planes, drones, and next-generation passenger craft will be the cornerstone of the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility project (TRAM).

Oklahoma City based DronePort Network (DPN) has entered into a contract with Osage LLC to develop and manage Skyway 36.

Drone industry evangelist and author, Brian Pitre, has just launched a new e-book entitled, "The Ultimate Drone Professional Guide." Pitre was an early adopter of commercial drone technology in the industry's nascent years and, as the CEO of SkyOp, LLC, has designed one of the first comprehensive drone education platforms in the market.

Here are four drone market trends about which every business leader and entrepreneur should be aware.

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association praised the European Commission's (EC) publication of its Drone Strategy 2.0, saying it outlines several "flagship actions" that align with the industry's goals for advanced air mobility.

Oklahoma City based DronePort Network (DPN) has entered into a contract with Osage LLC to develop and manage Skyway 36.

Business aviation flight departments need to prepare for advanced air mobility (AAM) operations and related technologies that are emerging. There are many hurdles that the introduction of advanced technologies must overcome, including public acceptance, regulations, and infrastructure requirements.

With the assistance of AeroX, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office (FSCO) has launched North Carolina's first Drones as First Responders (DFR) program. The program has a drone operator listen in on live 911 calls to deploy a drone to the scene if necessary. The drone is then able to stream live video to responding deputies and the command center, granting increased situational awareness and informing the method of response. DFR have been proven to provide faster response times and improved safety for both residents and officers.

Commercial UAV Expo is hosting a record-breaking crowd in Las Vegas this year.  At the first keynotes of the show this morning, a lineup of important industry figures gave attendees the insights they've been waiting for  – including  the FAA plan for drone regulation in the coming year.

In a company first, DroneShield has announced the sale and deployment of the DroneSentry counterdrone system at a U.S. international airport.

Virginia Tech has won its sixth major federal contract to lead research on an increasingly urgent question: How to safely manage drone traffic.

Rebounding off its participation in the August 3 White House summit on advanced air mobility (AAM), sector lobbying organization Commercial Drone Alliance has gone on the offensive with praise of the Biden administration's initiative in support of next-generation aerial activities, but with criticism of regulatory constrictions it says stifles increased UAV services in the US.

It makes sense to perform the most hazardous activities in simulations when you're testing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicle prototypes, or simply automobiles in general. An early autonomous system may be extremely unpredictable, and Tesla warns that they might "make the wrong decision at the worst possible time." So, before even installing a system on a car, automotive manufacturers are doing a lot of simulator work to prepare the software for reality. At its most extreme, Tesla is building a supercomputer with capabilities far beyond what's needed.

On August 3rd, the White House hosted a Summit on Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). While AAM was the focus of the Summit, discussions also centered around more traditional Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) issues, in addition to Counter-UAS issues in light of the Administration's Counter-UAS Action Plan. AUVSI was honored to be able to attend this historic event and thanks the Biden Administration, and specifically the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), for organizing this Summit and inviting key industry stakeholders to share their views. Below are AUVSI's top takeaways from the Summit

Airspace Link, a leading provider of drone safety infrastructure, and the Lone Star UAS Center are announcing a partnership to launch the FlySafe Program, powered by AirHub, to enhance the safety and capabilities of drone operations within their local communities. Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation (LSUASC) is a research facility dedicated to the innovation and safety of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) flights throughout the United States. Lone Star UAS has been on the leading edge of planning and safety for UAS.

A bi-partisan group of 3 U.S. Senators have introduced the Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant (DIIG) Act, which would establish a grant program for local governments to "increase use of drones, invest in next generation workforce," says a press release

The Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) is an FAA-designated UAS test site. They leverage operational capability, aviation expertise, and robust research resources to take on the most pressing technical and operational challenges in UAS integration. They lead Virginia's BEYOND team and other major federal UAS-integration efforts, and their work has consistently led to landmark permissions and operations that have advanced the industry.

NASA recently signed a Space Act Agreement with San Francisco-based Zipline "to pursue a future vision of U.S. aviation that includes delivery drones and air taxis," says the NASA announcement.

Blockchain and drones: How will we control the new highways of the skies above us as small aircraft fill the the space above our cities?

The AUDROS system, a drone solution that captures foreign drones in a net, has completed successfully testing in the Czech Republic.

DroneNerds is a top drone reseller, offering a wide variety of services and support.  They've helped enterprise clients from many different verticals – and they've published a new ebook based on their experience supporting clients to help new entrants implement a successful enterprise drone program.  The following is a DroneNerds guest post by Senior Marketing Manager, Ana Coronel.  The full eBook, 8 Tips for UAV Program Implementation Success, can be downloaded here.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published rules for the operation of air taxis in cities, the first comprehensive proposal for such regulations to be issued worldwide. 

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.

The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ), which provides new mobility developers access to a testing ecosystem, resources, and partnerships essential to comprehensively test, scale, and commercialize new technologies, has now announced a partnership with Ericsson Routes, a company that provides maps of cellular connectivity strength. With this partnership, AllianceTexas hopes to provide users of the Mobility Innovation Zone with the knowledge of where they can find dependable, high-speed cellular connectivity routes for their autonomous aerial and ground-based vehicles.

Autonomous systems leader CAL Analytics will be incorporating its proprietary detect and avoid (DAA) service and contingency management platform (CMP) into New York's 50-mile Drone Corridor. The Drone Corridor, operating out of Griffiss International Airport in Rome, NY and managed by NUAIR, is one of seven uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) test sites designated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The organizations are collaborating on a Technical Assistance program with the FAA in order to establish a DAA service for use in low-altitude beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) UAS operations.

EnBW and DLR are conducting an innovative research project on the use of drones in offshore wind farms. The latter would then be used for the transport of equipment but also of people.

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma played host this week to the third Regional Emerging Aviation Technology Conference in Durant.

Vigilant Aerospace Detect and Avoid Drone Safety System Wins NASA's Commercial Invention of the Year Award

"The Big Problem with Small Drones (and How to Address It) is a new whitepaper by Teledyne FLIR Defense, part of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: TDY) on counter drone solutions. The whitepaper addresses the rising risk of weaponized small drones and concludes that successful counter drone measures must take a "multi-layered approach".

VTOL drone company Wingtra is launching the Wingtra Earth Day challenge – a contest that will see the company award three winners with WingtraOne GEN II drones for environmental and humanitarian projects.

By Aisling Ní Chúláin  •  Updated: 04/03/2022 - 03:59
As he remembers it, Peter Ternstrom was only about 8 or 9 when the idea came to him while reading the French Sci-Fi comic Valérian to build a flying car.
Decades later Ternstrom has managed to realise a drone-like "jet ski of the skies" of his own, one he hopes could be worthy of Galaxity, the capital of Earth in Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières' classic comic.

COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the hardest setbacks the aviation industry has suffered in history. The reduction of people's movement significantly impacted global air traffic. In 2021, there have been green shoots as the number of flights has increased to figures close to pre-pandemic figures.

University launches Nevada Autonomous to continue and strengthen Nevada's national leadership role in autonomous testing

Every day, millions of airline passengers fly in and out of airports across the National Airspace System (NAS) onboard tens of thousands of flights. As the number of aircraft grows, airports need ways to manage that increase.
To reduce operational inefficiencies, air traffic officials may perform an airport configuration change depending on weather, traffic, or other inputs. The need for more accurate runway predictions and reconfigurations is becoming more important as airports get busier.