An FAA Request For Information from low altitude operators, drones with super-fast reaction times, the Northern Plains UAS Test site wants to deliver packages, drone deliveries are underway in a small Virginia town, a European program to integrate drones into the airspace, UPS and Wingcopter plan for drone deliveries, using quadcopters to map inaccessible historic ruins, and Reaper replacements.
The FAA wants to hear from operators who fly at low altitudes, such as pilots who fly aerial firefighting, agriculture, survey, pipeline and infrastructure patrols. The FAA Request for Information is titled: FAA Low Altitude Manned Aviator Participation In UAS Remote Identification Request for Information. “This RFI seeks input from the manned aviation community regarding whether and/or how they can potentially receive and use UAS remote ID information to further enhance safety, by reducing collision risks at lower altitudes.” Responses will be accepted until April 16, 2020.
Researchers have fitted a quadcopter with what they call “Event Cameras” and used algorithms that allow a reaction time of a few milliseconds. The results are published in the journal Science Robotics. The PhD student that authored the paper says, “Our ultimate goal is to make one-day autonomous drones navigate as good as human drone pilots. Currently, in all search and rescue applications where drones are involved, the human is actually in control. If we could have autonomous drones navigate as reliable as human pilots we would then be able to use them for missions that fall beyond line of sight or beyond the reach of the remote control.”
The Northern Plains UAS Test site had asked the FAA to consider allowing drone delivery operations. Now Senator John Hoeven, has asked the FAA’s Administer, Stephen Dickson, to allow the use of drones to deliver supplies to areas in urgent need: “Small UAS can accelerate the delivery of critically-needed supplies across the country, such as food and medicine, saving time and money, while also reducing the risks of transmitting COVID-19. We’re working with the FAA to get the right waivers in place so these kinds of low-risk, high-reward operations can move forward.”
Christiansburg, Virginia is a small town of about 22,000 people south of Roanoke, right on I-81. In October 2019, the Wing subsidiary of Alphabet started deliveries by drone and Christiansburg became the first town in the U.S. to see drone delivery to a customer’s doorstep.
SUGUS is an 18-month, 485,000-euro, European Union R&D project – the “Solution for E-GNSS U‑Space Service.” It’s designed to speed up the takeup of GNSS and Galileo in the UAV segment. GMV has been awarded the...
