Quadrotors can carry slung loads to hard-to-reach locations at high speed. Since a single quadrotor has limited payload capacities, using a team of quadrotors to collaboratively manipulate a heavy object is a scalable and promising solution. However, existing control algorithms for multi-lifting systems only enable low-speed and low-acceleration operations due to the complex dynamic coupling between quadrotors and the load, limiting their use in time-critical missions such as search and rescue. In this work, we present a solution to significantly enhance the agility of cable-suspended multi-lifting systems. Unlike traditional cascaded solutions, we introduce a trajectory-based framework that solves the whole-body kinodynamic motion planning problem online, accounting for the dynamic coupling effects and constraints between the quadrotors and the load. The planned trajectory is provided to the quadrotors as a reference in a receding-horizon fashion and is tracked by an onboard controller that observes and compensates for the cable tension. Real-world experiments demonstrate that our framework can achieve at least eight times greater acceleration than state-of-the-art methods to follow agile trajectories. Our method can even perform complex maneuvers such as flying through narrow passages at high speed. Additionally, it exhibits high robustness against load uncertainties and does not require adding any sensors to the load, demonstrating strong practicality.

DJI has lifted its geofence that prevents users in the US from flying over restricted areas like nuclear power plants, airports and wildfires, the company wrote in a blog post on Monday. As of January 13th, areas previously called "restricted zones" or no-fly zones will be shown as "enhanced warning zones" that correspond to designated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) areas. DJI's Fly app will display a warning about those areas but will no longer stop users from flying inside them, the company said. In the article, DJI wrote that the "in-app alerts will notify operators flying near FAA designated controlled airspace, placing control back in the hands of the drone operators, in line with regulatory principles of the operator bearing final responsibility." It added that technologies like Remote ID [introduced after DJI implemented geofencing] gives authorities "the tools needed to enforce existing rules," DJI's global policy chief Adam Welsh told The Verge.

Drones have become increasingly popular in a variety of fields, including agriculture, emergency response, and package delivery. However, most drone operations are currently limited to within Visual Line of Sight (vlos) due to safety concerns. Flying drones Beyond Visual Line of Sight (bvlos) presents new challenges and opportunities, but also requires new technologies and regulatory frameworks, not yet implemented, to ensure that the drone is constantly under the control of a remote operator. In this preliminary study, we assume to remotely control the drone using the available ground cellular network infrastructure. We propose to plan bvlos drone operations using a novel multi-layer framework that includes many layers of constraints that closely resemble real-world scenarios and challenges. These layers include information such as the potential ground risk in the event of a drone failure, the available ground cellular network infrastructure, and the presence of ground obstacles. From the multi-layer framework, a graph is constructed whose edges are weighted with a dependability score that takes into account the information of the multi-layer framework. Then, the planning of bvlos drone missions is equivalent to solving the Maximum Path Dependability Problem on the constructed graph, which turns out to be solvable by applying Dijkstra's algorithm.

The no-fly zone for drones around airports is to be extended following the disruption at Gatwick in December, the government says. From 13 March it will be illegal to fly a drone within three miles of an airport, rather than the current 0.6-mile (1km) exclusion zone. The government also said it wants police to have new stop and search powers to tackle drone misuse. Gatwick was shut for more than a day after drone sightings near the runway. It caused chaos for travellers, affecting more than 1,000 flights and about 140,000 passengers.

Drone industry and law-enforcement officials are struggling to find common ground over expanding flights and protecting public safety, a debate thrust into the public spotlight by a reported assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Federal Aviation Administration is projecting a fourfold increase, from more than 110,000 currently, in the number of commercial drones flying in U.S. skies in the next five years. U.S. law-enforcement officials, however, want to delay widespread operations until reliable defensive systems are developed. Saturday's attack with unmanned aircraft in Caracas was a reminder for the drone industry and U.S. government officials over the potential security threats even readily available commercial drones can pose. Venezuelan authorities said a pair of explosive-laden drones carrying a total of about 4 pounds of plastic explosives were part of an unsuccessful assassination attempt during an outdoor ceremony in Caracas, with one of the vehicles detonating after government jamming devices knocked it off course.

Fortem Technologies has announced the release of DroneHunter, a military-tested unmanned aerial system (UAS) that provides perimeter intrusion detection and protection by autonomously patrolling an airspace and towing away any rogue drones from the sky. Using AI algorithms, the DroneHunter system provides detection, monitoring and capture of rogue drones over restricted airspace or no-fly zones. Once a rogue drone is detected and captured, DroneHunter can tether and return, or safely discard to a predefined safe zone. "Drones are accessible to everyone now and are beginning to proliferate to enable many new services," said CEO of Fortem Technologies, Timothy Bean. "However, to fully embrace these benefits, we must monitor the airspace and secure no-fly zones. Fortem's safe, low-cost detection and mitigation systems like DroneHunter are game-changing, enabling the benefits of a drone world to be realized."

Days ago, South Korean authorities announced that they'd capture any drone that got too close to Olympics event facilities. If you have a DJI-made craft, you won't even be able to get close. The UAV maker is releasing a software patch that creates a no-fly zone around Olympic areas. For the duration of the games, DJI drones won't be able to fly through areas in the South Korean cities of Pyeongchang, Gangneung, Bongpyeong and Jeongseon. "Safety is DJI's top priority and we've always taken proactive steps to educate our customers to operate within the law and where appropriate, implement temporary no-fly zones during major events," the company said in a statement, according to TechCrunch.

In the most nightmarish drone scenarios, one of the little whirlybirds flies into an airliner, or wanders into military airspace, or swoops down on the White House. At best, such things are mild annoyances. At worst, they pose a grave threat to safety and security. The sky is a big, open place, with a great many no-go zones that aren't clearly delineated. That makes it easy for a drone, or its pilot, to cause trouble.

The silence was shredded by the rat-tat-tat eruptions of a single gun. More soldiers fired, their volleys coalescing into the grim music of war -- a sustained snare drum roll soon interrupted by the bass thumps of the 50-caliber machine gun. All the barrels pointed at a speck tracing a line in the sky over west Mosul. Their target was yet another drone dispatched by Islamic State. In the seven months of the Iraqi government's drive to recapture Mosul from the jihadists, small drones have become a signature tactic of the group: Their appearance on the horizon, loaded with a camera, signals that punishing mortar barrages will soon be on the way.

A drone belonging to a film crew was reportedly shot down Friday in the Iranian capital Tehran by the country's anti-aircraft forces after it approached the president and the supreme leader's offices. The drone was shot down as "it approached the no-fly zone" near the office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a source told Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), according to Reuters. The drone belonged to a documentary-making team that had acquired permission to shoot but "unintentionally started moving it towards the no-fly zone." According to Tehran's deputy governor general for security affairs, Mohsen Hamedani, the state television crew were shooting Friday prayers and "did not know about the prohibited airspace." In August, the commander of Tehran air defense forces said that the capital's airspace was under full control and "no aircraft can enter it without permission."