Drones - Page 2

Early reports from police suggest that drones were used to attack oil tankers resulting in explosions that have killed three people and injured a few others.

A report from The Guardian indicates that drones may have been used by Houthi forces in Yemen to attack three oil tankers that were located close to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) airport. The attack was claimed by the Houthi forces, and UAE police have acknowledged and reported the incident, stating that the explosions were likely caused by small flying objects.

The attacks and the quick claim by the Houthi forces is likely to increase the tensions between UAE and Houthi. The apparent drone attacks have killed three people, two Indian nationals and one Pakistani. Additionally, six people have been injured, but most are reportedly suffering minor damage. The Guardian reports that the Houthi have been using drones equipped with bombs to attack the UAE over the duration of the war.

Drones have fast become one of the newest forms of surveillance and weapons for military personnel.

Naturally, when a weapon is developed, defense against the weapon is developed as well. Introducing, HELMA-P, a new turret system that uses lasers to knock drones out of the sky. HELMA-P stands for High Energy Laser for Multiple Applications - Power, and as noted by Interesting Engineering, it resembles a one-eyed WALL-E.

However, I don't believe its intentions are as pure or kind-hearted as WALL-E's as HEMLA-P is designed to take out drones with its lasers. HEMLA-P is equipped with optical sensors that give it the ability to track drones mid-air, and two-kilowatt lasers that are designed to destroy them. During its testing, HELMA-P successfully shot down 37 drones with 100% accuracy. The new system was developed by two French companies, CILAS, and Ariane Group.

The 2021 Olympics have officially begun, with the opening ceremony kicking off with an incredible display of drones flying in the night sky.

The video has been posted to Reddit and shows a collection of small drones, all creating what appeared to be a flat disk in the night sky. The drones then expand the circle and move to their respective positions to form a sphere. After that, the drones initiate the next phase and position themselves accordingly to create the shape of all of the continents on Earth.

The opening ceremony also featured an incredible fireworks show to start the games off with a bang, with each of the athletes representing their countries parading into an almost empty stadium. In other drone news, a Florida man recently shot a drone out of the sky that was "harassed" him, check out more on that story here.

A Florida man felt he was being harassed by a drone near his property and decided to take the matter into his own hands by shooting the drone down.

Wendell Goney, 50, took aim and shot his .22-caliber rifle at a drone that was owned by Lake County Sheriff's Office located in Mount Dora, Florida. According to a report from Orlando Sentinel, Goney believed that the drone was attempting to harass him, so he shot it down and watched as it slammed into a nearby structure before catching on fire.

Sentinel reports that the drone wasn't there to harass Goney but was actually investigating an area that recently experienced a burglary. It should be noted that Goney has run into law enforcement as he was convicted of aggravated assault against an officer back in 2013. Now, Goney faces a slew of new charges, such as possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and criminal mischief. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Drone maker DJI is known mostly for its line of consumer drones, but the company also makes a lot of commercial drones aimed at industrial use and first responders. DJI has unveiled a new commercial drone platform called the Matrice 300 RTK or M300 RTK. DJI says that the new platform rewrites the standard for the commercial drone industry with modern aviation features, advanced AI, directional sensing and position system, and more.

The drone has a 55-minute flight time and features AES-256 encryption and an IP45 water resistant enclosure. The platform is fitted with the new OcuSync Enterprise transmission system that provides a triple-channel 1080p video transmission signal that can reach up to 15 km away.

M300 RTK supports up to three payloads at the same time and has a maximum payload capacity of 2.7 kg. The platform features a Primary Flight Display that offers real-time flight and navigation data on one display. The display shows standard telemetry data such as altitude and speed along with optical data for visualizing nearby obstacles during flight.

A lot of people out there enjoy filming from the air using drones, such as the line made by DJI. The company is gearing up to launch a new drone that has been leaked several times, called the DJI Mavic Air 2. The latest leak shows appear to be images of the device from the official press release, which is expected today.

The leaked images show the drone from multiple angles and give us a good look at the controller as well. The images give us a good look at the camera mounted up front on a gimbal and the folding design that makes it more compact to transport. The controller is interesting with the sliding section designed to hold the smartphone allowing the pilot to view the camera feed in real-time.

Another interesting feature of the drone are hints that it will have an advanced ActiveTrack feature. The camera is tipped using Sony IMX586 sensor that allows it to capture 4K images and video. The smartphone holder built into the controller is an alternative to the screen integrated into some past devices.

In a new press release, Exyn Technologies has announced its latest military surveillance drone that is designed to save human lives throughout reconnaissance.

Exyn Technologies has introduced us to their new drone called Scoutonomy. Scoutonomy has the capability of navigating within dynamic, complex, and dangerous environments without the assistance of human pre-loaded maps of areas. The new drone uses aerial robot systems to detect the environment it's flying in, adjust its course in real-time, and detect both objects and humans.

According to Nader Elm, CEO of Exyn Technologies, "Our aerial robots provide unique capabilities that the Government is seeking to develop and deploy. They are completely self-sufficient and a significantly valuable asset in providing superior situational awareness. We're most proud of our robots' ability to identify threats, reduce operational risks and save soldiers' and civilian lives in unknown and volatile situations. Now you can send a drone to perform highly sensitive missions that are far too dangerous for human soldiers, and acquire data that is unprecedented in its level of detail, accuracy and timeliness."

Any drone that is deemed unauthorized can be shot out of the sky by defense officials, but maybe this course of action isn't the best choice.

A new contract has been signed by the Department of Defence and a company called Fortem Technology. Above, we have a video from Fortem Technology which displays a new way of disabling unauthorized drones. This new strategy is led by what the company calls DroneHunter, which is a larger drone that uses a radar to track unauthorized drones, and once it has found them, it captures them with a net.

Capturing drone mid-air has many benefits overblowing them out of the sky. Defense officials will be able to retrieve the drone and examine it for further details and hopefully, be able to figure out who the perpetrator behind the drone is. Defense One says that the Pentagon and the general US military is spending millions of dollars investing in this new technology.

The problem with smaller drones these days is the fact that they can't stay up in the air for long periods of time. What if that problem can be solved by listening to mother nature?

Researchers and scientists from Brown University and EPFL have released a video that shows off a new design for smaller drones. This new design is called "a bio-inspired separated flow wing" and allows for the drone to have turbulence resilience and enables high endurance flight.

It is estimated that a small 100g drone will be able to stay in flight for around 3 hours with this new design, which is about four times what a normal drone of this same size would be able to achieve. At the moment, the new drone design has only been tested in a wind tunnel, but the team behind the design has patented it and plans on improving upon it. For more information about how this new drone design works, check out the Brown.edu website here.

CES 2020 - If you are really into home security, and you have every right to be, then you might want to consider picking up the Sunflower Home Awareness System. It does cost close to $10,000, though.

When someone says home security, usually the first thing that pops into your mind is cameras placed around your home, or maybe even Wi-Fi routers that can detect motion. I bet that you wouldn't think of drones. Sunflower did think of drones, though. They thought about it enough to make an entire home awareness system that combines on-ground sensors and a deployable drone.

The Sunflower Home Awareness System uses on-ground sensors called Sunflowers, which resemble garden lights that can detect motion and vibration. The sensors can also tell the difference between people, cars, and pets. Once movement is detected by the Sunflowers, a notification is sent to the owner's phone via an app. After receiving the notification, the owner can then choose to deploy the drone from its home called the "hive".

Urban attack drones equipped with rocket launchers and night vision are currently being tested in none other than China.

According to Mashable, a Chinese company that is a subsidiary of a state-owned aerospace company is currently in the middle of developing a tiny attack drone designed for urban locations. This drone has been titled "Tianyi" and is a quad-copter that is primarily designed for unnamed reconnaissance missions.

The drone also has the capability of doing close-range strikes against people and armored vehicles. Equipped with infrared lasers for nighttime operations, and armed with 50mm rockets that can be fired from 1km away, manufacturers are hoping they can mass produce "Tianyi" and sell it to Western countries.

Researchers from both Caltech and NASA have developed a new type of drone that can be fired from a moving cannon.

The drone is called the Streamlined Quick Unfolding Investigation Drone, or SQUID for short. SQUID has been developed by Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and has the ability to fold down into almost a football-like shape. Most impressively is the once SQUID is in its smallest form factor, it can be placed inside of a tube and then launched into the sky.

The multirotor design initiates once the drone is in mid-air, granting its stability and flight. The drone doesn't have to be stationary for it to be shot out of the cannon. The above video demonstrates that SQUID can be shot out of a moving vehicle traveling at 50mph and still transition into stable flight. SQUID is designed for emergency response teams and space exploration missions. An image of SQUID's design has been provided in the entirety of this article.

Alphabet, Google's parent company has a subsidiary company called 'Wing', Wing has now become the first company in the United States to deliver a package by drone. Achievement unlocked!

A small town in Virginia is home called Christiansburg is home to Wing's testing grounds as residents can order products as per normal but instead of getting them driven by FedEx, they can get a drone drop off. Families can use the Wing app to order products, and one family who has already used the app bought Tylenol, cough drops, Vitamin C tablets, water and tissues.

The Wing drones are capable of transporting a maximum of three pounds of goods to a consumer that is located within six miles of the drone loading center called the "Nest". You are probably wondering how the dropping off transition happens, so once the drone has arrived at the marked address it hovers above the house and instead of landing it lowers the cargo via a cable to purchaser.

If you didn't know, Amazon are planning on implementing a drone delivery service that would allow for Amazon buyers to receive their goods in 30 minutes or less.

While that might seem like a far-fetched idea, the reality of it arriving in the US has just taken a few more steps closer to being real. According to an announcement by the Federal Aviation Administration, a massively significant milestone in drone flight has just been reached. Reuters reports that the The University of Alaska has just completed the first FAA-approved "beyond line of sight" drone flight this week.

Why is this milestone so significant? Until now, drones were under a law of "line of sight" which requires drone operators be in vision of their drone at all times. Irish Automation is a company who makes collision avoidance software for drones, this software was used by the University of Alaska in their test and was approved by the FAA. Alexander Harmsen, CEO of Iris Automation spoke out about this achievement, saying "This is the first time detect and avoid technology is approved by an aviation authority as reliable enough to allow for BVLOS [beyond visual line of sight] drone operations".

Since drones have become a layman's new toy there has been many creations and attachments made for them, but this truly does take 1st place for awesome - introducing the Wasp Flamethrower Drone.

Above we have a video released onto the Throwflame YouTube Channel and it showcases the brand new flamethrower attachment called the Throwflame TF-19 Wasp. This attachment is designed to fit a commericial-grad heavy lift drone and is equipped with a one-gallon fuel tanker that is capable of launching flame up to 25 feet.

The tanker supplies 100 seconds of flame throwing awesomeness and comes in at the cost of $1499. That isn't the full cost though, since the TF-19 is an attachment you will need a drone to fly it. According to Throwflame, who talked to the The Verge, the drone in the video is a DJI S1000 with an A2 flight controller, 6S 16,000mAh LiPo battery and a TBS Tango R/C remote. All of that prices out to about an additional $2,600.

Boeing has revealed a giant drone that is capable of changing the way that transportation of cargo is done from small destination of point A to B. The giant drone is capable of lifting 500 pounds of weight and will serve a staple example of what future autonomous flying aircrafts can achieve.

Amazingly the massive drone came from a concept drawing on a piece of paper and only took Boeing engineers three months to bring to life, titling the creation"unmanned electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) cargo air vehicle (CAV) prototype." The company has said that the drone has passed all testing done at Boeing research labs in Missouri, and that the drone represents "another major step in our Boeing eVTOL strategy."

Greg Hyslop, Boeing chief technology officer said that the company has an "opportunity to really change air travel and transport, and we'll look back on this day as a major step in that journey."

The times of taking a selfie with an outstretched arm is over as AEE has created a drone that attaches to the back of your phone case, and once activated, will hover at the perfect height for the ultimate selfie.

Selfly is your very own selfie and recording drone assistant, merely unfolding the from the back of the users phone case will allow for on-the-fly selfies and live streams. The drone has the ability to take pictures in 1080p and record record in 60FPS but sadly only has a four-minute battery life. Selfly can take panoramic shots and allows for the user to set the drone at the perfect height using the virtual joysticks or the point-and-fly option within the app.

Of course having a drone attached to the back of your phone case is going to increase the width of your phone, but luckily enough it isn't as bad as you would think. Selfly only increases the width of the average phone by about half an inch, which is a small price to pay if selfies or 1080p recording wherever you go is something you desire to do for a short amount of time.

CES 2018 - At last years Superbowl halftime show Intel displayed a drone-based light show, at this years CES Intel gave the same treatment at their keynote and also introduced a new version of a drone called the 'Shooting Star Mini.'

These very small drones are completely safe to fly in-doors and also have the ability to be able to self-detect where they are in the space of the room, while in conjunction to the other drones partnered with them. At the keynote these drones danced to the song 'Stargazing' by Kygo, the performance was a preprogrammed routine implemented in the numerous drones that were combined together to create the light show.

Unfortunately these drones will not be available on the consumer level as Intel only intends them to be used for specific light show events such as the one at CES. Instead of being individually controlled, Intel say that one person can control up to 100 of them at once, which in turn when following the pre-programmed choreography will produce a immaculate light show.

Now that Wi-Fi is almost a necessity, nothing is more annoying than walking into a room in your home that is just out of reach of the signal to router, with iRobot soon updating the Roomba app with the ability of letting owners of use their Roomba to see which rooms are Wi-Fi dead zones, and which are not.

Your Roomba will be able to map out the problematic Wi-Fi areas within your home, and combined with mapping out floor areas and specific route planning, Roomba devices will have more efficiently navigate from room to room within homes.

Roomba device will be able to map out the strengths of certain areas within users homes, and once Roomba owners update their devices, people struggling with Wi-Fi signals in certain areas of their homes will be able to adjust their Wi-Fi settings accordingly, mostly eliminating Wi-Fi dead zones in their houses.

DJI have announced the arrival the world's first super-compact 35 digital film camera, the Zenmuse X7. Aimed for professional cinematographers and video production enthusiasts, the Zenmuse X7 features an integrated gimbal and can capture 6K CinemaDNG RAW and 5.2K Apple ProRest at 30FPS or 3.9K Cinerma DNG RAW and 2.7k Apple ProRes at 60 FPS.

Taking advantage of new FSI-Cu technology, the X7's sensor features thinner interconnections, this increases photo-sensitivity and enables a more compact lens mound to be used. Utilizing DJI's new Cinema Color System, this innovative system preserves accurate colors for easier post-processing while maintaining color accuracy.

Four lenses are currently available with focal lengths at 16mm, 24mm, 35mm and 50mm, all capable of resolution up to 8K. They're not cheap however, prices start at at $1,199 to $1,299 for the 50mm. When attached to the DJI Inspire 2, flight times are marginally impacted. This is a result of the Zenmuse X7's weighing only 631 grams, with expected flight times of up to 23 minutes.