Amazon Questioned FAA Over Drone Policy in United States

Amazon’s vice president of global public policy, Paul Misener, has criticized FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) over the slowness in developing the policies of unmanned aerial systems (UASs or UAVs) in United States. This concern was relayed during the meeting with Senate members of the Subcommittee on Aviations, Operations, Safety and Security in Washington DC.

Misener told the senators that although the United States was catching up in permitting current commercial UAS testing, the United States remained behind in planning for future commercial UAS operations. He also stated the difference between U.S. and places like Europe is that in Europe, the company has already started to test the drone outdoors in locations such as the United Kingdom. Outside U.S, there is also no requirement to wait more than one or two months to start the testing.

However, on the same day, FAA has issued an interim policy which streamlined the process of approval for commercial drone usage. The companies which had been exempted under the current law are given a “blanket” permission to fly UAVs anywhere in U.S. skies under a certain restrictions. Therefore, for the companies who have not gotten the exemption are not allowed to operate their drones as it is illegal to do so.

Senator Cory Booker has reported to be working on a bill which gives the companies the right to use drones, in which the process could take more than two years to be finalized on the rules by FAA. Another concern which arises from the usage of drone is that there will be a potential privacy concern for drones which have video capability flying at U.S. skies.

Amazon Questioned FAA Over Drone Policy in United States

Solar-powered SkyOrbiter internet drone successfully completes first test flight

The Portuguese startup Quarkson has developed a solar-powered drone that could provide wireless internet access to people and this drone called the SkyOrbiter, has successfully completed its first test flight recently. The company intends to use these solar-powered drones to make Wi-Fi facility available to offline areas around the world.

The SkyOrbiter drones will fly at the heights of up to 22,000 meters (72,000 ft.) and stay airborne for long period of time, say for some weeks, several months or even a few years. According to a report by Gizmag, the test flight was carried out on April 2 but the location of the test flight has not been disclosed. The SkyOrbiter had Wi-Fi transmitting equipment on board to provide internet access to the people below on the ground through a patch antenna that receives the signal from the drone.

A smaller version of the drone that would be actually used was tested. This drone had a wing span of 5 meters (16 ft.) and was flown up to an altitude of 100 meters (330 ft.). It was able to successfully transmit Wi-Fi signal below to the ground, proving that the project is viable.

Quarkson has also built a largeer SkyOrbiter LA25 drone that has a wing span of 22 meters (72 ft.) but according to the company’s CEO Miguel Angelo Martins da Silva, the Portuguese government has not allowed it’s testing. Nevertheless, it was tested on a small airstrip in poor conditions and data was collected which could be helpful to optimize prototypes.

The drones are fully autonomous having an autopilot, an energy management system, ground control software and a long range communication system working on various frequencies. The drones would be able to transmit via LTE or Wi-Fi on the unlicensed spectrum or via LTE, Wi-Fi, 3G or 2G on the licensed spectrum through a carrier.

You can watch the first test flight of the SkyOrbiter drone in the video below:

Solar-powered SkyOrbiter internet drone successfully completes first test flight

Facebook Shown Drone Prototype which Wingspan Greater than Boeing 737

In the annual F8 Developer Conference in San Fransisco, Facebook showed the photos of its own drone prototype which operates on solar power. The drone prototype is part of a bigger project which purpose is to bring web connectivity to billions of people worldwide without the internet.  Currently, the project which is led by Facebook, Internet.org, has already bringing in free internet data to four African countries, Colombia and India.

The final design of the drone will be a V-shaped with a wingspan greater than Boeing 737 and a mass greater than a small car. On top of that it will be powered by solar panel and has the capabilities to stay at the altitudes of more than 60,000 feet for moths at a time. It will be an unmanned device. The drone has completed its first test flight in United Kingdom. When the drone flew by a location, it will beams internet access to the people on the ground.

The drone prototype goes by codename “Aquila” which is named after Greek mythology who carried Jupiter’s thunderbolts. About a year ago, Facebook announced that the company was building drones, satellites and lasers in the attempt to bring internet to everyone. On separate note, Facebook also announce that Oculus Rift, which is also owned by the company, is working on a project which could inject virtual reality gaming into the mainstream.

We cannot wait to see the end result.

Facebook Shown Drone Prototype which Wingspan Greater than Boeing 737

Motorola shows off Moto X’s 4K recording capabilities through a video captured by strapping it to a Drone

Moto X (Gen 2) was released by Motorola in September this year and is an impressive upgrade over the original Moto X. Its primary camera has been upgraded to 13Mp capable of Ultra HD 4K (3830 x 2160p) video recording.

Motorola is now showcasing the 4K video shooting capabilities of the Moto X’s camera through a new video.  The company gave the Moto X (gen 2) smartphone to a professional drone operator who strapped it to the drone and took it for a ride over San Francisco. The smartphone’s camera captured aerial 4K video where its features such as auto-exposure and auto-focus also did a great job taking some great footage in both light as well as dark areas.

Since the Moto X weighs much less than the DSLR camera that is usually used, the drone’s flight was 5 times longer. Motorola has edited some of the captured footage in 2K (1080p) and posted the video.

In the video shown below, you can see the stunning 4K imagery captured by the Moto X’s camera in the San Francisco Bay area:

 

 

You can see some behind the scene shots here:

Source Motorola Blog

Via PhoneArena

Motorola shows off Moto X’s 4K recording capabilities through a video captured by strapping it to a Drone

New Invention: Drone Antenna For Disaster Relief

Yan Wan and her team from University of North Texas have successfully invented a device which is able to extend the Wi-Fi signal to five kilometres or a little more than three miles. The current normal range for the wireless communication can only reach a hundred metres or about the length of football field. This could mark an improvement to the existing wireless solutions and lead to new forms of wireless communication.

The device, which is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs), was put on exhibition at the Smart America Expo in June. The invention was developed as to help in providing wireless communication to disaster-struck areas where the control towers are down and thus communication with the disaster victims is a challenge.