When talk turns to AI and Smart Ports, articles are invariably discussing container terminals in western nations. The second busiest container port, Singapore, is also much mentioned. The largest port or port megacity, Shanghai, is really several ports rolled into one and in 2019 it dealt with the equivalent of 43.5 million TEU (stacked lengthwise,…
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…
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…
In VC’s Commercial and UAV report, the section detailing Technical Requirements (chapter 2), discussed in some detail the alternative of tethered drones. Recent articles in the media have shown that this niche market is developing apace. Tethered UAVs on building sites for use with surveillance cameras make good economic sense. The basic problem with dirigibles…
In our commercial UAV report, Valour Consultancy laid out a timeline for future Drone Industry Development, both drivers and inhibitors. One of the first items it listed as a driver for development was Individual Drone Identification: “Commercial companies will welcome and whole-heartedly endorse drone registration and individual drone identification (they will do this for purely…
The above chart is an extract from Valour Consultancy’s latest report on enterprise body-worn cameras showing our forecast for shipments of these devices in 2017. The report also contains data on historical shipments, associated revenues and ASPs from 2015 with the forecast period extending out to 2020. Additionally, data on deployment sizes, the number of…
Vigilant Aerospace Systems (VAS), a private US company was founded in Oklahoma City in 2015, licenses aviation technologies. VAS commercialises NASA flight safety technologies and develops innovative situational sensing, analysis and prediction solutions which can enables collision avoidance and autonomous flight for both drones and small and medium-sized planes. The company recently completed Beyond Line-of-Sight…
In an interesting move, the Japanese drone surveying company Terra Drone has opened an office in Fortitude Valley in Queensland. Fortitude Valley is a suburb of Brisbane most famous for shopping and nightlife. Terra Drone specialised in LiDAR surveying of construction, mining sites and forestry and land surveys. It also has a small unmanned crop…