Tag: Drone

  • Snap To Scrap Development of Its Pixy Drone Camera: Report

    San Francisco: Just four months after unveiling its much-anticipated pocket-sized drone camera Pixy, Snap is scrapping the development of its flying drone technology, media reports say. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told employees at a Q&A session about the choice to no longer develop the Pixy line, citing the Wall Street Journal, The Verge reported. Snapchat Lets Parents Observe Who Their Children Are Chatting With.

    A source told the publication the company plans to sell the current Pixy, and that model is still available for purchase on the Pixy website. The report mentioned that, in an interview, Spiegel had teased that the company might consider a second iteration.

    “The goal is really just to get it in people’s hands and have them play around with it,” he was quoted as saying. “And maybe we would make more with version two if people love the original product,” it added.

    Pixy is said to be a pocket-sized device and can help you create better content. At the launch in April, Snap claimed that the drone camera can automatically crop into portrait and apply quick Smart Edits, like Hyperspeed, Bounce, Orbit 3D and Jump Cut. And then, users can share it to Chat, Stories, Spotlight, or any other platform.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Aug 19, 2022 10:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Soar.Earth Building the World’s Largest Digital Atlas of Maps, Satellite and Drone Images

    Soar.Earth is a platform for discovering, acquiring, and interacting with a massive repository of high quality, geo-referenced maps, aerial and drone imagery, and daily satellite imagery on a fast-loading, user-friendly website. Soar.Earth was founded in 2018 by Amir Farhand, an entrepreneur with more than 15 years of geospatial expertise. 

    The concept for the Soar.Earth platform originated from the development of their mobile mapping app, Mappt. Mappt is a mobile, Android-based, offline field-mapping application initially made for mining applications, which still retains over 30,000 active users, including commercial, not-for-profit, and educational organisations. Seeing the way users were interacting with Mappt and what they wanted from it, led to the development of Soar.Earth.

    The problem that Soar.Earth is trying to solve is geospatial data discoverability and access. About 80% of map, satellite, and aerial image content currently can only be found through direct channels, often requiring a high degree of specialist knowledge to use. This has made accessing map data difficult, time-consuming, inexpensive, and often inaccurate. Soar.Earth has opened up the world of mapping data, creating an all-in-one interface that is free, easy to use, and requires no specialist software or training.

    Soar.Earth is free and provides a simple map-based portal in a web browser, offering a user-friendly experience. Moreover, it doesn’t require any specialist industry know-how to use, and operates in a secure cloud environment. Most of the content on the platform is free, and the content that is available for purchase has a quick click-and-collect process with the most competitive prices in the industry.

    Soar.Earth also saves your precious time in searching and acquiring maps and imagery across hundreds of silos that are difficult to find. In fact, you don’t need to go anywhere else since the platform itself offers you the breadth and volume of content one needs.

    Soar.Earth allows collaboration across and between offices and project teams in a Common Operating Picture (COP) environment for projects where maps and imagery are fundamental thereby bringing value to the existing data. It is to be noted that much of the valuable data held in mapping content today remains unrecognized and unutilized. To rectify this, Soar.Earth unlocks this data for users for whom it could hold significant commercial, research, or consumer application value.

    The startup has transcended the journey towards providing the users with the next evolution of mapping systems. As the geospatial industry grows and more mapping and imagery data becomes available with evolving technology, Soar.Earth will provide the home for all of it.

    The use of Soar.Earth is suitable for a wide range of industries and applications including agriculture, environmental, logistics, mining and insurance, as well as hobbyist everyday use for all people. With the help of its unique features, Soar.Earth has been able to show the full extent of various disasters in the world, such as flooding events, water conflicts, and the impact of various global conflicts on humanity.

    The mission of Soar.Earth is to become the world’s largest digital atlas, enhancing its content and user base and bringing maps to people across the globe with ease.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Mar 08, 2022 11:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Drone Manufacturing Industry Expected To Generate Over 10,000 Direct Jobs, Likely to be Rs 900 Cr Industry by FY 2023-24, Says Jyotiraditya Scindia

    New Delhi, September 16: Taking another step towards realising our collective vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the Central Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components on September 15, 2021. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, apprised the media about the important features of the PLI Scheme in a press conference today.

    Scindia said that under the PLI scheme, incentives of Rs. 120 crore will be given in the next 3 years. This amount is 1.5 times the combined size of the manufacturing drone sector. Over a period of three years, an estimated investment worth Rs 5,000 Crore for manufacturing sector drones will be done which in turn will bring a turnover of Rs 900 crore, and 10,000 job opportunities will be created. Draft Drone Rules 2021 Released By Ministry of Civil Aviation Inviting Public Comments Till August 5.

    Scindia further added that our objective is to establish India as a global drone hub by 2030 and the Ministry of Civil Aviation is committed to facilitating industry, service delivery, and consumers in achieving the aforesaid target.

    Top 15 Features of the PLI Scheme for Drones, 2021

    1. The total amount allocated for the PLI scheme for drones and drone components is INR 120 crore spread over three financial years.  This amount is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21.
    2. The incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be as high as 20% of the value addition made by her.
    3. The value addition shall be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components.
    4. The Government has agreed to keep the PLI rate constant at 20% for all three years, an exceptional treatment given only to the drone industry.  In PLI schemes for other sectors, the PLI rate reduces every year.
    5. The proposed tenure of the PLI scheme is three years starting in FY 2021-22.  The PLI scheme will be extended or redrafted after studying its impact in consultation with the industry.
    6. The Government has agreed to fix the minimum value addition norm at 40% of net sales for drones and drone components instead of 50%, another exceptional treatment given to the drone industry.  This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
    7. The PLI scheme covers a wide variety of drone components:
      1. Airframe, propulsion systems(engine and electric), power systems, batteries and associated components, launch and recovery systems;
      2. Inertial Measurement Unit, Inertial Navigation System, flight control module, ground control station and associated components;
      3. Communications systems (radiofrequency, transponders, satellite-based etc.)
      4. Cameras, sensors, spraying systems and related payload etc.;
      5. ‘Detect and Avoid’ system, emergency recovery system, trackers etc. and other components critical for safety and security.
    8. The list of eligible components may be expanded by the Government from time to time, as drone technology evolves.
    9. The Government has agreed to widen the coverage of the incentive scheme to include developers of drone-related IT products also.
    10. The Government has kept the eligibility norm for MSME and startups in terms of annual sales turnover at a nominal level – INR 2 cr (for drones) and INR 50 lakhs (for drone components).  This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
    11. Eligibility norm for non-MSME companies in terms of annual sales turnover has been kept at INR 4 crore (for drones) and INR 1 crore (for drone components).
    12. The incentive payable to a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be simply one-fifth of her value addition
    13. PLI for a manufacturer shall be capped at 25% of the total annual outlay. This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
    14. In case a manufacturer fails to meet the threshold for the eligible value addition for a particular financial year, she will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if she makes up the shortfall in the subsequent year.
    15. The estimated payout schedule is as shown below:

    Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy.  These include– agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, defense, and law enforcement to name a few.  Drones can be significant creators of employment and economic growth due to their reach, versatility, and ease of use, especially in India’s remote and inaccessible areas. PLI Scheme for Auto Sector and Drone Industries: PM Narendra Modi Govt Approves Rs 26,000 Crore To Boost Production.

    Given its traditional strengths in innovation, information technology, frugal engineering and its huge domestic demand, India has the potential of becoming a global drone hub by 2030. The PLI scheme comes as a follow-through of the liberalisedDrone Rules, 2021 released by the Central Government on 25 August 2021.  The PLI scheme and new drone rules are intended to catalyse super-normal growth in the upcoming drone sector.

    Likely Impact of recent Drone Initiatives

    Thanks to the new rules and the incentive scheme, the drones and drone components manufacturing industry may see an investment of over INR 5,000 crore over the next three years.  The annual sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry may grow from INR 60 crore in 2020-21 fold to over INR 900 crore in FY 2023-24.  The drone manufacturing industry is expected to generate over 10,000 direct jobs over the next three years.

    The drone services industry (operations, logistics, data processing, traffic management etc.) is far bigger in scale.  It is expected to grow to over INR 30,000 crore in the next three years. The drone services industry is expected to generate over five lakh jobs in three years.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Sep 16, 2021 05:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Drone Awards 2021 Winners: From an Erupted Volcano to an Ocean Aesthetic, All These Winning Aerial Pictures Will Blow Your Mind!

    The Drone Awards 2021 have recently unveiled the winners from thousands of aerial images submitted by more than 100 countries around the world. From a volcano erupting in Iceland, a 500-year monastery near Moscow, thousands of pink-footed Geese flying in spring to a surfer going through a large wave off in Australia, these stunning images will shake you to the core. Meanwhile, winners across eight such categories were crowned and their images will be showcased during the Siena Awards visual arts festival. You can have a look at the photo gallery on their official website.

    Check Out Some Amazing Winning Images of Drone Awards 2021:

    (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user’s social media account and Morning Tidings Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of Morning Tidings, also Morning Tidings does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

  • IIT-Madras Develops Drone Algorithms to Help Study How Fire Behaves in Space Stations, Satellites

    IIT-Madras Develops Drone Algorithms to Help Study How Fire Behaves in Space Stations, Satellites

    New Delhi, June 27: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed algorithms for drones to help study how fire behaves in space stations, shuttles and satellites. According to the team, a multirotor microgravity platform can also simulate reduced-gravity environments similar to Moon and Mars, thereby recreating those conditions on Earth for experiments.

    The team claims that at present, generating microgravity (gravity experienced is close to zero) is possible only through space stations, satellites, space shuttles, sounding rockets, and drop towers, almost all of which are beyond the reach of most educational institutions in India.

    “Another option is to use ‘free-fall’ flights on Earth to create microgravity. The free fall of sounding rockets and free fall of payloads from high altitude balloons and drop towers can also enable microgravity,” Kedarisetty Siddhardha, research scholar, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras told PTI. Scientists Use NASA Satellite Data To Track Ocean Microplastics From Space.

    “These microgravity platforms provide stable and high-quality microgravity. However, it takes a few months to years to gain access to any of the existing microgravity platforms. Moreover, the cost to access these platforms’ services is not affordable by many educational and research institutions,” he added.

    The team has developed an algorithm that can precisely control multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as quadrotors or drones. The team has published this research in reputed peer-reviewed international journals, including Aerospace Systems, Aerospace Science and Technology, and Microgravity Science and Technology.

    “These algorithms and techniques for multirotor UAV control could accurately maintain its acceleration. Although multirotor UAVs currently do not have high payload capacities, they are readily available at a low cost, making them accessible to all. We have conducted flight tests using a quadrotor and a hexrotor that we developed and found that those flights attained stable and high-quality microgravity levels,” he said.

    “The research team showed that existing quadrotors could be turned into microgravity platforms via minor design modifications and appropriate control, estimation, and automation algorithms. Furthermore, the methods and algorithms developed by us for turning multirotors into microgravity platforms are generic. So, they can be replicated easily to create multirotor microgravity platforms with high payload capacities,” Siddhardha added.

    The two multirotors that the team built and flew are the first UAVs to conduct on board experiments in microgravity. Earlier, efforts by other researchers to make UAVs as microgravity platforms did not see much success as those platforms could not attain gravity levels close to zero.

    “While most conventional microgravity platforms can simulate only microgravity, a multirotor microgravity platform can also simulate reduced-gravity environments like that on the Moon and Mars.

    “All it takes is a change in one parameter in the software that Siddhardha embeds in his multirotor that autonomously performs the manoeuvres required to achieve the level of gravity needed,” said Joel George Manathara, Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras. NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Completes 8th Flight on Mars.

    The team has carried out experiments on board his multirotor microgravity platforms to observe capillary action as well as the change in the shape of the liquid meniscus in microgravity.

    “These experiments undoubtedly prove that multirotors can be turned into platforms on which microgravity experiments can be carried out. Nowadays, almost every educational institution has a robotics lab or a flying club with multirotors. Thus, this research opens up the possibility of conducting experiments in microgravity at every university in India,” Siddhardha said.

  • Swiggy May Soon Deliver Order via Drones, Gets Clearance To Start Drone Trials for Food Delivery

    Swiggy May Soon Deliver Order via Drones, Gets Clearance To Start Drone Trials for Food Delivery

    Mumbai, June 17: Get ready to receive your order from balcony as food delivery platform Swiggy will soon start delivering food using drones. Swiggy has announced that the Ministry of Defense (MoD), aviation regulator Directorate General of Aviation (DGCA) and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) have given final clearance to its drone delivery partner ANRA Technologies to start testing drones to deliver food. Swiggy Kicks Off COVID-19 Vaccination Drive For Delivery Partners, Frontline Staff in Bengaluru.

    According to Swiggy, ANRA Technologies has received permits for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in India. “For the next several weeks, the flight team will conduct BVLOS food and medical package deliveries in the Etah and Rupnagar districts,” said the company in a statement to the media,” the company said in a statement. Besides food delivery, ANRA has collaborated with Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, for medical deliveries. Swiggy Suraksha: Swiggy Launches Offers Special Care Package for Delivery Partners Across India.

    “We are excited about the potential that Drones offer and look forward to the trials on BVLOS operations for the use case of food delivery. Through our association with ANRA, we aim to put the long-range proficiencies of drone technology to best use and accomplish some ground-breaking trials,” Shilpa Gnaneshwar, principal program manager, Swiggy, said.

    ANRA launched its first sortie on June 16 and displayed how medium-sized drones can pick up and delivery food packages. Recently, delivery app Dunzo’s drone partner Skye AirMobility got clearances for drone delivery of medicines in Telangana.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Jun 17, 2021 10:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Flipkart To Conduct Drone Delivery Pilot For Vaccine And Medical Supplies In Telangana

    Flipkart To Conduct Drone Delivery Pilot For Vaccine And Medical Supplies In Telangana

    New Delhi, Jun 11: E-commerce major Flipkart on Friday said it has partnered with the Telangana government to lead a consortium tasked with the development and execution of the drone deliveries of medical supplies to remote areas under the ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project.

    As part of the consortium, Walmart-owned Flipkart will deploy drones and enable deliveries of vaccines and medical supplies. These efforts will be complemented with technologies such as geo-mapping, routing of shipments and track and trace of location, etc, developed by Flipkart over the years in serving millions of customers across the country, a statement said. Google Pixel Buds A-Series To Be Launched in India Soon, Flipkart Availability Confirmed.

    A combination of these technologies will then be used to conduct ‘Beyond Visual Line of Sight’ (BVLOS) deliveries in remote areas of the state where the road infrastructure is not conducive for fast delivery of vaccines, it added. The pilot, which is expected to be conducted for over six days, will be tested out for delivering thousands of vaccines while keeping in mind all the safety and efficiency parameters, the statement said. Former Telangana Minister Etela Rajender Resigns From TRS, To Submit Resignation From Assembly Soon.

    ‘The COVID-19 crisis has pushed the envelope in the rapid development of scalable and robust technologies and the Medicines from the Sky project is a testament to that. It is a decisive step in making use of cutting-edge technologies for the safety and wellbeing of the masses,’ Flipkart Senior Vice-President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar said. COVID-19 in Sri Lanka: Two Highly Contagious Alpha And Delta Coronavirus Variants Detected in Island Nation.

    He added that Flipkart is proud to partner with the Telangana government in leading the consortium by utilising its nuanced understanding of supply chain and technologies governing the automated movement of shipments in fulfilling the dire needs of citizens across the state.

    The ‘Medicines from the Sky’ is a project conceived by the World Economic Forum and Healthnet Global Limited that outlines the requirements for drone delivery and how to assess proposals.

    The Telangana government has adopted this framework to implement drones for last-mile delivery and will integrate them into the state’s healthcare supply chain. ‘This pilot will set the premise for the utilisation of drone systems in providing healthcare and product delivery in remote areas and even during disasters,’ he said.

    Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary (IT and I&C), Government of Telangana said the state has been a pioneer in using technology for improving the lives of the citizens. ‘Using drones to deliver healthcare supplies to people in remote and inaccessible areas is a one-of-a-kind initiative ever undertaken in our country and we are happy to lead this initiative in collaboration with partners such as Flipkart. This will go a long way in testing best-in-class technology solutions to tide over future crises,’ he added.

  • Frightened Terns Abandon 3000 Eggs After a Rogue Drone Crash-Landed on Nesting Island In California

    Frightened Terns Abandon 3000 Eggs After a Rogue Drone Crash-Landed on Nesting Island In California

    Roughly 3000 tern (Seabird) eggs were abandoned after a rogue drone crashed on southern California nesting island and scared off thousands of birds, the New York Times reported this week.

    According to the NYT report, On May 13th, the terrified birds abandoned their nests, after one of the two drones flying illegally over the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, a stretch of protected coastal wetlands in Southern California, crash-landed on the nesting island.

     It’s the time of the year when terns prepare for the eggs to hatch. However, this year there will no hatchlings instead the island is strewn with eggshells.

    According to Environmental scientist and reserve manager Melissa Loebl,  in 20 years the island has not witnessed such a large scale abandonment by the terns. These birds are among 800 species of plants and animals that consider the reserves as habitat.

    Loebl said that the pandemic drove hundreds of thousands of people into the island and this not only contributed to increased drome activity in the area but also saw a large number of dogs and cycles making rounds which is prohibited.

    “It’s residents that sometimes feel entitled, that feel they should be able to use the land as they like,” Molsberry said.

    “We’ve seen a significant increase in dogs, particularly off-leash,” Loebl added. “That’s devastating for wildlife and this is prime nesting season. The dogs chase the birds and the birds abandon their nests.”

     The incident has spurred authorities to ramp up enforcement and cite people who break the rules. The tern is classified as a near-threatened species,

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Jun 05, 2021 11:02 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Drone Crashes Into Fagradalsfjall Volcano; Watch Viral Video That Captured Erupting Icelandic Lava Flow in Real Time

    Drone Crashes Into Fagradalsfjall Volcano; Watch Viral Video That Captured Erupting Icelandic Lava Flow in Real Time

    Drone operator and YouTuber Joey Helms recently shared spectacular footage of his brand new DJI FPV drone which fell into an erupting Icelandic volcano. The video went viral in no time. The drone captured the exact footage of crashing into Iceland’s newest volcano, Fagradalsfjall in the Geldingadalir valley. The volcano started erupting on March 19, 2021. Take a look at the video here:

    (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user’s social media account and Morning Tidings Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of Morning Tidings, also Morning Tidings does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

  • Biden controls drone attacks

    Biden controls drone attacks

    President Joe Biden has suspended drone strikes outside war zones, where US forces are reversing the policy of his predecessor Donald Trump, who gave military-free force in countries such as Somalia.

    Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that any drone strikes against jihadist groups outside Afghanistan, Syria or Iraq had to be approved.

    He described the measure as “interim guidance”, which was issued to “ensure that the president ensures full visibility on proposed key actions”.

    At a news conference, he said “it is not meant to be permanent and does not mean that the strike has no meaning”.

    “We are clearly focused on the continuing threat of violent extremist organizations. And we are clearly still committed to working with international partners to counter those threats, ”he said.

    new York Times The new guidelines were secretly given to military commanders after Mr. Biden came to office on January 20, but were revealed only in recent times.

    Since his first days in the White House in 2016, Mr. Trump had withdrawn the controls imposed by his predecessor Barack Obama on armed campaigns against jihadist extremist groups, saying he relied on commanders on the ground.

    The drone attack multiplied rapidly, becoming the only form of operation in some countries, where only a handful of US special forces were deployed in support of local governments, such as Somalia, where the US al-Shabaab Islamic group Is battling, or in Libya, where he has targeted the Islamic State.

    Although the military says its attacks are “surgical”, the NGO has stated that the attacks are often civilian casualties, reducing their effectiveness in combating extremism.

    In the first public report on the US military campaign in Somalia, published in February, the Pentagon’s acting inspector general, Glenn Fain, recalled that part of the African mission’s stated mission is to ensure that by 2021, the Islamic State, Somalia, and other terrorists in Somalia The groups have been sufficiently “insulted so that they do not cause significant harm to American interests”.

    But, Inspector-General Fine wrote, “Despite US airstrikes in Somalia and continued US aid to African partner forces, al-Shabaab is a growing threat that seeks to attack America’s homeland.”

    On Friday, at least 10 people died after a car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

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