¿How the Predator UAV Works?

Military commanders use tactics and strategy in combat to inflict as much damage on the enemy while trying to risk as few personnel and resources as possible. This principle was at the heart of the development of the RQ-1 and MQ-1 Predator UAV. (Read more)

UAVs for Real Estate

Amazing UAV-film recorded at International Drive, Orlando, FL.:

Personal UAVs

Some of the UAVs being shown at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas include items that are for play, personal photography and other uses which could lead to a market for the products.

French-based technology firm Parrot unveiled its "mini drone" toy which can be controlled from a smartphone. "We have civilian drones and now we have toy drones," Parrot's Nicolas Haftermeyer told AFP, describing the Parrot drone as a device designed for teenagers who enjoy a challenge of using a tablet to drive the device. While one division of the French firm makes fixed-wing drones for mapping and other purposes, this devices, which can be held in one's hand, are purely designed for play, says Haftermeyer.

DJI's Michael Perry said the group has established "a platform for any user to create amazing videos from the skies." While most of the usage so far has been for personal photography and professional cinematographers, Perry said DJI devices were also used for search-and-rescue operations in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. The company offered a test flight of its Phantom 2 Vision which it calls "the world's first consumer quadcopter with a built-in high-performance camera." The device can fly 25 minutes and send images and location back to a smartphone which directs navigation. It also is programmed to return home if the user loses the location. DJI says the device can revolutionize photography by getting to places normally inaccessible, like the middle of the Grand Canyon, or close to sporting events. But there could be other uses, such as for disaster relief. DJI has three other flying devices including one designed for professional cinematography and photography.

Canada cautious on UAV development

One of the more detailed studies of UAVs in Canada has been conducted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which earlier this year published a lengthy tome on the privacy implications of the new technology. (Read more)

The future of drones in real estate

The most immediate positive result for the real estate industry is that camera – equipped UAV’s allow you to capture very low altitude aerial footage, which often does a better job at telling a home’s story, compared with higher altitude footage.

UAVs can record highly stabilized HD video and sound and transmit that video & audio down to a receiver on the ground. If a pilot loses contact with their UAV while in the air, many have a “go home” feature that will automatically fly the UAV back to the take off location to safely land by itself. 

National Guard training center to host open-source UAV research

Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center will host a multi-agency research program designed to drive innovation and reduce costs of government unmanned vehicle technology.

The Open Source Unmanned Remote and Autonomous Vehicle Systems (OS-URAVS) program is a collaborative, public-private program to be based at Camp Shelby and administered in conjunction with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Homeland Security, Defense Acquisition University and private-sector organizations, including the Open Source Software Institute (OSSI).

John Weathersby, executive director of OSSI, said the OS-URAVS program seeks to identify common open-source technologies and practices used within various agencies’ unmanned vehicle programs. “The goal is to identify and document specific technical, economic and administrative benefits provided by open technology solutions and to share this information with government unmanned vehicle programs, commercial suppliers and open-source development communities,” he said. OSSI developed the OS-URAVS program as part of the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate's Homeland Open Security Technology (HOST) program. The DHS HOST program was launched in 2007 to identify open-source software solutions that support national cybersecurity objectives. The initial phase of the OS-URAVS program is scheduled to last one year.

FAA names six states as UAV test sites

The FAA has announced that six states have won the bid for official UAV testing sites. The states that won the bids include Virginia, Nevada, Texas, New York, Alaska and North Dakota. The sites will allow for testing of UAVs in controlled environments to gather data on how different UAVs perform. In 2015, the FAA has been mandated to open the airspace for operation of UAVs.  Agriculture is said to be one of the primary beneficiaries of UAV technology in the future.