Unmanned systems including drones, automated trucks and teleoperated machinery are increasingly being used at job sites in the United States and around the world. From site surveys to hauling materials, the technologies are hard at work increasing efficiency, improving safety and saving companies money.
This technological revolution is being driven by data. Drones provide a tremendous amount of information that is proving invaluable for construction companies. Supporting software capabilities allow project managers to process and analyze the data creating 3-D models and maps that provide a new way to visualize projects. Access to this information improves communication on the jobsite, translating to thousands of dollars saved.
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Meet the IPP Sites: Reno, Flirtey hope to make medical device delivery more efficient
When sudden cardiac arrests happen, minutes count. There are almost 420,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the United States each year, according to the American Heart Association, and most of them are fatal.
Delivering CPR and using an automated external defibrillator (AED) as soon as possible after an attack starts can more than double a victim’s chance of survival, the AHA says; in fact, a victim’s chances of survival decreases by 7 to 10 percent for each minute that passes without defibrillation.
Meet the IPP Sites: North Carolina Department of Transportation and partners using UAS to deliver medical supplies in North Carolina
During AUVSI’s Xponential conference and exhibition in Denver, the North Carolina Department of Transportation was informed that it had been selected as one of the 10 participants for the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP).
The main focus of NCDOT’s proposal for the UAS IPP is working with global drone delivery companies to establish a network of medical distribution centers that can use drones to make medical deliveries, says Basil Yap, the head of NCDOT’s UAS program and lead on the IPP work.
Currently, couriers are the primary form of transport of blood and other supplies to hospitals and testing facilities, but NCDOT believes that UAS could get these supplies and test results to medical providers much faster.
Tennessee's Rutherford County to use Vantage Robotics' Snap UAS for commercial ops over people
Rutherford County, Tennessee has received an FAA waiver to conduct commercial UAS operations over people, becoming the first and only county government in the U.S. with this capability.
The county will utilize Vantage Robotics’ Snap UAS for these operations in both emergency and non-emergency situations.
“We’re excited at Vantage, both to be continuing to pave new ground for safe and legal UAV use near people as well to see Snap contributing to public safety,” Vantage says.
This landmark FAA waiver comes a little over a year after the FAA granted CNN a “first-of-its-kind Part 107 waiver” that allows the media organization to fly a small UAS over people. Like Rutherford County, CNN also utilized the Snap UAS.
Meet the IPP sites: Drones join battle against mosquitos in Florida’s Lee County
Florida has a big problem. Actually, it’s a very small problem, but there are a lot of them: mosquitos.
Fighting mosquitos has long been an existential problem for the state, home to swamps and miles of coastal marshes. The land is flat, it’s warm year-round and there’s a lot of water, all things the biting insects love.
“We can grow more mosquitos here than anywhere else on Earth,” says Eric Jackson, the public information officer for the Lee County Mosquito Control District, which is enlisting new technology to join the fray: drones both big and small.
Aurora reveals autonomous aircraft Odysseus
Aurora Flight Sciences has revealed what it claims is the world’s most capable solar-powered autonomous aircraft, Odysseus, which is powered only by the sun.
Described as an “ultra-long endurance, high-altitude platform built for groundbreaking persistence,” Odysseus can effectively fly indefinitely, Aurora says, thanks its utilization of advanced solar cells, and its design, as it is built with lightweight materials.
“Odysseus offers persistence like no other solar aircraft of its kind, which is why it is such a capable and necessary platform for researchers,” says Aurora President and CEO John Langford.
