Category Archives: Aerial/UAS
Collaboration in the Air and on the Ground: Skymatics, Ltd.
Two different firms–one UAS and one land surveying–partner to increase the values of both companies. xyHt’s Jeff Salmon interviewed the co-founders of the Alberta, Canadian firm Skymatics, Ltd.–EJ Burrows, CEO, and Dr. Cassidy Rankine, CTO–about their partnership with Element Land Surveys. xyHt: I understand Skymatics started in Bermuda in 2011 and has since expanded into...
UAV Fly-off
Colorado businesses and non-profits teamed to evaluate UAV technology and to network at this fun event. This spring, a cooperative effort between civil engineering firm CH2M, Juniper Unmanned, the Boy Scouts of America, and local UAS businesses yielded a fun-filled fly-off and network event southeast of Denver, Colorado. Ground Work and Ground Control Alexander Mahrou...
Your sUAS Un-checklist
We’re all familiar with the concept of checklists: handy organizational tools for getting things done. As business persons, you should also be familiar with the concept of “barriers to entry”: the greater the obstacles, the more difficult it is for a business to enter a market, and vice versa. And unless you’ve beaten Elon Musk...
Shark Week at Pangaea
With Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” taking a big bite (sorry couldn’t help it!) out of my 4th of July weekend, my thoughts naturally turned to unmanned systems. Well, actually, thoughts on how unmanned systems are being used to study sharks with an eye to protecting both them and humans. Let’s start with that last application,...
InSAR
How can you monitor broad-area land deformation with high precision? Why, from space, of course. Is it possible for satellites to accurately monitor the motion of landscapes with millimeter levels of precision? What about over wide areas while being frequently updated? If you scoffed in response to either of these questions, you might be surprised....
Space Engineering in Training
Above: Morgan Ré aided engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center as they prepared for a series of nine drop tests of an Orion crew capsule model. Credit: NASA Think young people aren’t getting enough hands-on experience with geospatial looks and skills? Check out this high-schooler. Last summer, NASA dropped three small airplanes from 100 feet in...
