US announces six drone test sites
This is coming at just about the right time. Concern over UAVs has been growing steadily over the last two year. This plan for testing and the locations that they established should ease the concerns that people are having. The test sites are not that surprising if you pay even mild attention to aeronautics. All of the test facilities and their test themes are going to be great, but the one I am looking the most forward to is the New York location. Integrating drones into heavy air traffic is going to be incredibly difficult. It seems like with private plane pilots they were a part of the development of the aviation industry and the FAA. Drones, and more specifically the private pilots associated with them, are not necessarily part of the industry. In the future it is possible that farmers will own and pilot their own drone pesticide UAVs. Having what could be a significant increase in aircraft traffic we will really need to be careful and have tight controls so that people do not get hurt.
Raytheon Receives $16M Contract for Miniaturized Airborne GPS Receivers
I have been seeing a lot of chatter like this. Launching smaller satellites, smaller receivers, smaller basestations/cell towers. It is in line with the sensor fusion concept. Smaller, lighter, easier to launch devices for the masses. It is a good strategy as long as we continue to maintain our larger infrastructure. Maybe one day users will have clouds of sensors for use in field surveys.
NASA-JAXA Global Precipitation Satellite To Launch Feb. 27 from Japan
Here is another satellite from a joint Japan US program that records global rainfall and snowfall. It joins nine other international weather satellites. Joint operations on a global scale? Sounds awesome. More data flowing to the general public? Sounds awesome.