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Rain Industries, a leader in rapid initial wildfire suppression, has announced their next-generation autonomous firefighting demonstrator aircraft: the Rain MK2. The MK2 is an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) based on a proven helicopter airframe. In conjunction with Rain's fire agency launch customers, the MK2 will be used to demonstrate rapid initial wildfire response and containment.

Drones and similar small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAVs) have seen a massive surge in popularity over the past few years due to their innovative applications, such as crop monitoring, search and rescue operations, and coast profiling. The potential of sUAVs in atmospheric science and meteorology has not gone unnoticed either as drones offer an efficient way to place various kinds of sensors up above in the lower atmosphere.

Drones are a major tool for agriculture, recognized by the World Bank and advocacy organizations around the world as a way of securing the global food supply.  In Asian countries and elsewhere, spraying drones are widely used to apply fertilizer, pesticides and other products for more efficient farming.  How are spraying drones bringing new opportunities to rural America?

Airborne Response a leading provider of mission-critical aerial intelligence using small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS), has completed more than 500 drone flights in Florida on behalf of enterprise customers supporting response, relief, and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Category 4 Hurricane Ian.

Basically, a drone can be defined as an unmanned vehicle that's capable of autonomously maintaining a controlled and sustained level of flight.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and the Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW), funded by the National Science Foundation and a consortium of industry partners, have announced a collaboration on advancing the use of 5G for drone operations in support of smart agriculture.

TruWeather Solutions (TWS), a Northern Virginia based company, has been awarded and is at the inception of a NASA funded Phase II (750,000) SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) contract for Urban Weather Sensing Infrastructure Testbed in Hampton, Virginia.

CAL International Partners with AirSeed Technologies for Drone Reforestation Initiative, planting trees with drones.

Today, leading autonomous inspection and monitoring solution provider Percepto revealed that it has successfully concluded a proof-of-concept (POC) for the observation of a 250 acre floating solar farm alongside the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

UAVOS, a developer and manufacturer of security and commercial solutions based on advanced Unmanned Systems, has completed a drone-based forest inspection project to assess the general timber environment. Combining digital data and UAVOS's customized software has provided innovative analysis of forestry data. UAVOS's methodology is an advance for forestry, allowing foresters not only to optimize and improve the way data is collected and analyzed on a daily basis but also helping to reduce environmental risks and to generate economic wealth in the sector. The project has been carried out under partnership with a forestry and land management company. 

NASA's STEReO (Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations) project, led by the Ames Research Center, has developed a prototype of a drone pilot's kit intended to help scale up the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for disaster response applications.

From Sustainable Fuels to Airport Infrastructure Analysis to Next-Gen Aircraft, NREL Offers Solutions for Lowering Emissions in a Sector That Is Among the Most Difficult To Decarbonize

Rolls-Royce has unveiled the turbogenerator technology, which includes a new small engine aimed at advancing hybrid-electric aircraft.

Firefighting services worldwide are constantly innovating, and the recent trend toward using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is no exception. Climate change has been a key factor in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires.

Animal Dynamics today announces a collaboration with the University of Manchester to improve the realism of its simulated environment and accelerate the commercial rollout of its Uncrewed Aircraft System, Stork STM.  

Drones equipped with high resolution lenses are a powerful tool in the fight to protect wildlife around the world.

opinions
Infrastructure considerations for the future of urban air mobility
By David Ziegler
Wednesday May 18, 2022
If the emerging urban air mobility (UAM) industry falters, it won't be because the technology isn't ready or that regulators aren't building a framework to ensure that eVTOL aircraft in development won't meet the highest safety standards. The future of UAM will depend on having the right infrastructure to support operations.

This action announces a public meeting of the UAS Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) Final Report.

An Australian start up is using artificial intelligence, specially designed seed pods, and autonomous drones to reverse forest loss at record speed.

Right now, 12 wildfires are burning through nearly 280,000 acres in five states. Many more will burn in the months ahead, thanks to a changing climate that is resulting in widespread dryness across the U.S.

Grand Farm and Casselton Economic Development jointly announced the future site of Grand Farm's Innovation Facility. 

The Virginia Unmanned Systems Center at VIPC, and a coalition of public and private sector leaders from DroneUp, ATA, Ecodyne, and the City of Winchester conducted a demonstration "Fly-In" during the 95th annual Apple Blossom Festival.

After another round of severe weather brought blizzard conditions, heavy snow and ice to western North Dakota this past weekend, the state has enlisted unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technologies to help restore services to residents and assist recovery efforts, Gov. Doug Burgum announced today in a joint release with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS).

Picture a scene that's synonymous with the climate crisis. 
Maybe your mind jumped to the Amazon rainforest or the polar ice caps, where deforestation and rapid melting have long been rallying points for conservation efforts. 
But the latest research suggests it's oceans that are key to tempering climate change. In fact, a microorganism you've probably never heard of captures 40 percent of Earth's carbon emissions and produces oxygen for two out of every three breaths you take. These microscopic algae are called phytoplankton. It's both the cornerstone of the marine ecosystem and a highly effective carbon capture system. 

Safety avionics specialist Iris Automation has made a meteorological enhancement to its Casia G ground-based surveillance system with the integration of TruWeather Solutions sensors and services – a move aiming to add climate security to the company's aerial detect-and-avoid protection.

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).

On April 4th, Boulder, Colorado-based Black Swift Technologies (BST) initiated the commercial launch of an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) equipped with a novel soil moisture sensor that will change the game for water management in agriculture and emergency response.

Prototypes and tests of zero-emission planes show the industry is on the cusp of clean air travel and goods delivery.

TreeSwift Raises $4.8M for Drone-Based Forest Monitoring System

Lord of the Trees, a full ecosystem restoration company that uses precision drone planting technology to restore degraded landscapes, today announced a $1.25 million Pre-Seed funding round led by Draper Associates, a global venture capital firm investing in industry transforming companies.

On March 24th, His Royal Highness, Prince Charles traveled to Ireland, where he met with experts in agricultural innovation, with representatives from Teagasc, Glanbia PLC, Bord Bia & GeoAerospace.

Zena Drone has helped revolutionize the burgeoning hemp industry.  In this guest post, Leah Jacobe outlines five ways that intelligent drones in the agriculture sector are helping growers to meet the demands of global food production.

The North Dakota Department of Commerce announced today it has selected Grand Farm as a recipient of the department's Autonomous Agriculture Technology Matching Grant. 

Come learn the latest cutting edge weather-related tools, techniques, and tradecraft stemming from government and industry that will highlight awareness and maximize your flight operations and mission success:

Censys Technologies and Soaring Eagle Technologies, the leading commercial Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) service provider in the US, have secured their third BVLOS waiver, resulting in more efficient tech-enabled data acquisition. The waiver covers a 12-mile distance – the longest distance ever approved by the FAA.

The future air mobility (FAM) industry had a record year in 2021. Building on recent trends, such as technological advances, increased focus on environmental sustainability, and growing vehicle traffic congestion, this was the year that put FAM on the map. Now, the industry will mature and evolve—and as it does, new opportunities, as well as significant challenges, are likely to emerge.

Skyway Technologies Corp. is excited to announce TruWeather Solutions as their newest strategic partner. Together, these companies will combine their high-tech traffic navigation systems and weather risk management products. This partnership will work to provide a standardized protocol by which autonomous aircraft within the urban air space can operate safely and more efficiently. 

The FAA has announced a NOTAM name change effective December 2: the former "Notice to Airmen" will now be "Notice to Air Missions."

Airobotics (TASE: AIRO), an Israeli manufacturer of autonomous Unmanned Aircraft (drones) and Aerial Data Platforms, and Solar Drone, an Israeli company specializing in solar farms services, have signed a binding agreement under which Airobotics will develop and supply to Solar Drone a unique solar panel cleaning drone system. The fully automated system will include a drone docking station for automatic battery replacement and cleaning fluid replenishment, enabling the system to operate continuously.

DJI has partnered with AnimaMundi Ocean Data Solutions and Lagoon to build the world's first comprehensive database of plastic waste on coastlines using drones. The project starts with drones piloted by sailors taking place in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), which begins on Las Palmas in the Canary Islands on November 21st.

Researchers with The Ohio State University are using autonomous drones to help prevent and mitigate wildfires.

SwellPro invented and designed the world's only 100% waterproof drone and it's SplashDrone 4 is a gamechanger for Networx3 UAV allowing it to take on jobs on or near water which would have been impossible up until now.

Grand Farm, led by Emerging Prairie, applauds the work of the North Dakota Legislature and Governor Burgum to invest federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds into the state in ways that will support and bolster entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology through the passage and signing of State Senate Bill 2345.

IMSAFE, check! This acronym is what a normal pilot would talk through with themselves before a flight to ensure that they are personally ready to fly. IMSAFE: illness, medications, stress, alcohol, fatigue, and eating. Simple enough, right? Though these are great considerations to ensure a base-level of risk mitigation, the truth is that human factors (in all aspects of aviation) are much more complex and more important than many UAS pilots probably realize. If we look to manned aviation, somewhere between 60-80% of aviation accidents are due to or related to human factors (Shappell, 2006). This is a staggering number of accidents that could presumably be mitigated by autonomy or a higher level of risk understanding and management. We need to explore the human aspect of UAS and how we can deeply analyze ourselves and our organizations to be safer operators through the FAA's HFACS system (Shappell, 2006) and the SHELL model (Moriarty, 2015).

Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) are increasingly being used to conduct atmospheric research. Because of the dynamic nature and inhomogeneity of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), the ability of instrumented sUAS to make on-demand 3-dimensional high-resolution spatial measurements of atmospheric parameters makes them particularly suited to ABL investigations.

FIXAR has released a case study detailing how the company's fully autonomous fixed-wing VTOL FIXAR 007 drone has been used to create a solution for the video monitoring of the Pacific salmon and its spawning grounds in the Chukotka Region of Russia.

Small manufacturer of crop spraying drones takes on big competition

FlyNex and Pheno-Inspect combine their solutions to digitalize and automatize work processes in agriculture. AI-based image capturing with drones and analysis open up new opportunities for sustainable, digital farming with a simultaneous increase of yields.

Armed with fire-retardant clothing, a helmet, headlamp, and flashlight, NASA's Joey Mercer spent a night in August scrambling over rocks. He was in the woods of Northern California shadowing a team fighting the Dixie fire – the second-largest wildfire in the state's history to date. In September, he and teammates made their way to three more California wildfire events, watching and learning as firefighters on the ground used small uncrewed aircraft to help battle blazes from above.
Mercer is the principal investigator for the Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations, or STEReO, project at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. His team is designing software and communication tools to help disaster responders work more safely and efficiently. Part of their approach is to scale up the use of unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, also called drones.

The latest in a series of forestry based case studies conducted by Routescene showcases the value of remote sensing techniques like UAV LiDAR for identifying diseased or damaged trees and overgrown vegetation close to powerlines to prevent outages or forest fires.