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AUVSI wrapped its 2023 XPONENTIAL convention in Denver last week, bringing together thousands of attendees and hundreds of companies to discuss a path toward autonomy.

With their business rapidly expanding and their staff increasing, GUS principals realized they needed a larger, more modern facility to accommodate their growth.

In a conversation with Avionics International, Josh Teigen, the Department of Commerce Commissioner for North Dakota, and Frank Matus, Director of Digital Aviation Solutions for Thales Group, talked about how the state is enabling innovations in drone technology.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) will co-host the 8th Annual FAA Drone Symposium and the first-ever Advanced Air Mobility Summit this summer.

Join drone industry pioneers as they share their experiences building out their UAV programs.

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.

Oklahoma State University's Dr. Jamey Jacob testified at the Capitol before the United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on March 23 in Washington, D.C., highlighting the need for continued investment in drone research for the benefit of national defense, technology development and the public good. 

The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board aims to complete four studies in 2023, with two focused on a couple of Secretary Frank Kendall's operational imperatives. 

The next 12 months will be a crucial year for eVTOL developers and infrastructure companies.

From scientific research, firefighting and rainmaking to energy-saving airborne deliveries, more sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, unmanned systems are enabling the shift to a green economy.

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.

Known as flying cars by some, air taxis (or flying taxis)   are technically known as EVTOL (electric, vertical take off and landing) aircraft. 

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.

Advanced Air Mobility continues to be one of the most dynamic sectors in aviation.

URBAN V will be the first company to explore and plan the development of a system and network of Vertiports to enable the wide use of drones carrying passengers in the Caribbean.

These drone boats are the latest unmanned technology being tested by the U.S. Navy. WSJ's Shelby Holliday traveled to Bahrain to get a rare look at how the U.S. is pairing unmanned surface vessels with artificial intelligence to see "from seabed to space." Illustration: Adele Morgan

MITRE and our partners created and tested a new airborne collision avoidance system, advancing critical innovation to further the development of uncrewed aircraft systems and earning a prestigious R&D100 innovation award.

It may be hard for newer entrants to the sector to realize that just 10 years ago, the commercial use of drones was actually illegal in the United States, according to a Section 333.  From 2014 – 2016, companies who wished to operate drones commercially had to receive a Section 333 exemption from the FAA.  It wasn't until the introduction of Part 107 in 2016 that there was a clear and standardized legal path for commercial drone use.

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.

The first Pulitzer Electric Aircraft Race, planned for May 2023, will be a four day, 1,000 nm cross-country event beginning in Omaha, NE and ending near Kitty Hawk, NC.

The AUVSI NE UAS and AAM Summit, held at the Northeastern University Innovation Campus, took place last week with an impressive lineup. Among the speakers offering a rare opportunity for an open discussion was Lt. Col. Thomas F. Meagher, Division Chief, AFWERX Prime, Department of the Air Force.  AFWERX is one of the military agencies most actively supporting and investing in new unmanned technology companies, helping startups reach commercial viability and scale through investment, testing, and other services.

Another student competition for designing an air tanker has concluded.

Drones are becoming more and more a part of our lives. We see them everywhere. It's also the wave of the future when it comes to careers. 

SkyDrop (formerly Flirtey) has released episode one of a documentary series "The SkyDrop Story", to tell the historical story of the first FAA-approved drone delivery on US soil.

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

At this morning's Commercial UAV Expo Keynotes,  Commercial UAV Expo Editor Jeremiah Karpowitz and Skydio Co-Founder and CEO Adam Bry discussed how the concept of automation and reliability inform the ROI of commercial drones.

The market for drones has been growing rapidly as new use cases emerge, but with their deployment comes the issue of a suitable supporting infrastructure.

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.

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

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.

Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace, both Raytheon Technologies businesses, have launched a new hybrid-electric technology demonstrator programme applicable to future advanced air mobility vehicles.

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.

NASA's Advanced Air Mobility mission is developing design tools that manufacturers can use to reduce noise impacts. The Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project and Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project work together to conduct testing with industry partners. The data NASA collects and analyzes from these tests with electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) will ensure that the agency's aircraft design tools correctly predict noise levels for these types of vehicles.

Mapping drone manufacturer Event 38 Unmanned Systems completed a successful demo flight of a drone powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, at the Kent State University airport. The flight was the culmination of a multi-year project, initiated in 2020 with sponsorship by the Ohio Federal Research Network (OFRN), a program managed by Parallax Advanced Research. Event 38 partnered with experts at Kent State University, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Dayton, and Wright State University to investigate the potential of fuel cells as a power source for drones.

Easy access to airports is essential for the development of next-generation aircraft.

In an interview with YourStory, professor Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy, co-founder of The ePlane Company talks about electric planes, drone regulations affecting the sector, his journey from professor to entrepreneur and more

New series A investment for the fund Cysero from AVM Gestioni SGR S.p.a., manager of EuVECA Benefit
corporation promoted jointly with Kilometro Rosso, the science and technology park of Bergamo to invest in startups and innovative SMEs to develop a true Italian center of cybersecurity and humanoid robotics.

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.

Four teams of university and industry partners are selected to program that supports NASA's aeronautical goals and involves students in aeronautic research and testing.

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.

In the fifteenth century, artist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci envisioned a craft that flew using a single helix-shaped propeller — the aerial screw — viewed by many as the first vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) machine ever designed.
In 2020, the Vertical Flight Society's (VFS) 37th Annual Student Design Competition challenged students from across the world to reimagine da Vinci's design. Using modern-day analytical and design tools, students were tasked to design and demonstrate a feasible modern-day VTOL vehicle based on the aerial screw concept and demonstrate the consistency of its physics.

Two N.C. Department of Transportation programs combined to be the first in the nation to launch an innovative technology pilot with their safety service patrol that should improve safety on North Carolina roadways.

This week, the Transformative Vertical Flight 2022 event is taking place for in-person attendees in San Jose, California, as well as for virtual attendees. The 9th annual eVTOL Symposium includes presentations from researchers, government agencies, and industry leaders. The opening session of TVF2022 featured Davis Hackenberg and Jaako Karras from NASA; Col. Jay Hopkins, US Army, Chief of Staff, FVL CFT; Col. Nathan Diller, USAF, Director of AFWERX; and Steve Bradford from the FAA.

For the past few years, we have been talking about two distinct industries when it comes to small and large drones. The reasons behind that are varied, but the way in which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and air taxis that define advanced air mobility (AAM) ecosystems can and will operate in the same airspace have been positioned as distinct. But is it right to stay focused on these differences rather than their similarities?  

Here at Kittyhawk in Palo Alto, we are developing ground breaking all-electric Vertical Take off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.  They are designed to be fast, small, and exceedingly quiet, taking advantage of new possibilities to free people from traffic. 

NASA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project introduced a new Air Traffic Management (ATM) architecture that utilizes industry's ability to supply industry-developed, third-party services that work complementarily with the FAA-provided Air Traffic Service (ATS) to exchange relevant air vehicle information among the UAS operations and between the UTM and the conventional ATM system.

4D Avionic Systems has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $255,994 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on a 4D Flightpath-Based Autonomous Separation Assurance Systems (ASAS).

A University of Texas at Arlington aerospace engineer is teaming with industry partners to develop control systems for autonomous aerial vehicles that will increase their safety and detect structural issues.