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3D printing typically involves a single machine creating an object. But a team of undergraduate researchers has taken that paradigm far outside its box in the Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing (DREAMS) Lab, led by L.S. Randolph Professor Chris Williams.

AUVSI Xponential is taking place in Denver this week.  This morning, the keynote sessions kicked off, including a conversation on cybersecurity issues with AUVSI's Chief Advocacy Officer Michael Robbins and Tobias Whitney, VP of Strategy and Policy at Fortress Information Security

Today in Denver at Xponential 2023, a panel of experts discussed a topic on the minds of everyone in the industry: how do we make aviation profitable?

WindShape, a trailblazing Swiss company established in 2016, has been revolutionizing the drone industry through research, development, testing, inspection, certification, and validation. In an ambitious effort to extend its global presence, WindShape is announcing a strategic partnership with the Osage tribal nation, to open a cutting-edge indoor drone testing and validation facility at the Skyway36 Droneport and Technology Innovation Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Cybersecurity risks is the highest ranked obstacle addressed via smart manufacturing initiatives

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.

Not enough American companies managing to comply with the Blue sUAS program perhaps? It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

The combined power of AI and robotics is revolutionizing mobility and manufacturing. Automated vehicles, airplanes, people movers, and warehouse robots are improving in their range, flexibility, situational awareness, and intelligence, while better technology, a hunger for increased productivity and efficiency, and the pressures of covid-19 lockdowns have fueled investment in autonomous systems. In 2020 and 2021, market debuts for self-driving vehicles alone boasted a collective initial valuation of over $50 billion.

It might take a while for air taxis to take off as manufacturers ramp up production and public officials figure out how to regulate and plan for them, panelists said during a Friday discussion at the CES trade show in Las Vegas.

If you think you can model eVTOL aircraft charging based on the same systems used for electric cars, think again.
That is the message from Josh Portlock, the CTO of Electro, an Australia-based company that manufactures electric aircraft charging products. Portlock delivered his pitch at the recent Vertical Aviation Safety Team (VAST) conference.

Jaunt, a maker of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has signed a letter of intent with Québec-based Vertiko Mobility for an intended initial purchase of 71 Jaunt Journey eVTOLs. It also signed an LOI with Mint Air of South Korea for 40 aircraft to serve the Korean air taxi market.

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

Ed Hill talks to Erik de Seeuw, market manager manufacturing at additive manufacturing experts Materialise and Balazs Kerulo, chief engineer at LIFT Aircraft, about the development of the HEXA eVTOL, a single-seat, semi-autonomous personal aerial vehicle.

Aviation is one of the most innovative industries in the world. It is underpinned by some of the world's brightest minds, captivating startups, and multi-billion dollar organizations that invest colossal sums in highly advanced R&D programs it is a sector that continues to evolve and progress at supersonic speed, with a track record of achieving the impossible.

Our goal at Flyover Future is to highlight the innovation and entrepreneurship going on in the heartland of the U.S. This week, we touch down in St. Louis, a city becoming known for its work in geospatial intelligence, to speak with the co-founders of WingXpand, an aerospace startup that manufactures aviation and aerospace components. James Barbieri is co-founder and CEO of WingXpand and Michelle Madaras is its co-founder and chief customer officer. We spoke to them from Los Angeles where they are participating in the TechStars program.

TOPODRONE, a Swiss based designer and manufacturer of high-precision LiDAR equipment for installation on drones, vehicles and backpacks, launches AQUAMAPPER, a UAV-based solution for bathymetric surveying and marine construction. The new multitasking data collecting device and TOPODRONE LiDAR ULTRA equipment have been successfully used together for airborne surveying at a highway construction project in Romania, EU to deliver a full digital twin of a studied area. 

The $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract will provide funding for VerdeGo to perform advanced risk reduction on the VH-3-185 hybrid powerplant, which has applications to both military and commercial high-performance electric aircraft.

LuftCar announces plans to develop HYDROB, a hydrogen fuel cell – battery hybrid propulsion system for the Advanced Air Mobility market.

Counter drone systems (cUAS) are designed to detect, identify and mitigate unauthorized drones.  Unmanned traffic management   (UTM) solutions are a framework of regulations and technology products that work to provide a system providing stakeholders with a view of airspace traffic that allows commercial operators to avoid collisions and cooperate in shared airspace.

The NAAMCE will feature a two-story, 30,000ft2 office building to house administrative, laboratory, meeting, and collaboration space, with 25,000ft2 of aircraft hangar space available for use by the U.S. Air Force and private industry. The center will support the expanding work of manufacturers and operators of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for advanced air mobility (AAM).

Governors Kevin Stitt and Asa Hutchinson joined together to position the Oklahoma-Arkansas region as a national hub for advanced mobility (AM) with the support of partners Tulsa Innovation Labs and Runway Group. The collaborative effort to support the growth of the AM industry, including drones, electric and autonomous vehicles, battery manufacturing, and transportation and logistics solutions, will create new research and testing space, support local AM startups, attract new companies, and convene industry corporations to test and scale new technologies. 

Edge Autonomy, a leader in unmanned and autonomous technology, announced today that it has acquired Adaptive Energy (or "the Company"), a globally recognized designer and manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for backup, off grid and UAV power. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Mayman Aerospace, developer of an optionally-piloted, single-seat, high-powered VTOL utility aircraft, recently unveiled a prototype of its 'Speeder' at the 2022 Draper Venture Network CEO Summit in Northern California.

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

Drones have emerged as an important tool in the delivery of medicines around the world. Here are three main ways these unmanned vehicles are transforming the supply chain

Essentium, Inc., a leading innovator of industrial additive manufacturing (AM) solutions, today announced Axle Box Innovations, a public safety technology developer, is using Essentium AM technology to support the development of US-made 3D printed drones for fire management and protection.

Essentium, Inc., a leading innovator of industrial additive manufacturing (AM) solutions, today announced Axle Box Innovations, a public safety technology developer, is using Essentium AM technology to support the development of US-made 3D printed drones for fire management and protection.

The study will address scalability and distributed production as the urban air mobility (UAM) market evolves to meet projected demand.

The Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport was a destination recently for one of the longest cross-country flights performed by an electric aircraft of any kind in North America since 2016.

Let's pretend you know nothing about additive manufacturing (AM), more commonly referred to as 3D printing. Given that this industry-changing technology has been with us for more than three decades, that assumption is highly unlikely but is nonetheless the premise behind this "dummies" style article. If you're already an expert on the topic, feel free to go do something more interesting, like 3D printing some cool parts or binge-watching the latest Netflix series.

Manufacturers of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to establish a path to certification and make progress towards achieving certification for these new types of vehicles.

We were promised jetpacks that never arrived. But you know what's finally here? Big, honking drones you can ride on.

As eVTOL creators across the country continue flight tests, certification remains a question at large for stakeholders in the industry. This week, the FAA released new guidance on eVTOL certification within existing regulatory framework. Under Part 23 certification (the standard for most general and business aviation air transport vehicles under 9 passengers), eVTOL will be categorized as powered-lift aircraft.

Israeli company Strix Drones plans to begin manufacturing drone agnostic docking stations at its new plant in Dayton, Ohio by the end of this year.

Melbourne Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialist Sentient Vision Systems has won a $2.1 million Australian government grant to establish a sovereign in-house manufacturing facility for its world-leading ViDAR search and surveillance pods.

As major automotive companies power up to meet future demand for electric vehicles, others look to the skies for new opportunities

Carbon ThreeSixty will be evaluating composite materials use to further reduce weight and increase torque for the 86-kilowatt magnetic gear motor.

Earlier this year, Event 38 Unmanned Systems successfully flew a drone fitted with a 3D-printed antenna at Kent State University. The project, backed by the Ohio Federal Research Network (OFRN), was a collaboration between Event 38, Kent State University, Youngstown State University, and Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI), who led the project.

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a global leading pure-play engineering services company, has garnered a multi-year $100 million+ electric air mobility deal from Jaunt Air Mobility (Jaunt). As part of the contract, LTTS will open an Engineering and R&D Centre in Québec Province for the next-gen electric aircraft manufacturer to provide engineering services for the Jaunt Journey eVTOL (electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) air taxi.

The following is a guest post by Christopher Todd, President of the AUVSI Florida Peninsula Chapter and the Executive Director of AIRT, Inc., the nation's leading 501(c)3 non-profit organization supporting drones for emergency use and official home of DRONERESPONDERS.  DRONELIFE neither accepts nor makes payment for guest posts.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced $4.4 million in drone research, education and training grants to seven universities. Research will focus on three areas: electromagnetic compatibility, detect and avoid classifications, and cybersecurity oversight.

Archer Aviation Inc. announced that it has entered into a joint letter of intent with lightweight composite technology leader Hexcel. The letter details a proposed relationship between the two companies that would see Hexcel supply Archer with carbon fiber and resin systems known as prepreg, necessary to the production of composite parts for Archer's production aircraft.

Veteran aerostructures Tier 1 transforms into 21st century leader in thermoplastic composites and multiple new markets.

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) has announced plans for an Emerging Aviation Technology Conference April 4-5 in Durant.

Qarbon Aerospace, Inc. (Qarbon Aerospace) has partnered with Georgia Tech to participate in NASA's University Leadership Initiative (ULI), focused on the development of Advanced Structures for Civil Vertical Lift Vehicles.

A panel discussion at this year's Heli-Expo in Dallas, Texas, covered perspectives on acoustics of eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft from several industry leaders including Ben Goldman of Archer Aviation, Mark Moore of Whisper Aero, and Juliet Page of Blue Ridge Research and Consulting. The event was organized by the Vertical Flight Society (VFS) and moderated by Jim Sherman, VFS Director of Strategic Development.

Qarbon Aerospace, Inc. (Qarbon Aerospace) has partnered with Georgia Tech to participate in NASA's University Leadership Initiative (ULI), focused on the development of Advanced Structures for Civil Vertical Lift Vehicles.

The German Air Traffic Management startup Skyroads today presented its second comprehensive white paper on flight systems in Urban Air Mobility (UAM). Written by industry experts Ralph Schuppenhauer (Lead Ground Systems Skyroads) and Corvin Huber (CEO Skyroads) it not only presents an overview of the status quo of the discussion and development of Urban Flight, but also shows the requirements and benefits of associated Management Systems. Skyroads presents a clear roadmap of how the development of traffic management and vehicle guidance systems can enhance and speed up the implementation of UAM in global metropolitan and urban regions by bringing safety to urban flight already at an early date. Open, automated and interoperable flight systems will allow urban air traffic to scale flight numbers and thus dramatically improve revenue models.

AT&T researcher Johannes F. Gottwald published the first 3D-printing patent in 1971. Gottwald's machine was designed to create 3D objects out of heated metal alloy, but now the new material options available for 3D printing are bringing the technology ever closer to an imagined sci-fi future.

San Francisco-based electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle and air taxi company Archer Aviation finished last year with a bang. Now, its co-founders and -CEOs Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein tell DroneDJ why they think 2022 will be even more exciting.