Reliable detection, localization and identification of small drones is essential to promote safe, secure and privacy-respecting operation of Unmanned-Aerial Systems (UAS), or simply, drones. This is an increasingly challenging problem with only single modality sensing, especially, to detect and identify small drones. In this work, a multi-stage fusion architecture using passive radio frequency (RF) and electro-optic (EO) imagery data is developed to leverage the synergies of the modalities to improve the overall tracking and classification capabilities. For detection with EO-imagery, supervised deep learning based techniques as well as unsupervised foreground/background separation techniques are explored to cope with challenging environments. Using real collected data for Group 1 and 2 drones, the capability of each algorithm is quantified. In order to compensate for any performance gaps in detection with only EO imagery as well as to provide a unique device identifier for the drones, passive RF is integrated with EO imagery whenever available. In particular, drone detections in the image plane are combined with passive RF location estimates via detection-to-detection association after 3D to 2D transformation. Final tracking is performed on the composite detections in the 2D image plane. Each track centroid is given a unique identification obtained via RF fingerprinting. The proposed fusion architecture is tested and the tracking and performance is quantified over the range to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches using simultaneously collected passive RF and EO data at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) through ESCAPE-21 (Experiments, Scenarios, Concept of Operations, and Prototype Engineering) data collect

On the morning of July 10, 2018, a cook at K2 Base Camp in Pakistan was looking through his binoculars toward Broad Peak when he spotted something that looked like a body about 2,000 feet below the summit. The cook shared his discovery with Bartek Bargiel and his brother Andrzrej, members of a Polish expedition hoping to make the first ski descent of K2, the world's second-highest mountain. At first, the Poles thought they were looking at a corpse. But after more careful study they realized that it was a man in distress, clinging to the side of the mountain with an ice axe. There was no communication between the teams in the two separate base camps, so the Poles immediately dispatched one of their teammates, who took off running to the other camp, which was five miles down-glacier.

The Interior Department is grounding its fleet of drones -- including Chinese-made models such as this specialized "government edition" Mavic Pro, made by DJI. The Interior Department is grounding its fleet of drones -- including Chinese-made models such as this specialized "government edition" Mavic Pro, made by DJI. The Interior Department has grounded its fleet of more than 800 drones, citing potential cybersecurity risks and the need to support U.S. drone production – suggesting the move is aimed at least in part at China, a leading drone producer. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed an order on Wednesday grounding the drones, formalizing a "pause" he ordered nearly three months ago. "We've had only 12 drone flights since that time for emergency operations related to fires and floods," DOI Spokesperson Carol Danko said. In 2018, the Interior Department reported making 10,432 drone flights -- part of a broad expansion of its use of the aircraft under President Trump.

Jefferson Graham runs down the ten rules you need to know before taking your new drone out for a spin on Talking Tech. Drones are one of the most popular tech products, but they're not as simple as opening the box, charging the batteries and then letting the new gadget soar into the skies. There are several rules that need to be obeyed. The Federal Aviation Administration first insists that all owners must register their unit with the agency or face fines of up to $250,000. From there, many cities have rules about drone use in their municipalities, some hard and fast, others gray.

Drones have been a part of the modern lifestyle for a while now and are commonly used for aerial photography for sports and other events professionally. With the rise of lightweight and hence portable drones that come with cameras in the market, these gadgets have gained popularity for personal use as well. While anyone can buy and work with drones, using them in cities and certain areas may need discretion. As our government prepares to allow remotely flying vehicles from December, 2018; check out these brands that you can purchase drones from- Image source: www.dji.com DJI Mavic Air is loved for amazing portability, with its fold-able body that you can carry for your trekking and hiking trip to the mountains.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. Some of China's most advanced legged robots were prancing around the World Robot Conference in Beijing, including a small quadruped called Laikago from Unitree Robotics that we wrote about last year and a big quadruped from the China North Vehicle Research Institute. They all look very Boston Dynamics-y, except for the one that has six legs, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

If you are a fan of DJI's Mavic Pro, today is a good day. Why? Because, as rumored, the drone behemoth didn't just reveal the Mavic Pro 2, it also introduced a second option in the line: the Mavic 2 Zoom (note: no "Pro"). As the name suggests, the latter comes with a 2X optical zoom (24-48mm and 2X digital to 96mm), meaning there's no "greedy boy" option here, each has its own unique selling points -- so you'll need to think long and hard about which one you really want Before we get to the differences, let's talk about what the two models share. Bar the camera, the two new Mavics are the same. The key upgrades include up to 31 minutes of flight time (up from the original Mavic Pro's 27) and there are now more sensors on the drone (10 total) so that Mavic now has obstacle avoidance in all directions (including above/below).

For 36 hours the company will be discounting new drones such as the foldable Mavic Pro and the Spark by up to $300. The Mavic Pro Fly More Combo will be on sale for $999 (typically $1299) while the mini Spark Fly More Combo will be $499 (typically $549). The Phantom 4 will come with an extra Intelligent Flight Battery and a wrap pack if its ordered during Prime Day. Once Prime Day wraps DJI will be extending the savings to many of their refurbished products.

Parrot was one of the first (if not the absolute first) companies to take a crack at the consumer drone space. The AR Drone came out in 2010 (!), and Parrot followed it up a solid upgrade in the AR Drone 2.0 a few years later. Since then, we've seen the Bebop, some clever flying toys, and had a bunch of fun with the fixed-wing Disco. But at this point, most consumers probably think DJI when they think of camera drones, because of how pervasive Phantoms and Mavics are. It's not like this caught Parrot by surprise or anything--two years ago, they saw the direction that the market was trending, and started working on a completely new consumer platform designed to be exceptionally easy to use and exceptionally portable, with the ability to produce exceptionally good aerial videos. Earlier last month, Parrot announced the Anafi, a US $700 consumer camera drone with a unique design and some unique features, coupled with the sort of thoughtful usability that we've come to expect from Parrot. We got a pretty good look at the drone in New York City, and have been trying one out over the past weeks. At Parrot's event in NYC, CEO Henri Seydoux introduced the drone with pictures like this: The idea, Seydoux said, was to build a drone like an insect, with a head (camera), thorax (electronics), and abdomen (battery).

Jefferson Graham has an exclusive first look at the new DJI Mavic Air, a smaller, lighter and less expensive version of the DJI Mavic Pro drone. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Jefferson Graham has an exclusive first look at the new DJI Mavic Air, a smaller, lighter and less expensive version of the DJI Mavic Pro drone.