Last week Facebook’s Aquila project took another step in its quest to provide internet access to the 5 billion of earth’s inhabitants who currently have no connectivity. The venture has however not been without its critics...

To incorporate drones in our lives in a good and safe way, we need anti-drone instruments. On 4 December the TU Delft Micro Air Vehicle Lab (MAVLab) will therefore host the first ever anti-drone competition DroneClash. During this competition participants use their own drone(s) to take down as many other drones as possible. They also need to avoid a whole series of anti-drone interventions. Teams who wish to take part in the competition can enter here.

Making selfies with your phone is all the rage, and people often use selfie sticks to take selfies from a certain distance away. With the AirSelfie you don’t need a selfie stick, because it is a mini drone with a built-in camera that can take pictures from any distance, as well as pictures of the surrounding area

Drones were something of a novelty when they first appeared in our skies but now with their increasing levels of sophistication they can represent a serious threat to our privacy and even to commercial airspace...

Flying a drone is fun, but building one is rewarding, and it isn't just for hardware nerds and drone racers anymore. The new Flybrix kit, designed by a bunch of MIT, Caltech, and UW Madison alumni, lets anyone get in on the fun of designing and building a multi-prop flier by using Lego as the foundation.

Imagine a drone with eight motors and fitted with a chair. That is a succinct description of what a Swedish designer has published on his YouTube channel. Eight gasoline engines are attached to a light-weight frame onto which is mounted a light-weight chair with seat belts. He hasn't dared flying higher than 5 meters, since the control is rather difficult. That is because the motors don't react as quickly as electric motors and that makes fine control very awkward, witnessing the various crashes that the vehicle has already experienced.

As an application of drones, one often hears of reconnaissance missions in inaccessible locations. But there is much progress to be made to avoid these vehicles getting stuck there if the pilot in control loses contact. To give them a good autonomy and increase their chances of surviving intact, the drones have to have good vision, without using much computing power, so as not to compromise their miniaturisation.

Researchers at Harvard University (USA) have developed flying microrobots that can land to save energy, just like real insects. These miniature flying robots go by the name “RoboBees.”

The FAA has commissioned the Pathfinder Programme to evaluate technologies for detection and identification of unauthorized UAV or drone flights near airports. As part of this programme, the FAA has selected AUDS (anti UAV defense system) from Blighter Surveillance Systems, Chess Dynamics and Enterprise Control Systems.

Real men fly drones that produce, ermm, a droning sound, not whizzing. The M600 from DJI (officially: Matrice 600) is a heavy lifter and easily does 1080p / 60 fps video downlinking over a distance of up to three miles.