Why the UK government must act now to capitalise on autonomous drone systems technology
The Drone Delivery Group (DDG) calls for improved coordination across government in order to harmonise quality and safety standards for drones operating autonomously in multiple domains. On 18 January 2023, the DDG delivered its landmark white paper ‘A National Strategy for Drones Across Land, Sea and Air’ to the Department for Transport (DfT) and the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Eight months in the making, the paper describes a drone strategy that can meet the demands of increasing numbers of autonomous vehicle systems. This strategy will mitigate any potential risks to the country in terms of safety and infrastructure and deliver tangible environmental benefits. Existing transport systems are served by regulations that have been developed over hundreds of years, but rapidly evolving drone technology is outpacing the demand for new regulations. As such, the DDG contends that efforts must be made to streamline the regulatory process, especially in Read More »
ATRP SERIES V4 PAVES THE WAY FOR UNMANNED AQUATIC INSPECTIONS
ATRP V4.0A A lot has happened since our last update on the ATRP.The v3+, has been retired after extensive application testing and paved the way for the v4+. This new version takes the very best features from v3+, including the concept of “above water line propulsion”. This approach allows for an extremely shallow draft, almost zero chances of entanglement and leaves the environment below waterline untouched. Read More »
A NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DRONES ACROSS LAND, SEA AND AIR
Drone Delivery Group’s new white paper outlines why the UK government must act now to capitalise on autonomous drone systems technology. The Drone Delivery Group (DDG) calls for improved coordination across government in order to harmonise quality and safety standards for drones operating autonomously in multiple domains.On 18 January 2023, the DDG delivered its landmark white paper ‘A National Strategy for Drones across Land, Sea and Air’ to the Department for Transport (DfT) and the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Eight months in the making, the paper describes a drone strategy that can meet the demands of increasing numbers of autonomous vehicle systems. This strategy will mitigate any potential risks to the country in terms of safety and infrastructure and deliver tangible environmental benefits. Read More »
Challenge 12. Summit Cerro Aconcagua (6961 M ASL)
This was by far the grittiest challenge of them all. My mental and physical robustness was significantly tested on this expedition, much more so than any other, and, if I am honest, I think I am a little broken now!The combined effects of a 17-day expedition; carrying a heavy pack, eating foreign food, drinking from mountain streams and, most notably, living at significant altitude, was a bit of a beating.That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy trekking up Aconcagua, the Andes are of course beautiful and striking, and I met some amazing international people along the way, but I underestimated this mountain – classic me. Read More »
Drones Fly Past The Challenges of Human Guards
With each passing year, it becomes less and less logical to continue using human labour for routine security tasks when AI technologies offer a proven, superior alternative.For security and risk mitigation, human security teams monitor CCTVs or mounted webcams, respond to alarms and tripped sensors, and conduct foot patrols. focus on the patrols. A diligent guard uses all five senses, to spot subtle problems, makes judgment calls, and adapts to times and locations requiring special attention. While they leverage those “human” skills, the list of disadvantages is disturbing.People don’t scale. One guard can only be in one place at one time. If an intruder appears, a water pipe bursts, or equipment overheats moments after a guard has passed by, discovery is delayed People are biological. We need to eat, work a third of a day, get sick, need vacations, use the restroom — all time a company pays for.People are … only human. It’s hard to blame a guard in a static, repetitiv Read More »
Challenge 11. Paddle, Paddle, Paddle – for 20 miles
So big confession… the channel didn’t happen, and, holding my hands up, most likely won’t happen this side of Christmas.Unsurprisingly the weather in November was not on our side (the 40 knot winds would have taken us to Norway rather than Boulogne) and there were only so many tide windows available to us.Nevertheless, it will happen next year (safety boat deposit having already been paid) and so the team and I decided that, rather than come up with a completely new challenge, we would complete a placeholder paddle boarding adventure for November. Read More »
Challenge 11. Veteran Army Officer Faces English Channel Crossing by Stand up Paddle board – in November!
"So, the channel didn’t happen (40 knot winds are a bit of a buzz kill) but we are not the sort of people to be stopped! We did the distance anyway this weekend - just not on the ocean"Read the full explanation hereA former Major in the Royal Artillery is about to attempt a winter crossing of the English Channel by stand up paddle board, in the latest leg of a year-long quest to support Armed Forces veterans in their battle with mental health issues. Read More »
Challenge 10. Ultra-marathon Jordan (250 km)
Without a doubt, this has been the hardest physical challenge this year and probably the hardest of my life. The journey really began on our arrival to Wadi Rum Reserve. Here we jumped off the coaches and onto the back of ancient pick-up trucks; most of which required hot wiring and had more than a million miles on their clocks. We then sped off into the setting sun, across the red sand to our first campsite. Lit by glowing candles and generator lighting it was pretty magical; spirits were high and I don’t think anyone could quite believe they had finally arrived. Many had trained for months in preparation for what would be the longest running race of their life.Very early on I connected with some fantastic people; finding I had mutual friends or British Army connections with some of them made settling into the experience extremely easy. Read More »
Challenge 9. Dart 10k open water swim (10km)
As always I hugely underestimated this challenge. Even as I entered the water I thought ‘I think this might be a bit of a cop-out’, and ‘maybe I haven’t made this hard enough?!’This thought was definitely due to the persistent feeling of it all still not being quite enough. Ridiculous I know, but it’s there nonetheless. It’s partly imposter syndrome and partly the people and social media I am exposed to. In particular for this challenge, a few days before I started, I noticed that a friend of mine (a renowned excellent swimmer and successful channel crosser) is going to attempt to swim around the island of Jersey. This will be an incredible feat (it is something like 40 miles!) and, without doubt, my swim marathon pales in insignificance.Because of this, I keep having to remind myself that I am not an elite athlete (I’m definitely not a pro swimmer and I don’t even particularly like open water) and each challenge has been difficult relative to my own ability, and Read More »
VOLATUS AEROSPACE TEAMS WITH ACCIPITER RADAR TECHNOLOGIES TO COMMERCIALIZE BEYOND VISUAL LINE OF SIGHT MISSIONS
Volatus Aerospace Corp. (TSXV: VOL) (OTCQB: VLTTF) (“Volatus” or “the Company”) today announced a Collaboration Agreement with Accipiter Radar Technologies Inc. signed on 20 September 2022 to facilitate and commercialize drone flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). This will allow Volatus to introduce clean energy drone solutions for a variety of aerial inspections in oil and gas pipeline, energy, railway, and arctic surveillance using remotely piloted aircraft (drones) operating beyond visual line of sight.“Deconflicting drone operations with low-flying, crewed aircraft is an essential element for long range flight operations beyond visual line of sight. The use of Accipiter’s proven radar solutions will provide detect-and-alert / detect-and-avoid information needed to commercialize at scale,” said Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus Aerospace. “Teaming with Accipiter enables us to introduce innovative green solutions for our customers in our journey toward a carbon neutr Read More »
Valqari Acquires IDU Group, Creating World’s Most Comprehensive Drone Delivery Infrastructure System
Valqari Acquires IDU Group, Creating World’s Most Comprehensive Drone Delivery Infrastructure System
CHICAGO – (Sept. 20, 2022) Valqari is excited to announce that it is combining efforts with IDU Group, providing a complete drone delivery infrastructure from rooftops and the windows of buildings to a complete product line of drone mailbox and drone locker ground stations. As part of this merger, Ryan Walsh will continue as CEO of Valqari while Kevin Duckers, founder and former CEO of IDU Group, will act as Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Valqari.This new, combined entity will be focused on providing the next generation of drone infrastructure across multiple high-growth industries. The companies have had a strong relationship for several years and this merger significantly strengthens the joint product lines within the industry. The merger brings together two of the leading drone delivery infrastructure companies with complementary expertise and operations, creating a single force to meet the ever-growing demand for drone infrastructure solutions. It also provides Valqari wi Read More »
Exciting times for Research and Development Tax Relief
"Exciting times" and "Research and Development Tax Relief" are not usually terms you will see used together but this is what we are heading towards.Research and Development Tax Relief (RDTR) was introduced in 2000 and a lot has changed since the early days.R&D Consulting was formed in 2012 as, at that time, the relief was being largely ignored by companies unless they were with one of the big accountants. It was just too complex and most companies who could have claimed assumed it didn’t apply to them. Back then, there wasn’t a lot of advice for companies when it came to RDTR and for about 5 years we gently educated companies and accountants – helping a lot of companies claim RDTR and helping others understand that although they were undertaking research and development, they didn’t meet the criteria for RDTR. Read More »
Challenge 8. Hadrian’s Wall self supported ultra run (84 miles in 2 days)
Stretching from Bowness-on-Solway, near Carlisle, to Wallsend in Newcastle, the route took me through beautiful countryside between the North Pennines and Kielder Forest, past the remnants of the incredible Roman fortification, Hadrian’s wall.This was a great distraction as the brutal route climbed a total of 4500ft and the weather was atrocious, with constant penetrating rain for 11 hours straight on the second day. 84 miles of trail running in 23 hours, carrying a tent and supplies resulted in my feet and body taking a real battering and (bar the tendinitis I received after challenge 4) this is definitely the most broken I have been so far. I did, however, meet two other veterans on route, a Marine and a Parachute Regiment soldier, which gave me lots of motivation to continue! Read More »
Looking ahead to the full-scale operation of regular logistics drone flights in 2021
ALI Technologies and SBS Holdings (provider of integrated logistics services) released a public demonstration experiment of logistic drones at SBS Logicom in Yokohama city.In a complex radio wave environment and strong sea breeze, 5 round trip experiments of 100m were completed. Before then, tests were done in mountains & forests, but now they proved that autonomous flights can be performed safely in complex radio wave environments. Aiming at social implementation including commercial use, they focus at providing the last mile service to the logistics industry at a low price.Details: Automatic delivery flight using ALI Number One UAV equipped with a 2kg dummy baggage. Cosmos: ALI's UAV control system (traffic management platform that enables UAV group control & air traffic control). iGOQ: platform operated by SBS Logicom that matches spot cargo with vacant vehicles. Read More »
36 Tech Barristers launch their dedicated service offering for the drone sector.
36 Tech Barristers were very happy to join the Drone Major community this month as its only supplier of legal services, and a leading supplier of legal services in this multi-faceted, multi-jurisdictional sector.36 Tech Barristers is a part of 36 Group Barristers Mediators and Arbitrators of 36 Bedford Row. This is a barristers’ chambers steeped in history but modern in approach. 36 Group provide legal services directly to businesses or to their own lawyers in a wide range of disciplines, including contracts, regulation, crime and commercial law. The 36 Tech division works in the area of technology, e-commerce and digital media. Joining Drone Major marks the division’s concentration on the commercial use and application of drones and drone technologies. It is an obvious area for 36 Group to work in with specialists with established practices in the area of aviation, and technology, as well as the many related disciplines that impact on it, and make up the body of “drone law”. Read More »
Veterans' Foundation Challenge List
Challenge 1. KÖNIG LUDWIG LAUF 2022 Freestyle Ski Marathon (50km) Germanys biggest XC ski event and part of the Worldloppet XC ski series. The course was rolling with a total elevation gain of 830 metres; more than enough considering my training for this had consisted of rollerblading to work throughout January. I have XC skied before but not for years so it was pretty tough on the body to jump straight onto skis with no more than a quick warm up! Still, a good beat up challenge!Challenge 2. Jurassic Coast Ultra marathon (40 miles/ 64km) The Jurassic Coast Ultra started at Abbotsbury, Dorset, and followed the beautiful but brutal Southwest Coast path all the way to Lulworth Cove. It was a very hot weekend, and this is still the longest distance I have ever run in one go. It was also self-navigated which should have been easy (keep the sea on your right…) but I managed to get temporarily navigationally challenged. It took nearly 10 ho Read More »
GT20 Gyrotrak by Airial Robotics Makes Debut at New York’s FAA-Designated UAS Test Site
First official, public flight in the U.S. proves GT20 Gyrotrak ready for customer operationsThe Gyrotrak GT20, a hybrid helicopter and gyrocopter UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle) by Airial Robotics, was successfully demonstrated and tested at the FAA-designated New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport managed by NUAIR in Rome, NY. This is the first flight demonstration of its kind in the United States. The GT20 Gryotrak is an impressive and serious cargo and inspection platform – with flight times of up to 2.5 hours with an 8-pound task load. It can be equipped with a variety of sensors enabling it to be used for a broad range of uses, including medical transport, high precision mapping, line inspection and more.The GT20 Gyrotrak flight test included four different missions including a manual helicopter flight; full autonomous helicopter mission, which transitioned to complete autorotation-mode, flying at about 80 mph; and a simulated delivery mission. All missions were Read More »
Improve your global profit margins with Airwallex
Streamline your finances, unlock new markets and save on FX fees with an Airwallex accountLet's face it, choosing a business account is probably the least exciting part of owning a drone business. But how you manage your finances can make a big difference to the success of your enterprise, particularly if you operate across borders. High street banks charge up to 3.5% above the interbank rate for currency exchange, meaning every time you make a transaction in another currency—whether that’s importing equipment, accepting payments from international clients, or using your card abroad—you’ll lose a chunk of money. Read More »
Purdue Athletics Collaborates with Levy’s DBK Studio, Valqari, and USOG to Pilot First F&B Drone Delivery Service in Sports & Entertainment
Test flights at recent Boilermakers baseball home series transported orders from remote kitchens to landing area just outside Alexander Field West Lafayette, Ind., May 4, 2022 – Purdue Athletics has collaborated with hospitality partner Levy, Levy’s innovation studio, DBK Studio, Chicago-based Valqari, and USOG to pilot the first drone-delivered food and beverage service at a sports & entertainment venue. The pilot took place from Wednesday, April 27th through Saturday, April 30th at Alexander Field, home of Purdue Baseball, leading up to and during its recent home series. The pilot involved a select fan base ordering food and beverage, with orders prepared at another on-campus athletic venue, delivered by drone, and placed in a pick-up locker for guests in an open-air space at Alexander Field. The pilot tested the user experience, food quality and delivery accuracy. Throughout the pilot, drones delivered orders of hot dogs, bottles of water, and chips to prepare and pressure Read More »
Commercial drones could be the answer to Ukraine’s logistics nightmare
Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, unmanned air systems (UAS), otherwise known as drones, have played an important role in the defense of the country against Russian aggression. Whether it’s military offensive systems delivering devastating effects on advancing Russian convoys or small drone camera systems providing reconnaissance, air drones have undoubtedly been instrumental in enabling the Ukrainian military to mount an effective defense against the Russian invasion.However, their true potential to support what every war veteran knows can win or lose a war–logistics–is yet to be unleashed. Read More »
