47898043
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garymortimer writes:
Two aeronautics students planned to use remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives to carry out terrorist attacks in Germany, according to prosecutors.
German authorities are holding two men of Tunisian origin who they say are facing possible charges for the “preparation of a serious, state-threatening act of violence”.
Prosecutors say the men are suspected of “procuring information and objects to commit Islamic extremist explosive attacks with remote-controlled model airplanes,” prosecutors added.
Police investigating the terror plot on Tuesday launched a series of raids in Stuttgart and Munich in southern Germany and Saxony in the east. They also carried out one raid in Belgium. No-one was arrested.
The suspects had been under surveillance for more than a year and authorities had recently detected “an increased interest in explosives and model aircraft”, according to an unnamed security source quoted by a German news agency.
47633975
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garymortimer writes:
“I had no intention of using it for eye-witnessing of what’s happening in Turkey,” Jenk wrote in an email to sUASNews. “However, I wanted to take a short film of Taksim Gezi Park for myself, having in mind that soon the park would become a concrete mass and would no longer be there.”
What he saw on the ground shocked him. Jenk reported seeing men, women, and children being beaten by police. But no video evidence of police brutality aired on government-controlled television.
“It’s really difficult to explain the things I have seen,” Jenk wrote. “I have been witnessing very bad things happening to innocent people; police violence, arresting lawyers and doctors, and hurting children.”
47384593
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garymortimer writes:
According to the unmanned helicopter’s pilot, police shot the aircraft from the sky, which was destroyed completely on impact with the ground. The pilot was unable to recover video of the incident, but was able to obtain video leading up to that point.
47321955
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garymortimer writes:
An octocopter designed by Aleksey Zaitsevsky of Ecilop that flies only using power derived from solar panels. No large payload and only flight in ground effect but like many of these things its a first. Only time will tell what applications might spawn from this. If you want to have a go at building your own Aleksey has kindly created a BOM with calculations
47099949
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garymortimer writes:
"At Dominos we’re always looking to innovate and find new ways to deliver our pizza and a DomiCopter could fit the bill perfectly," said Simon Wallis, sales and marketing director at Domino's. "We are the number one pizza delivery company and we are committed to staying in that position.
"What better way to totally avoid the traffic than to fly — if anything this will now make us even quicker! We think it's a great way to reinforce that Domino's go to more lengths than anyone to deliver great pizza."
46979927
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garymortimer writes:
Your pride and joy flying off into the distance on a mission of its own is an all too common problem for amateur drone makers. Many things can cause it, lost radio link, failed control surface or servo. An iOS answer is now on the cards.
FIND MY DRONE is a FREE App developed by Communis Tech that connects your iPhone to your personal UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) using the popular MAVLink protocol.
If you were forced to land your drone some distance away, this convenient App will determine the latitude and longitude of the drones’ location and its’ distance from you. The inbuilt compass can then direct you to the drone, saving you a haphazard and time consuming search.
46937435
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garymortimer writes:
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., on 22 May awarded a $15.3 million contract modification to the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector in Bethpage, N.Y., to upgrade the Triton’s software from Windows XP to Windows 7.
The contract modification concerns the MQ-4C Triton Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) systems development and demonstration phase.
Also on 22 May Northrop Grumman experts completed the first flight of the Triton BAMS high-altitude UAV at the Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif.
Triton is designed to fly maritime surveillance missions for as long as 24 hours at altitudes of more than 10 miles to enable coverage out to 2,000 nautical miles, Northrop Grumman officials say. The UAV’s suite of sensors can detect and classify different types of ships automatically.
46887837
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garymortimer writes:
Germany's national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, plans to test small drones to try to reduce the amount of graffiti being sprayed on its property.
The idea is to use airborne infra-red cameras to collect evidence, which could then be used to prosecute vandals who deface property at night.
A company spokesman said drones would be tested at rail depots soon.
46817509
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garymortimer writes:
Google has acquired a US company that generates power using turbines mounted on tethered kites or wings.
Makani Power will become part of Google X – the secretive research and development arm of the search giant.
The deal comes as Makani carries out the first fully autonomous flights of robot kites bearing its power-generating propellers.
Google has not said how much it paid to acquire Makani, but it has invested $15m (£9.9m) in the company before now.
46730301
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garymortimer writes:
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Officials say they’ll test unmanned aerial vehicles at a nature reserve on Russia’s Pacific coast this summer to monitor wildlife and crack down on poachers.
“UAVs are silent and can fly at a very low altitude to produce high-resolution imagery and detect poachers, their boats and vehicles,” Alexandra Filatkina, deputy director for development at the Kronotsky nature reserve on the Kamchatka Peninsula, told RIA Novosti Friday.
46678569
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garymortimer writes:
An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator conducts a touch and go landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), marking the first time any unmanned aircraft has completed a touch and go landing at sea. George H.W. Bush is conducting training operations in the Atlantic Ocean.
46591605
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garymortimer writes:
Geologists have long used seismology on the bottom of the ocean or have been throwing dynamite from snowmobiles when they look for oil. But now researchers at Centre for integrated petroleum research (CIPR), a joint venture between the University of Bergen (UiB) and Uni Research, have found a new preferred method – using drones to map new oil reserves from the air.
46568375
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garymortimer writes:
DroneDeploy announced today that it is launching a web-based drone control platform. Available at www.dronedeploy.com, the site enables users to operate multiple drones at the same time, on any web-enabled device.
Mike Winn, said “We built DroneDeploy to help people get stuff done with drones – we want to make it easier, safer and help people stay within the laws.”
Safety and legal is at the heart of DroneDeploy’s platform: “On the surface, we prevent collisions between vehicles on the platform, avoid tall structures, and ensure localised legal compliance,” said Jono Millin, “but we go much deeper than that. We monitor vibrations and inputs vs responses to detect early signs of wear and tear, and can take weather conditions, engine capabilities and fuel into account so your drone never flies out of range.”
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garymortimer writes:
A Saskatchewan man, lost and alone, was found by an RCMP remote controlled helicopter that spotted him from the sky.
The 25-year-old had wandered away from where his car rolled on Highway 5 near St. Denis, about 40 kilometres east of Saskatoon, early Thursday morning.
RCMP arrived at the accident scene after midnight, but couldn’t find the driver.
“He had suffered a head injury in the crash and became disorientated and wandered off,” said RCMP corporal Doug Green.
46241429
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garymortimer writes:
OppiKoppi music festival in South Africa plans to deliver beer to campers via flying robot
