UAS

Mark Zuckerberg's plans to connect the entire world with internet carrying drones appear one step closer to reality. The Facbeook CEO today revealed that his Internet.org initiative has put the aircraft to the test for the first time, describing the operation as a success.

If you want to operate your drone for commercial reasons in the US today, there are considerable hoops you'll need to fly through first. But an announcement today from the FAA is set to make this process more efficient, throwing a blanket approval over operators that meet a certain criteria.

For park rangers patrolling the porous, poacher-friendly borders of Africa's national parks, conserving rhino and elephant populations is certainly a tall order. But equipped with drones, big data and high-tech infrared cameras, one group says it has the capabilities to start stemming the tide.

Piaggio Aerospace is determined to make its mark in the lucrative defense and security sector and the successful maiden test flight of its Prototype 001 P.1HH HammerHead UAS is an important step down that path.

Questions of privacy and how drones can be regulated are pretty well-founded, but are so far yet to be met with any convincing answers. NoFlyZone.org may go some way to providing a solution, allowing users to enter their address to create drone no-fly-zones in the airspace over their homes.

The UAE's international Drones For Good competition seeks to emphasise the positive capabilities of drones and on Saturday, a team of Swiss technologists took out first prize with a vehicle that flies protected by a spinning cage, helping it to better travel through confined spaces.

In another small, but promising step toward the adoption of commercial drones, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted exemptions to four companies that clear their unmanned aircraft systems for use in aerial surveying, construction site monitoring and oil rig flare stack inspections.

Citing opportunities both technological and regulatory, Australian drone startup Flirtey has announced plans to expand overseas. So how does a business hinged on the speculative nature of delivery drones navigate such uncharted territory? We spoke with CEO Matt Sweeney on taking Flirtey global.

With the ability to patrol from the air, an application for drones with huge potential is wildlife conservation. AREND is an international team of students currently developing an unmanned aerial system, with the ultimate objective of combatting poaching in Africa's national parks.

Northrop Grumman and Yamaha are teaming up to develop a small, unmanned autonomous helicopter system. The Rotary-Bat (R-Bat) is aimed at a range of applications in both urban and rural areas, including search and rescue, power line inspection, border patrol and forest fire observation.

A solar-powered variant of AeroVironment’s hand-launched Puma AE small UAS has stayed in the air for a total of nine hours and 11 minutes, eclipsing the two-hour flight time of the standard battery-powered Puma AE and comparable competitor aircraft by a considerable margin.

Spain's ATLANTE Unmanned Aerial System made its maiden flight at the end of February.