Drones Come to The Mainstream
Updated September 25, 2014
DHL To Deliver Medicine Via Drones
Deutsche Post DHL Follows Amazon and Google in Testing Delivery Drones
BERLIN— DHL said it would use a drone to deliver medication to a German island in the North Sea, marking the first routine drone delivery to customers and another step in the rapid advancement of the technology.
DHL said Wednesday that as part of a month-long feasibility project, it will start using unmanned aircraft this week to carry medicine from the harbor town of Norddeich, Germany, to the small island of Just. Each day—depending on weather—the drone will fly autonomously on a preprogrammed seven-and-a-half-mile route, the first routine missions in Europe in which a drone will operate beyond the pilot's eyesight, DHL said.
DHL's plans follow those of Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc., which have each tested their own delivery drones. Those U.S. Internet companies have said the routine deployment of the devices is years away—in part because of regulatory challenges—but DHL is hoping to demonstrate that the technology is ready for some real-world applications.
Drone makers and observers have touted the potential for drone deliveries in remote areas where existing infrastructure makes shipping difficult. Governments have also been more willing to authorize drone flights over less populated areas, so the technology is expected to arrive first in islands like Just, where there are no cars, and the remote outback in Queensland, Australia, where Google tested its delivery drones.
Several government agencies worked together to establish a restricted flight area specifically for the North Sea drone flights, DHL said. U.S. aviation authorities have moved more slowly than other countries in approving commercial-drone flights, even for testing, prompting Amazon to conduct some of its tests in Canada, and Google in Australia.
DHL launched its drone-research project last year in Bonn, Germany, delivering medication across the Rhine River to a lawn behind the company's headquarters. In that weeklong project, a pilot on the ground controlled the bright-yellow quadcopter—a small helicopter with four rotors—on its one-and-a-half-mile round trip.
DHL said its partners, Microdrones GmbH and a German university, revamped the drone for the new project to withstand the wind and weather conditions of the North Sea.
The drone will land on a specified field in Just, where DHL couriers will retrieve the parcels and deliver them to residents and vacationers on the island. DHL said pilots on the ground in Norddeich will stay in contact with air-traffic controllers and monitor the drone in case they need to intervene.
Thanks to a proliferation of inexpensive sensors, chips, cameras and other gizmos that can be tacked onto wannabe spy planes and helicopters, it's easier than ever for technologists to build craft that fly themselves.
The techies are sending the three-to-six foot wide drones, guided by computers, radios and soon cellphones, to survey fields, capture action shots from the air or follow them around to snap photos at optimal angles. About their only constraints: a 400-foot ceiling for amateur drones set by the Federal Aviation Administration—and battery life.
A product designer in San Francisco, has built about a dozen drones for $150 to $1,000 each. He says he spends at least 20 hours a week tweaking and flying them. He says drones have allowed him to capture some hard-to-get photos of the Bay Area—including an image of himself on top of Corona Heights shot from far away.
Another hobbyist, pilots a drone as pedestrians watche in Berkeley.
A product designer, who helped design the Flip video camera, is working on technology that allows the drones to be controlled via iPhones and Android devices. He also recently built drones with a fancy chip that can process inputs from three gyroscopes, three accelerometers and a compass."We're ahead of the phones," he says, who adds that he prefers the helicopters to the airplanes, because they are easier to test in his backyard.
At Berkeley Marina, a software engineer at Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar Animation, takes his airplane drone and "quadcopter" out for a spin almost every weekend. His fanciest drone is equipped with a camera that allows him to see what it sees by wearing goggles. "It's very similar to being in the air," he says.
The drone subculture in Silicon Valley reflects the widening use of unpiloted aircraft by the U.S. military and law-enforcement agencies. Some entrepreneurs are imagining businesses based on the gadgets, a brainstorm of some computer programmers, which would deliver a taco to a customer's door.
The growth and increased sophistication of the toy vehicles has raised questions about whether the technology should be in hobbyists' hands. Privacy advocates, meantime, have raised concerns that drones could be used for surveillance.
The FAA allows amateurs to fly drones for fun, as long as they stick to rules like not flying the machines over people and keeping their drones below 400 feet and in their line of sight. The FAA has said it plans to allow commercial use—meaning businesses that deploy drones, such as the one designed deliver a taco—in the coming years.
Meanwhile, demand is increasing for instruction on how to build a drone. A workshop for hackers in Oakland, plans to hold sessions for building 10 to 20 drones in coming months. The president who works on security communications for the Mozilla Foundation, says building a drone can be detailed, requiring soldering, other mechanical skills and uploading software to run the hardware.
"If things go crazy, it will fly in your face," He says of the devices. One of the trickiest steps is calibrating a drone to fly outdoors based on the wind and other variables, he adds.
Some are proving drone-building can be a business. In 2009, a drone evangelist, co-founded a drone-building company in San Diego. The firm sells drone parts, such as electronic pilots and sensors. He says it is growing at 50% a year and has multimillions in revenue.
He likens the community of hobbyists to Silicon Valley's Homebrew Computer Club in the 1970s, where Apple Inc. co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak showed off their first personal computer. At the time, the future uses of computers weren't clear, he says, with the software applications materializing over time. "I think drones will go the same way."
Organizations That Have Sought to Use Drones
Police departments and universities nationwide have obtained licenses from the FAA to use drones, according to data obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group. See a list of what groups have requested licenses, and the status of that request.
Organization
|
Status of License
|
U.S. Air Force | Active |
Arlington (Texas) Police Department | Active |
U.S. Army | Active |
CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) | Expired |
City of Herington, Kan. | Active |
City of Houston Police Department | Expired |
City of North Little Rock, Ark., Police Department | Active |
Cornell University | Expired |
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) | Active |
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / CBP (Customs and Border Protection) | Active |
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / Science and Technology | Active |
DOE (Department of Energy) - Idaho National Laboratory | Active |
DOE (Department of Energy) - National Energy Technology Laboratory | Expired |
Department of Agriculture - US Forest Service | Disapproved |
Department of Agriculture - US Forest Service | Expired |
Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service | Disapproved |
Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service | Active |
Department of the Interior - National Business Center/Aviation Management Directorate (NBC/AMD) | Active |
DOJ (Department of Justice) - Queen Anne's County Office of the Sheriff (State unknown) | Expired |
Eastern Gateway Community College | Active |
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) | Active |
Gadsden Police Department (State unknown) | Active |
Georgia Tech Police Department, Office of Emergency Preparedness | Disapproved |
Georgia Tech Research Institute | Active |
Hays County Emergency Service Office (State unknown) | Expired |
Kansas State University | Active |
Mesa County (Colo.) Sheriff's Office | Active |
Miami-Dade Police Department | Active |
Middle Tennessee State University | Active |
Mississippi Department of Marine Resources | Active |
Mississippi State University | Active |
Montgomery County Sheriff's Office (State unknown) | Expired |
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) | Active |
U.S. Navy | Active |
New Mexico Tech | Active |
New Mexico State University Physical Sciences Laboratory (NMSU-PSL) | Active |
Nicholls State University | Expired |
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) | Expired |
Ogden (Utah) Police Department | Active |
Ohio University | Active |
Orange County Sheriff's Office (State unknown) | Active |
Otter Tail County (State unknown) | Disapproved |
Polk County Sheriff's Office (State unknown) | Active |
Seattle Police Department | Active |
Texas A&M University Corpus Christi | Active |
Texas A&M University - TEES (Texas Engineering Experiment Station) | Active |
Texas Department of Public Safety | Expired |
Texas State University | Active |
University of Alaska Fairbanks | Active |
University of Arizona | Expired |
University of Colorado | Active |
University of Connecticut | Active |
University of Florida | Active |
University of Michigan | Expired |
University of North Dakota | Active |
University of Wisconsin | Expired |
USMC (United States Marine Corps) | Active |
Utah State University | Active |
Virginia Commonwealth University | Expired |
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | Active |
Washington State Department of Transportation | Expired |
Monty Henry, Owner
Additional Resources:
* The Creature From Jekyll Island: This Blog And Video Playlist Explains Why The U.S. Financial System is Corrupt and How It Came To Be That Way
* Dropping Off The Grid: A Growing Movement In America: Part I
Next-Generation Bug / Microwave / ELF / Spy Phone / GSM And Camera Detectors (Buy, Rent, Layaway) tinyurl.com/2eo8mlz Open...
— Spy Store Rentals (@MontyHenry1)
Nanny IP (Internet) Cameras, GPS Trackers, Bug Detectors and Listening Devices, etc, (Buy / Rent / Layaway): tinyurl.com/396jlw6...
— Spy Store Rentals (@MontyHenry1)
NOW, look in on your home, second home, lake house or office anytime, anywhere from any internet connected PC/Lap-top or Internet active cell phone, including iphone or PDA.
Watch your child's caregiver while sitting at a traffic light or lunch meeting, or check on your business security from the other side of the world. Our built-in hidden video features all digital transmissions providing a crystal clear image with zero interference. With the IP receiver stream your video over the internet through your router, and view on either a PC or smart phone. Designed exclusively for DPL-Surveillance-Equipment, these IP hidden wireless cameras come with multiple features to make the user's experience hassle-free.
NOW, look in on your home, second home, lake house or office anytime, anywhere from any internet connected PC/Lap-top or Internet active cell phone, including iphone or PDA: http://www.dpl-surveillance-equipment.com/wireless_hidden_cameras.html
Watch your child's caregiver while sitting at a traffic light or lunch meeting, or check on your business security from the other side of the world. Our built-in hidden video features all digital transmissions providing a crystal clear image with zero interference. With the IP receiver stream your video over the internet through your router, and view on either a PC or smart phone. Designed exclusively for DPL-Surveillance-Equipment, these IP hidden wireless cameras come with multiple features to make the user's experience hassle-free.
• Remote Video Access
• Video is Recorded Locally To An Installed SD Card (2GB SD Card included)
• Email Notifications (Motion Alerts, Camera Failure, IP Address Change, SD Card Full)
• Live Monitoring, Recording And Event Playback Via Internet
• Back-up SD Storage Up To 32GB (SD Not Included)
• Digital Wireless Transmission (No Camera Interference)
• View LIVE On Your SmartPhone!
Includes:
* Nanny Cameras w/ Remote View
* Wireless IP Receiver
* Remote Control
* A/C Adaptor
* 2GB SD Card
* USB Receiver
FACT SHEET: HIDDEN NANNY-SPY (VIEW VIA THE INTERNET) CAMERAS
Specifications:
Receiver Specs:
* Transmission Range of 500 ft Line Of Sight
* Uses 53 Channels Resulting In No Interference
* 12V Power Consumption
* RCA Output
* Supports up to 32gig SD
Camera Specs:
* 640x480 / 320x240 up to 30fps
* Image Sensor: 1/4" Micron Sensor
* Resolution: 720x480 Pixels
* S/N Ratio: 45 db
* Sensitivity: 11.5V/lux-s @ 550nm
* Video System: NTSC
* White Balance: Auto Tracking
• Video is Recorded Locally To An Installed SD Card (2GB SD Card included)
• Email Notifications (Motion Alerts, Camera Failure, IP Address Change, SD Card Full)
• Live Monitoring, Recording And Event Playback Via Internet
• Back-up SD Storage Up To 32GB (SD Not Included)
• Digital Wireless Transmission (No Camera Interference)
• View LIVE On Your SmartPhone!
Includes:
* Nanny Cameras w/ Remote View
* Wireless IP Receiver
* Remote Control
* A/C Adaptor
* 2GB SD Card
* USB Receiver
FACT SHEET: HIDDEN NANNY-SPY (VIEW VIA THE INTERNET) CAMERAS
Specifications:
Receiver Specs:
* Transmission Range of 500 ft Line Of Sight
* Uses 53 Channels Resulting In No Interference
* 12V Power Consumption
* RCA Output
* Supports up to 32gig SD
Camera Specs:
* 640x480 / 320x240 up to 30fps
* Image Sensor: 1/4" Micron Sensor
* Resolution: 720x480 Pixels
* S/N Ratio: 45 db
* Sensitivity: 11.5V/lux-s @ 550nm
* Video System: NTSC
* White Balance: Auto Tracking
Make Your Own Nanny Cameras: Make Tons Of Money In A Booming, Nearly Recession-Proof Industry!
Your Primary Customers Include But Are Not Limited To Anyone In The Private Investigator, Government, Law Enforcement And/Or Intelligence Agencies Fields!
* You Buy Our DVR Boards And We'll Build Your Products! (Optional)
* You Buy Our DVR Boards And We'll Build Your Products! (Optional)
Our New Layaway Plan Adds Convenience For Online Shoppers
DPL-Surveillance-Equipment's
layaway plan makes it easy for you to buy the products and services
that you want by paying for them through manageable monthly payments
that you set. Our intuitive calculator allows you to break down your
order's purchase price into smaller payment amounts. Payments can be
automatically deducted from your bank account or made in cash using
MoneyGram® ExpressPayment® Services and you will receive your order once
it's paid in full. Use it to plan and budget for holiday purchases,
anniversaries, birthdays, vacations and more!
DPL-Surveillance-Equipment's
Customers can now use the convenience of layaway online to help them
get through these tough economic times.
We all shop now
and then just to face a hard reality -- big credit card bills. However,
our latest financing innovation can help you avoid that. Find out why
more and more shoppers are checking out DPL-Surveillance-Equipment's
e-layaway plan.
If you're drooling over a new nanny
camera, longing for a GPS tracker, or wishing for that spy watch, but
you're strapped for cash and can't afford to do credit, do what Jennie
Kheen did. She bought her iPod docking station (hidden camera
w/motion-activated DVR) online using our convenient lay-away plan.
Our
online layaway plan works like the old-fashioned service stores used to
offer. But, in Kheen's case, she went to
DPL-Surveillance-Equipment.com, found the iPod docking station (hidden
camera w/motion-activated DVR), then set up a payment plan.
"It's automatically drawn from my account," she said. "I have a budget, $208.00 a month.
In
three months, Kheen had paid off the $650.00 iPod docking station. She
paid another 3.9 percent service fee, which amounted to about $25.35
(plus $12.00 for shipping) for a total of $687.35.
"You
pay a little bit each month," Kheen said. "It's paid off when you get
it and you don't have it lingering over your head. It's great."
Flexible
payment terms and automated payments make our layaway plan an
affordable and fiscally responsible alternative to credit cards.
1. Register:
It's quick, easy and FREE! No credit check required!
2. Shop:
Select
the items or service you want and choose "e-layaway" as your payment
option. Our payment calculator makes it easy for you to set up your
payment terms.
3. Make Payments:
Payments are made on the schedule YOU set. Check your order status or adjust your payments online in a secure environment.
4. Receive Products:
Receive the product shortly after your last payment. The best part, it's paid in full... NO DEBT.
More Buying Power:
*
Our lay-away plan offers a safe and affordable payment alternative
without tying up your credit or subjecting the purchase to high-interest
credit card fees.
No Credit Checks or Special Qualifications:
* Anyone 18 years old or older can join. All you need is an active bank account.
Freedom From Credit Cards:
*
If you are near or beyond your credit limit or simply want to avoid
high interest credit card fees, our e-layaway is the smart choice for
you.
Flexible Payment Schedules:
*
Similar to traditional layaway, e-layaway lets you make regular payments
towards merchandise, with delivery upon payment in full. Payments are
automatically deducted from your bank account or made in cash using
MoneyGram® ExpressPayment®
A Tool for Planning Ahead:
*
Our e-layaway makes it easy for smart shoppers like you to plan ahead
and buy items such as bug detectors, nanny cameras, audio bugs, gps
trackers, and more!
No Hidden Charges or Mounting Interest:
Our
e-layaway makes shopping painless by eliminating hidden charges and
monthly interest fees. Our customers pay a flat transaction fee on the
initial purchase price.
NO RISK:
* You have the right to cancel any purchase and will receive a refund less a cancellation fee. See website for details.
Security and Identity Protection:
DPL-Surveillance-Equipment
has partnered with trusted experts like McAfee and IDology to ensure
the security and integrity of every transaction. Identity verification
measures are integrated into our e-layaway system to prevent fraudulent
purchases.
Note: Simply Choose e-Lay-Away as a "Payment Option" in The Shopping Cart
DPL-Surveillance-Equipment.com
is a world leader in providing surveillance and security products and
services to Government, Law Enforcement, Private Investigators, small
and large companies worldwide. We have one of the largest varieties of
state-of-the-art surveillance and counter-surveillance equipment
including Personal Protection
and Bug Detection Products.
Buy, rent or lease the same
state-of-the-art surveillance and security equipment Detectives, PI's,
the CIA and FBI use. Take back control!
DPL-Surveillance-Equipment.com
Phone: (1888) 344-3742 Toll Free USA
Local: (818) 344-3742
Fax (775) 249-9320
Monty@DPL-Surveillance-Equipment.com
Google+ and Gmail
DPLSURVE
Twitter
DPLSURVE
MSN
Monty@DPL-Surveillance-Equipment.com
AOL Instant Messenger
DPLSURVE32
Skype
Montyl32
Yahoo Instant Messenger
Montyi32
Alternate Email Address
montyi32@yahoo.com
Join my Yahoo Group!
My RSS Feed
Phone: (1888) 344-3742 Toll Free USA
Local: (818) 344-3742
Fax (775) 249-9320
Monty@DPL-Surveillance-Equipment.com
Google+ and Gmail
DPLSURVE
DPLSURVE
MSN
Monty@DPL-Surveillance-Equipment.com
AOL Instant Messenger
DPLSURVE32
Skype
Montyl32
Yahoo Instant Messenger
Montyi32
Alternate Email Address
montyi32@yahoo.com
Join my Yahoo Group!
My RSS Feed
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
<< Home