Canada

Canadian next-generation terrestrial and aerial vehicle specialist InDro Robotics has joined the effort to battle wildfires that have been punishing the nation for weeks with data-gathering drone deployments to assist firefighters in British Columbia.

Aerial transport services company Drone Delivery Canada says it has successfully completed test flights of its Canary UAV in commercial operation conditions, verifying the craft’s enhancements over the firm’s earlier Sparrow vehicle.

Canada’s diversified drone hardware and services company Volatus Aerospace wasted little time in putting its recently acquired firefighting credentials to good use by assisting efforts in Alberta this month to battle wildfires that have punished the province.

Newly published figures are offering an idea of just how enormous the problem of drone use to deliver contraband to prisons around the world has become, showing nearly 100 suspected UAV drops made to a single Canadian jail last year alone.

A group of Canadian tech sector companies including InDro Robotics, backed by government agencies, have announced the opening of the Drone and Advanced Robotics Testing and Training Zone (DARTT), which is being touted as the nation’s first full-range, cutting-edge center for drone, automated ground vehicle, and diverse robotic craft trials.

Aerial transport company Drone Delivery Canada has added new capacities to its growing array of UAV activities by obtaining approval from regulators for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of dangerous goods as part of its Care by Air program.

Canadian drone hardware, service, and training company Volatus Aerospace has announced the addition of two new specialized, certification-required activities to its broadening menu, notably the ability to provide aerial tech for use in battling the nation’s proliferating wildfires.

Uncrewed traffic management (UTM) specialist AirMatrix says it has received funding to map cellular signal data up to 1,000 feet. The company’s new research project will eventually help to set up the necessary telecom infrastructure for passenger air taxis and drones carrying heavy payloads above 400 feet.

Toronto-based Drone Delivery Canada announced the first sale of its Condor heavy-lift UAV in a deal with the government’s Transport Canada agency.

Mike Holmes, a Canadian builder and television personality known for rescuing homeowners from botched construction jobs, says his firm will now be using drones to help improve the quality and efficiency of roof inspections for property insurance claims.

Drone services and ground robotic vehicle specialist InDro Robotics has received a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) UAV flights in the US, a first for a Canadian company according to the Toronto-based firm.

Drone company Volatus Aerospace has been issued a drone cargo license by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released its report on a 2021 collision between a Cessna 172N plane approaching the Toronto area’s Buttonville Municipal Airport and a police drone operating in the restricted airspace without the required waiver – an incident that sparked controversy when it belatedly became public.

A provincial court in Canada has ordered a man to pay nearly $7,400 (CAD 10,000) in penalties for piloting a drone near a wildfire in Alberta’s Jasper National Park. This is reportedly the “largest fine ever” issued for flying a drone illegally in a national park in Canada.

Toronto-based drone logistics firm Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has launched a new revenue-generating pilot project that aims to show the benefits of using drone technology for transporting medical supplies.

A research project experimenting with drones to identify overexerted athletes in states of distress turned into a real-life emergency medical response operation last weekend, when UAVs deployed to monitor the Montréal Marathon spotted an exhausted runner collapsing.

Canadian aviation authorities have issued a Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) certificate to drone logistics firm Drone Delivery Canada. The Toronto-based company says it is the only drone service provider in Canada approved to deliver dangerous goods using drones.

Toronto-based drone logistics firm Drone Delivery Canada has received Transport Canada’s nod to conduct beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone delivery operations for the University of British Columbia’s Remote Communities Drone Transport Initiative (DTI) program.

The official Twitter account of Canada’s Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) asked its 50K+ followers an all-important question this week: “How are illegal guns reaching the hands of criminals in Canada?” But the department already knew part of the answer, thanks to a drone that had seemingly crossed the border from the United States carrying a shopping bag full of Glock semiautomatic pistols.

Canadian startup AirMatrix, who’s dedicated to mapping out drone corridors in the sky, is working on a new project that could impact commercial drone deliveries and public safety operations alike. The company is using funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to figure out, from a telecommunications standpoint, the connectivity requirements for drones to safely operate in complex urban airspace.

Reversing a position it took last year, Canada’s government says it is sending cutting-edge surveillance cameras for use on Turkish military drones in armed conflict ­– this time in Ukraine.