EU firm Parrot to make drones for US Dept. of Defense

Parrot company is one of six companies chosen by the US Dept. of Defense to manufacture short-range reconnaissance aircraft for the US military.

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Chinese companies left out of the deal

In spite of DJI having the largest market share of drone makers it is not involved in the deal nor are other Chinese firms. All the firms are from the US and EU even though Chinese companies are dominant in the area. DJI had a market share of 24 percent in 2018, twice as much as its nearest competitor. However, there are many firms in the market still.

No doubt the US could justify its decision to exclude Chinese firms on the ground of security. It could also be part of Trump's trade war with China that the top firm in the area is not involved. The trade war may allow US and EU firms to gain some lucrative US government contracts.

The military drone market is by far the largest

The drone market is dominated by its military users but they also have important other uses such as agriculture as noted in this recent article: "Precision weapon delivery for the surface targets uses in many other military applications such as surveillance, target acquisition, information and reconnaissance are boosting the usage of drones from the past decade. Nowadays, technological developments in agriculture sectors had started utilising the drones for increasing crop production and monitoring crop growth with the help of the sensors and digital image processing capabilities. The implementation of electronic gadgets in the drones has been helping farmers to monitor the crop crystal clearly and to eradicate & overcome the irrigation, soil variation, pest and fungal infestations challenges."

According to the analyst firm Envision Intelligence military applications make up about 70 percent of the drone market while consumer applications are just 17 percent with other uses such as filmmaking and climate modeling in the commercial area are just 13 percent.

For Parrot the US is a major market

Henri Seydoux, CEO of the French firm said: “The United States has always been a major market for the Parrot Group whether it is for our well-known consumer range or our advanced professional offering. We have always been at the forefront creating advanced, easy to use, compact and reliable drone-based solutions. We also perfectly understand how small unmanned aircraft, such as the Parrot ANAFI platform, has the potential to become a key part of the defense system.”

Parrot company has always been a weak competitor of DJI with its Anafi line not nearly as popular as the Phantom Mavic and Spark models of rival DJI. The contract while not all that lucrative paves the way for a closer relationship with the US military with the prospect of more business in the future.

The requirements for the reconnaissance drone

Parrot will receive an undisclosed sum from an $11 million fund that the DOD has to develop the prototype of a next-generation reconnaissance drone that can fly for up to half an hour within a range of three kilometers. It must weigh only three pounds or less. It is to be designed to take less than two minutes to put together and should fit inside a standard issue backpack.

Los Angeles fire department using surveillance drones to help fight wildfires

(December 11) The horrible fires over Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ventura counties that have destroyed over 500 structures and forced over 200,000 to flee is now being surveyed by drones which can track the path of the fire and survey damaged property.

Los Angeles Fire Dept. using drones

Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Ralph Terrazas said at a recent news conference: “For the first time ever, we’re going to use our drones,"

Shortly after Terrazas' remarks, a firefighter launched one of two quadcopters and flew it over the adjacent Skirball fire. The fire destroyed at least six mansions in the luxurious Bel Air area.

As can be seen from the attached video, the drones give a clear detailed view of the fire damage from their excellent cameras.

The drones also gave the firefighters information on remaining hotspots and a view of the exact path of the fire.

Although the Skirball fire is tiny compared to many other wildfires burning in the LA area, it nevertheless provided a good test run for the drones as it is near homes and the 405 freeway. It showed how much detail the drones can see.

There were two tests each lasting about a half hour.

Special waivers needed to launch drones

The emergency services need to get a special certificate from the FAA. They apply for "Certificates of Waiver or Authorization" for specific missions. This is necessary to avoid violating rules restricting the use of the drones and the emergency services are bound by these rules just as are commercial enterprises.

Drones soon pay for themselves

Although the department spent $50,000 for 8 drones, the drones eliminate the need to rent infrared cameras that are attached to helicopters. The helicopter flights equipped with cameras have very steep operating costs compared to the drones.

According to Dronefly a vendor of these drones, 347 different public services bought drones from 2009 to 2017. Sixty nine were fire departments.

London firefighters used a drone during the Grenfell Tower blaze last June to get a good idea of where the flames were spreading and where residents might be trapped.

Ordinary fixed wing planes sometimes cannot operate against southern California fires

At times the Santa Ana winds are so strong that fixed wing planes cannot operate. The job of dropping fire retardant falls to helicopter pilots. The giant Boeing 747 SuperTanker is often not of much use given the weather and the terrain.

Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, and Aurora Flight Sciences are developing autonomous helicopters who might be able to do some of the work that piloted helicopters do now.

Flying cars

Added to the mix of drones and autonomous helicopters there may be flying cars.

Firefighters around the world are watching as vertical takeoff and landing vehicles are being developed.

Others are interested in their development as well. The vehicles will be great for shuttling people around cities. They would be useful in emergencies and would circumvent traffic jams. They could also airlift victims from burning buildings to hospitals. They would have lower operating costs than helicopters and simpler controls.

Wired takes a look at some 10 different flying car concepts in development. It may be some time before any of these are commercially viable and regulations exist governing their use.

Previously published in Digital Journal

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Surveillance drones a big help to utility companies

The power and utilities sector in the US faces numerous challenges as well as being on the verge of a digital revolution. Losses from network outages have been worth $169 billion.

Existing drone technology allows applications that can survey pre-construction and investment monitoring. as well as asset inventory and maintenance management surveillance. Drones could also monitor water quality, and management of vegetation.

Drones or UAVs in the energy sector could help improve power supply systems by inspection. Also water supply companies could introduce drones as a way of using innovative and cost effective solutions for monitoring water quality.

Due to increasing social pressure to reduce the use of fossil fuels and use renewable resources such as electrical power to power vehicles there is increasing demand for electricity. At the same time there is a demand that prices come down. Existing business models are also being challenged by distributed generation such as by solar panels on individual houses. The development of drone and other technology is helping industries deal with these problems.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Poland part of the huge accountancy and advisory firm network of companies claims:We have created an application that integrates, manages and delivers the drone collected data in one convenient, easy to use interface of a web browser. It is a tool for measuring and analysing geospatial data and also for integration with data from your company. The application is adjustable and modular, while the available image data in it is easily comparable as a result of its quantification. All operations, including data integration, conducted on cloud servers, which solves the problem of slowing down computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. In addition, the data is securely stored in accordance with the strictest PwC data assurance.

PwC is network with firms in 157 countries in 743 locations. As of 2015, it employed 223,468 people spread throughout Asia, North America, and Western Europe. In 2017 fiscal year their revenue was $37.7 billion. PwC provides services to 422 out of the 500 Fortune 500 companies.

In August of 2016 the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued new laws to regulate commercial drones. Utility companies were quick to take advantage of the new rules. Chris Hickling of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) the trade group of investor-owned utilities in the US said: “We’ve certainly heard from our members that they’re excited about this technology. They see it as part of building a smarter infrastructure. We see it as an area that’s going to continue to grow.”

Westar Energy, the largest utility provider in Kansas, is one company among many that is increasing its use of drones for inspections. The company is turning to UAV's because they decrease risk, increase efficiency and also are less costly than other forms of inspection.

In the state of Florida, companies such as Florida Power and Light and Gulf Power are authorized by the FAA to use drones. The drones have high quality video cameras that can take photos and videos of difficult-to-reach areas. The drones cost about $6,000 each but they save money and no doubt worker's lives by reaching swampy areas and areas with downed trees. Gulf Power line engineer Jason Benton said a meeting in Fort Lauderdale: “Does it beat having somebody on the pole, maybe not. But you get a pretty good idea of what you need to do [to restore power.]”

The new technology helped companies restore power to consumers after the devastation created by, Irma, the recent hurricane that hit the state. The FAA issued 132 airspace authorizations after the storm. Drones are quickly becoming a game-changer and are bound to become more advanced and more used as time goes on. FAA administrator Michael Hurta said: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the hurricane response will be looked back upon as a landmark in the evolution of drone usage in this country.”

Generous agricultural drone gift to Russia by Israel causing plenty of problems

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had a very successful three day meeting in Israel with Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and ended up touring the Israeli government's Volcani Institute.

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The two had ended up with a wide-ranging deal that will help the Russian dairy industry with technology, services and know-how provided by Israeli companies and the Volcani Institute. The deal is worth as much as $15 billion. While touring the Volcani Institute, Medvedev was shown a helicopter drone that was used for agricultural research. On impulse, Ariel asked if Medvedev would like the aircraft considering it a gracious gift to express his appreciation for the deal with Russia. Medvedev accepted.

However, it turns out there are a few problems. The drone may have been developed using U.S. technology which the U.S. would not want transferred to the Russians. Also, the drone did not belong to the Department of Agriculture to give away. Finally when the Russians came to pick up the drone it lacked crucial features such as the remote control.

The drone was worth about $52,000. When Medvedev accepted the gift Israel, director-general Shlomo Eliyahu said he would make arrangements. There were a few problems. The drone belonged to the Institute and so had to be paid for by the Department. The gift's value exceeded the limit for the value of gifts by sixty times. When the Russians came to pick up the drone they had to wait for some time until Volcani staff were given permission from some official to release it. But they did not give it all.

Sources close to the Institute said: "The model of the drone that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev received as a gift from Agriculture Minister Ariel was given without the operating system and remote control." The staff did not hand over the remote control equipment and thermal camera that they estimated cost about $26,000. The Russians have asked for the parts and perhaps if they are not received there could be some difficulties with the deal.

There will be difficulties too if the drone contains any U.S. technology. It would have to be approved for export to Russia by Israel's Defense Ministry if the technology is considered dual use — that is could be used for both civilian and military applications. Such approval is necessary to prevent the technology spreading to countries regarded as unfriendly to the US. Past violations have led to the dismissal of senior Israeli officials.

One problem has been solved after a fashion. The Agriculture Ministry bought the Institute a new drone with the funds of course coming from the agriculture budget. The ministry pointed out that Israel would benefit greatly from the deal. Even in the first phase of the agreement Russia will spend $1.5 billion on a pilot project with Israeli companies getting the contracts to build and guide new facilities. The Volcani Institute and Agriculture Ministry would not comment on the matter toHaaretz the Israeli liberal newspaper.

Al Jazeera reports that the drone was made by Alpha Unmanned Systems of Spain, while the thermal camera was from the U.S. company Flir according to the Jerusalem Post. This would explain why the thermal camera was not included but not the remote control. The Ministry of Agriculture claimed that the gift had been approved by "the relevant professional officials". Ariel claims that the gift contains no security risk.

The opposition immediately complained about the gift. Nachman Shai of the Zionist Union said that the minister had been duped into handing "knowledge and technologies to the wrong countries". Stav Shaffir another member from the Union called for Ariel to resign. One report claims that researchers from the Volcani Institute claim that Ariel was not authorized to hand over the drone to the Russians.

One researcher, Moshe Reuveni, said "Ariel violated protocol by giving away technology worth about $100,000 and severely damaging the research". He said that they will hand over the operating system if ordered to but it would sabotage their drone program.

U.S: Up to 30,000 drones to be allowed in U.S. airspace by 2010

 A bill passed the U.S. House and Senate recently allowing drones to operate in U.S. civilian airspace. The bill is name the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Reauthorization Act. It would relax former rules and allow drones to fly in the same airspace as private planes and commercial airliners including passenger planes.
  By 2020 up to 30,000 drones could be flying in civilian airspace. 63.5 billion dollars the FAA.
  Many civil libertarian groups worry about the bill's lack of any restriction on drone surveillance by police or government agencies.
   Other critics note that drones crash more often than other aircraft and the presence of many drones in civilian airspace could pose a safety hazard. The FAA is required to both speed up and simplify the process  that allows government agencies to operate drones. Within six months the agency must mount a pilot project that would establish six test zones in which the drone operations would be integrated into the national airspace system.
   The FAA is also required to generate a plan “to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.”   Civil drones are those operated by the private sector. Obviously plans are to open up the area for private entrepreneurs. The FAA has nine months to generate this plan. For much more see this article.