drones to reforest

https://www.droneseed.com/

An interesting way to replant forests. They make pucks of seeds, fertilizer, and anti-vermin contents so the seeds don't get simply eaten.  One drone makes a map of the area, then software sends out the seed drones to strategically drop the seed pucks over an area.  Ta da!  Reseeding done!  

drone killers line up

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3bb59/report-on-537-anti-drone-systems-shows-how-wild-the-market-has-become

"This week, the Center for the Study of the The Drone at Bard College published a research paper on counter-drone technology that includes a list of 537 counter-drone systems displaying jaw-dropping diversity, from hand-held guns that detect a drone’s radio-frequency and blast it with microwaves to ground installations that listen for drones and fire a net. 

According to the report, which covers the legal framework for these tools as well as their effectiveness, not all drone downers are created equal, however. Jamming a drone might work great on the playground, but could get you arrested at the airport. And more advanced drones are immune to older counter-measures, the report found."

I think it's going to be a while before this all shakes out.  

jet-powered quadcopter

https://newatlas.com/drones/ab5-jetquad-jet-powered-drone/

"Instead of the usual four electric motors and propellers, the current prototype has four diesel-powered microturbine jet engines which produce a combined 200 horsepower (149 kW) at full throttle. Thanks to a proprietary vectoring system known as the H-Configuration, the thrust from these engines can be directed either to move the drone vertically when taking off and landing, or horizontally while in flight."

Yikes!

protesters take down a drone with lasers

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/dvqucl/the_use_of_lasers_to_blind_the_police_in_chiles/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

first protesters in Chile were trying to blind the police with lasers, which I am against because it could cause eye damage.

Then they tried to blind a drone flying overhead (I assume a police quadcopter).  This seemed to work;

https://imgur.com/q5hl1gh

Here's what just one laser looks like from the drone's perspective;
https://youtu.be/zncw7QCgIrc

autonomous killer drones are real now

https://returntonow.net/2019/11/11/china-is-selling-autonomous-killer-drones-to-middle-east/

China is now selling artificially intelligent drones capable of taking human life with little or no human oversight, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
“As we speak, the Chinese government is already exporting some of its most advanced military aerial drones to the Middle East,” Esper said at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence on Nov. 5.
The drones are “advertised as capable of full autonomy, including the ability to conduct lethal targeted strikes.”

Somebody from the future needs to come back and straighten us out before Skynet takes over.

drone light painting

https://mymodernmet.com/long-exposure-photos-salar-de-uyuni/?utm_source=site&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=push&fbclid=IwAR0a4Y590QHN3qLnvyrajgn_8Y75nGF1Xplnui-AAqSSAL9Hm7iq6SW9NnA

"In some imagery, Wu focuses solely on the landscape and keeps his light source invisible. In this call back to his early Lux Noctis work, the focus is firmly on the environment. However, some of the most striking visuals come when Wu creates his Aeroglyphs. In these photographs, the protagonist is the light itself. By placing these painted, geometric shapes into the expansive landscape, Wu creates an air of mystery and wonder."

This needs to be tried out by others.

drone with camera finds lost kid

https://futurism.com/the-byte/heat-seeking-drone-missing-child?fbclid=IwAR3EEJ-LmwX-jI65IdNDP5XVoar13sBHwr7ZtOrXFT1txIa24mQVsYVFTW4

"On Tuesday, a six-year-old boy named Ethan disappeared in Minnesota, prompting more than 600 people to form a search party.
Numerous law enforcement agencies and even a state patrol helicopter contributed to the search — but it was a heat-seeking drone operated by a local photographer that led to the boy’s rescue, 10 hours after he went missing."

https://youtu.be/XKh2-j2Azqg

taking out drones with beams

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/drone-killing-microwave-weapon-deployed-20170347

"A high-tech anti-drone weapon has been cleared for use by the US Air Force overseas for the first time.

The PHASER weapon system can knock swarms of drones out of the sky using pulses of energy."

kills birds too?

drone looks at ditches dirt cheap

https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/latest/drones-used-to-monitor-ditches-in-northwestern-minnesota/article_1199b78c-c30d-5e53-8e68-f8953f6f7067.html

"Malone sees drones as tools that make it faster and easier to inspect these often inaccessible ditches. The flight over this half-mile ditch to the Red Lake River takes three minutes. With setup, the whole process takes about a half hour."

Great idea.

drone saves surfer from shark attack

https://dronedj.com/2019/09/17/drone-pilot-mavic-2-enterprise-warn-surfer-shark/

"A quick-thinking drone pilot used the speaker on the Mavic 2 Enterprise to warn a surfer of an approaching shark at a beach south of Wollongong, Australia. After hearing the warning the surfer quickly paddled back to shore, while the shark swam off into deeper waters."

Do you have a speaker on your drone?

dude flies around Pedo Island like he owns the place

https://youtu.be/5MfLWfuhW3Y

Just stay above rock-throwing range!

I'm not sure... is this voyeurism or journalism?

Russian activist saves his data with a drone

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49689833

"Mr Boyko's companion says the couple were woken by loud banging on the door, to find men in civilian clothes and masks demanding to be let in.
The drone was loaded with various hard disks, solid-state drives and flash sticks containing 'very important' information that he did not want to fall into the police's hands, according to the activist.
'Done. The evacuation has been carried out. The drone reached its destination,' he says at one point."

Drones can be used for good and bad, like most things.

drone headed to Mars

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/09/04/mini-helicopter-installed-on-nasas-next-mars-bound-rover/

"Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California have attached a flying helicopter drone to the belly of the Mars 2020 rover set for launch next July.
The solar-powered Mars Helicopter stands about 2.6 feet (80 centimeters) tall when fully deployed, and will become the first aircraft to fly on another planet. The robot drone will ride to the Red Planet with NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, which has been assembled at JPL to begin testing in the coming weeks."

They're everywhere!

plan to fly banner with drone thwarted

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/07/eight-czech-republic-fans-arrested-alleged-plans-drone-kosovo-euro-2020-qualifier

"The Czech FA has said that six men and two women were arrested near the Kosovan capital of Pristina, where the game is taking place. Local police seized a drone, a Serbian flag and a banner that read “Kosovo is Serbia”, as well as fireworks and a knife, from two cars with Czech licence plates."

Drones are getting used for a lot of things now.

DJI gives your drone video to government?

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/20/politics/dhs-chinese-drone-warning/index.html

"Chinese-made drones may be sending sensitive flight data to their manufacturers in China, where it can be accessed by the government there, the US Department of Homeland Security warned in an alert issued Monday obtained by CNN. The drones are a 'potential risk to an organization's information,' the alert from DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency states."

Well, duh.  You know, I hope, as a DJI user that your flight information and your videos are kept by DJI.  It's not a very big step in China for a company to share such information with the government.

As a Spark user, I realize this but figure my videos and flights would just be noise to any government snoops.

Drone pilot arrested for violating sports air space

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/drone-pilot-charged-violating-secure-airspace-over-two-nfl-games-n1006241

"Tracy Michael Mapes, 56, of North Highlands, in Sacramento County, was charged Tuesday with violating temporary flight restrictions in national defense airspace at two National Football League games on Nov. 26, 2017.

According to an affidavit attached to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Mapes flew a drone that dropped the flyers on spectators at a game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara."

I'm happy they caught this guy.  Apparently the cops just followed the drone to the operator.

 

$80,000 rescue drone for Labrador

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/search-rescue-drone-saving-lives-1.5054789

"A $5,000 drone could have been purchased in place of the more expensive unit, but Blackmore said the higher expenditure stems from a situation where SAR was searching for a young person with autism and the search carried into the night.


The cameras were the selling point. There is no other helicopter in the province that has infrared capabilities, Blackmore said, adding that the daytime optical zoom camera can zoom in on Brigus from where Wednesday's demonstration was held in Paradise.
That's just over 75 kilometres in distance. "

I like that there are so many options in drones now.
 

helicopter and drone almost collide

http://digg.com/video/drone-almost-hits-helicopter

I'm going to venture the drone pilot was at fault; flying too high, in a restricted area, didn't inform anybody.

impossible new quadcopter

https://impossible.aero/

I don't see a price anywhere.

suicide drone

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/kalashnikov-unveils-new-kamikaze-suicide-drone

"The drone, which is about four feet wide, is designed to destroy remote ground targets. The manufacturer claims it could revolutionize combat in much the same way the AK-47 did in the second half of the twentieth century."

I'm not sure if this is much more advantageous from a cannon or missile. Maybe like the AK-47 it just makes killing more accessible to smaller groups.

using a drone to destroy a hornets' nest

https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/ap4g29/drone_out_a_hornets_nest_with_ease/

How to use your $800 Mavic for alternative purposes.

Drones to track bees

https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/using-drones-to-track-bees/article_1dd486bd-f0ff-5f57-9909-3a9f52c9515f.html

"North Dakota is the nation’s leader in honey production. The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks is a leader in drones and drone research.

That led Bee Innovative, an Australian company, to pair up with UND to enhance the company’s current drone technology that tracks bee movements and pollination patterns, the two companies announced Jan. 30."


I still don't get the details of this, and I wonder how many bees get chopped up by the drone meanwhile.

more dorks with drones at airport

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/us/newark-drone-sightings/index.html

"Flights into and out of New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport were disrupted Tuesday night after two drones were reported flying over nearby Teterboro Airport.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Greg Martin told CNN that the agency stopped flights at the airport after the drones were reported over the smaller regional airport some 15 miles away. Both airports serve the greater metro New York City area.

The two drones were flying at 3,500 feet and have since cleared the airspace over the airport, Martin said."

Houthis use drone to attack parade

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2019/01/10/houthis-use-armed-drone-to-target-yemeni-army-top-brass/

"On January 10, 2019 a drone reportedly targeted a Yemeni government base during a military parade, allegedly killing six people and wounding many others, including several senior officers. Analysis of the attack indicates that a variant of an Ababil T drone, referred to as a Qasef 1 by Houthi forces, was used to attack the parade. This article will analyse the event and its potential implications."

precise drone flying

https://www.reddit.com/r/nonononoyes/comments/aeiald/drone_pilot_takes_the_riskiest_dive/

Not bad.  I only fly for photography, so I've never tried such flying.

Solution to wayward drones?

https://www.tampabay.com/news/military/tampa-tech-company-offers-solutions-to-counter-drones-a-growing-threat-20190107/

"Brought in by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to help protect the show, which featured the Navy’s Blue Angel aerial demonstration team, FLYMOTION detected 46 drone flights in the temporary flight restriction zone set up by the Federal Aviation Administration. Seven of those drones were detected in the airspace where the performances were taking place. By tracing the drone signals back to the base station operating them, FLYMOTION helped police track down some of those disregarding the rules.
By honing in on the radio frequency links between the base stations and drones, FLYMOTION 'detected, identified and located all 46 flights,' said English, a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office."

This makes sense, of course, unless the droner has created countermeasures to being detected.

It's going to be an endless struggle against idiot drone operators.

Donald Trump knows more about drones than anybody

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/02/foremost-experts-various-topics-according-trump-most-whom-are-trump/?fbclid=IwAR1UGkfHLN2Yxf0ACMaZCgiRIABrh9Y3d_LJgLRzfps0tiwbFyzUqoDCxMU&utm_term=.912e8679e46a

"I know more about drones than anybody," Trump said.

This is possible, I suppose. Perhaps Trump has spent an inordinate amount of time studying unmanned aircraft during his tenure in the White House, or, perhaps, he brought to the job years worth of analysis on the subject. It just seems as though perhaps it’s hyperbolic. Even if we constrain the comment to the context in which it was offered — the use of drones to patrol the border — it seems unlikely that Trump is the foremost authority on the subject in the world.