Drones for good

A Wisconsin drone company has partnered with the local school district to provide reliable internet to rural Northwoods kids. The drones will essentially act as mobile cellular towers to give the kids access to the internet for school work.

Oil and gas giant Neptune Energy has partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to measure methane emissions from offshore rigs with drones. Methane is a component of natural gas and a greenhouse gas required to be reduced according to the Paris Agreement.

Regular drone flights are about to commence shuttling COVID-19 tests, personal protective equipment, and other medical supplies between two communities in Scotland. There was a proof-of-concept phase last year, but the service is about to become fully operational.

Wingcopter, the German company with an innovative eVTOL aircraft, has joined the Flying Labs network as a technology partner. As it states in a news release, “The goal of the partnership is to improve supply chains through locally led cargo drone projects and to equip local talent with the skills to operate Wingcopter’s unmanned systems in long range drone applications, including beyond visual line of sight.” Let’s find out more.

A new video is out from DJI. It’s not promoting any particular DJI product, but rather the use-case scenarios for drones at the French ski resort of Val Thorens.

It started out as a fun drone flight by the beach. It ended with a high-stakes rescue.

Public safety drone consultancy Skyfire has announced its brand-new drone as part of a first responder (DFR) program for public safety agencies and first responders. The program aims to reduce response times, provide situational awareness, and increase efficiency.

One of Canada’s leading UAS innovators has been carrying out trials, flying drones on COVID-related BVLOS, or Beyond Visual Line of Sight, deliveries. The BVLOS tests involve InDro Robotics using a drone to deliver supplies to and from a remote First Nations community in British Columbia, Canada. And that’s a big deal.

A new drone has been unveiled that its creators say is the largest such device built to date. US startup Aevum, Inc. plans to use its Ravn X as a launch vehicle for a two-stage rocket that would place low-earth orbit satellites in space.

A drone has been used by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to rescue a 55-year old Indian woman stuck in the middle of the Koundinya river. The woman was rescued from waist-deep water on Saturday morning.

The municipality of Metepec in Mexico has been using drones for the last two years, with many people loving the high-tech addition. Last week, Gabriela Gamboa Sánchez, Constitutional President of Metepec City Council, announced a new drone program to make it an even better place for residents to live.

The United States Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) counter-narcotics operations are testing drones for aerial support on future missions. The drone demonstrated its benefits during operations in the Eastern Pacific from October 6th, 2019, to July 31st, 2020.

Someone dropped us a note today here at DroneDJ. They wanted to point us toward an aerial video they had shot. It reveals an environmental catastrophe — a toxic lake — in a beautiful location. It’s well worth a look.

Earlier this week, Airwards launched a digital awards scheme that recognizes some of the best drone work around the world. Airwards is the brainchild of Richard Nichols to show off everything good drones have to offer in the world.

The US National Guard’s MQ-9 Reaper drones have received an upgrade, giving them advanced AI capabilities to track wildfires in real time. The new AI-backed drones can map out where it thinks the fire will spread to, based on previous fires.

A man in East Bay, California, is using his DJI Matrice drone to find pets lost during natural disasters, including the wildfires burning across the state. Douglas Thron is using the infrared camera on the drone to spot the animals with ease from above.

France is trialing sulfur sniffing drones to ensure ships going through specific control zones in European waters aren’t emitting too much sulfur into the atmosphere. The company has partnered with the NORCE Research Institue AS to assist the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the French Maritime Authorities.

Lifeguards, rejoice: You can now issue orders over bodies of water directly by drone using a new megaphone designed to be carried by a waterproof drone. Swellpro’s new flying speaker is 100 watts, can be heard up to 40M horizontally from the drone, and could be a really useful tool for lifeguards and others.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has sent out another 11 drones in the fight against mosquitoes to control the spread of malaria and dengue fever along the Musi River in India. The drones will be used in anti-larval operations (ALO) to stop the spread at the source.

A drone video shared by David Johnson shows a hawk nesting with two babies at the top of a dead Ponderosa pine tree in River Heights, Utah. Johnson was alerted to the bird on his rental property after the tenant let the tree-cutting company know they were there.

Drone maker Parrot has partnered with Florida-based Airborne International Response Team (AIRT) to provide first responders with drone support when needed. Parrot will be providing its latest ANAFI USA commercial drone to the AIRT.