Drone News Roundup: Sony Airpeak Used to Light Extreme Sports at Night, How to Use 360 Cameras on Drones, and More!

This week we’re covering a video from Sony showcasing how its Airpeak drone can be used to light up nighttime shots, with a variety of extreme sports used as the subjects.

We’re also covering a tutorial on how to use 360 cameras on drones from Insta360, a new agricultural drone sensor that lets you analyze both water and land vegetation with the DJI M300, a story about AI taking matters into its own hands and “killing” its pilot during a drone simulation, and the FAA’s combined Drone Symposium and AAM Summit this summer.

Now let’s get to those links!

Light the Night—Extreme Sports Lit by Drones

Using drones as a light source isn’t a new idea, but it’s certainly a fun one. Check out this high energy video made by Craig Coker for Sony, showcasing how its Airpeak drone can be used to light up action shots at night. The video features shots taken at night of high octane dune buggies driving in the desert, skiing, and surfing. For more on how creators are using drones as a light source in inventive new ways, check out this article from last week highlighting the work of drone artist Jadikan.

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How Do You Use a 360 Camera on a Drone? Here Are 5 Ways

360 cameras sound really cool—but how do you actually use them? Insta360 covers five different shots you can get by attaching a 360 camera to your drone in this new tutorial, including the flip shot, in which it seems like the drone flips over to track a subject (but doesn’t) and tiny planet, which is exactly what it sounds like. Watch the video to see all five shots, and learn how to do them.

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New Ag Drone Sensor Can Identify Vegetation on Water and Land

AgEagle recently launched a new drone sensor module called RedEdge-P dual for agricultural applications. It combines AgEagle’s multispectral and RGB sensors into a single module, allowing for vegetation analysis by drone in bodies of water and on land. The sensor made for water vegetation analysis that comes with the module is the first of its kind on the market. The module is the latest addition to AgEagel’s MicaSense series. It is compatible with the DJI Matrice 300.

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AI Kills Pilot on Its Own Side During Simulation

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In the movie Terminator humans are at war with AI-powered machines that decided they should take over. A recent simulation conducted by the US Air Force found that this possible future could be real if AI isn’t given guardrails. In the simulation, a drone piloted by AI was tasked with attacking and neutralizing an enemy target, and countering any obstacles along the way. When the human pilot in charge of the mission told the AI to pause before carrying out its attack, the AI quickly pivoted and “killed” the pilot, since it was getting in its way. This story was recounted recently by Colonel Tucker Hamilton at the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit, which took place in London. Hamilton leads AI testing and operations for the US Air Force. (The US Air Force denies this event took place.)

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Combined FAA Drone Symposium and AAM Summit Planned for This August

This summer the FAA and AUVSI will be co-hosting the first ever Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Summit. The Summit will take place at the same time as the FAA’s annual Drone Symposium, which is in its eighth year. The AAM Summit is called “Leveraging the Skies” and it will focus on how air taxis and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft will change the future of aviation. The Drone Symposium’s theme this year is “Time to Accelerate” and it will  focus on how the FAA continues to safely integrate drones while creating a regulatory framework to accelerate advanced operations, such as beyond visual line of sight and UAS Traffic Management (UTM). The two events will take place from August 1-3 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland.

Here are links to learn more about each event:

• AAM Summit
• FAA Drone Symposium

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