Bosch Sensortec is the market leader in barometric pressure sensors with more than 1 billion shipped products. The BMP380 is a very small, low-power and low-noise 24 bit absolute barometric pressure sensor. BMP380 is specifically designed and ideally suited for a wide range of altitude tracking applications. The new BMP380 offers outstanding design flexibility, providing a single package solution that can be easily integrated into a multitude of existing and upcoming devices such as smartphones, GPS modules, wearables and drones.

The sensor is more accurate than its predecessors, covering a wide measurement range from 300 hPa to 1250 hPa. This new barometric pressure sensor exhibits an attractive price-performance ratio coupled with low power consumption. It is available in a compact 10-pin 2.0 x 2.0 x 0.75 mm³ LGA package with metal lid.

Applications

- Altitude stabilization in drones

- Improved calorie expenditure measurement accuracy in wearables and mobile devices

- Unprecedented precision for outdoor/indoor navigation and localization applications

- Enhanced GPS accuracy outdoors

The LPS technology of Novadem (Local Positioning System) allows for the first time to perform fully automatic inspection of structures. Based on its own terrestrial beacons network, the LPS technology reaches a centimeter-level accuracy while being independant from the satellite coverage.
Aix-en-Provence.

Novadem, manufacturer of micro-UAVs for civil and military applications since 2006, is the french leader of UAVs intended for structures’ inspection. Among its customers are major players in the field of inspection such as SPIE Batignolles Technologies, EGIS or SETEC DIADES. « Some of our customers have been using the U130 micro-UAV for more than five years. Consequently we have acquired an in-depth knowledge of the needs linked to the use of UAVs for complex structures’ inspections », explains Pascal Zunino, Director of Novadem. Some of these needs include the precise positioning of the UAV close to and even under structures. Indeed, in these conditions, the GPS cannot get measures because of the lack of satellites in view. Operators have no other choices but to perform these inspections in manual piloting mode, making it difficult and even dangerous. Moreover, the analysis of pictures to find and locate the structures’ defects is long and tedious. To face this challenge, Novadem has developed during two years the technology called LPS.

The Novadem LPS technology is close to the GPS technology but instead of using satellites, it uses terrestrial beacons which create a local positioning network under the structure. This network can easily be extended by adding beacons, each of them covering a 200 meters radius area. As a result, the solution is fully independant from the satellite coverage with unreached capacities so far :

 A positioning precision of 10 centimeters in the three dimensions.
 A fast acquisition with 25 measures per second.
 A constant quality of measurement and constant signal availability.
 A position measurement independant from the evolution area (brightness, type of surface,…).
 A user-specified origin of measurement.

These performances give new perspectives to inspections performed by UAVs thanks to flights that can be 100% automated even under structures. It is now possible to ensure the repeatability of the inspection over time. As a result, the security and efficiency of missions is significantly increased compared to a manual piloting. Add to that a more precise georeferencing of pictures allowing to optimise the flight plan on the areas to inspect and to rationalise the volume of data, thus simplifying the processing.

With the LPS technology, Novadem allows for a breakthrough in the field of inspection by allowing the automatisation of flights and the georeferencing of data in environments without GPS coverage. Difficult inspections will no longer be reserved to experts in piloting but accessible to all. The use of the LPS technology can satisfy indoor (buildings, tunnels,…) and outdoor inspections (wind turbines, high-tension pylons,…). The LPS technology will be soon experimented with big players of the sector and will be commercially available in the course of 2015.

from: Novadem Press Release

and www.suasnews.com

The Portuguese Aviation Authority INAC will publish legislation in the beginning of 2015 for UAVs with MTOW of 150Kg.

Finally Portugal will have also legislation for small UAVs.

GoPro Inc. is developing its own line of consumer drones to expand from its core business of making wearable video cameras popular with surfers and other sports enthusiasts, according to people familiar with its plans.

The company plans to start selling multirotor helicopters equipped with high-definition cameras late next year, aiming for a price tag between $500 and $1,000, according to these people.

The entry of a big consumer-electronics brand to the drone market signals how mainstream—and lucrative—the industry has become in just a few years. Consumers have flocked to unmanned aircraft in recent years as technology advances have made them smaller, cheaper and easier to fly, leaving regulators scrambling to keep up.

Consumer drones are typically lightweight helicopters with cameras that can be controlled with a tablet or smartphone. U.S. regulators allow their use by hobbyists. The devices are expected to be hot sellers this holiday season and have even inspired their own version of the selfie, or self-portrait photo, called a “dronie.”

GoPro’s move into drones comes as its market-leading camcorder business faces competition from rivals such as Sony Corp. and others. The 10-year old company, which went public in June, has been investing heavily in research and development to maintain its lead in the camera business, which shipped nearly 2.8 million units in the first nine months of the year, up 15% from the same period last year.

San Mateo, Calif.-based GoPro is already a supporting player in the drone market, providing many of the roughly 3 oz. cameras that consumer drones carry. But GoPro may be hedging against a business it could be losing; the world’s biggest consumer drone maker, SZ DJI Technology Co. of China, recently started selling devices that come with its own in-house cameras. Other drone makers could stop supporting GoPro devices if they are competing head-to-head with the camera maker.

“I’m happy to let GoPro keep making great cameras and we’ll keep making great copters,” said Colin Guinn, senior vice president of sales at Berkeley, Calif.-based 3D Robotics Inc., which sells GoPro cameras with its drones.

FROM http://online.wsj.com/

European Union is doing a questionnaire about the use of "drones".

More information here: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/consultations/2014-civil-drones_en.htm

Consultation period: 14/08/2014 – 24/10/2014 - END TOMORROW

Background

Aviation technologies continue to evolve and to offer ever more opportunities to deliver services to citizens and to contribute to creating jobs and growth. At the same time, the growing use of new technologies deserves public debate and often requires appropriate intervention of the regulator in order to protect essential public interest. This is the case for remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), commonly known as drones. Such unmanned aircraft have the potential to support in the coming years a wide development of civil applications.

In Europe, RPAS are already being used for aerial photography but also for safety inspections of infrastructure, such as rail tracks, dams, bridges or power grids. National authorities are using them in disaster relief, e.g. to overfly flooded areas or to support firefighting. On other continents RPAS activities already support also precision farming through more effective and timely application of fertilizers or pesticides.

The extensive range of potential applications of these aircraft systems raises issues about their impact on the safety and security of airspace users and people on the ground as well as on citizen's privacy and the use of private data.

The European Commission intends to work on an initiative to regulate appropriately the development and use of RPAS within the context of the single aviation market, which is by its very nature already international. The initiative could involve the introduction of European rules to guarantee high levels of aviation safety and security, citizens' privacy and personal data protection. The challenge will be to strike the right balance between two objectives: to create space and freedom necessary for development of this new industry, often from small start-up companies, and to ensure that this development does not compromise the essential rights and interests of the EU citizens in terms of safety, security or privacy.

The context of the consultation is explained in more detail in Communication "A new era for aviation Opening the aviation market to the civil use of remotely piloted aircraft systems in a safe and sustainable manner " [COM(2014)207] and on http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/aerospace/uas/index_en.htm 

Aim of this questionnaire

This online consultation asks for your informed opinions and suggestions to help identify what are the gains that could be brought by the use of RPAS and what are the concerns that would need to be addressed by EU public intervention.

The questionnaire is structured as follows:

1. Respondent's profile
2. Expected market development
3. Problems to be addressed
4. Problem causes
5. Policy objectives
6. Policy options and measures
7. Impacts of policy options
8. Other questions

The results of this consultation will feed into the Commission impact assessment which will accompany a possible policy initiative on RPAS.

The questionnaire concerns the civil use of drones for commercial activity. The use for military purposes is not covered by this survey. The term “RPAS” is used throughout the questionnaire referring to Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. The survey does not cover fully automated aircraft, which are still at an early stage of development.

Target group

Citizens, companies, public authorities, academia, associations and other stakeholders who have an interest in the issue of EU aviation safety, development of new technologies and improving the efficiency of the aviation sector.

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