Month: August 2015

Launch of silent drone aims to advance the film industry

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MEGHAN LAWRENCE/FAIRFAX NZ

 

Howick brothers Mat Rowe and Seamus Rowe with the beginnings of their drone design. The third brother Shaun Pentecost, 35, who couldn't make it along for the photo, is looking after the drone's coding.

Howick brothers Mat Rowe and Seamus Rowe with the beginnings of their drone design. The third brother Shaun Pentecost, 35, who couldn’t make it along for the photo, is looking after the drone’s coding.

Three inventive brothers have been awarded $10,000 to design a new drone that could revolutionise the film industry.

Seamus and Mat Rowe and their brother Shaun Pentecost, all from Howick in East Auckland, are one of six teams to make the finals of the 2015 Callaghan Innovation C-PRIZE competition.

The competition is centred around producing the next generation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology that can be used in big screen productions.

Seamus Rowe soldering together parts of the drone.

Seamus Rowe soldering together parts of the drone.

The brothers decided to take on the challenge of creating a drone that could not only film, but also record spoken dialogue with very little unwanted noise.

They hope their combined experience in electrical engineering and biotechnology will help them produce a marketable drone.

Seamus, 22, says there are a lot of drones already on the market, but the sound they make is horrible.

“The whole goal of this project is to try and make the drone quieter,” the Manukau Institute of Technology electrical engineering student says.

“At the moment the sound they produce is about 80 decibels, which is like shouting, so you can’t record audio from them at all because they are way too noisy.”

Mat, 39, says it is not about building a drone from scratch, but trying to create technology that will improve them.

“There are a number of ways of doing that but we have chosen the paths of active noise cancelling and actually making the drones themselves quieter,” he says.
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The design includes 3D printed shrouding which will muffle the sound of the propellers, as well as technology that will record dialogue while removing any unwanted noise.

The brothers have four months to complete their prototype and are competing for the chance to win $50,000 and a trip to exhibit at the NAB trade show in Las Vegas.

The winners will also receive support from Callaghan Innovation and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to release the drone on the international market.

It has also been a great way to launch their own technology discovery business, Dotterel Technologies, Mat says.

“It has been good to be given a start. If we were to win we would push it more towards a commercial product and look to expand into other industries such as agriculture,” Mat says.

The winner of the C-PRIZE competition will be announced in late November.

Go to cprize.nz for more information.

 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/71243859/launch-of-silent-drone-aims-to-advance-the-film-industry

WSJ: – The Daily Startup: Skycatch Lands $22M for Drone Development

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 skycatchoffice

Drone developer Skycatch Inc. has landed$22 million in new funding, Lora Kolodny reports for Dow Jones VentureWire. The company is still raising its funding, and it has a target of $25 million, according to a regulatory filing. Venture investment in drone companies has soared this year, with large investments in drone makers and other companies that make hardware or software for the unmanned aerial vehicles. San Francisco-based Skycatch makes drones and software to help companies monitor complex job sites, such as those in construction, oil and gas extraction, mining and agriculture. Riverwood Ventures led the Skycatch investment, which was joined by Sherpalo Ventures, Avalon Ventures, zPark Capital and others.

http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2015/08/20/the-daily-startup-skycatch-lands-22m-for-drone-development/v

Generator failure caused drone crash in Africa, investigation finds

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Reaper

The failure of an on board electrical generator caused the crash of a drone in February during a mission over Africa, an Air Force investigation announced Wednesday.

The Air Force crew in charge of the aircraft intentionally crashed the MQ-9A Reaper over international waters after they were unable to fix the problem Feb. 4, according to the report by the Accident Investigation Board.

The $13.2 million aircraft was destroyed and the wreckage was not recovered, the service said.

The Reaper was assigned to the 33rd Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron, 435th Air Expeditionary Wing in Africa Command. It was flying an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission when the problem occurred, according to Air Combat Command.

The Air Force has not disclosed where the drone was operating, and the accident report withheld the name of the installation the aircraft launched from.

Officials also did not indicate the drone’s mission, though AFRICOM leaders have been trying to increase surveillance of African extremist groups such as Boko Haram and other terrorist threats.

The crash report comes as the Pentagon is trying to ramp up the number of drone missions. On Monday, military leaders said they plan to expand drone sorties beyond the Air Force. In addition to the 60 air combat patrols the Air Force performs daily, the military hopes by 2019 to have between 10 and 20 daily drone flights conducted by the Army, 10 by U.S. Special Operations Command, and 10 by contractors.

The Reaper that crashed in February had been inspected just two days before the mission and was cleared for operation, the accident report said.

The drone took off without incident, but three hours into its flight, its starter-generator — which supplies most of the power to the drone — failed, the report said.

The piloting crew turned the aircraft around and directed it back toward the unspecified base, while shutting down noncritical systems in an effort to conserve power, the record shows.

However, while still 30 miles from the base, the pilot detected that the craft had only 24 volts of power left and was still losing energy.

“When battery voltage drops below 22V, the aircraft can become unstable and unreliable during flight,” the accident report said.

Lowering the aircraft’s landing gear would have used up additional power as well, investigators said.

Unable to guarantee control of the drone, military commanders directed the pilot to fly the Reaper out over international waters and crash it. However the aircraft didn’t have enough power left to even complete that, the report said. While descending, the drone’s power gave out completely, and the craft free-fell the rest of the way into the water.

Air Force officials said that “another ISR asset” observed the incident and confirmed that the drone impacted the water and was destroyed.

The drone operators were well rested and had been properly trained, the report said, adding that investigators did not believe that human error was a factor in the crash. The weather was also considered to be clear and is not believed to have been a factor in the crash.

Other than the aircraft itself, there was no damage involved in the incident, and no injuries.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2015/08/19/generator-failure-caused-drone-crash-near-africa-investigation-finds/32010439/

Researchers want to make license plates for drones

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42-75650152

A drone flies over a ravine as the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office demonstrates a search and rescue operation, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, in Dublin, Calif.
Image: AP Photo/Noah Berger
Headshot_2015_chrisperkins_1

By Chris Perkins
The rapid rise of amateur-piloted drones has created somewhat of a regulatory nightmare. Countless reports of pilots spotting drones near airports as well as the recent fracas over drones impeding firefighters are testament to that.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley are attempting to tackle this issue with license plates reports Technology Review.

Well, they’re not really license plates the way we know them.

The researchers call their invention LightCense and they use multicolored LED lights mounted to the underside of an Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) that flash in a unique pattern. This pattern can be decoded by a smartphone app, specially designed cameras or memorized by a person, though that last one seems a little less likely.

Aislan Foina, director of the Cal Unmanned lab at UC Berkley, says LightCense was inspired by automotive license plates, despite the differences in how they work. He and his team consider drones as being more related to cars than aircraft, which makes sense given their small size and (relatively) large numbers.

 

Image: LightCense

As of right now, there are no definitive plans to bring this tech to market, but Foina would like to see it go commercial at some point.

 

UAV regulation has been a major issue with the proliferation of affordable consumer drones.

UAV regulation has been a major issue with the proliferation of affordable consumer drones. Pilots at JFK recently had three separate close calls with UAVs flying in no-fly-zones in just one weekend.Drones are also posing a large threat to firefighters in California. The state’s chief of the Department of Forestry and Fire said that UAVs cause “immediate danger” to firefighting pilots in a recent press conference, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Many places, notably airports, are marked as no-fly zones but it’s almost impossible for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to prevent drones from flying in these areas. Due to the large amount of UAVs flying at any given time, the regulation for drones would need to be automated, in contrast with the FAA’s human-operated Air Traffic Control.

A proposal from NASA and Verizon would require all drones to connect to the Internet, enabling the ability for “geofencing.” Amazon — which is trying to start up a drone delivery service — also released a similar plan that would require non-Internet connected drones to fly below 200 feet. The appeal of LightCense is that it could be retrofitted to drones that aren’t connected to the Internet.

Assuming the proposal goes forward, LightCense could be a good way to keep older drones in the sky.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

 

http://mashable.com/2015/08/19/license-plates-for-drones/

Eye in the sky shows farming possibilities

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 By Terry Anderson, Midwest Producer News Editor

COLBY, Kan. — It may have been a bit foggy, but that didn’t deter the demonstrations of small Unmanned Aerial Systems near Colby on Aug. 10. About 50 farm producers, agribusiness representatives and others interested in drone technology attended the outdoor display, followed by an indoor presentation by the demonstration companies and other experts.

The event was organized by the Kansas Ag Research and Technology Association (KARTA).

The fog may have hampered observations, but the four airborne systems could be heard as they criss-crossed nearby fields, sending live visuals back to equipment on the ground.

Apis Remote Sensing Systems of Hays, Kan., demonstrated an AgEagle fixed-wing system, manufactured in Neodesha, Kan., as well as a four-prop helicopter-type drone. Chris Pope of Crop Quest in Dodge City and Thomas Harris of Agribotix in Boulder, Colo., also demonstrated four-prop drones.

The exhibitors noted the fast advancements in the aerial systems, despite lack of clear regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration. The UAVs are being used as part of commercial agronomy packages.

http://www.midwestproducer.com/news/agri-tech/eye-in-the-sky-shows-farming-possibilities/article_8af491e0-4690-11e5-ac9d-97beefa3ce40.html

Cops bust hobbyist flying drone near Manhattan Bridge

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DRONE ARREST

By Larry Celona

Cops busted a hobbyist flying a drone near the FDR Drive on Thursday and slapped him with a summons, police sources said.

Ramon Lopez, 28, of California was nabbed by authorities as he was flying a white drone on South Street near Jefferson Street in the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge, according to sources.

Lopez was hit with a summons for violating a law governing “aviation in and over” the city.

http://nypost.com/2015/08/20/cops-bust-hobbyist-flying-drone-near-manhattan-bridge/

Stores Must Stop Drone Sales at New Jersey Airport

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newark-airport

At least two stores inside Newark Liberty International Airport are selling drones despite federal rules prohibiting flying them near airports.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it will demand the stores stop selling drones “immediately.”

“The Port Authority shares the aviation community’s safety concerns about the growing presence of drones around the region’s airports and is strongly opposed to the sale of drones at terminal shops,” Ron Marsico, a Port Authority spokesman, said in a statement.

Brookstone, on the secure side of Terminal C, and Hudson News, in Terminal A, sell remote-controlled flying objects, NJ.com reported (http://bit.ly/1JhYc8Q) Wednesday.

Commercial airline pilots at Newark Liberty have reported seeing drones recently, including four separate sightings on Aug. 9.

The Federal Aviation Administration said last week that drones had been spotted 650 times this year as of Aug. 9, compared with 238 sightings for all of 2014. The agency is now proposing to further restrict drone flying, including a 400-foot maximum altitude.

Laura Samuels, a spokeswoman for the Hudson Group, Hudson News’ parent company, said Tuesday the items were toys and did not threaten aviation. She said they would be removed from the Terminal A store.

“We’re not here to cause panic in the streets,” she said. “If it is uncomfortable for customers or the airport, we will do what we always do in that situation, and that’s remove them. And that’s what I’m going to recommend we do.”

It was unclear whether there were any limits on the sale of drones at an airport.

The FAA and Brookstone did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Information from: NJ.com, http://www.nj.com

Downing drone at beach leads to jail

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phantomstatue

By Kristina Davis

ENCINITAS — A confrontation over a drone flying above beachgoers ended with damaged equipment, a man behind bars and lingering questions over the line between public air space and personal space.

Augustine Lehecka, a Carlsbad electronic engineer, said he was enjoying the ideal summer afternoon at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas with friends on Sunday. A rock ‘n’ roll band was on stage, the water was warm for bodysurfing and the beach was packed.

Then came an uninvited guest.

Lehecka, 53, said a sophisticated drone flew over his group of about 10 friends, which included two young children. He said it was flying dangerously low, its four blades whirring overhead like a lawn mower, and its mounted camera swiveling back and forth apparently aimed at the group.

“We had like a peeping Tom,” he recalled Wednesday. “I felt threatened.”

He said he motioned for the drone to leave them alone, but it didn’t appear to work. Concerned for the safety of the group, as well as their privacy, he decided to take further action.

He took off his shirt and tossed it at the drone.

“I’m a big guy and my T-shirt is huge. It cannot be tossed more than 6 feet,” he estimated of the height. The shirt wrapped around the propeller of the drone, causing it to drop to the sand.

Lehecka said he considered the situation resolved at that point.

About 10 minutes later, he was met by sheriff’s deputies. They arrested Lehecka on one count of felony vandalism and booked him into Vista jail.

He spent around eight hours behind bars before posting $10,000 bail, said Lehecka, who remained shaken by his experience days later.

Turns out, the operator works for a drone company. The pilot could not be reached for an interview and a company representative did not return a reporters’ phone call.

In an interview with NBC 7, the pilot, who asked to not be named, said he was flying at a safe distance above the crowd and not invading anyone’s privacy. He said the damage came to about $750.

The District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday declined to press charges against Lehecka in the incident, an office spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Lehecka said the use of drones in such public places is alarming, especially since many drones can be operated via the Internet, from the other side of the world.

“What if they fly into a crowd of people?” he asked. “Where’s the accountability?”

He said he and a friend were buzzed by a drone just the day before in the Del Mar area, sparking a conversation at the time about the legality and safety of such activity.

Government officials have been scrambling to respond to the growing popularity of drones now that they are so accessible to the general public. Commercial drone traffic is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Authorities are pushing for legislation to ban drone flights near active wildfires, a growing concern. And NASA is testing an air traffic control system for drones.

Hobbyist operators are encouraged to follow safety guidelines that include flying no higher than 400 feet, staying away from other aircraft and airports, and keeping the drone within sight.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/19/man-jailed-beach-drone-confrontation/