DroneUp, Spleenlab working on precise package landing software
At a time when there has been interesting debate about last inch delivery methods on the drone delivery market today, another has popped up, with a promise for precise, inch…
Drone deliveries for Norway
After introducing themselves to the world via their game changing effectiveness in medical delivery, it was just a matter of time before delivery drones branched out into general parcel delivery….
Israel conducts cargo, passenger drone tests
Passenger and cargo UAVs have taken off in Israel for the first ever time, as part of initiatives to test the feasibility of integrating drone technology as part of public…
Rocketmine earns the BARS
Drone services provider Delta Drone International – through its Rocketmine South Africa and Rocketmine Australia subsidiary operations – has announced that it has achieved the Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS),…
Impact of Chinese drone bans in the US
It is a reality of the world we live in today that there is very little to no love lost between the USA and China; a situation that has spilled…
Wingcopter, Siemens to deliver medical samples in Africa
German drone logistics company Wingcopter will be expanding its medical delivery operations in Africa, after signing a partnership agreement with fellow German medical technology company Siemens Healthineers. Announced today, the…
Nominations open for women in drone tech global awards
Nominations are now open for Women And Drones’ annual Global Women in Emerging Aviation Technologies Awards. Now in their seventh year running since 2017, the worldwide awards seek to recognise…
Dronamics’ dream come true
Like the kids of today would say; find somebody who commits to you like the Rangelov brothers committed to getting the Black Swan cargo drone soaring into the skies. Or…
Swiss drone maker enters US market
Swiss drone maker RigiTech will introduce its drone logistics solutions to the US market via a partnership agreement with Arizona-based healthcare transport solutions provider, Spright. The partnership will see Rigitech…
How have the drones optimised how we work?
Just how useful has drone technology been to various industrial applications? We do know how military grade drones have changed and are continuing to change the face of warfare forever….
Black Swan takes flight
(Spoiler Alert… it was white) Exactly a year ago today, cargo drone company Dronamics was flying in seventh heaven after being the first middle distance drone company to acquire a…
France trying out medical drones
Healthcare providers in France are looking at investing in delivery drone technology, and Dutch drone maker Avy was there recently to help show them how it will work. In recent…
Autel Robotics’s new drone nest
Autel Robotics, one of the biggest drone makers in the world, has entered a new player into the game of drone nests. The Chinese company recently launched the EVO drone…
DJI launches Matrice industrial drone
The world’s biggest industrial drone manufacturer, DJI, has launched yet another new drone; this time on the Matrice range. The new DJI Matrice 350 RTK (M350RTK) is supposed to be…
About that last-metre delivery question
Drone technology has worked out the equation of getting packages to where they are needed in record time. But the question still remains on how do you actually get a…
Globhe to work with UNICEF in Malawi
Globhe Drones, the world’s biggest drone-for-hire platform recently signed a deal with the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Malawi that would see the former providing drone services in…
Drones on the stock market, Part 3
So; how have the drone companies and drone services providers listed on stock exchanges been performing in the past year. The good people at research company Drone Industry Insights have…
Wingcopter’s 40 million reasons to smile
German drone logistics company Wingcopter’s mission to deliver medical supplies to needy remote parts of the world as well as other small packages has just received 40 million reasons to…
DroneDeploy’s community projects in South Africa, Malawi
Last year, drone services company DroneDeploy helped train at least 40 young South Africans on how to fly drones and use them to collect data The project was part of…
SA company to speak at world construction event
South African engineering services company Delta Scan will be in Italy next week, where they have been invited to showcase their drone-based solutions in infrastructure inspections. The company’s managing director…
Zipline secures more US partners
Over the last few years, we have come to know Zipline as a drone logistics company that made its name delivering medical supplies, first in Africa; then back at its…
Drones in another rescue mission in Western Cape
There is never a dull time for the drones in the employ of the emergency services department in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. There are the Table Mountains in the…
SA drone company scores training partner
South Africa’s air traffic management body, the Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) has decided to lend a hand in the push for the growth of the drone industry in the…
Drones port at Antwerp
As drone technology continues to make strides in various industrial applications, drone patrols have been introduced in the port area of the Belgian city of Antwerp. Launched on May 5,…
French company releases new drone
French drone company Azur Drones has released the second generation of its Skeyetech model of industrial autonomous drones, which it says is set to take precision drone missions at premises…
The importance of medical drones to remote communities
Non-Governmental health care organisation VilageReach’s Global Technical team Director Tapiwa Mukwashi recently went on a canoe ride in the DRC, a journey which gave him a practical appreciation of the…
Nokia drone solution get European certification
Remember Nokia? They used to make some really popular cellular phones out of Finland in the nineties and noughties; their Nokia 1100 still holds the record as the best-selling phone…
Drone tech, security and countering drone threats
Police in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have busted a syndicatethat was using a drone to smuggle gold nuggets into the country. Xinhua quoted the public security bureau of…
Drone training schools in Africa
We have been getting a lot of enquiries from readers who wish to know where they can get training for various occupations in the drone space. So we have listed…
Drone Industry Insights’ 2022 UAV stock performance report
Our friends at Drone Industry Insights have released their latest report for publicly traded drone stocks for the year 2022. But as they reiterate below; this is just their educated…
DJI’s Mavic 3 Pro is for storytellers
Industrial drones are mostly about data collection; and one of the most important data collection implements that can be saddled on a drone is the camera. So DJI went on…
Skyports and Advanced Aerial Mobility
The below article, which first appeared in International Airport Review, is an interview with Skyports’ Sanjay Suresh, General Manager APAC, Skyports Drone Services, and Pedro Cascales Dominguez, Senior Vertiport Planner….
Wing spreads into Queensland
Wing, the drone wing of mega conglomerate Alphabet (they own Google so… yeah) must be praying that there are no ravens in Queensland, Australia. At least we think the company…
Drones doing the heavy-lifting on solar power construction projects in China
We have seen drones that run on solar energy. We have witnessed drones doing the cleaning, inspection and monitoring on solar farms across the world. But have you seen drones…
Skydio joins the Flying Labs family
American drone manufacturer Skydio will be joining technology non-profit organisation WeRobotics and its worldwide Flying Labs family as a technology partner. And here is the why part: around 2015, WeRobotics…
Introducing drone technology to banana plantations
It is good news for banana producing countries in Africa; especially those in west and central Africa. Agriculture technology company XAG – the manufacturer of the XAG agricultural drone –…
Made for Hollywood: DJI’s Inspire 3 is here
Drone maker DJI has released its third iteration of the Inspire drone range, which it says is actually a perfect movie-making camera mounted on a drone. And just to reiterate…
Drone start-up finds new way to inspect solar farms
A South African drone services start-up says it has found a new way to inspect, monitor and maintain a solar power plant. Cape Town-based Integrated Aerial Systems (IAS) specialises in…
Drone rescues lost hikers in Table Mountain
By now, we figure there are a lot of people who are really grateful that the Western Cape Government Emergency Medical Services department in South Africa endured the rigorous Remote…
Amazon’s drone dream deferred. Again
We were all hopeful when online retailer Amazon announced that they were finally going to get their drone delivery wing, the Amazon Prime Air, finally off the ground. In the…
South Africa drone queen’s efforts get rewarded
South African drone technology entrepreneur Queen Ndlovu was recently honoured as a recipient of the inaugural Charlotte Maxeke African Women Leadership Award for her contribution towards drone innovation in the…
Globhe drones keeping tabs with school construction projects in Lesotho
The government of Lesotho has roped in the help of drone technology to keep track with school construction projects in rural parts of the country. Started in 2022 with funding…
Harnessing the power of drones for Africa’s future
The below article was taken from africanDRONE, an organisation that seeks to empower drone entrepreneurs in Africa by networking them together into a self-help association that can share resources and knowledge….
Drone technology and bridge inspection
The below article was taken from Skydio. As our infrastructure continues to age, it becomes increasingly important to find innovative ways to inspect and maintain it. One technology that has…
Countrywide drone deployment in Rwanda’s malaria fight
Having joined other African countries that include Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa in using drone technology to fight malaria, the Rwandan government has been happy with the work the drones…
Protecting 2024 Olympics from drone attacks
Hosting a large sporting event may be spectacular for watchers and economic boom for the local population, but the security challenges they pose are vast. Especially in this age of…
Drone company scores deal with Canadian government
It seems like Canadian drone technology company Drone Delivery Canada will be going really mainstream this time. The drone manufacturer has just announced that it has signed a deal with…
Latest on investment in drone technology
Our friends over at Drone Industry Insights have released their drone investment report for the past year. Although not doing so at a rate as exponential as it has done…
Zipline’s new baby: It’s quiet
We know babies cry. A lot. It is an adorable proof of live that a parent loves to hear. But this new baby from Zipline does not make a sound….
Wingcopter researching on hydrogen power
German delivery drone developer and operator, Wingcopter; and Hamburg-based aviation research faciluty, ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research have announced a partnership that will see them exploring the potential of…
Another drone disturbance at Dublin Airport
The situation at Dublin Airport in Ireland is getting ridiculous – or serious, depending on how you’re looking at it. For at least the fifth time in recent weeks, flights…
Drone to collect data at nuclear and radiation sites
The came up with indoor and underground drone solutions for inspecting claustrophobic spaces in a way safe for the humans involved. Now, indoor drone manufacturer and services provider Flyability have…
UTM provider’s new model to demonstrate the skies of the future
Unified Traffic Management (UTM) technology provider Altitude Angel, will premiere a new generation of simulation modelling which the provider says “puts the airspace manager at the very heart of the…
Passenger drone complete flight in Japan
Oh, hi there at EHang! It has been long. What is up with you? Apparently, the Chinese drone maker is making progress in its quest to be the world’s first…
XAG drones expand into Thailand
Keen to push the dominance of DJI in the agricultural drone space, fellow Chinese smart agriculture technology company XAG’s drones will soon be testing themselves on the Thai agriculture space….
Drones as first responders
Because of the heartbreaking Turkish and Syrian disaster brought about by the resent earthquake in these two countries, we figured this might be the time to look at how drone…
Crop spraying drones on a vineyard
The case study below from our friends at XAG shows the results that returned when the effectiveness of crop spraying drones was tested on a vineyard New Zealand. As wine…
Home delivery for diabetes drugs in Rwanda
If you are a Rwanda citizen, there could a drone on your doorstep soon. Well; not exactly on your doorstep – Zipline does not do that. We all know the…
Start-up dreams of first drone port in central Europe
Plans are afoot for the first ever drone helipad in central Europe – and a logistics start up want to be the first to deliver the drone landing port in…
Policing drones for Gauteng, South Africa
Sometimes you just have to laugh. It might sound incredible, but we can assure you that even before we started perusing the State of the Province Address document for South…
New drone training school for South Africa
As the drone economy continues to take strides in South Africa, another drone training school has surfaced on the local market. Rectron Drone Academy is set to open its doors…
FIXAR explores Brazil market
They have been to South Africa and to Kenya on the African market. Now Latvian drone maker FIXAR is taking their trade into Brazil. Brazilian aviation company Helisul Aviação has…
American airline to purchase cargo drones
Middle distance cargo drones may be the latest phenomenon on the delivery drone market, but it seems they are here to stay. After early noises made by cargo drone pioneering…
Skyports’ vertiport plans for Dubai approved
It seems like the city of Dubai is leaving no stone unturned in the race to become the first city in the world to fully integrate drone technology into its…
Airobotics ventures into the UAE
Drone maker Airobotics – a wholly owned subsidiary of Ondas Holdings – has announced a deal with UAE-based Sky So Transport of Goods to provide drone delivery services across the…
Drone delivery trials for northern UK
Medical drones are set to expand into the Northumberland region in northern UK, after the Civil Aviation Authority approved a pilot project to take off from February 13. The Northumbria…
Drone services company Globhe joins recovery efforts in Turkey
Swedish crowd droning organisation Globhe has joined the humanitarian community in Turkey and is involved with the search and rescue efforts currently underway in the country. By now, we’re sure…
Suspect arrested in Dublin Airport drone incident
Remember this story we covered a few days ago about a drone idiot (or a number of them since this happened multiple times) who flew his drone into the airfield…
Regulatory breakthrough for US drone company’s autonomous operations
American drone services provider Percepto recently announced that the US Federal Aviation Administration will be treating the former’s autonomous drone operations as normal drone activity, which neither needs a human…
Agric drone competition for Kenyan youth
They have been to Zambia, to Nigeria; and to Zimbabwe recently. And now Global Air Drone Academy will be entering Kenya with their mission to promote drone technology among the…
About that Advanced Air Mobility…
Today’s analysis from Drone Industry Insights is about Advanced Air Mobility. Basically, it is about the integration of passenger and cargo drones into busy urban skies and the freer atmospheres…
New year; same drone idiot problems
There are times when you have to feel sorry for serious drone users out there who just want to use the welcome technology of drones for the greater good. Professionals…
Delta Drone ropes in partner to expand European and African reach
…While Draganfly spreads into India Delta Drone – the France-based parent company of African drone services giant Delta Drone international has just announced that it will be distributing drone-based Appliances,…
Drone regulations outlook 2023
Yea; we know we’ve been away for a while. Perhaps we need to apologise for that, but… maybe some other time. Happy new year everyone. While we were away, our…
VoloDrone passes another test
Since their drone went on display at an agricultural exhibition show in Hannover in 2019, drone and urban air mobility services company Volocopter has been dropping titbits about their flagship…
Investing in the drone business
Africa might not be there yet when it comes to the design and manufacturing side of things; but it will always take some of the credit for providing a good…
Second Drone Strategy for EU
When it comes to expanding civilian drone operations within its member countries, the European Union is leaving no stone unturned, and all we can do in Africa at the moment…
Dronamics gets funding to expedite Black Swan rollout
Rising cargo drone company Dronamics’ mission to disrupt middle distance cargo delivery just go a shot in the arm. Two point five million shots in the arm to be precise….
Zipline, Aerodyne dominate DII 2022 drone rankings
Research company Drone Industry Insights has released its top drones for the delivery – and keen followers of the drone technology will be little surprised to learn that it is…
New Mavic 3 Multispectral tailor-made for precision agriculture
Another day; another drone from our Lord and Saviour, DJI. The drone manufacturing conglomerate’s agriculture wing has launched the DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral, which the company says will be the…
Drone tech players among TIME’s 2022 best inventions
Mama; the made it! Three organisations that work with drone technology in their operations have made the grade for TIME Magazine’s 200 best inventions for 2022, an accolade which recognises…
Nigeria police force adds drone pilots
Ahead of next year’s elections, the Nigerian police force has ramped up aerial support for its officers on the ground, with the addition of more pilots for both manned and…
Fuel partner for Dronamics’ mid-range cargo drones
One of the arguments raised for the cause of drones joining other aircraft in the lower skies has been that the little tin birds are environmentally friendly as most of…
No-drone zone for Leicester during Diwali
It is a testament to how wide civilian drone use is becoming when policing authorities have to issue a warning for people NOT to bring their flying toys to a…
Second batch of Drone Divas graduate
Tshwane-based non-profit Africa Beyond the 4th Industrial Revolution (AB4IR) has just completed the successful education of its 2022 cohort of students in the Drone Diva Programme. Started last August, the…
Bringing crop spraying drones to Brazilian farmers
Chinese precision agriculture solutions provider XAG is working farmers in Brazil to spearhead the adoption of drone and related robotic technology in the industry. In the below article, the company…
Taking drone delivery to rural Germany
Drone manufacturer and services provider Wingcopter are taking their delivery drone solution to the rural communities of their homeland of Germany. The Weiterstadt-based start-up has teamed with the Frankfurt University…
Drone leads rescue for stranded hiker in Cape Town
A search and rescue drone and a helicopter worked in tandem to rescue a hiker lost in the Table Mountains in Cape Town yesterday. This collaborative rescue effort was undertaken…
New EU draft makes it easier to sue drone manufacturers, users
Today, drone AI and robotic technology manufacturers will find out a new European Union law will impact their pockets if any of their products causes harm. Reuters reports that individuals…
DJI’s Mavic 3 Enterprise is out
Chinese drone maker, DJI, has released the enterprise series of its Mavic 3 model of drones, which can apparently fly for 45 minutes. Below is what the manufacturer had to…
DJI moves into new home in China
Fancy working in a suspended high-rise building? After six years scattered around various buildings in Shenzhen, China, DJI workers have finally returned home following the completion of the drone company’s…
3D printing drones: just like the bees do it
Their name was inspired by the sound made by bees – and now there is a challenge to make drones actually work like bees do. Researchers at two learning institutions…
Drones to map land in Sierra Leone
The magical little birds seem to have worked wonders in Zanzibar. So why not take them to Sierra Leone? The country’s parliament is working with the University of South Denmark…
More rogue drones at US sports events
The scourge of dirty small tin birds is threatening to become hard to govern in the US sports arena. It is barely two days since we reported that two men…
Two US men arrested for flying drones above sports events
Kids, this is why we have hardware and software to counter the activities of people who abuse drone technology to gain criminal ends. Two men have been charged with federal…
Dutch company releases new drone model
Dutch drone manufacturer DeltaQuad has started the public beta phase for their new drone model, the Evo drone, which boasts of a dual payload capacity and can stay up to…
Deploying drones to the volcanoes
The below article was written by Fiona D’Arcy and originally appeared in The Conversation. Fiona is a PhD candidate in Earth Sciences at McGill University. Volcanic eruptions cannot be predicted…
“Peeping drone” that wasn’t…
Well; you have to imagine mishaps like this will happen when drones are deployed to work around people’s homes. A woman in Collier Country in Florida, US last week called…
Drones and mine waste storage facilities inspection
In the aftermath of the Jagersfontein flooding disaster, where the tailings dam wall collapsed and mining waste sludge flooded a nearby residential area in South Africa’s Free State Province, we…
Embraer purchases stake in drone company
Brazilian aerospace company Embraer has drunk the Kool Aid on drone technology. The company has announced its arrival on the drone technology stage through the purchase of a minority stake…
Drone docking infrastructure start-ups merge
American drone mailbox pioneer Valqari has acquired IDU Group, a UK-based start-up that develops smart integrated infrastructure necessary for autonomous drone docking and delivery. In a statement, Valqari said the…
XAG takes the P100 to Vietnam
Chinese industrial drone maker XAG are taking their P100 agricultural drone to the world, and they were in Vietnam recently. Below is the manufacturer’s account of how the sojourn went….
Rigitech, Zing join the DLE family
The Drone Logistics ecosystem family is growing nicely, with the 46th and 47th additions walking through the door in quick succession in recent weeks. Interestingly, the newest members are both…
DJI drones now Remote ID-compliant
Drone manufacturing company DJI has announced that seven of its drone models have been approved for compliance with Remote Identification mandates as required by the Federal Aviation Administration in the…
Drones, 5G and agriculture
There must be some breakthrough solutions telecommunications technology giant Ericsson sees in the combination between drones and 5G network technology. The company has been working with various partners to expedite…
Jagersfontein dam collapse: drone deployed to scene
An engineering services company has deployed drones to help piece out events that led to the collapse of a tailings dam wall in Jagersfontein, South Africa. The government confirmed that…
Global boom in drone patents
Step by step, the use of drone technology in various settings seems to be gathering pace, if the number of patents granted in the last year is anything to go…
Drone sighting disrupts flights at Glasgow Airport
We really wish we did not have to report this; but we’re afraid we have news about a suspected drone trespasser case. Again. This time it happened at Glasgow at…
China debuts solar-powered high altitude drone
Not to be outdone by Airbus’ Zephyr and HAPSMobile’s creations, China has developed its own high altitude solar-powered drone. Developed by state-owned conglomerate Aviation Industry Corp of China, the Qimingxing…
Medical drone deliveries take off in Kaduna
Finally, the state of Kaduna in Nigeria can rightfully boast of a fully-fledged drone-based medical logistics network in operation. After first shaking hands on a partnership with drone logistics company…
Matternet gets licence for commercial flights in the US
American drone delivery company Matternet is celebrating today because its drones have been declared fit for commercial operations. The California-based developer of the world’s leading urban drone delivery system announced…
Scotland moves closer to medical drone network
A consortium led by AGS Airports in partnership with NHS Scotland to deliver what will be the UK’s first medical distribution network using drones has launched its next phase. CAELUS…
Drone camp for underprivileged kids in Zimbabwe
Many readers will remember the Global Air Drone Academy (GADA) as a drone training institution that has been working with the American Embassy to conduct drone technology bootcamps in Zambia…
Swoop Aero joins WEF’s Global Innovator community
Australian drone logistics start-up Swoop Aero is now a World Economic Forum-commissioned global innovator. The Queensland company – which charted a path in Africa delivering medical supplies in countries that…
Indian hospital to use drones for organ delivery
An Indian hospital has partnered with a drone company to launch an operation to use drone technology to transport human organs. Chennai-based private hospital MGM Healthcare made this revelation at…
Opportunities for insurance industry against drone intrusions
Stakeholders in the drone industry do understand that flying drones into places they are legally not supposed to be is a nuisance the industry can really do without, given how…
Drone spying on homes in California neighbourhood?
Proponents of drone technology know that one of the reasons why regulatory authorities have been hesitated to have drones flying over people in public places is because of fears over…
Start-ups partner for drone-based solutions in Zambian construction industry
A Zambian technology company is set to bring some excitement to construction sites in the country. Alstralz Technologies Limited plans to introduce drone-based data collection to construction projects in Zambia,…
Zipline, Jumia partner for package deliveries in Ghana
Perhaps for the first ever time since it set its foot in Africa, the Zips from drone logistics company Zipline will be transporting packages not remotely related to medical supplies….
Wing CEO on the future of drone delivery
The CEO and former CTO of Alphabet’s drone subsidiary Wing, Adam Woodworth recently spoke to journalists, analyst, author and speaker John Koetsier on his company’s vision for drone delivery, on…
Drones for Kenya’s tea plantation
Kenya Airways’ drone technology subsidiary, Fahari Aviation, seems to be making up for lost time. Launched just a year ago, the drone services company has been all over the country,…
Errant drones disrupt traffic at Madrid airport
Madrid (SPAIN) – Small wonder that an airport in the USA has contracted a counter-drone technology company to permanently deploy its software and hardware and be on the lookout for…
Drones in real estate
Did you know that there is money to be earned as a drone photographer in real estate? Our experts at DJI reckon there is a niche for aerial drone photography…
UK teenager rescued by drone
Police in Nottinghamshire, UK, last Thursday flew a drone in search of a teenager who had called the police in distress during the night. The vulnerable teenager was located by…
Deploying drones to monitor traffic in Nairobi
Kenya Flying Labs has joined hands with a Swiss partner to test a new drone-based solution to monitoring congestion in urban areas. In a report, the Kenyan custodian of WeRobotics’…
SA Flying Labs takes drones to Alex
Today we are crushing on QP Drone Tech, custodian of the Flying Labs network in South Africa, which recently spent time with the young women in the high-density township of…
Drones trigger precipitation for heat-stricken Sichuan, China
The heatwave in China’s Sichuan province is persisting so badly that the government has deployed drones to seed rain clouds to try and trigger some form of precipitation. China news…
Your Avata is here…
Here is what DJI have to say about their new product, the Avata Drone and its accessories, the DJI Goggles 2 and the DJI Motion Controller. DJI, the world’s leader…
Drone-based proposal to promote tourism in Zimbabwe
A Zimbabwean drone technology entrepreneur has proposed a drone-based solution to promote the country’s tourism. Tatenda Mafara (far right in the main picture), the proprietor of Iron Mask Aerotech lodged…
Namibia adds drones to Windhoek policing operation
Namibian police have deployed drones to help fight crime in the country’s capital Windhoek as the city faces an upsurge in criminal activity. This is according to regional police commander…
Considerations on integrating drones into urban airspaces
With many urban settlements in the world making plans for the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles in their airspaces, an analyst has made the plea for more research and wider…
Zimbabwe dreams of agric drone response centres
A few days ago, we covered this story about the Nigerian government making plans to invest in drone technology to supplement to its efforts against border crimes in the country….
China sets roadmap for drone industry
They have some of the biggest drone companies in the world – now it seems China wants the supporting infrastructure for drone technology to show for it. Reuters has reported…
Nigeria to deploy drones along the border
From deploying drone technology in healthcare logistics, the Nigerian government has now revealed plans to use the small unmanned aerial vehicles to combat crimes along the country’s borders. According to…
DeltaScan to inspect flooding damage in KwaZulu Natal, SA
The province of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa sustained heavy losses of life and destruction to property in infrastructure, following days of heavy rainfall in the area in April this…
Taking the South African drone economy to the next level
The below article originally appeared on IT-Online and was written by Dean Conde, UTM lead at iOCO Digital. A Johannesburg-based subsidiary of technology services giant, EOH, iOCO is an information…
Delta Drone International, Assmang extend contract
Global drones-as-a-service provider, Delta Drone International Limited (DLT) will stay on as the drone surveyor of choice for South African mining giant Assmang Proprietary Limited’s Khumani Iron Ore Mine, after…
DJI’s Drone Industry Report, 2021
DJI has released its 2021 industry report for agricultural drones. It is a really good read, and we reproduce it below. Industry Background From “plant protection drones” to “agricultural drones”…
Zipline to work with NASA
It usually is the case that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the consultant of last resort when it comes to most things aviation. That’s presumably because NASA…
Zim drone academy gets greenlight for BVLOS training
Seems like the first drone training school to legally open its doors in Zimbabwe has broken new ground again. Harare-based Drone Solutions Academy (DSA), the first school in Zimbabwe to…
New mobile anti-drone solution from Dedrone
American smart airspace security company Dedrone has launched what it says is an all-in-one kit that offers comprehensive drone detection, tracking, and identification capabilities (DTI) on the go. To be…
Zimbabwe drone stakeholders converge
Having warmed up to drone technology at the first ever drone conference held in Zimbabwe last November, Zimbabwe will converge in Harare again starting today to discuss latest development in…
SA issues first delivery drone ROC
The brainchild that Jonathan Louw conceived has finally, finally seen the light of day. We know every Remote Operator’s Certificate issued by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) is…
Is the US warming up to delivery drones?
Well… the results are in – and people do not hate drone deliveries as much as originally feared. At least those polled in the US – the largest drone market…
Mapping out the land in Zanzibar
Thanks to the data collection exploits of drone technology, the process of titling land on the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar is progressing at a rate faster than would have been…
Revisiting drones in construction
The construction industry has carried the tag of being the most technology-shy industry ever. Somehow, professionals in the industry love working with their bare hands, as they do the comfortable…
Unlocking the real value of drone technology
Debate has been swelling up within drone industry circles on the place of human pilots along the drone value chain. Informal conversations with drone services providers have indeed revealed the…
Counter-drone systems at Qatar World Cup
We know drones have been used to keep an eye out on any sign of trouble at the Cannes Film Festival in France; have monitored large gatherings in Toronto, and…
New drone and drone nest in town
There is now a new drone and drone docking station combo in town to rival the best in the game. Coming from Shenzhen in China – which is also the…
Prosecution looms for SA drone law offenders
Unauthorised drone in South Africa has not reached the levels of this Gatwick Airport incident yet – but there have been times where drones have flown into areas where they…
Dronamics enters deal to accelerate drone production
Having landed deals with various airports and other related docking partners in Europe, middle distance drone logistics company Dronamics is now working to ramp up production of its Black Swan…
UK to open world’s biggest drone superhighway
The drone corridor that started out as a trial in Reading last year under Project Xcelerate must have worked a treat for the – because the UK government has been…
About those fire-fighting drones
We love to follow the latest trends in the application of drone technology in various industries. And the more we here from experts, drone manufacturers and Original Equipments manufacturers themselves,…
Zipline to start delivering in Washington, US
Zipline’s wings on drone logistics in the US continues to grow, with the latest landing being in Washington. It has been announced drone logistics company Zipline will be partnering non-profit…
Dedrone to expand global operations after $30m investment
San Francisco-based smart airspace security provider has pledged to grow its global operations and team, after raising $30million in investment funding. The company announced that it had closed $30million in…
Assessing the impact of drones on healthcare delivery
Of late, discussions on the future of drone technology in logistics seem to have returned to the fore, no doubt egged on by an announcement by Amazon that the online…
SA university lends drones for marine research
The School of Engineering at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa has given unmanned aerial support to researchers studying marine life in the Indian Ocean. The support has been in…
Tips for drone services start-ups
Drone expert Callum Holland has shared the below nuggets for entrepreneurs hoping to crack the code in offering drone services to clients. Callum himself has run a drone services business…
Airobotics joins the Ondas family
Israeli autonomous drone developer Airobotics will be joining the Ondas family of companies. This was revealed through an announcement made by the parent company Ondas Holdings – a provider of…
SA govt gazettes private security drone regulations
Any person hoping to offer drone services for the security industry in South Africa must be registered as a security service provider according to the requirements of the Public Security…
NHS to deliver cancer drugs by drone
We are in the UK today, where the National Health Service (NHS) in England will be trying drone technology to bring chemotherapy drugs closer to patients, as announced by the…
Zipline spreads further in the US
… Company launches operations in North Carolina Fresh from being declared a proper airline, drone logistics company Zipline could not wait to try out its newfound wings in North Carolina,…
In defence of delivery drones
Harrison Wolf is a drone technology optimist. Now the Director of Global Aviation Policy at leading drone logistics company Zipline, Mr Wolf has been in the drone industry for over…
Drone use in manufacturing
With the drone global market having an expected worth of 15 billion US dollars by 2022, it seems the industry will soon be expanding into another niche market soon –…
When in Namibia…
Of course, you have to do what the Namibians do. The Namibian Drone Academy has shared some very useful information about tourists wishing to fly drones while visiting Namibia. We…
EHang enters partnerships in China, Europe
Keen on expanding its operations to become the leading autonomous aerial vehicle supplier in the world – especially for passenger transportation and logistics – manufacturer EHang has joined forces with…
How to thermal: Insights from DJI
This will be a bit of a long read; but it is from the experts. DJI Enterprise has shared pointers on how to use thermal imaging with drone technology, and…
Drones to inspect construction projects in Kenya
Unmanned aerial vehicles could soon be flying over construction sites in Kenya on government missions to check whether construction companies are following the law when doing their work. This follows…
About those drone jobs…
We know that the drone industry is a growing industry worldwide, with commercial applications for drones that are taking over tasks that we may not have imagined before. But where…
US carrier to test 5G network on drones
Chicago, US – 5G. Yes. That fifth-generation mobile networking connectivity that was met with so much noise at its introduction solely because… … of its origins. But we are not…
Passenger drones for tourism in China
Guangzhou, CHINA – In China, the government is making efforts to incorporate passenger drone technology into the country’s tourism industry, and passenger drone maker EHang is set to be one…
Wingcopter to expand operations
Weiterstadt, GERMANY – Drone services start-up Wingcopter just got loaded; and will use its new-found wealth to expand its drone delivery services globally and ramp up production of its new…
Drone software for fire fighting
A South African security start-up has joined forces with a Danish software company to work on drone-based solutions to fight fires in the southern African country. Cape Town-based Arcanum Africa…
EU plans for drone technology in public safety
The European Union is working hard to find the rightful place of drone technology in various applications, including public safety. In the research article below – which was funded by…
SA govt promises drones for policing ops
The South African government has revealed that it is in the process of procuring drones for the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) policing operations in rural parts of the country….
Zimbabwe power distribution company obtains ROC
A Zimbabwean parastatal has become the first company in the country to acquire a Remote Operator’s Certificate in the country. The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) will be…
Drone-in-a-Box market set for growth
Perhaps we should have guessed when DJI announced its own drone nest earlier this year, but research now confirms that the Drone-in-a-Box market is set for a boom in the…
Kenya opens drone haven
Kenya’s national airline Kenya Airways (KQ) is stepping up its drone game. Through its subsidiary Fahari Aviation, KQ has launched the first drone testing and training facility in Kenya –…
Quantum-Systems, Propeller Aero combine software for aerial surveys
Denver, USA – There is a significant development for the survey and mapping industry today, after Propeller Aero and Quantum-Systems announced that they would be combining their respective technologies to…
In her own words: Drone Diva Programme graduate speaks
Tshwane-based non-profit organisation Africa Beyond the 4th Industrial revolution (AB4IR) is playing its part in bridging the digital divide in South Africa by empowering communities through technology, innovation and incubation….
Amazon to try drone deliveries again
Amazon need another shot at the primetime. Nearly ten years after promising the world that they were going to shake the last mile delivery sector by their game changing drones,…
Calling the drone industry to action
We reproduce the below article from drone technology expert Callum Holland, which we can only conclude is a toast to players in the drone industry who are not afraid to…
Drone-based solutions for cassava production in Cambodia
Our experts at agricultural drone services developer and provider XAG made a stopover in Cambodia on their world tour to bring drone-based solutions to precision agriculture. Below is an account…
FIXAR launches long range, multi-purpose industrial drone
Latvian drone company FIXAR Global has released a autonomous new long range eVTOL drone, the FIXAR 025, which it says was made with large-scale missions for commercial and industrial applications….
Zipline unveils aircraft detection system
San Francisco, US – One of the age-old criticisms for the integration of unmanned aerial systems into busy airspaces or over people and buildings has been that the drones cannot…
Rocketmine lands deal with Australian mining giant
Rocketmine is really going places in the drone world. Now a subsidiary of Australian Stock Exchange-listed Delta Drone International, the drone services company with South African roots has signed on…
Swoop Aero’s Remote Operations Centre
Fresh from having their drone logistics Remote Operations Centre (ROC) approved by the Australian civil aviation authorities, drone logistics company Swoop Aero are aiming to spread their wings further into…
Kaduna’s medical drone project takes off
Kaduna, NIGERIA — It took over a year to get here, but finally a Zip has made its first medical delivery in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna. The Kaduna government…
Drone training opportunity for people with disabilities in SA
An African information technology giant has teamed up with two drone companies in South Africa to equip people living with disabilities with skills in drone technology. EOH, which is one…
Kenya set to launch drone logistics network
Three drone logistics companies have come together to launch a drone logistics networks in the east African nation of Kenya. Australian medical drone services company Swoop Aero, Kenyan air logistics…
When the Avy Aera made a stopover in Benin
…working with authorities to expedite medical drone logistics Remember the story we covered a while back about how the Benin government was trying drone technology to curb maternal mortality in…
Drones set to deliver mail in India
In a world in which countless methods of sending mail electronically and instantly, there are still people and organisations that insist on sending messages on pieces of paper wrapped in…
EHang to enter the Thai drone market
Guangzhou, CHINA – Chinese autonomous aerial vehicle technology company EHang Holdings has announced a partnership agreement with a Thai conglomerate to help the drone company penetrate the Thailand drone market….
Pointers on drone use in livestock management
We are used to unmanned aerial systems in agriculture flying over our farms, their containers laden with liquid spray to be applied over crops. If not spraying, the drones are…
The case for – and against – drone fishing
We do remember that the subject of drone fishing is a hot one in South Africa right now, following the ban on the use of drones during fishing expeditions by…
Walmart in DroneUP scale up
Walmart and DroneUp are scaling up package delivery operations in the US. It seems the US retail giant has been very happy with package delivery trials it has been conducting…
Dronamics gets licence to deliver today
London, (ENGLAND); Geneva (SWITZERLAND) – Middle distance cargo drone developer and operator, Dronamics are in seventh heaven today after finally obtaining the licence to deliver today, as their tag line…
Drone logistics group adds family member
Dubai, UAE – The Drone Logistics Ecosystem family is growing. This time the worldwide network for a unified global delivery drone ecosystem has welcomed Dubai-based Microavia, to work with the…
Wingcopter bags WAPP partner for Sub-Saharan Africa
Accra, GHANA/Weiterstadt, GERMANY – German drone delivery pioneer Wingcopter says it is working on deploying thousands of delivery drones into the Sub-Saharan skies in the coming five years. At least…
New confined space drone from Flyability
Lausanne, SWITZERLAND – Flyability, the Swiss maker of confined space drone technology has released the Elios 3, the third offering in the company’s Elios range of drones. We know we…
High school student develops poacher detection technology
By 2016, Kruger National Park was ready to give up on drone technology. Starring at the decimation of their rhinoceros and elephant population in the face, parks and wildlife officials…
Behold, the VoloIQ cometh
Redmond, Washington (USA); Bruchsal, GERMANY – VoloDrone. VoloCity. VoloPort. VoloConnect. All these transport and infrastructure systems belong to German electronic Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer Volocopter and very…
TotalEnergies to use drones to detect methane emissions
Paris, FRANCE – We know we have been harping on for a long time about how drone technology is important as an implement for the oil and gas industry without…
History as South African company launches locally-made survey drone
We know we should have done this a long time ago, but… well… better late than never at all. We would like to celebrate with South Africa’s Premier Mapping Africa,…
Cultivating trust in autonomous drone systems
It is a question that has kept many an aviation regulator all over the world awake at night. How to keep the lower skies safe in the face of an…
WeRobotics adds technology partner for its Flying Labs
Redwing has drunk the Flying Labs Kool Aid! The Indian cargo drone maker was announced yesterday as the latest addition to robotics technology non-profit WeRobotics’s growing list of technology partners…
UK company to open 50 drone routes for mail delivery
Eighteen months ago, Royal Mail – the leading provider of postal and delivery services in the UK – embarked on an ambitious project to deliver mail and packages to remote…
DJI drops the Mini 3 Pro
Today is DJI Mini 3 Pro Day. The world’s biggest drone maker DJI has just announced the release of its much-anticipated drone in the smallest range – the DJI Mini…
IAP: Changing precision agriculture through drone technology in Nigeria
One of the biggest reasons why drone technology has been quick to take root in Africa has been the maximum and quick gains garnered at a fraction of the cost…
Construction drones: next level roof analysis
After three long days of flashing smiles, mixing handshakes and pandemic-friendly elbow bumps, and talking about their vision for the future of roofing, John Kiesel and Ryan Resides could finally…
Adding drone precision to rice farming
The experts from agricultural drone manufacturer, XAG have shared the below use case, where their drones are helping rice farming efforts in Vietnam. Dong Thap, VIETNAM – As the monsoon…
EHang asked to conform to US rules for public companies
Guangzhou, CHINA – It seems like it is squeaky bum time again for Chinese drone maker EHang and its shareholders in the USA. Less than a week after EHang’s filing…
Cleaning drones to get 4G and 5G connectivity
Sprayer drones. The world has a handful of those now. There are fire-fighting sprayer drones that can fly 600 metres in the air to jet extinguishing foams at a fire…
Gun-smuggling drone crashes into tree in Canada
There is really no limit to what people can do with drones, is there? Whether it is legal or illegal, sometimes you have to marvel at the creative ways people…
Swoop Aero to launch drone docking system
Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND – We know it might be a completely useless detail – but the first thing that came to mind when we got this news was that Swoop…
Drone applications in agriculture
From senseFly Drones are fast becoming a crucial tool in agriculture, but how do you know if they are the right choice for your business? Olivia Soares de Camargo, Customer…
US drone company gets greenlight to operate with no pilots on site
Waltham, Massachusetts (US) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted its approval for autonomous drone services company American Robotics to expand its automated technology where its drones can fly…
Top industries for drone applications revealed
So; which industries have taken drone technology like a duck to water? Many might be tempted to ask this question, as if the answer were completely straightforward. However, defining the…
New mobile drone detection system from Dedrone
San Francisco, California (US) – American smart airspace security company Dedrone recently launched its first portable drone detection unit. Called DedroneRapidResponse, the mobile unit can detect, identify, locate and analyse…
Big drone-in-a-box deal for Percepto in Florida
Austin, Texas (US) – Autonomous drone inspections services provider Percepto has announced that its will be deploying its autonomous industrial drones to monitor Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) substations and…
First ever vertiport opens in the UK
Over in the USA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has identified the creation of vertiports for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) planes as one of the important pillars for…
Step-by-step: The growing importance of medical drones
We all know what medical drones have done to communities in Africa that badly needed medical supplies to be delivered in time to save lives in locations that are usually…
Three more inductees into the Flying Labs Network
It is the year 2022, and WeRobotics are still relentlessly pursuing their mission of establishing flying labs hubs in as many countries as they can; the latest three Flying Labs…
Mozambique kicks off Phase 2 of Drones for Health Project
Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE – Mozambique can legitimately claim that it is the first country country in Southern Africa – or indeed one of the first on the whole continent – to…
Zipline lands in Japan
San Francisco, California (US), Goto (JAPAN) — For the first ever time in their lives, the Zips are in Japan. And that is because the flagship medical drone logistics company,…
India greenlights drone-spraying for 477 agric chemicals
When it comes to drone technology at least, it seems the Indian government is putting its money where its mouth is. After recently announcing that it was going to ban…
The journey so far: drone technology in Africa
Now and again, somebody comes up with a comprehensive accounting of the journey travelled by the drone industry in Africa so far, where it is now; and where it is…
Ramjack acquires underground drone company, Inkonova
Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – South African mining technology company, Ramjack Technology Solutions has announced its acquisition of Swedish underground robotics technology company, Inkonova AB. A mining technology systems integrator and…
Investing in drones on the stock market
Thinking of investing in drone technology? Should be a bummer for you then, that you cannot buy shares for DJI at any stock exchange whatsoever. But there are drone companies…
South Africa bans drone fishing
A high court judge in South Africa has upheld the ban on drones and other motorised devices from angling expeditions, in a blow to the fortunes of a section of…
Ultrasonic inspection drone lands in South Africa
A South African industrial drone services company is hoping to define the game in local and regional structural inspection by introducing comprehensive autonomous robotic systems when inspecting above ground storage…
Medical drone companies converge in Malawi
For the sheer and lone reason that the country is fast becoming the home of the medical drone in Africa, we have to profess our love for Malawi. Admittedly, it…
UK body proposes rule change following drone crash
In a development that could affect drone operations in the UK, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has recommended that the local civil aviation authority revises its visual line of…
Wing’s Texas operation goes live
After several months of testing, working with residents and business owners in an area of Dallas, Texas in the US, delivery drone maker Wing has finally declared itself ready and…
FedEx to test cargo drones
Memphis, Tennessee, UNITED STATES – Another drone company will be exploring the middle-distance cargo drone space very soon. And in doing so, the company will usher FedEx’s turn to join…
New solution for crop-spraying drones
A chemical company has developed an adjuvant which it claims will help the crop spraying efforts of drones by stabilising their liquid contents so they will not drift from their…
Flapping the Wings in Helsinki
Wing, the drone subsidiary of technology conglomerate Alphabet (whose companies include Google), has made a landing for the first time in Europe. The small package delivery drone company, which made…
Volansi unveils VOLY 50 mid-range cargo drone
San Francisco, UNITED STATES – It seems the drone industry has noticed a niche in middle distance logistics, which has seen a mini scramble for the manufacture of cargo drones…
Free State University’s R11million grant for drone-based geological research
The Hans Merensky Foundation (HMF) has awarded R11million (about $760,000) to South Africa’s University of Free State, which will go towards drone-based geological imaging research programmes at one of its…
Wingcopter drones to deliver off shore
Berlin, Weiterstadt, Cologne/Bonn, GERMANY – Having long been appreciated for the unmanned autonomous capabilities of its small cargo drones in lands foreign, Germany drone maker Wingcopter has found a way…
Insurance and the drone industry
We all love drones, for all the interminable reasons they have made the work load bearable in various industrial and humanitarian operations. You can literally pick any story on this…
Opportunity for SA youth in Alexandra
Let’s not waste time more time with a speech – if you are a youth resident in Alexandra Township in South Africa, then you could be one of 50 young…
Itochu joins Wingcopter’s APP
Weiterstadt, GERMANY/Tokyo, JAPAN — German drone delivery company Wingcopter is spreading its roots deeper into Japan. After securing a partnership with local airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) and funding from…
Rotterdam to explore U-Space possibilities
Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS – Following hot on the successful wheels of the Hamburg U-Space trials, the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands will soon be starting its own pilot project to…
Terra Drone raises $70million
Japanese drone services company Terra Drone Corporation just got 70 million more reasons to smile. The Tokyo-based company – which as offices in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America…
Swoop Aero to fly with Skyports, BD Rowa
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia-based drone logistics company Swoop Aero has grown from strength to strength, working with partners within and outside governments to provide lasting healthcare…
South African pilot wins DJI’s #ChoosetoFly campaign
Congratulations to Liezl MacKenzie from Cape Town, South Africa who won this year’s Choose to Fly campaign by DJI. A GIS Technician at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, Liezl’s…
DJI to launch own drone nest
It has been long in coming, but finally DJI has confirmed that it will be dropping its first drone box. Set to be available for purchase in the last quarter…
DJI’s M30: The baby that Matrice and Mavic made
It was all about the payload when DJI finally unveiled its new flagship unmanned aerial vehicle for enterprise users yesterday. As earlier rumoured, the new DJI Matrice30 drone is like…
Drones to assess progress along the Great Green Wall
It looks like crowd-droning pilots under the wings of Globhe are about to get really busy, at least in Ghana. The drone services provider has just scored a major partnership…
Police drone flies into domestic row
A drone was sent out to help iron out a potential domestic dispute at a public area in Birmingham, UK on Monday. Yes. That is what drones can do when…
DJI to release foldable enterprise drone?
Amid a swell of leaked images suggesting the imminent arrival of a foldable industrial drone, DJI has announced that it will be holding a product event on March 21 this…
Two more droneport partners for Dronamics
London, UNITED KINGDOM – Middle distance cargo drone maker Dronamics is really eager to make up for lost time; and hence; the company is covering up a lot of ground….
Bringing margnalised communities into the 21st Century
A youth organisation in Cape Town, South Africa is opening up possibilities for young people in the Cape Flats area in the city by introducing them to the world of…
Inside India’s dream for a wholly local drone ecosystem
The Indian government recently went ahead with a ban for all commercial drone imports, instead hoping the local industry would be enough for all drone-based needs for the local market….
Drones and wildlife conservation
This is a brilliant article about drone the enormous work drones are doing in wildlife conservation. It was written by Kathryn Hulick and first appeared in Science News for Students….
Malaysian company to purchase passenger drones from EHang
Guangzhou, CHINA – At a time when autonomous passenger vehicles are still looking for their place in the unmanned aerial systems space, passenger drone maker EHang has scored a partnership…
Drone technology and energy infrastructure
The use of drones for energy infrastructures is and will continue to be the leading market for drone technology throughout the world. This is due to both the societal importance…
The world of passenger drones
Passenger drone manufacturers are promising to give us personal air transport without the need for a pilot. It almost feels like the flying cars we’ve all wished for at one…
Zimbabwean drone training school opens doors
Precision Drone Training, the pilot training wing of drone services start-up Precision Aerial Zimbabwe is now officially open for business. The start-up last month received certification from the Civil Aviation…
Protecting your airspace from trespassing drones
Following reports that a political leader in South Africa has opened a police case after he spied a drone suspiciously making rounds around his home, and the pleas from the…
Plea to respect birds during nesting season
It should be a sad day when a government is forced to appeal to the conscience of its people to respect the rights of wildlife; but such is the world…
Volatus purchases stake in Delta Drone
Volatus Aerospace, an international provider of drone solutions has just announced that it will be purchasing a 20 percent stake in the South African operations of the Delta Drone Group,…
Rocketmine partners Quantum Systems
Munich, GERMANY, and Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA — South African drone-as-a-service company Rocketmine has joined aerial forces with German drone developer Quantum-Systems in a strategic partnership that will help the drone…
More drones for Germany’s busy airspace
Frankfurt/Langen, GERMANY – Apparently, Germany seems to have liked the results and related recommendations from the U-Space sandbox trials conducted in Hamburg last year – so much that the country…
First ultracold package delivery for Swoop Aero in Malawi
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA and Lilongwe, Malawi – We are celebrating with medical drone logistics company Swoop Aero, which has scored a first in Malawi by successfully delivering Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. And…
More drone-based efforts to fight malaria in Zanzibar
Health authorities at the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar are doubling on their drone-based efforts to fight malaria in the region, following hot on the heels of similar efforts last year….
Could machine learning make agricultural drones better?
Of late, there has been a flurry of road shows by agricultural drone resellers in southern Africa, who are keen to see the spread of drone technology into farms in…
Court orders Virginia man to lose drone
He thought he could have fun taunting fire fighters with it A USA man will lose his drone after he pled guilty to using it to taunt police fire fighters…
Growing research into telehealth drones
It seems rural USA has drunk the Kool Aid in as far as investing in telehealth drones is concerned. And it is a good thing for rural citizens the world…
New player enters the medical drone game
Mirko Cesena can personally testify that he has had fun flying racing drones in championship drone racing all over the world, and indeed he had with small manned aircraft too….
Drones and fire-fighting efforts
Yesterday, we had an account of how drone technology can be valuable in heavy rain and flooding situations; their most recent helping hand coming in the aftermath of the cyclones…
In his own words: Drone start-up in the eye of Cyclone Ana
We have previously covered Dumisani Kaliati here as one of the many success stories from the African Drone and Data Academy in Malawi. And we also covered him in a…
Drones and Cyclone Ana’s aftermath in Malawi
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Malawi is working with a drone training school and drone start-ups to determine the actual scale of damage caused by Tropical Cyclone…
The Zipline journey: next stop; Kenya
Kisumu, KENYA – For drone logistics company Zipline, the year 2022 must be the year of expansion. We have barely caught our breath after news that the medical drone services…
Avy makes at stop in Benin
Cotonou, BENIN – It looks like Dutch drone company Avy’s medical drones will soon be traversing the Beninese skies, following the latest round of pilot tests to bring health care closer…
Investment in drone industry continues to grow
We are worried; and we believe it is for a good reason. Maybe worried a strong word at this point in time, but we are certainly concerned. As you will…
FAA in tests to integrate drones into national airspace
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the USA says it will soon begin field-testing new drone-traffic-management capabilities to expedite the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the country’s National Airspace…
Pilot training school gets the green light in Zimbabwe
A Zimbabwean drone services start-up is basking in glory this morning after it acquired official certification as a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) pilot training school from the national regulator….
Regulations and drone use in Southern Africa
Morning one and all. We are in southern Africa today, where an official with the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) had remined the country’s citizens that the CAAZ is…
India bans drone imports
With immediate effect, India has banned all commercial drone imports into the country. You heard that right. India’s Directorate of Foreign Trade said in a notification on Wednesday that it…
FIXAR fixing demos across southern Africa
Keen to make significant inroads into the Southern African drone market, Latvian drone maker FIXAR – through its authorised resellers in the region – has embarked on a roadshow campaign…
Integrating drone technology into busy airspaces
We all know how hard it is to predict what a human mind get do; and we are looking at the people who abuse drones for criminal and nuisance purposes…
The scourge of tropical cyclones in Southern Africa
Another summer. Another tropical cyclone. And another. Yet more people dead and thousands displaced from their homes. Southern Africa has really not been lucky with tropical cyclones in many a…
Grounding errant drones
We have been covering too many articles about drone abusers of late; and we feel it is only natural to remind people out there that there is technology that is…
Zipline adds new state to growing sphere of influence in Nigeria
Yenagoa, NIGERIA – American drone logistics company Zipline is spreading its wings further into Nigeria. After successfully launching medical drone delivery operations in Kaduna and Cross River states last year,…
Wingcopter partners with Peru Flying Labs
Lima, PERU – Fresh from signing a bumper deal for their new flagship Wingcopter 198 drone with a USA company, drone delivery maker Wingcopter have just landed in Peru on…
Man arrested for flying drone near Swedish king’s palace
The industry does have a label for these people: drone idiots. People who intentionally take a drone – a good piece of technology in its own right – and fly…
Brazil to test drone seeding in reforestation efforts
A university in Brazil has partnered with a local drone services company to integrate drone technology in efforts to restore forests in the country. The Federal University of Parana, the…
Delta Drone International divests from ParaZero
Barely two years after Delta Drone South Africa and ParaZero Technologies merged to become Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)-listed Delta Drone International, it seems the two can no longer live with…
Celebrating Swoop Aero’s Madi
Today we celebrate the work of Madison Jeffery, the Malawi-based Flight Operations Manager at drone logistics company Swoop Aero who recently received Women and Drones’ 2021 Women to Watch (WTW)…
Wingcopter opens new hub in Malawi
There was a flurry of activity on a piece of land just outside Ntchisi District Hospital in central Malawi in the past few months. A group of construction workers gathered…
A guide to Point Clouds in drone surveying
We love the below guide from Heliguy for survey professionals, which we believe survey professionals will find really useful when choosing a drone and data capturing implements during survey operations….
Wingcopter enters $16million deal with Spright
Weisterstadt, GERMANY – It is a good start to the new year for German drone delivery pioneer Wingcopter, which has just announced a new multi-million commercial agreement with a USA-based…
Brentford vs Wolves: Drone stops play
Play at a Premier League match was suspended for a significant amount of time at the weekend, when a drone materialised out of nowhere to spook everyone in the stadium….
Growing the drone logistics family
The global community of public and private entities working towards the achievement of a unified sky in the drone logistics ecosystem has just welcomed a new member into global network….
Crashing into middle-distance cargo logistics
Perhaps it was just providence that the Black Swan was born amid a snow storm on International Civil Aviation Day last year – the unmanned cargo aircraft is here to…
2021 – The year of managing expectations?
Below is the voice of the experts at Drone Industry Insights taking stock of what the year 2021 brought for the drone industry. What did the news reveal about the…
SOS to help fight poaching at South African national park
An environment and wildlife conservation organisation is seeking to raise funds to purchase a drone to help in the fight against poaching at a national park in South Africa. Animal…
Drone solutions for precision agriculture
When it comes to feeding the world’s ever-growing population, farmers deserve all the help they can get. To get the best out of every inch of farmland, modern farmers are…
Drones and firefighting operations
In the aftermath of the fire that gutted part of the library at the University of Cape Town last May, drones flew in to assess the damage. The data captured…
LiDAR technology and drones
American industrial drone maker Microdrone recently showcased the LiDAR capabilities of their new drone, which the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is using to improve efficiency and safety in the…
New autonomous precision agriculture solutions from XAG
Chinese precision agriculture solutions provider manufacturer XAG has released a new set of agricultural drones, which it believes will help farmers worldwide take the next step in precision agriculture with…
Drone technology in the classroom
From Scott Buell, Founder and CEO, Drone Legends Every time something new, innovative or high-tech comes into the picture, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) community gets excited. Because…
Crowd-droning and the fight against malaria in Malawi
Malaria has been a deadly scourge of a disease, especially to citizens of low-income countries. Transmitted through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, malaria was responsible for the deaths…
EHang launches 5G-enabled drone port in China
Guangzhou, CHINA – Drone manufacturer, EHang has partnered with the Guangzhou Development District Communications Investment Group (GDDCI) to launch the first ever 5G Intelligent drone port at the Innovation Park…
Canada: Enforcing the law from above
Toronto Police’s drone programme taking policing to new levels Imagine growing up in the Roaring 20s — a time when automobiles had recently replaced horse-drawn carriages and families gathered around…
Fighting Yellow Fever in the DRC
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government joined hands with non-profit organisation VillageReach in 2020 to launch the Drones for Health Programme, in which drone technology would be used to…
Drone helps save cardiac arrest patient in Sweden
A drone has helped save the life of a Swedish man who suffered a cardiac arrest recently. The 71-year-old resident of Trollhättan in the Vastra Gotaland region in the western…
Drone technology in 2021
On its outlook, 2021 was a year which we hoped that one thing that had dragged our lives back in 2020 would finally be on its way to hell. …
African drone start-ups’ contribution to earth observation
It was a good end of year for Astral Aerial Solutions and a few other drone-based start-up companies that scored big at the 2021 Africa Africa Earth Observation (AEO) Challenge….
Marijuana-laden drone crashes into home
Imagine getting an unwanted and equally unsolicited present for the holiday season. That was exactly what a Mansfield, Ohio (USA) resident got last week, when she had something crash outside…
Drone Technology and Tactical De-escalation
Lt. Will Huddler is an 18-year law enforcement veteran at a large metropolitan police agency in the southwest United States. He has led the investigations of over 30 officer-involved shootings…
Counter-drone operations
At the Security Drone Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa recently, Sam Husseini, Regional Sales Director for Middle East, Africa, and Turkey at airspace security company Dedrone gave a comprehensive…
Latest DJI ban escalates data security war between China and USA
Another year ending – and DJI has been added to yet another list by the federal USA government, looking to clip one more rotor on the world’s biggest drone maker’s…
Medical drones set for Namibia
Namibia has drunk the Kool Aid. The southern African country has become the latest in the region to introduce medical drone deliveries to help meet its healthcare obligations for its…
Introducing the telehealth drone
Scientists in the USA are building a drone that will make house calls – just like a real doctor. Yes. You heard it right. We have had drones that deliver…
Integrating drone and gunfire sensor technology
What if a drone company joined its technologically innovative forces with a gunfire locator service? The answer to that is one we are going to get in good time now…
Swoop Aero celebrates two years in Malawi
… extends stay in the country until 2024 It seems we are spending an awful lot of time with Swoop Aero these days. But it is a good thing. We…
Swoop Aero to operate in Queensland
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA – Just like American company Zipline, Melbourne-based drone logistics company Swoop Aero cut their teeth in medical drone logistics on the African airspaces. The Australian delivery drone services…
Parrot’s ANAFI Ai drone now available for pre-order
French-based drone company Parrot, the leading European manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems has announced that its new drone, the ANAFI Ai is now available for pre-order, ahead of its release…
New breed of humanitarian drone on the cards
Nagoya, JAPAN – We know we are crazy for what drone technology can do next, but this from a Japanese auto parts maker is really next level. Aisan Industry, a…
Suspect triggers own arrest after shooting at police drone
…admits to a spate of recent burglaries in the area. They have an adage in Zimbabwe, which says; if you are getting jumpy at every speck of dust falling from…
Protecting wildlife with drones
Engineers from the University of Southampton, and conservationists at Marwell Wildlife in the UK have successfully tested the use of drone technology, as a new approach to assisting wildlife conservation…
New era for medical deliveries in Sierra Leone
An Australian drone logistics company has entered into a strategic partnership with a UK-based humanitarian drone organisation for air logistics services in Sierra Leone. Based in Port Melbourne in Victoria,…
Solar-cleaning drone on the way
Petah Tikva, ISRAEL – Perhaps the smart people at drone-as-a-service companies like Rocketfarm will no longer need to be so creative with lines of code and hardware modifications anymore when it…
Zipline moves into Cote d’Ivoire
It seems American drone logistics company Zipline’s little medical Zips are leaving quite a solid footprint on the healthcare systems of many African countries. It has been exactly five years…
Avy’s new Aera of drone response networks
This is a personal opinion: we think Avy designs some really beautiful drones. Most folks would remember Avy as the Dutch drone maker that partnered with the Botswana government to…
Plans to zap malaria in Sao Tome
They are more famous for their drone-in-a-box solution for mainly security and policing operations, but Israeli autonomous drone manufacturer Airobotics has decided to combine efforts with Zzapp Malaria to fight…
About those Bee Vee LOS flights…
When starting out using drones for your business, it’s important to know their capabilities — and limits. Sometimes, limitations are not technological, but legal. Operating drones Beyond Visual Line of…
Polish city kicks off UAM tests
First Estonia, then Germany. Now it is Poland’s turn. The European Union’s nearly €4million Single European Sky ATM Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR-JU) – a massive project aimed at unlocking the…
Zimbabwe disaster response body gets drones
We are sure the it was already in the works, but surely it cannot just be a coincidence that – barely a week after the first ever drone conference in…
Zipline, Walmart, launch regular medical deliveries in Arkansas, USA
They have been to Rwanda. They have been to Ghana. They have been to Nigeria. Maybe now it is time Zipline made an impact in their own home country. And…
Mapping and surveying complex environments
Latvian drone and drone software company FIXAR has been out testing its flagship outdoor drone, the FIXAR 007 on a number of use cases in land surveying and mapping. The…
Drones for disaster response in Mozambique
Mozambique’s national disaster management agency and the University of Portsmouth are working with international partners on research into the effectiveness of drone technology for post-disaster search and rescue missions in…
LiDAR, drone technology and the industrial revolution
Machines are performing more and higher-level functions with each passing year, and with greater autonomy. But autonomous or not, for many of these machines to operate effectively and safely, they…
Rocketfarm drone surveys solar farm
Many farmers – and anybody familiar with the name would – remember Delta Drone International’s Rocketfarm as a precision agriculture solutions company whose speciality is offering drone-based data to agriculture…
Ziplines delivers Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in Ghana
Medical drone logistics company Zipline are not new to delivering COVID-19 vaccination in Africa; Ghana in particular. When the COVAX Alliance vaccines were first distributed in Ghana last February, Zipline…
XAG releases set of agric drones onto the world market
Guangzhou, CHINA – Not to be outdone by DJI’s unveiling of the latest Agras drone, which seems to have taken the agriculture industry by storm, Chinese drone maker XAG has…
Protecting drone technology from bad people
We all understand that technology usually comes in to make tasks generally easier for humans and plug the gaps that handicapped them from achieving human, economic and social progress before…
Risking your life to rescue your drone
We do not know if it is because some drones are really expensive, or if it is just because their owners cannot imagine a life where they are separated from…
The DJI Mavic 3 is here…
Sadly, we have not yet laid our hands on the new DJI Mavic 3 to make independent reviews yet, so for this one, we will rely on the testimony of…
Academy gearing for drone boom in Namibia
As drone technology takes off in Namibia, a training school in the country hopes it has done enough to take advantage of the anticipated drone boom, ready with comprehensive solutions…
Zipline set to cover the whole of Ghana
Drone logistics company Zipline is going places in Ghana. The west African country is set to be only the second on the continent to have countrywide drone based medical deliveries,…
Drone technology and the route to sustainable supply chains
The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and worsening climate change have strained supply chains past their breaking point, and the challenge of resiliency and access to life-critical goods is more…
Parazero spreading its safety systems across the world
Kiryat Ono, ISRAEL – Parazero Safety Systems is a company on a mission. To put a suit of armour around all drones globally so they are safe to operate at…
Drone technology and fly-on cover cropping
This one is for all you innovative farmers out there looking to try out new ways to conserve their farm lands. It is a testimony by Ohio, USA farmers who…
Namibia looks to drones to fight illegal fishing
The Namibian government has confirmed that it is looking into the possibilities if deploying drone technology to combat illegal fishing in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In a statement,…
Getting smarter: the growth of Artificial Intelligence in drone technology
The article below offers some really great insights about how drone technology is growing to be a really smart and game changing technology whose continued development is set to change…
Most advanced vertiport yet?
SINGAPORE – A Singaporean aerial mobility company has launched what it claims will be the most advanced drone docking station for autonomous drone operations yet. With offices in Singapore, Austin…