Sponsored by The British Robotics Seed Fund
http: www.britbots.com/fund
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19 Oct 21. U.S. FCC commissioner wants new restrictions review for Chinese dronemaker DJI. A Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday said he wants the U.S. telecommunications regulator to begin the process of imposing new restrictions on Chinese drone maker SZ DJI Technology Co.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the agency should takes steps toward adding DJI, the world’s largest dronemaker, to the so-called “Covered List” that would prohibit U.S. Universal Service Fund money from being used to purchase its equipment.
DJI, which accounts for more than 50% of U.S. drone sales, said its “drones are safe and secure for critical and sensitive operations… Our customers know that DJI drones remain the most capable and most affordable products for a wide variety of uses, including sensitive industrial and government work.”
In March, the FCC designated five Chinese companies as posing a threat to national security under a 2019 law aimed at protecting U.S. communications networks.
The FCC named Huawei Technologies Co [RIC:RIC:HWT.UL], ZTE Corp (000063.SZ), Hytera Communications Corp <002583.SZ), Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (002415.SZ) and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co (002236.SZ).
Carr noted that the FCC has a separate ongoing effort to decide whether to continue approving equipment from entities on the Covered List for use in the United States.
“DJI drones and the surveillance technology on board these systems are collecting vast amounts of sensitive data-everything from high-resolution images of critical infrastructure to facial recognition technology and remote sensors that can measure an individual’s body temperature and heart rate,” Carr said in a statement. “We do not need an airborne version of Huawei.”
He said the FCC in consultation with national security agencies “should also consider whether there are additional entities that warrant closer scrutiny.”
In December, DJI was added by the U.S. Commerce Department to the U.S. government’s economic blacklist.
In January 2020, the U.S. Interior Department said it was grounding its fleet of about 800 Chinese-made drones, and earlier halted additional Interior Department purchases of such drones.
In May 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned U.S. firms of the risks to company data from Chinese-made drones. (Source: glstrade.com/Reuters)
18 Oct 21. Teledyne FLIR Announces ION M640x Next-Gen Tactical Quadcopter. Teledyne FLIR, part of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated has announced the launch of the ION™ M640x tactical Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). The American designed, developed, and manufactured UAS builds on the capabilities of the ION M440 (a Blue sUAS) and will provide military and other government customers with best-in-class capabilities for their unique missions.
“Our proven, U.S.-based engineering expertise and focus on defense and public safety markets means our customers are getting the most secure and capable UAS solutions,” said Thomas Rambo, senior director of Unmanned and Integrated Solutions at Teledyne FLIR. “The ION M640x builds on our unique position as a domestic provider of unmanned systems and sensing technology and boasts high resolution infrared imaging, smart object tracking, laser illumination, and industry-leading support and service.”
The ION M640x features a 640×512 infrared sensor providing twice the resolution of similar UAS, and a Near-Infrared (NIR) laser illuminator. The NIR illuminator enables operators to pinpoint objects of interest for increased coordination and visibility for other mission participants. ION M640x also includes all-new smart object tracking that enables operators to designate an object for the aircraft to detect and track while it moves. Other new features include an SD card to easily retrieve photos and video recorded during flight, as well as tri-band radio capabilities.
Open system architecture is another key feature of the ION M640x, and the system utilizes a high-powered discrete mission computer for advanced autonomous functions. It is also MAVLINK compliant and interoperable with Common Ground Control Stations (C-GCS), including the U.S. Army Tactical Open Ground Station Architecture (TOGA). Easily rucksack portable at about 4 pounds, the M640x is rated for operation in demanding environments, including rain and wind.
The ION M640x is evolved from the ION M440, one of the original five UAS platforms approved by the U.S. Department of Defense under the Blue sUAS program, for sale to U.S. military and federal agencies. The M440 was developed by Gainesville, Florida-based Altavian Inc., which FLIR acquired in December 2020.
Leveraging Teledyne FLIR’s longstanding reputation as a trusted provider of unmanned systems for military and public safety organizations, the ION M640x is backed by the company’s world class standards for service, training, and technical support. (Source: UAS VISION)
18 Oct 21. China Aerospace Unveils CH-817 Micro-Surveillance and Attack VTOL UAV. Chinese defence prime China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has unveiled its backpackable Cai Hong-817 (Rainbow-817, or CH-817) micro-UAV at Airshow China 2021, which is being held from 28 September to 3 October in Zhuhai. Developed by CASC subsidiary China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA, also known as the 11th Academy) in Beijing, the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) CH-817 is designed to be a man-portable day and night-operations capable UAV that can be used to boost the effectiveness of ground forces in tactical urban or mountainous environments where situational awareness is often limited. Manufactured from lightweight alloys and composite materials, the CH-817 features a bisected, cylindrical fuselage module with a pair of mid-mounted coaxial two-bladed rotors, which can fold along the fuselage module’s diameter for transport and storage, enabling the UAV to be fitted into a ruggedised canister or backpack. A complete package can comprise a UAV, a handheld operator control unit, and a pair of first person view (FPV) goggles. The air vehicle weighs 850 g in ready-to-fly configuration and is powered by twin electric motors that drive the two rotor blades, delivering a flight endurance of 15 minutes at a maximum level flight speed of 64.8km/h. The CH-817 is typically equipped with an uncooled electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret fitted to the airframe’s lower body, which supports a range of flight and surveillance functions including autonomous waypoint-based navigation and obstacle avoidance, as well as target tracking for selected threats. Should lethal effects be desired, the air vehicle can be fitted with a small blast fragmentation payload. (Source: Janes)
21 Oct 21. DARPA hosting final drone swarm demo in November, companies look for service buy in. The US Department of Defense (DoD) may be focused on finding technologies to down aerial drones, however, its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is also working with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon BBN Technologies on ways a single operator can control hundreds of ground and aerial drones at once. While this developmental effort has been ongoing for years, it is scheduled to culminate in November when both companies head to Fort Campbell in Kentucky for a field experiment where each entity will test out their respective technologies. Under the agency’s Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) programme, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have been working as ‘swarm system integrators’. In this position, they have been developing the architectures, interfaces, and their own swarm tactics exchanges – this houses tools to help design swarm tactics by composing collective behaviours, swarm algorithms, and existing swarm tactics – to enable a single person to operate hundreds of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) drones at once. (Source: Janes)
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The British Robotics Seed Fund is the first SEIS-qualifying investment fund specialising in UK-based robotics businesses. The focus of the fund is to deliver superior returns to investors by making targeted investments in a mixed basket of the most innovative and disruptive businesses that are exploiting the new generation of robotics technologies in defence and other sector applications.
Automation and robotisation are beginning to drive significant productivity improvements in the global economy heralding a new industrial revolution. The fund allows investors to benefit from this exciting opportunity, whilst also delivering the extremely attractive tax reliefs offered by the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). For many private investors, the amount of specialist knowledge required to assess investments in robotics is not practical and hence investing through a fund structure makes good sense.
The fund appoints expert mentors to work with each investee company to further maximise the chance of success for investors. Further details are available on request.
www.britbots.com/fund
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