drones

With a new state-of-the-art detect and avoid system, the Federal Aviation Administration has given the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) permission to fly its unmanned aerial systems (UAS) beyond visual line of sight at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport. This permission is called a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA). Ohio hopes to get its own permission but until then may partner with AFRL.

A University of Maryland transplant surgeon is encouraged by successful tests showing a kidney can be transported by drone. More tests are planned for 2019.

Power companies, including Duke Energy, are putting their drones into action to survey damage from Hurricane Florence. The information they get helps develop a plan to get the electricity back on sooner.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now allowing drones within the previously restricted five miles of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and 49 other airports. To ensure safety, CVG has added an extra layer of security.

Born out of a dream to avoid traffic jams, Workhorse CEO Steve Burns has built an electric helicopter. The Loveland company known for its electric delivery trucks will show off its personal flying machine at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

Smaller, lighter, less-expensive digital cameras, computer generated imaging (CGI), non-linear editing and other advances in technology have provided film makers with an entirely new set of tools to tell their stories and create movie magic. 

Chances are good you'll find a quadcopter, commonly known as a "drone," underneath your Christmas tree this year. The Federal Aviation Administration predicts 1 million people will get them as gifts.

International conservationists, desperate to save endangered species, have turned to technology in the hope it will make a difference  before it's too late.

Protect is beginning to implant tiny cameras in the horns of rhinos. The rhinos also wear a bright turquoise radio collar equipped with a heart-rate monitor. If a poacher approaches the animal's heart rate will jump. That triggers an alarm and sends GPS coordinates to rangers who come quickly in a truck or by a helicopter. Here is video from the embedded camera:

Under strict guidelines from the Federal Aviation Administration, a few U.S. TV stations are airing live drone video. ABC7  says it was the first station in the San Francisco  Bay area to broadcast live from a drone. This month DroneView7 flew over and around Candlestick Park.

Inside a nondescript Loveland building, AMP Electric Vehicles is putting the finishing touches on the electric delivery trucks it’s building for United Parcel Service.  The U.S. Post Office might be the next customer.

UPS has ordered 18 of them for its Houston market and AMP CEO Steve Burns is trying to convince them to buy more of the electric trucks.

The electric truck

Sinclair Community College is in the midst of a $5 million capital project to expand its unmanned aerial systems (UAS) education and testing, and in the process is helping Greater Dayton make a name for itself in the drone industry.

Five years after losing DHL's domestic operations hub, the Wilmington Air Park is rebuilding itself.  The latest project involves a new 105,000 square foot aircraft maintenance hangar, capable of housing planes as big as a Boeing 747-400 or 777-300ER.

The hangar is leased by Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services (AMES), already providing maintenance, repair and overhaul services at the Wilmington Air Park. The company anticipates hiring 259 people because of the expanded hangar.

 The Cincinnati Fire Department is looking into the possibility of using drones in the future. The city is partnering with the University of Cincinnati to test, what promises to be, a turn-key system.

The whirr and the sight of this small quadroter freezes University of Cincinnati students in their tracks as they stare at it in subzero temperatures.

Graduate Student Bryan Brown says, “Oh yes, every time we do this we have about 10 people stop and they’ll come up and take videos, especially when it’s warmer.”

By the end of the year, the Federal Aviation Administration says it will pick six sites to test unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The Dayton region hopes to be on the list and has taken another step to set itself apart.

On Monday Sinclair Community College announced:

The Federal Aviation Administration has started writing licensing and safety regulations regarding using unmanned air vehicles (UAV’s) for alternate purposes, such as newsgathering, by 2015. In this week’s Focus on Technology, Ann Thompson reports on how these drones may eliminate the need for TV news helicopters.