Valour Consultancy has unveiled a new report which evaluates the market for flat panel antennas developed to support comms-on-the-move applications across aviation, maritime and land mobility. The study, titled – The Future of Flat Panel Antennas – 2023, reveals that after years of hype, hardware shipments are now ramping up as several manufacturers transition from…
This article addresses the issues facing LEO constellations. These are both technical and financial. While the concept of bringing connection to the unconnected might be regarded as the finances associated with trying to achieve income from less developed and sparsely populated areas is a conundrum that is yet to be resolved. Introduction The technical problems…
When jetpacks were revealed in 1961, they captured everyone’s imagination. Famous biochemist, Isaac Asimov, predicted that jetpacks would be ‘as common as a bicycle’ by the year 2000. There are many reasons why recreational jetpacks failed to make it to mass market, primarily safety concerns and cost. Are driverless cars facing a similar fate? The…
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) have funded two consecutive projects called DeSIRE, in 2013, and DeSIRE II (Demonstration of Satellites enabling the Insertion of RPAS in Europe), in 2015, to examine how drones might operate within controlled airspace when controlled by satellites for commercial and governmental applications. To undertake…
“I don’t see how he can ever finish, if he doesn’t begin.” Alice thought to herself that unmanned traffic management should be easy, so she checked several countries that are beginning and this is what she found. In the Asia/Pacific region, there is practical experimentation but a willingness to standardise, Russia is ploughing its own…
On March 27th 2020, London-based satellite firm, OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, and in doing so surprised some and merely confirmed what others had seen coming for some time. Much has been written, both pre- and post-bankruptcy, around the challenges associated with making the LEO business model work and,…
With most of the cities around Europe, North America and Latin America deserted and the majority of populations locked away in their homes, the start of 2020 has not been best. The service markets, such as restaurants, gyms, co-working spaces, have come to a grinding halt and many businesses and industries will be damaged for…
The 2019 Uber Elevate Summit in Washington DC, highlighted innovations in the emerging electric powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) and urban air mobility (UAM) markets. The market for drone taxis is both technologically exciting and potentially useful. As a drone and monorail enthusiast, I wish the very best developmental and utilisation outcomes for both.…
Authors: Joshua Flood and David Whelan On Thursday 30th of May 2019, we attended an Inmarsat Pop-Up UAV Lab at the firm’s Old Street headquarters. Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat, provided an introduction to the changing dynamics and use cases for aerial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and noted down several significant developments of the technology.…
The majority of drone marketing reports have been quite remiss in devoting little space to the discussion of the development of drone taxis. Indeed, the 2016 Valour Consultancy report only mentions the Ehang 184 in the section devoted to that company and only mentions the Urban Aeronautics AirMule in passing but in April 2017 the…