April 14, 2023 • 35 mins
Drone Safety Day is April 29, a drone that changes shape, jump-starting your car with a drone, Florida bans DJI from government agencies, decision-making for small UAVs, drones that work together without colliding, adding VTOL to a fixed-wing drone, agave farmers saving water, land a drone in Red Square.
UAV News
Drone Safety Day
Drone Safety Day is Saturday, April 29, 2023. The annual campaign is dedicated to educating the drone community on the importance of flying safely. You can download the 2023 Drone Safety Day Playbook and 2023 Drone Safety Day Flyer. You can also visit the Drone@Home page to find ideas to participate at home. Register your event.
Crazy shapeshifting drone inspired by dragons forces itself around objects
University of Tokyo graduate students created drone prototypes that can rearrange into different structural shapes midair. The drones have individual segments with multi-axis gimbal systems. Each segment has its own propulsion unit, that can thrust in any direction. The drones can change their configuration to hold or move objects. They’ve also developed the SPIDAR quadruped robot that has joints in each leg and can fly.
Could Drones Come Jump Start Your Car When You’re Stranded? Ford’s New Patent
This patent contemplates drones that assist motorists stranded with a dead battery. The Ford vehicle would transmit a “dead battery” signal and its location then a drone would fly to the vehicle, open the hood, connect to the battery, and jump-start the vehicle.
Despite police outcry, DeSantis administration bans Chinese drones
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is forbidding government agencies from using drones manufactured by DJI. Only drones made by a small number of “approved manufacturers” can be purchased. Agencies have until January 1, 2023, to stop using drones not on the list. Many departments have already grounded their fleets. They told lawmakers that the Florida-approved drones are far more expensive and much less capable.
Sen. Tom Wright, R-New Smyrna Beach said, I’m not going to let one officer risk his life or her life because somebody thinks that these things talk to China. I cannot imagine what China would really want to see when we pull over a DUI, when we stop a speeding car, when we arrest somebody for an outstanding warrant.”
Making the skies safer with smarter drones
University of Notre Dame computer scientists and engineers are developing an automated decision-making system for small drones under a $5.3 million 3-year NASA grant. Notre Dame will enhance NASA’s current drone traffic management system and develop...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:30):
You're listening to episode427 of the UAV Digest. I'm Max Flight.
And I'm David Vanderhoof.Hello, Max. Looks like we've got
another. We had a week off,but we've got good two weeks worth
of news to go over.
We do a bunch of good stories.
So let's get started. Ourfirst stories tonight are a drone
(00:51):
that can change its shape. Iknow we've talked about that before,
but this one's dragging someattention. Ford thinks about jumpstarting
dead batteries with drones.Florida bans DJI from government
agencies. A NASA grant todevelop a decision making system
for small UAVs, drones thatwork together without colliding.
(01:15):
How to turn a fixed wing droneinto a Vertol drone Farmers saving
resources with drones andlanding drone in Red Square. You
can get a cash prize. I'm notsure we want to endorse this, but
it's definitely a good story.So let's get started. Our first story
(01:35):
comes from foxnews.com crazyshape shifting drone inspired by
dragons forces itself aroundobjects the University of Tokyo graduate
students created droneprototypes that can rearrange into
different structural shapes in midair.
It's kind of an interestingdesign. These drones have segments,
(01:56):
individual segments, and eachsegment has a multiaxis gimbal system.
And in addition, each segmenthas its own propulsion unit. They
can thrust in any direction.These drones can therefore, as they're
in the air, change theirshape, change their configuration.
(02:17):
Pretty wild.
And change their directionlike a dragon. So if you can sort
of imagine a sort ofserpentine kind of uas, it sort of
flails around in the air anddepending upon what you need it to
do. And because of that, theycan also can change configuration
to hold objects and not justfly around corners and stuff. So
(02:41):
it's definitely multifaceted,kind of borderline matrix octopus
kind of thingies, but pretty neat.
Yeah, this is a sort of thingwhere I'm sure we can envision some
applications for this, butthere are probably many others that
you can't think of right now.But none of them are good. But none
of them are good. But that'snot the only thing they've developed.
(03:03):
They've kind of used this ideato create something that can walk
across the ground.
They developed Spidar, whichis a quadruped robot. It has joints
in each leg and can fly. Thesegroup of engineers are going for
the creepy factor when itcomes to these UASs.
(03:25):
The video of this one isreally something to watch. The Spider
because it looks like a bigspider kind of walking itself across
the floor. But then becauseit's got the rotors, it can lift
itself up and, you know, andfly and drop down somewhere else,
walk around there, jump on top.
(03:45):
Of you, you know, scare theheck out of you.
Oh, that would freak me out.
Yeah. If you don't likespiders, stay away from that video.
Yeah.
However, if the spider cameand saved your car's dead battery,
I think you probably wouldn'tcomplain. The next story is from
dronelife.com could dronesjumpstart your car when you're stranded?
(04:08):
Ford's new patent. Ford's beenpatenting a lot of stuff with UAS's
and automobiles, but most ofthem probably will never come to
fruit. But I kind of like this idea.
So under this patent, the ideais that if there are motorists who
are stranded with a deadbattery, that the Ford vehicle could
(04:32):
transmit some sort of a deadbattery signal and a drone would
come to assist you at yourvehicle and apparently open the hood,
connect itself to the battery,and give you a jump start. That sounds
kind of crazy. Open up thehood and connect to the battery.
That seems like it's a kind ofa detailed sort of task for something
(04:55):
like a multi rotor.
Well, you know, it. Okay,well, even if we allow the, even
if we. You open the hood, Imean, that's just common courtesy.
You know, AAA is coming. Youshould at least open the hood that
way also. You're on the sideof the road that somebody knows you're
broken down. It's a goodsignal to have, but still, it is
(05:16):
kind of amazing. What I wassort of surprised at is how much
additional charge can the quadrotor or the multi rotor carry so
it can jumpstart the car.There's some technical issues here.
Like Max has said, it'sdifferent. It's a great idea, but
wonder if one will ever cometo fruition.
(05:37):
Well, I don't know if you'veseen those little lithium battery
jump boxes. They're not thatlarge, actually, many of them. And
you charge them up by USB athome. You plug them in and charge
them up and then you just tossthem in your. In your trunk. And
if you need a jump start orsomebody else does, you hook them
up to your battery and it kindof dumps the, you know, the battery
(06:01):
charge all at once. Enoughpower to turn over the starter and
start the car. And they're notthat heavy, but they're kind of small
and compact. And somethinglike that, I think could be carried
by a Drone pretty easily. Butthis is an old patent. Actually,
the original patent goes backto 2017, filed by Ford then. But
(06:23):
what's new here is it's justbeen published and assigned a serial
number. So it's an officialpatent at this point. Took a long
time to get through theprocess, though.
I'm not sure why they weredroning on about it. Yes, there was
no spark to get it motivated.Yes, folks, I'll be here all week.
(06:44):
Tip your waiters andwaitresses. It is kind of George
Jetsons II think that youbreak down on the side of the road
and your little drone comesalong, chugs along, and pops the
hood and. Or maybe not adrone, but a nice droid. You know,
it's very Star Wars. I kindof. The more I think about it, the
more I like this charming,smiling little robot coming along
(07:06):
and saying, can I check underthe hood? Check your oil.
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think alsothis would be something that would
be more useful in kind ofurban areas. I mean, you get out
in sparsely settled areas, andhow many drones are you going to
have around there just waitingto get a signal that someone needs
a jump start, you know, in adensely populated area where this
(07:29):
may occur pretty frequently.And, you know, where a drone wouldn't
have to fly all that far. Ican see that. But out in the countryside,
man, I don't know if thisreally has an application there.
But, yeah, like you say,David, it's kind of interesting.
We'll see. But as Max hasalways said, just because there's
a patent doesn't mean it'llever come to fruition. But we'd like
(07:51):
to see this one at least beattempted. I actually want to see
it executed. Even if itdoesn't come to full production,
I think it would be kind ofcool watching it show up. Pop the
hood, you know, check thebrakes, roll down the windows, and
if they can get it to do thewindow, windshield, then. Then Ford's
got it.
(08:12):
Okay.
So despite police outcry,Governor DeSantis administration
bans Chinese drones down inthe state of Florida. This is from
the Tampa Bay dot com. Thishas been, you know, ticked. Tick
tock or dji. Not sure who thearch enemy of the United States is,
but those two are runningneck, neck and neck.
(08:34):
So what we see is thegovernor, Ron DeSantis in Florida
is forbidding governmentagencies from using drones manufactured
by dji. And in order for agovernment agency to procure drones,
they have to buy them from a.From one of the approved manufacturers
(08:55):
that are on the list. And asyou can expect, Chinese drone manufacturers
are not on the list. So thistakes effect as we record this, I
think next week in terms ofpurchases, new purchases, as for
all the drones that arealready out there, the government
(09:18):
agencies in Florida have untilJanuary 1st to stop using drones
that aren't on the list. Andit's got to be a lot of drones down
there. There's a statisticfrom one lawmaker that says that
the police and other agencieshave purchased an estimated $200
million in DJI drones over theyears. There's a lot of drones out
(09:41):
there, and police departmentsand first responders and other government
agencies that are using thesethings in Florida are for the most
part not very happy.
Many of the departments in thestate have grounded their fleets.
And part of the other problemis, and we've acknowledged this,
is not only is DJI so large ofthe market share for prosumer or
(10:08):
pro drones, but they are gotthat way because they are the best.
And the quality of the droneson Governor DeSantis recommended
list are not as good qualityand are, you know, so these police
forces are struggling withhaving to give up a quality product
(10:29):
for a less than normal qualityproduct for what is can be deemed
a dubious reasoning.
Yeah. And those other droneson the list are tending to be more
expensive than the Chinesedrones. So not only are some of the
(10:50):
police departments unhappy,but some lawmakers, well, on both
sides of the aisle. TheRepublican senator from Smyrna Beach,
Tom Wright, says that I'm notgoing to let one officer risk his
life or her life becausesomebody thinks that these things
talk to China. He says, Icannot imagine what China would really
want to see when we pull overa dui, when we stop a speeding car,
(11:14):
when we, we arrest somebodyfor an outstanding warrant. He's
made it his personal missionto get these DJI's back up and flying.
But on the opposite side isSenator Jason Pizarro, a Democrat
from Miami, said every singleofficer here can have a DJI drone
at home, but not on the job.That seems and smells really political
(11:36):
to me. And that's a goodpoint. You know, where does the band
stop? You know, does that meanyou take off your uniform, you can
go fly your own Phantom too?And it doesn't prevent other civilians
from flying. You know,there's, there's so many people who
now do emergency proceduresand with hurricanes and floods where
(12:02):
they use what they have onhand, you know, so DJI has really
got a, a political issue goingon. I mean, I don't know if there's
ever been any real evidencethat DJI was collecting data on US
Personnel, if there are,please let us know, send us the articles.
(12:22):
But it's sort of like this isreally a politically motivated maneuver
because it's easy to make a headline.
Yeah, I agree, David. And thearticle also points out, actually
it comes from Wright, the samepolitician there, which is that much
of the information that thedrones collect, it's public record
(12:47):
in Florida anyway. So whetherthe Chinese are after who's getting
arrested by collecting datafrom the drones or just getting it
from the public record, it'sstill out there. It doesn't matter.
So, yeah, I think there's aheavy political issue here. I know
we like to stay out ofpolitics because we get in trouble
(13:09):
when we delve too deeply intoit. But one proven way to amass power,
and we see this throughouthistory, is to create a common enemy
and then be against thatenemy. That's how you can get your
own power. And I think we maybe seeing some of that here.
So let's go to the center ofthe country making the skies safer
(13:31):
with smarter drones. This isfrom ND Edu, otherwise known as the
University of Notre Dame. Andtheir computer scientists and engineers
are developing an automateddecision making system for NASA using
a grant for $5.3 million.
So NASA's current dronetraffic management system for uncrewed
(13:53):
vehicles and integrating theminto low altitude airspace doesn't
rely on air trafficcontrollers, but flight details are
shared electronically anddrones are authorized for flights
in controlled airspace sharedwith other drones, helicopters and
airplanes. But now Notre Dameis looking to enhance the NASA system,
(14:16):
so they're going.
To develop decision makingsoftware that permits or denies flight
requests from drones. So byevaluating a drone's, and this is
kind of interesting, safetytrack record, equipment readiness,
operator preparedness andmaintenance procedures. Now, I quite
(14:37):
wonder, though, how all ofthat data is going to be in that
system, in that software. Whatkind of data management system is
going to be inside the droneto provide that information?
It is a kind of a uniqueapproach. I think other approaches,
(14:57):
including NASA's currenttraffic management system, uses measurable
parameters, location, speed,direction, you know, all those kinds
of things. And it seems likewhat Notre Dame is looking at here
is sort of softer factorslike, like you said, David, the safety
record of the drone. And Idon't know if that means that model
(15:19):
of drone or that actual dronebeing operated by that individual
or that organization, all ofthose things. So, yeah, incorporating
these sort of soft factors orparameters is an intriguing idea.
I Think you have the rightquestion, David, which is how do
you collect that data and thenintegrate that into the traffic management
(15:42):
system? But the NASA grant isover three years. There's a, you
know, there's some, some goodresources there for Notre Dame to
tackle this issue and youknow, we'll see what kind of results
they get.
And, and of course that'sNASA's primary mission is to develop
and provide funding for otherorganizations to work on these experimental
(16:07):
programs. So it's definitely aoutside of the box look at traffic
management. But again, it's alot of like you said, max soft data.
It's not hard and fast. Youknow, how many miles an hour a drone
can grow to the safety trackrecord. That's like, okay, who's
(16:33):
setting those standards? Wespent all those years talking about
standardization, Max, on thisshow and, and here we are. It's like,
okay, we're back to anotherlevel of greater standardization,
but who's going to set thosestandards? Yes, but let's go to MIT
since we're on a collegiaterole here. This is from the Robot
(16:54):
Report. MIT researchers createalgorithm to stop drones from colliding
in midair. So the robust MADARsystem lets drones work together
without collisions. Again,traffic management and swarm droning.
Drone swarms.
(17:16):
That'S drone swarms, somethinglike that. Right? Right, yeah. This
robust mater is actually animprovement over an earlier system,
just the Mater system that MITresearchers created in 2020. And
in the robust mater system,each drone calculates its own trajectory
(17:38):
checks with nearby drones tobe sure it won't collide with any
of them. And it's anasynchronous, decentralized, multi
agent trajectory planner. Butthat original mater project from
2020, it didn't work out sowell. It worked well in simulations,
but not in the real world.They actually had had drones colliding
(18:00):
that they didn't expect to.And the reason turned out to be the
communications delays. There'snever instantaneous communication
between any two things. Andsometimes the latency is long, sometimes
it's short, sometimes thereare other interference factors that
(18:21):
cause that. And theydetermined that that was the problem
with the initial approach. So.And that was the Mater system. So
now this robust mater systemtakes into account those communication
delays.
It takes it into a two stepprocess. It broadcasts the optimized
trajectory of and thecommitted trajectory. So it's sending,
(18:45):
this is where I'm going to goand this is where I'm going as a
second step so that the otherreceiving drone has a period of time
where it can accept the secondbatch of data to verify it, to avoid,
to do whatever it needs to doto avoid the collision.
They put a delay check stepinto the process so that you can,
(19:09):
as they say, guarantee thatthe robust meter can safely guarantee
no collisions, even withcommunication delays. So in this
system, each drone has a delaycheck period and it repeatedly checks
for communications with otherdrones to see if its new trajectory
is safe. And if it's not, ifit finds a possible collision, then
(19:32):
it abandons that newtrajectory and keeps going on its
current trajectory. And theoverall idea here is to coordinate
a group of drones performingdifferent tasks or collectively a
shared task or, or whatever.So they tested it again like they
did for the first version ofthis first validated through computer
(19:54):
simulations and then flightexperiments with actual hardware.
And the MIT researchers founda 100% success rate of collision
free trajectory under the new,the new version of this. So they've
made some, some real progressthere. But it's interesting how you're
(20:15):
trying to keep these dronesfrom colliding with each other. And
the problem turns out to becommunications delays, something
that's not really specific tothe actual drones.
And it is also a really goodway of showing how iterative this
stuff is. I mean, the firstprogram failed, but what was taken
(20:40):
away is learning has made asuccess. You know, so it is these
kind of university projectsaren't necessarily all going to succeed,
but the takeaways usually arefar more value than the money that
they've spent for theseprograms. So I mean, so both good
(21:00):
to Notre Dame and MIT forimproving the system and working
on these problems where we'renot fully forking over taxpayer dollars
to have some guy sit into aclassroom trying to figure it out.
You know, people are learningand it'll be interesting to see what
the super duper remader is.You know, every time we I read Mater,
(21:25):
all I could think of was thetow truck in cars Mater. So it was
so. But let's go from Mater toFlares. And we're not talking about
the large things you pop toavoid heat seeking missiles. But
Flares is the flying launchand recovery system turns fixed wing
(21:46):
drones into VTOLs. And this isfrom newatlas.com the flares.
Aircraft is a multicopterdrone. It's got four arms with long
tall legs and it has amechanism in its belly that clamps
onto the body of a fixed wingdrone. So this structure, this flares
(22:11):
aircraft flies over the drone.The fixed wing drone latches onto
it, takes off vertically.There's the VTOL portion and then
releases the fixed wing drone,which then takes off and goes on
its mission. So it's a way ofturning a fixed wing drone drone
into a VTOL drone. There arelots of good reasons to do this.
(22:34):
There are a lot of fixed wingdrones out there that could have
applications on ships, whichis an example of what this was primarily
designed for. So you reallywant a VTOL on a ship and this is
a way to take an existingdrone and turn it into a vtol.
Yeah. And of course, theadvantages of a fixed wing floor
(22:56):
aircraft is they're faster andlonger range. With the vertical takeoff,
I mean, all you're using isyou're using that energy for the
vertical takeoff and, or andthe recovery, which we'll just, we'll
talk about shortly. But thespeed and the range are not diminished
by the fixed wing. So. Andit's a compromised aircraft, but
(23:18):
really it's not a compromisefor either one. Both aircraft are
doing their ideal job,vertical lifting or forward flight.
And by combining them, you'renot getting the compromise of the
two.
And this is designed by acompany called Hoodtech. They make
(23:38):
this flares system. And Boeinghas been working well, Boeing's in
situ subsidiary has beenworking with them. They offer a package
that includes theirintegrator, fixed wing drone, and
then this flares system fromHood Tech. And one thing that they
(24:00):
noticed, and this is to yourpoint, David, with the fixed wing
drone, the integrator, that ithas a flight time of something like
up to 16 hours and it can lifta payload of 40 pounds. But if it
was a VTOL drone, then all ofthat extra capability for the VTOL
(24:22):
portion would significantlyreduce the payload capacity. So this
is kind of a fascinating thingif you can picture it. And in fact,
we have a video that we'll putin the show notes that is really
good and shows these operatingin tandem, the flares in the integrator.
But how do we get it back isthe question. What happens is the
(24:44):
flares drone takes up a,basically a net over the deck of
the ship and the drone catchesthe rope and goes into the net. Now,
Navy ships have beenrecovering drones like this for the
last 10 years or longer wherethey've been flying the in situ aircraft
(25:04):
right into a cargo net andthen lowering it down. So in this
case, the cargo nets hung fromthe flares drone. So it really is
a good compromise system thatisn't compromising on anything.
Fascinating concept and youknow, makes sense and it's really
worth it to take a Look at thevideo, because we're looking at actual
(25:28):
aircraft flying here, notanimations or. Or illustrations.
So this will really show youhow this works and what it looks
like.
Okay, now, folks, if you haveyour shot glasses ready, now comes
the alcohol portion of theshow, which is Diago Drones improves
efficiency of tequila farmingin Mexico. Yeehaw. We're doing this
(25:52):
in honor of getting. Coming upto Cinco de Mayo Tequila Prusa Diego
started using drones in 2022,and they've been identifying agave
plants that need pesticides,fertilizer, and water. Water is a
precious resource, of course,in Mexico and in the Baja Peninsula,
(26:13):
and should be used only whereneeded. So it's. We haven't really
talked about agriculture in awhile, but at the beginning, when
we first started doing theshow, we talked about viniculture
a lot. And basically, agaveare a lot like agriculture and viniculture,
(26:34):
Right?
They're grown in fields justlike you might some other crop. And
the company learned a lot lastyear during this 2022 pilot, they
noted they really developedthe flying skills of the agave planters.
They were able to introducemore efficient farming practices
(26:55):
and achieve some significantenvironmental benefits. They cite
that water use dropped by twothirds, which is huge. So they're
targeting the plants that needthe pesticides, the fertilizer, the
water. But this is. David,these drones work in pairs. There
(27:20):
are two different kinds ofdrones, I guess.
Yeah, so. So you got a teamsystem. You've got one identified
supplants that needs attentionand collect the agave growth data.
The other dispenses water,fertilizer, and pesticides in a mixture.
So, yeah, I mean, basicallyyou've got a Pathfinder drone and
(27:43):
then followed by a bomber,following the old World War II method.
You know, you go in, you checkwhere you want to hit your target,
and then you hit it. So itdefinitely maximizes. Again, it's
using two drones to maximizewhat they're capable of doing as
a team, whereas you're nottrying to get one drone to do everything.
(28:04):
You can focus on a heavierlift vehicle for the food, water
and fertilizer, and a smallervehicle to do the identification.
And they've also become moreefficient. They've learned, for example,
when the best time of the dayis to apply the water and fertilizer
(28:25):
mix, as I said, improve theefficiency of the operation. And
that's important to them, notonly because of trying to maximize
their profits, but also,apparently, tequila demand is increasing
at a pretty healthy rate, sogetting more yield is A big thing
(28:45):
for agave growers. And we havea video for this one also that'll
be in the show. Notes that youcan take a look.
At if you've never seen agaveplant. Definitely check that out
because I don't think, youknow, the shot of tequila you got.
I don't think you realize whatit comes from.
Yeah.
So Ukraine has launched acompetition to land a drone on Red
(29:07):
Square during Russia'smilitary parade, which is May 9,
which is victory Day inRussia. It used to be May 1st because
that was the day of the Sovietrevolution, but now it is May 9th.
So Ukraine wants you to, it'sgot some money if you want to go
(29:28):
fly your drone and get itthrough all the stuff and land in
Red Square.
Yeah. Apparently Ukraine ishelping us all celebrate this of
Victory Day with a cash prizeif you can land a UAV in Red Square
on the 9th. And I don't knowif this is a official government
(29:50):
competition, I don't think so.I think the guy who came up with
the idea is a co founder of abank and he's also a developer of
the Dovbush drone. And hesaid, I am officially awarding a
prize to a UK Ukrainian UAVmanufacturer whose aircraft, with
the help of the military ofcourse, will fly and land on Red
(30:13):
Square in Moscow on May 9th.It's almost humorous. I mean, I don't
know if such a thing is even possible.
Well, remember, remember theyoung German boy that flew from West
Germany through and landed,landed his Cessna in the middle of
Red Square in the 80s. I mean,he basically flew below the radar
(30:34):
and got everything down. Andpart of me says there's a lot of
tongue in cheek on this.However, it does show how important
UAs are and UAVs are in thewar in Ukraine.
The prize fund is growing. Asof this article, it was at in pounds.
(30:58):
In British pounds, it was£440,000. But there is apparently
an open invitation to anyonewho wants to contribute to the fund.
So the prize money might begrowing, but there is one, at least
one requirement in order toclaim the. Well, there's one of the
requirements is obviouslylanding the drone in Red Square.
(31:20):
But there's anotherrequirement. In order to be eligible
for the.
Prize money, it must saysomething like glory to Ukraine or
glory to our heroes, probablypreferably in Russian and not Ukrainian.
So you get the message out onthe drone. So yes, if you tow it
via banner, I think you'll getsome additional prize money just
(31:43):
for the sheer bonus gall ofdoing it. So we did this. A little
humor. But it is reallyimportant that we don't forget the
fact that there is a seriouswar going on in Europe right now
and drones are a huge part ofit where we've not like we've never
(32:03):
seen before. So we'll end iton that. Well, we've got one more
item, and this is our publicservice announcement. So Max, tell
us what faa.gov has got for usthis week.
Well, coming up on April 29,2023 is the annual Drone Safety Day.
That's a Saturday, April 29,and it's an annual campaign. It's
(32:27):
dedicated to educating thedrone community of the importance
of flying safely. And just byway of describing how many drones
are out there, the FAA says asof January there were over 871,000
drones registered with the FAAand over 307,000 certified remote
(32:50):
pilots. That's a lot ofpeople. But in any event, many of
them, I think, fly safely. Butnot everybody has all the awareness
they need. So we have DroneSafety Day and we'll have these links
in the show notes, but you candownload the 2023 Drone Safety Day
playbook. There's also a DroneSafety Day flyer that you can get
(33:12):
access to and you can alsovisit the Drone at Home page to find
ideas for participating inthis and they also provide a link
where you can register yourevent. So we hope people take advantage
of that. Coming up on April29th, I know.
(33:32):
That we will be doingsomething along those lines for Drone
Day at the American HelicopterMuseum. You know, drones are really
important and educating ouryounger people on how to properly
fly them is one of the newmissions of our science and education
director. So it's, it'sdefinitely drones are fun and but
(33:53):
you have to fly them safely.Luckily, it's been good. I'm going
to jinx us, but we haven't hada really you're grounded file in
a while. So that's a good,that's a good sign.
Always a good sign. All right,well, thank you for listening to
the UAV Digest. This has beenepisode 427. You can find us at the
uav digest.com show notes arethere. We have several great videos
(34:18):
this week. Take a look atthose if you can.
Next week we will be takingoff. It's not my co host's fault,
but mine. I will be at DisneyWorld at Galaxy Edge absorbing all
of the Star wars nerd themthat I can in 24 hours. So we will
return the following week,which happens to be Max flight, David
(34:42):
Vanderhoof birthday week. Sowith that, you know, you can find
us on social media, reach outto us, send us some links, talk to
us. If you have any opinionsor you've got that drone program
that you're going to fly toRed Square, let us know. So with
that, I'm going to say.This isDavid in Delaware
and Max in Connecticut.
(35:03):
Thanks for listening.
You're listening to episode427 of the UAV Digest. I'm Max Flight.
And I'm David Vanderhoof.Hello, Max. Looks like we've got
another. We had a week off,but we've got good two weeks worth
of news to go over.
We do a bunch of good stories.
So let's get started. Ourfirst stories tonight are a drone
(00:51):
that can change its shape. Iknow we've talked about that before,
but this one's dragging someattention. Ford thinks about jumpstarting
dead batteries with drones.Florida bans DJI from government
agencies. A NASA grant todevelop a decision making system
for small UAVs, drones thatwork together without colliding.
(01:15):
How to turn a fixed wing droneinto a Vertol drone Farmers saving
resources with drones andlanding drone in Red Square. You
can get a cash prize. I'm notsure we want to endorse this, but
it's definitely a good story.So let's get started. Our first story
(01:35):
comes from foxnews.com crazyshape shifting drone inspired by
dragons forces itself aroundobjects the University of Tokyo graduate
students created droneprototypes that can rearrange into
different structural shapes in midair.
It's kind of an interestingdesign. These drones have segments,
(01:56):
individual segments, and eachsegment has a multiaxis gimbal system.
And in addition, each segmenthas its own propulsion unit. They
can thrust in any direction.These drones can therefore, as they're
in the air, change theirshape, change their configuration.
(02:17):
Pretty wild.
And change their directionlike a dragon. So if you can sort
of imagine a sort ofserpentine kind of uas, it sort of
flails around in the air anddepending upon what you need it to
do. And because of that, theycan also can change configuration
to hold objects and not justfly around corners and stuff. So
(02:41):
it's definitely multifaceted,kind of borderline matrix octopus
kind of thingies, but pretty neat.
Yeah, this is a sort of thingwhere I'm sure we can envision some
applications for this, butthere are probably many others that
you can't think of right now.But none of them are good. But none
of them are good. But that'snot the only thing they've developed.
(03:03):
They've kind of used this ideato create something that can walk
across the ground.
They developed Spidar, whichis a quadruped robot. It has joints
in each leg and can fly. Thesegroup of engineers are going for
the creepy factor when itcomes to these UASs.
(03:25):
The video of this one isreally something to watch. The Spider
because it looks like a bigspider kind of walking itself across
the floor. But then becauseit's got the rotors, it can lift
itself up and, you know, andfly and drop down somewhere else,
walk around there, jump on top.
(03:45):
Of you, you know, scare theheck out of you.
Oh, that would freak me out.
Yeah. If you don't likespiders, stay away from that video.
Yeah.
However, if the spider cameand saved your car's dead battery,
I think you probably wouldn'tcomplain. The next story is from
dronelife.com could dronesjumpstart your car when you're stranded?
(04:08):
Ford's new patent. Ford's beenpatenting a lot of stuff with UAS's
and automobiles, but most ofthem probably will never come to
fruit. But I kind of like this idea.
So under this patent, the ideais that if there are motorists who
are stranded with a deadbattery, that the Ford vehicle could
(04:32):
transmit some sort of a deadbattery signal and a drone would
come to assist you at yourvehicle and apparently open the hood,
connect itself to the battery,and give you a jump start. That sounds
kind of crazy. Open up thehood and connect to the battery.
That seems like it's a kind ofa detailed sort of task for something
(04:55):
like a multi rotor.
Well, you know, it. Okay,well, even if we allow the, even
if we. You open the hood, Imean, that's just common courtesy.
You know, AAA is coming. Youshould at least open the hood that
way also. You're on the sideof the road that somebody knows you're
broken down. It's a goodsignal to have, but still, it is
(05:16):
kind of amazing. What I wassort of surprised at is how much
additional charge can the quadrotor or the multi rotor carry so
it can jumpstart the car.There's some technical issues here.
Like Max has said, it'sdifferent. It's a great idea, but
wonder if one will ever cometo fruition.
(05:37):
Well, I don't know if you'veseen those little lithium battery
jump boxes. They're not thatlarge, actually, many of them. And
you charge them up by USB athome. You plug them in and charge
them up and then you just tossthem in your. In your trunk. And
if you need a jump start orsomebody else does, you hook them
up to your battery and it kindof dumps the, you know, the battery
(06:01):
charge all at once. Enoughpower to turn over the starter and
start the car. And they're notthat heavy, but they're kind of small
and compact. And somethinglike that, I think could be carried
by a Drone pretty easily. Butthis is an old patent. Actually,
the original patent goes backto 2017, filed by Ford then. But
(06:23):
what's new here is it's justbeen published and assigned a serial
number. So it's an officialpatent at this point. Took a long
time to get through theprocess, though.
I'm not sure why they weredroning on about it. Yes, there was
no spark to get it motivated.Yes, folks, I'll be here all week.
(06:44):
Tip your waiters andwaitresses. It is kind of George
Jetsons II think that youbreak down on the side of the road
and your little drone comesalong, chugs along, and pops the
hood and. Or maybe not adrone, but a nice droid. You know,
it's very Star Wars. I kindof. The more I think about it, the
more I like this charming,smiling little robot coming along
(07:06):
and saying, can I check underthe hood? Check your oil.
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think alsothis would be something that would
be more useful in kind ofurban areas. I mean, you get out
in sparsely settled areas, andhow many drones are you going to
have around there just waitingto get a signal that someone needs
a jump start, you know, in adensely populated area where this
(07:29):
may occur pretty frequently.And, you know, where a drone wouldn't
have to fly all that far. Ican see that. But out in the countryside,
man, I don't know if thisreally has an application there.
But, yeah, like you say,David, it's kind of interesting.
We'll see. But as Max hasalways said, just because there's
a patent doesn't mean it'llever come to fruition. But we'd like
(07:51):
to see this one at least beattempted. I actually want to see
it executed. Even if itdoesn't come to full production,
I think it would be kind ofcool watching it show up. Pop the
hood, you know, check thebrakes, roll down the windows, and
if they can get it to do thewindow, windshield, then. Then Ford's
got it.
(08:12):
Okay.
So despite police outcry,Governor DeSantis administration
bans Chinese drones down inthe state of Florida. This is from
the Tampa Bay dot com. Thishas been, you know, ticked. Tick
tock or dji. Not sure who thearch enemy of the United States is,
but those two are runningneck, neck and neck.
(08:34):
So what we see is thegovernor, Ron DeSantis in Florida
is forbidding governmentagencies from using drones manufactured
by dji. And in order for agovernment agency to procure drones,
they have to buy them from a.From one of the approved manufacturers
(08:55):
that are on the list. And asyou can expect, Chinese drone manufacturers
are not on the list. So thistakes effect as we record this, I
think next week in terms ofpurchases, new purchases, as for
all the drones that arealready out there, the government
(09:18):
agencies in Florida have untilJanuary 1st to stop using drones
that aren't on the list. Andit's got to be a lot of drones down
there. There's a statisticfrom one lawmaker that says that
the police and other agencieshave purchased an estimated $200
million in DJI drones over theyears. There's a lot of drones out
(09:41):
there, and police departmentsand first responders and other government
agencies that are using thesethings in Florida are for the most
part not very happy.
Many of the departments in thestate have grounded their fleets.
And part of the other problemis, and we've acknowledged this,
is not only is DJI so large ofthe market share for prosumer or
(10:08):
pro drones, but they are gotthat way because they are the best.
And the quality of the droneson Governor DeSantis recommended
list are not as good qualityand are, you know, so these police
forces are struggling withhaving to give up a quality product
(10:29):
for a less than normal qualityproduct for what is can be deemed
a dubious reasoning.
Yeah. And those other droneson the list are tending to be more
expensive than the Chinesedrones. So not only are some of the
(10:50):
police departments unhappy,but some lawmakers, well, on both
sides of the aisle. TheRepublican senator from Smyrna Beach,
Tom Wright, says that I'm notgoing to let one officer risk his
life or her life becausesomebody thinks that these things
talk to China. He says, Icannot imagine what China would really
want to see when we pull overa dui, when we stop a speeding car,
(11:14):
when we, we arrest somebodyfor an outstanding warrant. He's
made it his personal missionto get these DJI's back up and flying.
But on the opposite side isSenator Jason Pizarro, a Democrat
from Miami, said every singleofficer here can have a DJI drone
at home, but not on the job.That seems and smells really political
(11:36):
to me. And that's a goodpoint. You know, where does the band
stop? You know, does that meanyou take off your uniform, you can
go fly your own Phantom too?And it doesn't prevent other civilians
from flying. You know,there's, there's so many people who
now do emergency proceduresand with hurricanes and floods where
(12:02):
they use what they have onhand, you know, so DJI has really
got a, a political issue goingon. I mean, I don't know if there's
ever been any real evidencethat DJI was collecting data on US
Personnel, if there are,please let us know, send us the articles.
(12:22):
But it's sort of like this isreally a politically motivated maneuver
because it's easy to make a headline.
Yeah, I agree, David. And thearticle also points out, actually
it comes from Wright, the samepolitician there, which is that much
of the information that thedrones collect, it's public record
(12:47):
in Florida anyway. So whetherthe Chinese are after who's getting
arrested by collecting datafrom the drones or just getting it
from the public record, it'sstill out there. It doesn't matter.
So, yeah, I think there's aheavy political issue here. I know
we like to stay out ofpolitics because we get in trouble
(13:09):
when we delve too deeply intoit. But one proven way to amass power,
and we see this throughouthistory, is to create a common enemy
and then be against thatenemy. That's how you can get your
own power. And I think we maybe seeing some of that here.
So let's go to the center ofthe country making the skies safer
(13:31):
with smarter drones. This isfrom ND Edu, otherwise known as the
University of Notre Dame. Andtheir computer scientists and engineers
are developing an automateddecision making system for NASA using
a grant for $5.3 million.
So NASA's current dronetraffic management system for uncrewed
(13:53):
vehicles and integrating theminto low altitude airspace doesn't
rely on air trafficcontrollers, but flight details are
shared electronically anddrones are authorized for flights
in controlled airspace sharedwith other drones, helicopters and
airplanes. But now Notre Dameis looking to enhance the NASA system,
(14:16):
so they're going.
To develop decision makingsoftware that permits or denies flight
requests from drones. So byevaluating a drone's, and this is
kind of interesting, safetytrack record, equipment readiness,
operator preparedness andmaintenance procedures. Now, I quite
(14:37):
wonder, though, how all ofthat data is going to be in that
system, in that software. Whatkind of data management system is
going to be inside the droneto provide that information?
It is a kind of a uniqueapproach. I think other approaches,
(14:57):
including NASA's currenttraffic management system, uses measurable
parameters, location, speed,direction, you know, all those kinds
of things. And it seems likewhat Notre Dame is looking at here
is sort of softer factorslike, like you said, David, the safety
record of the drone. And Idon't know if that means that model
(15:19):
of drone or that actual dronebeing operated by that individual
or that organization, all ofthose things. So, yeah, incorporating
these sort of soft factors orparameters is an intriguing idea.
I Think you have the rightquestion, David, which is how do
you collect that data and thenintegrate that into the traffic management
(15:42):
system? But the NASA grant isover three years. There's a, you
know, there's some, some goodresources there for Notre Dame to
tackle this issue and youknow, we'll see what kind of results
they get.
And, and of course that'sNASA's primary mission is to develop
and provide funding for otherorganizations to work on these experimental
(16:07):
programs. So it's definitely aoutside of the box look at traffic
management. But again, it's alot of like you said, max soft data.
It's not hard and fast. Youknow, how many miles an hour a drone
can grow to the safety trackrecord. That's like, okay, who's
(16:33):
setting those standards? Wespent all those years talking about
standardization, Max, on thisshow and, and here we are. It's like,
okay, we're back to anotherlevel of greater standardization,
but who's going to set thosestandards? Yes, but let's go to MIT
since we're on a collegiaterole here. This is from the Robot
(16:54):
Report. MIT researchers createalgorithm to stop drones from colliding
in midair. So the robust MADARsystem lets drones work together
without collisions. Again,traffic management and swarm droning.
Drone swarms.
(17:16):
That'S drone swarms, somethinglike that. Right? Right, yeah. This
robust mater is actually animprovement over an earlier system,
just the Mater system that MITresearchers created in 2020. And
in the robust mater system,each drone calculates its own trajectory
(17:38):
checks with nearby drones tobe sure it won't collide with any
of them. And it's anasynchronous, decentralized, multi
agent trajectory planner. Butthat original mater project from
2020, it didn't work out sowell. It worked well in simulations,
but not in the real world.They actually had had drones colliding
(18:00):
that they didn't expect to.And the reason turned out to be the
communications delays. There'snever instantaneous communication
between any two things. Andsometimes the latency is long, sometimes
it's short, sometimes thereare other interference factors that
(18:21):
cause that. And theydetermined that that was the problem
with the initial approach. So.And that was the Mater system. So
now this robust mater systemtakes into account those communication
delays.
It takes it into a two stepprocess. It broadcasts the optimized
trajectory of and thecommitted trajectory. So it's sending,
(18:45):
this is where I'm going to goand this is where I'm going as a
second step so that the otherreceiving drone has a period of time
where it can accept the secondbatch of data to verify it, to avoid,
to do whatever it needs to doto avoid the collision.
They put a delay check stepinto the process so that you can,
(19:09):
as they say, guarantee thatthe robust meter can safely guarantee
no collisions, even withcommunication delays. So in this
system, each drone has a delaycheck period and it repeatedly checks
for communications with otherdrones to see if its new trajectory
is safe. And if it's not, ifit finds a possible collision, then
(19:32):
it abandons that newtrajectory and keeps going on its
current trajectory. And theoverall idea here is to coordinate
a group of drones performingdifferent tasks or collectively a
shared task or, or whatever.So they tested it again like they
did for the first version ofthis first validated through computer
(19:54):
simulations and then flightexperiments with actual hardware.
And the MIT researchers founda 100% success rate of collision
free trajectory under the new,the new version of this. So they've
made some, some real progressthere. But it's interesting how you're
(20:15):
trying to keep these dronesfrom colliding with each other. And
the problem turns out to becommunications delays, something
that's not really specific tothe actual drones.
And it is also a really goodway of showing how iterative this
stuff is. I mean, the firstprogram failed, but what was taken
(20:40):
away is learning has made asuccess. You know, so it is these
kind of university projectsaren't necessarily all going to succeed,
but the takeaways usually arefar more value than the money that
they've spent for theseprograms. So I mean, so both good
(21:00):
to Notre Dame and MIT forimproving the system and working
on these problems where we'renot fully forking over taxpayer dollars
to have some guy sit into aclassroom trying to figure it out.
You know, people are learningand it'll be interesting to see what
the super duper remader is.You know, every time we I read Mater,
(21:25):
all I could think of was thetow truck in cars Mater. So it was
so. But let's go from Mater toFlares. And we're not talking about
the large things you pop toavoid heat seeking missiles. But
Flares is the flying launchand recovery system turns fixed wing
(21:46):
drones into VTOLs. And this isfrom newatlas.com the flares.
Aircraft is a multicopterdrone. It's got four arms with long
tall legs and it has amechanism in its belly that clamps
onto the body of a fixed wingdrone. So this structure, this flares
(22:11):
aircraft flies over the drone.The fixed wing drone latches onto
it, takes off vertically.There's the VTOL portion and then
releases the fixed wing drone,which then takes off and goes on
its mission. So it's a way ofturning a fixed wing drone drone
into a VTOL drone. There arelots of good reasons to do this.
(22:34):
There are a lot of fixed wingdrones out there that could have
applications on ships, whichis an example of what this was primarily
designed for. So you reallywant a VTOL on a ship and this is
a way to take an existingdrone and turn it into a vtol.
Yeah. And of course, theadvantages of a fixed wing floor
(22:56):
aircraft is they're faster andlonger range. With the vertical takeoff,
I mean, all you're using isyou're using that energy for the
vertical takeoff and, or andthe recovery, which we'll just, we'll
talk about shortly. But thespeed and the range are not diminished
by the fixed wing. So. Andit's a compromised aircraft, but
(23:18):
really it's not a compromisefor either one. Both aircraft are
doing their ideal job,vertical lifting or forward flight.
And by combining them, you'renot getting the compromise of the
two.
And this is designed by acompany called Hoodtech. They make
(23:38):
this flares system. And Boeinghas been working well, Boeing's in
situ subsidiary has beenworking with them. They offer a package
that includes theirintegrator, fixed wing drone, and
then this flares system fromHood Tech. And one thing that they
(24:00):
noticed, and this is to yourpoint, David, with the fixed wing
drone, the integrator, that ithas a flight time of something like
up to 16 hours and it can lifta payload of 40 pounds. But if it
was a VTOL drone, then all ofthat extra capability for the VTOL
(24:22):
portion would significantlyreduce the payload capacity. So this
is kind of a fascinating thingif you can picture it. And in fact,
we have a video that we'll putin the show notes that is really
good and shows these operatingin tandem, the flares in the integrator.
But how do we get it back isthe question. What happens is the
(24:44):
flares drone takes up a,basically a net over the deck of
the ship and the drone catchesthe rope and goes into the net. Now,
Navy ships have beenrecovering drones like this for the
last 10 years or longer wherethey've been flying the in situ aircraft
(25:04):
right into a cargo net andthen lowering it down. So in this
case, the cargo nets hung fromthe flares drone. So it really is
a good compromise system thatisn't compromising on anything.
Fascinating concept and youknow, makes sense and it's really
worth it to take a Look at thevideo, because we're looking at actual
(25:28):
aircraft flying here, notanimations or. Or illustrations.
So this will really show youhow this works and what it looks
like.
Okay, now, folks, if you haveyour shot glasses ready, now comes
the alcohol portion of theshow, which is Diago Drones improves
efficiency of tequila farmingin Mexico. Yeehaw. We're doing this
(25:52):
in honor of getting. Coming upto Cinco de Mayo Tequila Prusa Diego
started using drones in 2022,and they've been identifying agave
plants that need pesticides,fertilizer, and water. Water is a
precious resource, of course,in Mexico and in the Baja Peninsula,
(26:13):
and should be used only whereneeded. So it's. We haven't really
talked about agriculture in awhile, but at the beginning, when
we first started doing theshow, we talked about viniculture
a lot. And basically, agaveare a lot like agriculture and viniculture,
(26:34):
Right?
They're grown in fields justlike you might some other crop. And
the company learned a lot lastyear during this 2022 pilot, they
noted they really developedthe flying skills of the agave planters.
They were able to introducemore efficient farming practices
(26:55):
and achieve some significantenvironmental benefits. They cite
that water use dropped by twothirds, which is huge. So they're
targeting the plants that needthe pesticides, the fertilizer, the
water. But this is. David,these drones work in pairs. There
(27:20):
are two different kinds ofdrones, I guess.
Yeah, so. So you got a teamsystem. You've got one identified
supplants that needs attentionand collect the agave growth data.
The other dispenses water,fertilizer, and pesticides in a mixture.
So, yeah, I mean, basicallyyou've got a Pathfinder drone and
(27:43):
then followed by a bomber,following the old World War II method.
You know, you go in, you checkwhere you want to hit your target,
and then you hit it. So itdefinitely maximizes. Again, it's
using two drones to maximizewhat they're capable of doing as
a team, whereas you're nottrying to get one drone to do everything.
(28:04):
You can focus on a heavierlift vehicle for the food, water
and fertilizer, and a smallervehicle to do the identification.
And they've also become moreefficient. They've learned, for example,
when the best time of the dayis to apply the water and fertilizer
(28:25):
mix, as I said, improve theefficiency of the operation. And
that's important to them, notonly because of trying to maximize
their profits, but also,apparently, tequila demand is increasing
at a pretty healthy rate, sogetting more yield is A big thing
(28:45):
for agave growers. And we havea video for this one also that'll
be in the show. Notes that youcan take a look.
At if you've never seen agaveplant. Definitely check that out
because I don't think, youknow, the shot of tequila you got.
I don't think you realize whatit comes from.
Yeah.
So Ukraine has launched acompetition to land a drone on Red
(29:07):
Square during Russia'smilitary parade, which is May 9,
which is victory Day inRussia. It used to be May 1st because
that was the day of the Sovietrevolution, but now it is May 9th.
So Ukraine wants you to, it'sgot some money if you want to go
(29:28):
fly your drone and get itthrough all the stuff and land in
Red Square.
Yeah. Apparently Ukraine ishelping us all celebrate this of
Victory Day with a cash prizeif you can land a UAV in Red Square
on the 9th. And I don't knowif this is a official government
(29:50):
competition, I don't think so.I think the guy who came up with
the idea is a co founder of abank and he's also a developer of
the Dovbush drone. And hesaid, I am officially awarding a
prize to a UK Ukrainian UAVmanufacturer whose aircraft, with
the help of the military ofcourse, will fly and land on Red
(30:13):
Square in Moscow on May 9th.It's almost humorous. I mean, I don't
know if such a thing is even possible.
Well, remember, remember theyoung German boy that flew from West
Germany through and landed,landed his Cessna in the middle of
Red Square in the 80s. I mean,he basically flew below the radar
(30:34):
and got everything down. Andpart of me says there's a lot of
tongue in cheek on this.However, it does show how important
UAs are and UAVs are in thewar in Ukraine.
The prize fund is growing. Asof this article, it was at in pounds.
(30:58):
In British pounds, it was£440,000. But there is apparently
an open invitation to anyonewho wants to contribute to the fund.
So the prize money might begrowing, but there is one, at least
one requirement in order toclaim the. Well, there's one of the
requirements is obviouslylanding the drone in Red Square.
(31:20):
But there's anotherrequirement. In order to be eligible
for the.
Prize money, it must saysomething like glory to Ukraine or
glory to our heroes, probablypreferably in Russian and not Ukrainian.
So you get the message out onthe drone. So yes, if you tow it
via banner, I think you'll getsome additional prize money just
(31:43):
for the sheer bonus gall ofdoing it. So we did this. A little
humor. But it is reallyimportant that we don't forget the
fact that there is a seriouswar going on in Europe right now
and drones are a huge part ofit where we've not like we've never
(32:03):
seen before. So we'll end iton that. Well, we've got one more
item, and this is our publicservice announcement. So Max, tell
us what faa.gov has got for usthis week.
Well, coming up on April 29,2023 is the annual Drone Safety Day.
That's a Saturday, April 29,and it's an annual campaign. It's
(32:27):
dedicated to educating thedrone community of the importance
of flying safely. And just byway of describing how many drones
are out there, the FAA says asof January there were over 871,000
drones registered with the FAAand over 307,000 certified remote
(32:50):
pilots. That's a lot ofpeople. But in any event, many of
them, I think, fly safely. Butnot everybody has all the awareness
they need. So we have DroneSafety Day and we'll have these links
in the show notes, but you candownload the 2023 Drone Safety Day
playbook. There's also a DroneSafety Day flyer that you can get
(33:12):
access to and you can alsovisit the Drone at Home page to find
ideas for participating inthis and they also provide a link
where you can register yourevent. So we hope people take advantage
of that. Coming up on April29th, I know.
(33:32):
That we will be doingsomething along those lines for Drone
Day at the American HelicopterMuseum. You know, drones are really
important and educating ouryounger people on how to properly
fly them is one of the newmissions of our science and education
director. So it's, it'sdefinitely drones are fun and but
(33:53):
you have to fly them safely.Luckily, it's been good. I'm going
to jinx us, but we haven't hada really you're grounded file in
a while. So that's a good,that's a good sign.
Always a good sign. All right,well, thank you for listening to
the UAV Digest. This has beenepisode 427. You can find us at the
uav digest.com show notes arethere. We have several great videos
(34:18):
this week. Take a look atthose if you can.
Next week we will be takingoff. It's not my co host's fault,
but mine. I will be at DisneyWorld at Galaxy Edge absorbing all
of the Star wars nerd themthat I can in 24 hours. So we will
return the following week,which happens to be Max flight, David
(34:42):
Vanderhoof birthday week. Sowith that, you know, you can find
us on social media, reach outto us, send us some links, talk to
us. If you have any opinionsor you've got that drone program
that you're going to fly toRed Square, let us know. So with
that, I'm going to say.This isDavid in Delaware
and Max in Connecticut.
(35:03):
Thanks for listening.
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