Drones for studying wildlife, wetlands, and tornadoes. Using them to resupplying troops and support a Mars rover. Also, gender diversity study of the drone industry, and airplane incidents that turn out to not be caused by drones.
Executive Wildlife Producer Heather.
A Best practice for minimising unmanned aerial vehicle disturbance to wildlife in biological field research has been published for researchers using unmanned aircraft to study wildlife.
The TORUS program (Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells) will use fixed-wing UAS to assist scientists in studying the formation of tornadoes in thunderstorms. The $2.5M project is funded by the NSF in cooperation with NOAA, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Tech University, and the University of Colorado-Boulder.
DARPA and the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory are experimenting with low-cost resupply drones from Logistic Gliders Inc. There are 10.4 feet long with a 23-foot wingspan, can be made from plywood or aluminum, and can carry 700 pounds of cargo.
Video: Logistic Gliders Inc. Flight Test Highlights as of Jan 2019
A YellowScan Surveyor Lidar-equipped UAV is being used to create an accurate digital terrain model (DTM) of a bog in France. Understanding the hydrology of the area is key to the restoration efforts.
NASA announced the successful first flight of the 4-pound aircraft that will launch with a NASA Mars rover in July 2020.
A UK study looked at gender diversity in the commercial drone industry. After looking at 112 drone service companies, the study found that “The average rate of women employment was 13% and “…women are concentrated in non-technical positions, such as sales and administration.” The study is published in the International Journal of Gender, Science and Techology.
