Measuring kinetic energy to certify drone flights over people, additional funding for Dedrone, documenting endangered heritage sites, Italian heavy-lift multirotors, testing the MQ-25 refueling drone on an aircraft carrier, defining the “next” Reaper, an FAA grant for UAS training, and Navy harassment by drone swarms.
To certify drones for flight over people, the FAA links injury severity to kinetic energy. But the classic calculation of kinetic energy using mass and velocity makes some assumptions that aren’t applicable to a drone hitting a human head. So the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) along with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics developed a testing methodology for the actual kinetic energy from a drone impact.
Airspace security company Dedrone closed a $30.5 million Series C financing round led by Axon and including previous investors. Dedrone sold over 1,000 sensors in the past year that detect, identify, and locate over 200 different types of drones. Customers include more than 65 critical infrastructures, 50 correctional facilities, 20 airports, 10 Fortune 500 companies, and four of the seven G-7 nations.
The Seaford Head Project wants to assess and record the archeology of Seaford Head before it is lost to coastal erosion. They are developing ways to quickly assess the situation and record the data, including using drones to survey the site and create 3D models. The project intends to create
