Airbus has recently demonstrated the first ever automated drone-based, innovative aircraft maintenance tool at the MRO Americas exposition in Florida. The exposition is a gathering of aviation maintenance professionals from around the world. Airbus’ Advanced Inspection Drone is to be operated inside a hangar, capable of accelerating and facilitating visual checks, considerably reducing aircraft downtime and increasing the quality of inspection reports.
The drone industry is growing at a rapid pace, which means the safe integration of drones into airspace is of the utmost importance. Therefore SESAR, the mechanism which coordinates and concentrates all EU R&D activities in ATM, is making an effort to make this happen in a safe and efficient manner through the U-Space projects.
Aquabotix, an underwater robotics company operating in Australia and the U.S., recently released a hybrid between a ‘micro unmanned surface vehicle’ (USV) and an ‘unmanned underwater vehicle’ (UUV) or simply put; an underwater drone, like the MantaDroid we’ve seen earlier. The vehicles operate in swarm and they’re called SwarmDivers™. They are able to function simultaneously as a single coordinated entity, they can be controlled by a single operator and they can perform (vertical) dives to collect valuable data and intelligence.
Across many industries, the advantages of data gathering via drones are well known. A surveying method called ‘LIDAR’, which stands for ‘light detection and ranging’, is an effective tool to gather crucial data for a variety of applications. It measures the distance to a target by illuminating the target with pulsed laser light and measuring the reflected pulses with a sensor. The differences in return times and wavelengths are then used to make 3D representations of the target.
Mounting such a LIDAR unit onto a drone has often proved to be a bit of a challenge however. For this reason, 3D Target has developed a solution to this problem.
An Air New Zealand flight came very close to hitting a drone during its descent into Auckland Airport from Tokyo on March 25th. The pilots of flight NZ92 spotted the drone about 5m or 16ft from the aircraft at a point in their descent when it was impossible to take evasive action.
In an effort to fight cholera in Malawi, UNICEF took the initiative to use drones to scout villages from above. This allows detailed photographs to be taken through mapping software. The resulting maps are then looked at alongside villagers to gain a better view of how infection sources could best be fought.
Aerones, a Latvian drone developer, has been developing a super-sized drone capable of performing a variety of tasks. The main objective of the drone is the washing and de-icing of turbine’s blades using high-pressure hoses.
During the week of March 5th, 2018, Drone Delivery Canada managed to complete successful test flights at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, New York in the United States.
Why are pilots worried about drones?
Pilots and Air Traffic Control operators are unable to establish visual contact with drones in the air. This poses great safety risks, as drones that come into contact with an airplane engine could cause serious problems.
Bird strikes are not uncommon relatively speaking, and passenger aircraft can fly with a single engine. But there are concerns however, that a metallic object containing lithium batteries could cause failure that cannot be contained, with debris impacting on the air frame.
Not to mention the danger of a drone crashing through a cockpit window. So an increasing amount of drone traffic means an increasing potential risk of lethal accidents if they cannot be seen and are not regulated in a safe and efficient manner.
Drones are hard to spot in the air
Marita Maass, a woman from Upper Hutt, New Zealand discovered an unpleasant surprise when she was relaxing in her bedroom. She mistakenly took the sound of a hovering drone for the sound of water pipes, so she thought nothing of it initially. After a while, she couldn’t help but take a look as the sound would not let up.
