49 UAV Privacy, Subpoenas, and Regulations

UAVs taking off in China, aerial video and privacy, a map showing UAS regs by State, FAA subpoenas realtors, FAA might not make their 2015 deadline, and drone poetry. The News Drone Hobbyists Taking off in China Twenty-three-year old Jin Xing is representative of the enthusiasm for UAVs that is growing in China. He’s created the Butterfly Aerial Photography Workshop, a business he operates from his home. Jin and his partner take aerial photographs for client companies using six helicopters. Aerial Photo Company Gets Cops Called on Them After Drone Startles Naked Woman Portland, Oregon firm Skyris Imaging was out taking panoramic video for a developer. But when the resident of a 26th floor apartment looked out the window and saw a hovering drone, she assumes she was the victim of a peeping tom. So she called the police. As you would expect, the media went crazy with the story. Are drones illegal in your state? This map can tell you This map of the U.S. lets you click on a State and see legislation, proposed legislation, a description of the legislation, and associated websites. Drone rangers slap Realtors with subpoenas Real estate is one of the industries that offers an immediate business use for UAVs. But the FAA is watching UAV users that it suspects are operating commercial operations. Now they’re issuing subpoenas to real estate brokerages that use UAVs to take photos of properties. Clever copters can learn as they fly University of Sheffield’s Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (ACSE), is researching quadcopters that learn from their environment. These “flying robots” use camera images to build up a 3D map of the environment. Other sensors detect barometric and ultrasonic information. All this is fed to the autopilot software for navigation within the environment. The use case is for aerial robots that can enter an environment, learn to identify objects and other features of the environment, and make decisions. The research quadcopters can also detect and interact with each other. FAA will not meet deadline for unmanned aircraft According to a report from the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, FAA will not meet the Congressionally mandated September 2015 deadline to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace. The report identifies four areas of concern and makes eleven recommendations. These recommendations include the need for reports, milestones, timelines, clarification of responsibilities, process standards, more ATC study, definition of the data required from the six test sites, and metrics to measure performance to plan. Video of the Week Drone Captures Massive Yacht Fire As $24 Million Boat Is Engulfed In Flames Submitted by Paul Siebert: San Diego boat captain Kurt Roll was using a remote-controlled quadcopter drone to shoot aerial footage at a shipyard in Chula Vista, California on Thursday when he spotted a plume of smoke rising in the distance. Roll decided to use his device to get closer to what appeared to be a massive boat fire, and managed to capture some incredible, close-up footage of a yacht going up in flames. Feedback From Ben, a Laugh of the Week: “Stop saying ‘uh-oh’ while you’re flying”: Drone crash pilot quotes unveiled . Real recorded quotes from military drone pilots just before they crash. Christian from Germany sent us two interesting links: SailDrone , for ocean science applications, and the Aerovel Flexrotor , a fixed-wing VTOL tail-sitter that is designed for autonomous operation in sites with restricted access. DRONE: poems with found sound and video from Harry Giles, a poet and a performer who produces poetry through the eyes of a UAV! New Sectionals that show UAV’s. This came from Tim Trott’s Southern Helicam website. (See image above.) Airbus Wants To Take The Cockpit Out Of The Cockpit Of The Future . This Airbus patent applications describes airline pilots who are moved out of the front into an interior area of the airplane. They fly using first person view.