A hidden gem within the ForestTECH website is our Video Showcase section. This section highlights new technologies and innovations related to forest managememnt. We are always on the lookout for videos that interest our readers and we now have 50 videos available. The Video Showcase section can be viewed via this link. Here are a couple of our latest additions:
NOAA Awards Black Swift Technologies Contract to Develop GPS-Denied Navigation
NOAA has awarded Black Swift Technologies (BST) a contract to develop GPS-denied navigation, enabling Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for drones in GNSS-denied environments. With nearly 95,000 miles of domestic coastline, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey faces a daunting task. Under current FAA regulations, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operators are required to keep their aircraft within visual line of …
FAA approved first company to use drones without human operators on-site
American Robotics, a leading developer of fully-automated commercial drone systems, today became the first company approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate automated drones without human operators on-site. The company’s Scout System™ features advanced acoustic Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) technology that enables its drones to maintain a safe distance from other aircraft at all times. By developing a layered, redundant …
Wooden you know it – wooden satellites
The space age was built on clever materials. The business ends of rocket engines are composed of Inconel, a family of heat-and-corrosion-resistant nickel-chromium alloys developed in the 1940s. The “gold foil” adorning many satellites is, in fact, a form of insulation made from layers of Kapton and metallised Mylar, a pair of artificial polymers from the 1950s and 1960s. SpaceX’s …
DJI blacklisted by US Department of Commerce
The U.S. Department of Commerce has blacklisted DJI. The world’s largest drone manufacturer has been added to the agency’s “Entity” list along with 76 other companies, including other Chinese technology companies and research institutions. As tensions between the U.S. and China increase, DJI has struggled against fears about the security of their platform, and attempts by lawmakers to ban Chinese-made …
Integrating forest operations planning into the cloud
Remsoft, a forestry planning and optimization software leader, is partnering with Safe Software FME Certified data integration specialists Locus and Consortech to automate data integration in the Remsoft Operations Cloud. Forest product companies often work within multiple systems, spreadsheets, and different data formats. The resulting data fragmentation hampers efficiency, effective decision-making, and the ability to rapidly respond to changing conditions …
Mechanical planting trials show promise
At the end of last year, well over 300 tree crop managers, establishment foresters and remote sensing specialists attended or came in remotely for the ForestTECH 2020 event that was held in Rotorua, New Zealand. In it, for the first time in this region, the key suppliers of mechanised planting equipment out of Europe, local companies that were making modifications …
Dawn Aerospace licensed to fly NZ’s first spaceplane
In a world-first, the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted Dawn Aerospace an Unmanned Aircraft Operator Certificate to fly a suborbital spaceplane from a conventional airport. Authorised under Civil Aviation Rule Part 102, Dawn is setting a new precedent for how we access space. Presently, flights will operate without the need for restricted airspace, proving the worlds of …