April, 2019 - ARPAS UK

SAM IS ....

Drone owners to be charged annual fee under new proposals

Every drone and model aircraft owner in the UK could be charged £16.50 a year under plans by the aviation regulator.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is consulting on introducing a licence fee to cover the costs of operating the new drone registration scheme.

From November, drone owners would have to register their details on a database and drone flyers would complete a free online safety test.

But a drone membership organisation claimed the charge was “far too high”.

The plans would affect anyone who owns a drone that weighs more than 250 grams (8oz).

Only those aged 18 would be able to register as the official drone owner. There would be no fee for “remote pilots” – those who fly the drones but are not registered owners.

The CAA has launched a consultation on the proposals, with a final decision expected by the regulator in July.

The number of drone users in the UK is unknown, but the CAA estimates 170,000 people will register.

New EU rules will mean each member state will have to hold a national register of drone users from next year.

A similar registration scheme in France is free, in the US costs $5 (£3.84) and in Ireland costs €5 (£4.31). But the CAA says these schemes are part, or wholly, subsidised by the taxpayer.

The government has provided funding for the development costs of the new drone registration scheme, but the CAA said it would have to recover the expense of running, maintaining and updating it.

The regulator said it was keeping the charge “as low as possible” and that it may increase or decrease in future years, depending on the number who register.

But the FPV UK Association, which represents 4,000 flyers, said it “strongly opposes” the charge, which it said was “far too high”.

“Criminals aren’t going to register, so the safe and compliant people are the ones listed on the database,” the group’s chief executive, Simon Dale, said.

He added that the group would be calling on members to write to their MPs, the aviation minister and the CAA to oppose the plans.

‘Fee will deter people’

Carys Kaiser, a photographer from the Peak District who runs the Drone Lass blog, said the fee risked discouraging people from taking up the hobby.

“From a female perspective and an education point of view, drones are a brilliant tool for getting young women, girls and boys into STEM subjects,” she said.

She welcomed the idea of a registration scheme, but said the CAA should focus on providing better guidance for drone operators.

She said: “The drone industry as a whole has always said that we need a registration process and an education programme that says ‘this is where you can fly’.

“{But} when you read the rules online it’s difficult to interpret.”

Drone enthusiast Paul Jaggers, from Twickenham in west London, believes the cost of the licence is “extremely overpriced”.

The 33-year-old, who runs a club in which members race around an indoor course, said the cost could put people off flying drones.

“If anything this fee will deter people. I think they are trying to make it not so popular because of the commercial opportunities.

“That air space is so valuable for the commercial drones, whether that’s delivery, agriculture, or security, and it will be important for policing and any of the emergency services.

“By charging unjustifiable pricing they’re trying to suppress it because otherwise it’ll be chaos.”

But Gemma Alcock, whose company SkyBound Rescuer advises emergency services on how they can best use drones for search and rescue operations and other forms of emergency response, welcomed the CAA’s proposals.

“I think operator registration is vital for accountability, to hopefully deter drone operators from misuse.

“I understand and appreciate that in order for the CAA to develop and maintain this registration service, a fee from operators is needed and £16.50 is – in my eyes – a reasonable amount. I think it’s a positive step forward.”

Under the CAA’s plans, a single owner would be able to register multiple drones.

Four of the largest drone associations, which represent 40,000 users between them, are understood to be exploring whether they are able to act as the registered operator for all of their members’ drones and model aircraft.

The FPV UK Association says the move could help prevent people from the quitting the hobby.

“This would seem to meet the government’s requirements and it would give the advantage of increasing the number of insured flyers, too, as all of our members are covered under our public liability insurance,” the group said.

How other licence fees compare

Fishing licence: £30 (trout and coarse) to £82 (salmon and sea trout) per annum
Driving licence: 10-year renewal charge, £14 (first provisional licence, £34)
Passport: £75.50 every 10 years
Light aircraft pilot licence initial issue: £161
Shotgun licence: Five-year renewal charge £49 (grant payment, £80)
Other firearms licence: Grant payment £88 and five-year renewal charge of £62

The Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (Arpas UK), which represents the drone industry, welcomed the online safety tests for flyers and said it would consult members before responding to the proposals.

The proposals do not affect the CAA’s existing charges for commercial operation permits.

A public consultation on the proposals closes on 7 June.

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Search and Rescue Drone Trial announced in Essex

For the next 12 months, a new drone trial is taking flight to support vital search and rescue action around the coast of Essex, thanks to a partnership between Essex Police, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Credit Essex Police

The year-long trial, which starts today 29 April, 2019 will provide HM Coastguard Rescue Teams with more eyes in the sky to assist with search and rescue operations around the county’s coastline, supporting the vital work of their teams and the RNLI.

From helping to search for casualties in hazardous locations and directing HM Coastguard and RNLI lifeboat crews to their locations to enable emergency services to risk assess situations before deploying rescue personnel to the scene, Essex Police’s Drone Unit will provide a range of operational benefits to the search and rescue teams.

At the end of the year-long pilot the impact that drones have had on coastal search and rescue activity in the region will be assessed, and that information will help inform the MCA and RNLI’s ongoing work to explore the role that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can play in future search and rescue activity.

HM Coastguard Teams from Walton, Clacton, Mersea Island, South Woodham Ferrers, Southend and Canvey Island will be taking part in the trial, supported by a range of inshore and all-weather lifeboats and hovercraft strategically located at six RNLI lifeboat stations along that stretch of the Essex coastline.

Credit Essex Police

Phil Hanson, Aviation Technical Assurance Manager at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency said the MCA was proud to be a partner and support the evolution of drones in UK search and rescue.

‘Thanks to the Essex Police Drone Unit, we are able to trial this innovative technology to help rescuers on the front line with more accurate aerial vision, conduct searches in hard to reach or hazardous areas, assist with night time thermal imagery searches and relaying messages from rescuers to casualties. This will allow rescuers to make more informed decisions and ultimately help make the coast safer – particularly as the busy season is now almost upon us.

‘One thing, we need to stress is that the drones will not replace our Coastguard helicopters, Coastguard Rescue Teams, RNLI or independent lifeboats. However, it is entirely possible that they could be an additional tool to use in search and rescue and enhance our existing capabilities.’

Essex Police Drone Manager and ex-ARPAS-UK Chairman, Perran Bonner added: ‘We are delighted to be supporting the invaluable work of the MCA and RNLI in keeping our county’s coastlines safe.

‘Our drone team will be available to assist both organisations in their endeavours, whether this is by providing a live view of the county’s coast, investigating suspicious behaviour, responding to welfare concerns or searching for a missing person.

‘The technology available to us and the expertise of our officers mean that we can provide accurate and up-to-date information to the relevant people, ensuring that a quick and appropriate response can be taken, that Essex residents and visitors are kept safe and anyone using our coastline to commit crime are brought to justice.’

Will Roberts, Senior Innovation Manager at the RNLI, said: ‘The increased situational awareness that drones provide could play a significant role in helping us locate casualties as quickly as possible. When lives are at risk, the speed at which our crews can locate and reach a casualty is vital.’

Credit Essex Police

‘The increased situational awareness that drones provide could play a significant role in helping us locate casualties as quickly as possible. When lives are at risk, the speed at which our crews can locate and reach a casualty is vital. Being able to see the impact that drones can have in helping our lifeboat crews search and then reach casualties through this pilot will be extremely useful.
‘As well as helping our lifesavers to search and locate casualties, working with Essex Police’s Drone Unit will also allow potentially dangerous scenes to be risk assessed before our volunteer lifeboat crews are deployed to the scene.’

Posted 29/4/2019 by HM Coastguard

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World’s largest medical drone delivery network takes flight in Ghana

The largest drone delivery network in the world has been launched in Ghana, which experts say will save lives and transform the developing nation’s healthcare sector.

The drone network is set to deliver blood, essential medicines and vaccinations across the middle-income, West African country.

Speaking about the official launch of the service on April 24, Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said it was part of a drive to ensure universal access to lifesaving medicine in Ghana.

“No one in Ghana should die because they can’t access the medicine they need in an emergency,” he said. “We must do everything within our means to ensure that each and every citizen of Ghana has access to the quality healthcare they deserve.”

The drone service is designed, installed and operated by US-based Zipline International Inc in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, a public agency under the control of the Minister for Health.

The drone has the ability to deliver life-saving blood and medicine to healthcare facilities within an 80km radius. CREDIT: ZIPLINE

Zipline launched in Rwanda in 2016 to deliver blood to hard-to-reach communities. Since then the drones have helped to ensure hospitals in Rwanda always have access to blood products, increasing the use of rare and specialised blood products by 175 per cent and reducing waste and spoilage by over 95 per cent.

Zipline’s head of communications, Justin Hamilton, said the service was about overcoming “last mile delivery problems” − an issue for both developed and developing nations.

“The further outside the major city you get, the more difficult it is for you to access the blood, medicine and care you need to stay healthy and alive.”

Initially, the service will operate from Omenako in Ghana’s Eastern Region, about 70km north of the capital Accra. The centre is home to the drones as well as the blood and medicines they will send out.

By the end of the year, Ghana should have an additional three centres operating through the country, meaning 12 million people will be covered by the service. Each centre will be equipped with 30 drones capable of delivering 150 different types of medical products to over 2,000 health facilities.

As has been the case in Rwanda, healthcare workers in Ghana will be able to place an order to a Zipline centre, to be delivered by drones at a speed of about 100km an hour, within 30 minutes on average.

The drone does not land when delivering its goods, instead, it releases the package to drop down with a parachute while the drone then returns to the centre. The drones can do a return trip of about 160 kilometres, over remote mountains, rivers, and washed-out roads in all weather conditions.

Elizabeth Cobbinah at the Omenako centre is part of the team responsible for filling the orders.

In a temperate controlled room, she watches screens for orders coming in. The medicines sit on shelves in the room and the blood products in refrigerators.

When a request comes in she will type it into the system, another officer will pack the requested products into an insulated red box, all the while sending updates to the facility which had requested it. It will then be handed over to a flight operator who will put the drone’s body, battery and wings together, then send it on its way, zipping off the launcher.

The centre is at a vantage point as it can serve hard-to-reach rural areas, where it can take about two hours to reach by road, Miss Cobbinah said.

“In the case of an emergency, every minute counts. Zipline being here will be able to deliver to them in 15 to 45 minutes to save lives.”

Medical staff at the New Tafo Government Hospital in Ghana’s Eastern Region check an order of vaccinations received from a Zipline drone. Credit: Stacey Knott

Ahead of the official launch on April 24, the drones had been on test runs, delivering to a government hospital about 45 minutes by road from the Omenako centre, but 12 minutes by drone.

Between the centre and the hospital are farmlands, small townships of concrete homes and corrugated iron roofs and people selling foodstuffs from wooden shacks along narrow, dusty roads.

Sandra Kissi a nurse at the New Tafo Government Hospital watched as the drone-delivered vaccines to the hospital. She has high hopes for the service.

“It makes work easier because if you need something in an emergency you get it as soon as you want it – it’s in your hands.”

Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, said the contract with Zipline is worth 12.5 million USD over four years – but the government are working to source external funding to pay for it, including from corporate bodies and developmental partners.

The drones would complement other health sector investments Ghana was making – including increasing its ambulance fleet, which will also be able to use the service – Dr Nsiah-Asare added.

“If there is a mass casualty or mass epidemic somewhere and the ambulance is going there, we can drop the essential medicines we need to start treatment to the ambulance, or the accident site or emergency site,” he explained.

Aside from emergency deliveries, the drones will help fill the gaps between regular bulk delivery of medicines through Ghana’s communities, so if a community needs a certain medicine and runs out before its regular deliveries they can order it using the drones.

Zipline’s expansion reflects the growing use of drone technologies across Africa in recent years. This week UK aid announced plans to increase drones usage during humanitarian crises to help quickly search for survivors, map areas at risk of disease and help direct the delivery of aid.

“Through our partnership with Gavi, UK aid is helping Ghana to launch the world’s largest drone delivery service providing life-saving vaccines to millions of children and giving them access to the essential healthcare they deserve,” said Penny Mordaunt, International Development Secretary.

“Immunisation is a crucial part of all our lives and no child should suffer at the hands of a vaccine-preventable disease. This cutting edge technology will make sure vital medical supplies reach those who need it most,” she added.

The UN has also been using surveillance drones for peacekeeping operations across Africa where drones provide real-time pictures of situations as they develop. While also in Ghana, a private company has been flying agriculture drones in farms offering precise crop spraying, covering in 15 minutes the same ground that usually takes five workers an hour.

But its not only developing nations where drones are being deployed. Zipline said it was also planning to launch in North Carolina in the US this year.

“The expertise and the learnings captured here in Ghana will eventually be leveraged in building out the capacities of future countries, so Ghana is really shining a pathway forward for the rest of the world.”

By Stacey Knott for The Daily Telegraph

24 APRIL 2019 • 5:24PM

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Priorities for the UK Aviation Strategy – infrastructure, regulation and connectivity

ARPAS-UK has responded to the questions set out in Appendix A of the Aviation 2050 Consultation and will be attending this seminar to engage further with key stakeholders, noting that with the exception of NESTA, there are no other drone companies registered to attend.

ARPAS-UK engages with the UK Government and the Civil Aviation Authority to achieve parity with other air users, protect the drone industry and support it as it grows. We do this in a responsible manner, engaging in the appropriate forums.

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This conference focuses on priorities for the UK aviation sector and will take place on April 30th 2019.

It will bring together stakeholders with policymakers as the Government is due to be finalising its aviation strategy white paper, following the publication of the Aviation 2050 consultation and green paper.

Delegates will assess the infrastructure challenges for growing the sector – in light of the Government’s Airports National Policy Statement, which outlines the preference for a third runway at Heathrow.

Sessions will also examine the priorities for improving airport accessibility following the latest CAA annual airport accessibility report, which outlined improvements made by UK airports over the previous twelve month period, as well as concerns that airlines have not put guidelines for funding assistance services at airports in place.

They will also consider what is needed to support regional airports, including potential opportunities for increasing regional flights, as well as improving surface transport connections to airports across the UK. Discussion also follows further government proposals on the opportunities for utilising spare capacity and existing runways across the UK, provided that growth does not lead to carbon emissions exceeding UK climate change commitments.

Attendees will examine the future of airspace management – including the next steps for innovation and collaboration between operators and airports, as well as the priorities for adapting to new technologies such as drones, particularly following the recent disruptions at UK airports.

Further sessions will look at options for tackling the challenges facing industry in opening new competitive markets for passenger services and freight, and the role of enablers for developing further opportunities.

Discussion is also expected on the environmental challenges and concerns associated with increased airport growth and potential new routes, such as air quality, carbon emissions and noise pollution.

SAM IS ....

Informal Northern Members Meeting

An informal meeting for ARPAS-UK members has been arranged for 17th May.

For more details, if you aren’t a member, please contact membership@arpas.uk

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Peel pilot project tests drone delivery of defibrillators to help cardiac arrest victims

Despite improvements in CPR quality, drug administration and airway management, cardiac arrest survival in most communities is “abysmal,” according to Dr. Sheldon Cheskes, medical director at the Sunnybrook Centre for prehospital medicine.

Paramedic Services, along with Drone Delivery Canada, will take part in a series of test flights in Caledon, with drones carrying An an Automated External Defibrillator trvelling from paramedic station to predetermined destinations. (DRONE DELIVERY CANADA)

Early use of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) and bystanders performing CPR have significantly improved outcomes, Cheskes added.

However, 85 per cent of cardiac arrests happen in the home and cardiac arrests that occur in public places only have an AED applied 15 to 20 per cent of the time, Cheskes said.

Peel Health statistics indicate there are three to four cardiac arrests in the region every day. During cardiac arrest, for each minute that passes between the time a person collapses and defibrillation in applied survival rates decrease seven to 10 per cent.

“In 25 years, this is the most innovative thing we’ve come up with,” Cheskes said at a recent meeting of regional council.

Cheskes is the lead researcher on Improving Outcomes from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: The Community Responder AED Drone Program. It involves the University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital and the Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, a group of resuscitation researchers and emergency medical services partners.

For the pilot project, about 150 volunteers will be recruited, screened and trained on using an AED and connected to the FirstAED mobile app, that will be used by the central ambulance communications centre to link test calls to the nearest volunteer.

The FirstAED mobile app will alert volunteer community CPR responders to someone who needs CPR, said Cheskes. The app will provide instructions and directions to the cardiac arrest victim.

The AED will be delivered by a drone, which can travel 125 km/h. Cheskes said a recent study found drones are able deliver an AEDs ahead of median 911 response times and up to 10 minutes in rural areas.

“Canada is a leader in drone technology,” Cheskes said. “It’s really an innovative approach.”

Paramedic Services, along with Drone Delivery Canada, will take part in a series of test flights in Caledon, with drones travelling from paramedic station to predetermined destinations, according to a report from Nancy Polsinelli, the region’s commissioner of health services.

Test flights will include a recorded mock scenario of cardiac arrest that involves delivering a drone to a potential AED volunteer, the report added.

Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson called the technology “really important” and could be “extremely useful” helping people who experience cardiac arrest hiking on the Trans Canada Trail and other areas of the Niagara Escarpment where there are no roads for ambulance services.

By Marta Marychuk Mississauga News

Tues., April 2, 2019

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Drone helps Greater Manchester get faster broadband speeds

In the UK drones are helping engineers to run cables over obstacles that previously would have required a different more cumbersome or risky solution.

Engineers are bringing some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK to Greater Manchester and they have drafted in a drone to help them to fly a broadband cable across a stretch of water.

The team from Openreach is currently working in Swinton, as part of the multi-million pound Fibre First programme, bringing reliable, ultrafast broadband to tens of thousands of homes and businesses across the city.

Much of the work uses existing infrastructure but as part of building the network from the Swinton exchange to reach a group of around 15 properties close to Worsley, it was decided that an engineering first was needed – the use of a specialist drone.

In the past we’ve tried all sorts of ways to cross waterways like this – including attaching cables to fishing lines, golf balls and even hammers, which frankly proved hit and miss

Brian Mellor, Openreach’s chief engineer in the local area, said: “Our work in Manchester is progressing really well as we extend our ultrafast network even further. We’re always looking for smarter ways of operating, to enable us to work quicker and in a more cost-effective way, as well as keeping disruption to local life to an absolute minimum. The challenge here was getting the cable across around 30 metres of canal, rather than choosing the conventional route that would have involved laying underground fibre cable over a far greater distance.

“In the past we’ve tried all sorts of ways to cross waterways like this – including attaching cables to fishing lines, golf balls and even hammers, which frankly proved hit and miss.

This is the first time we’ve used a drone to drop fibre into place anywhere in England, and as a delivery method it’s unbeatable

“This is the first time we’ve used a drone to drop fibre into place anywhere in England, and as a delivery method it’s unbeatable. Our engineers drew quite a crowd when they were working, with people fascinated at how we were using this method to build our network. It’s no surprise that drones are fast becoming part of our toolkit to reach places like this or in more rural areas where the terrain makes traditional engineering difficult or impossible.”

Engineers complete a week’s training to become certified by the Civil Aviation Authority in order to fly the drone for commercial purposes, and Openreach has five teams in the UK now approved to fly bespoke drones.

Before taking the Manchester fibre rollout into the skies, Openreach had to notify and seek permission from a number of local organisations, including Manchester Airport.

Earlier this year, the city was announced as one of the first places in the UK to benefit from a multi-million investment in ultrafast speeds by Openreach.

As well as adding even more reliability and resilience to broadband connections and making them less likely to drop out, Full Fibre is capable of delivering download speeds of up to one gigabit per second (1Gbps) – enough bandwidth to stream 200 HD Netflix movies simultaneously.

Matthew Hemmings, Openreach’s director for fibre delivery in the North of England, added: “Our engineers love nothing more than a challenge and our Fibre First rollout in Manchester has provided us with a great opportunity to test our skills. We’re constantly working on new techniques and technologies to help us take fibre broadband further and faster, and, importantly, to drive down our costs, which helps us go even further.

“This may be one of the quirkier uses for a drone, but innovations like this means we can now deliver high-speed broadband in situations where traditionally it would have been a more time-consuming job.”

Ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband provides even greater capacity for multiple fixed and mobile devices and things like on-demand video, Virtual Reality gaming and smart home apps. The fibre connection will future proof homes and businesses for decades to come and ensure that Greater Manchester remains competitive on the national and world stage.

The work is a further boost for the region, which earlier this year heard it would benefit from Openreach’s unprecedented recruitment drive: more than 280 new trainee engineers are being employed across the North West, including around 80 in Greater Manchester, to help deliver ultrafast broadband.

According to the independent website thinkbroadband.com, more than 95 per cent of Manchester homes and businesses already have access to superfast broadband speeds of 24Mbps and above.

Find out more about Openreach’s Fibre First programme at openreach.co.uk/fibrefirst

About Openreach

Openreach is Britain’s digital network business. 30,400 people who connect homes, mobile phone masts, schools, shops, banks, hospitals, libraries, broadcasters, governments and businesses – large and small – to the world. Mission is to build the best possible network, with the highest quality service, making sure that everyone in Britain can be connected. Working on behalf of more than 600 communications providers like SKY, TalkTalk, Vodafone, and BT, and our fibre broadband network is the biggest in the UK, passing more than 27 million premises. A platform for Britain’s thriving digital economy, which is the largest in the G20.

Openreach are working hard to give people the speeds they need to run and enjoy their daily lives. Over the last decade they have invested more than £11 billion into the network and they now manage more than 160 million kilometres of cable stretching from Scotland to Cornwall, from Wales to east coast England. They are continuing to take that network further – making superfast broadband speeds available to thousands more homes and businesses every week.

Openreach is a wholly owned and independently governed division of the BT Group, and it is a highly regulated business, with more than 90 per cent of our revenues generated from services that are regulated by Ofcom and any company can access products under the same prices, terms and conditions. For the year ended 31 March 2018, they reported revenues of £5.1bn.

For more information visit openreach.co.uk

In 2018 Openreach used a small quadcopter drone to perform a similar cable deployment operation in Scotland, you can read about that here: Drone Connects Broadband by Flying Cable over a River in Scotland.

Permalink: http://dronesuavuas.com/drone-helps-greater-manchester-get-faster-broadband-speeds/

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Students and industry collaborate to identify novel tactics in controlling unmanned air vehicles

BAE Systems has sponsored a cross-university competition bringing together four teams of university students in a game of offence and defence.

The teams from Cranfield University, The University of Manchester and University of Strathclyde were challenged to develop the most effective solution to take control over unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in the event of a swarm attack.

The scenario was developed to protect urban spaces, airfields and airport from real and emerging threats from UAV’s. Increasingly capable UAV’s are becoming more affordable and easy to source, so there is a need to counter these systems in a robust and affordable manner using innovative solutions. Attacks could cause catastrophic damage to aircraft and infrastructure.

Professor Nick Colosimo, Principal Technologist at BAE Systems, said: “With autonomy and AI being a vital part of what we do, this challenge offered the perfect blend of exploring the art of the possible whilst testing the student’s abilities in this important field. In essence, we need to understand what swarming means as a threat and to very carefully consider where it might have appropriate uses.”

The event, held last week, highlighted the importance of using technology and applying innovative thinking in this type of scenario.

The students had to use a combination of technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation, together with innovative thinking and close cooperation between UAVs to be in with a chance of winning an award. They had the opportunity to showcase their strategies in action as the four teams competed against each other in a round robin tournament.

Cranfield University is one of BAE Systems’ strategic university partners. Collaboration with universities is vital for BAE Systems in developing future technologies and also supporting the next generation of engineers by using topical and engaging projects to create excitement around engineering.

Professor Antonios Tsourdos, Head of the Centre for Autonomous and Cyber-Physical Systems at Cranfield University, said: “Cranfield University and BAE Systems have a long-term relationship having worked closely together on many research projects.

“The BAE Systems Swarm event is a great way of utilising the fact that we are one of few universities to have our own airport to provide students with the means to demonstrate some of the innovative ideas which might be applied to solve real-life challenges.”

Philip Ghayour

–

April 8, 2019

for Business Lancashire

SAM IS ....

Spies in the sky help councils catch fly-tippers in the act

Eighteen local authorities are using drones to combat illegal dumping, enforce building regulations and help emergency services during incidents.

The move by councils to buy and hire the flying devices comes after an anti-dumping initiative, launched by the government in 2017. Councils using drones include Carlow, Cavan, Donegal, Dublin city, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Galway, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Limerick, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, South Dublin, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

Limerick and Leitrim own the most drones — they have four each. Leitrim also uses a fixed-wing drone, which cost nearly €25,000 and can fly for longer and travel faster than a multi-rotor drone.

Denis Tierney, a spokesman for Limerick city and county council, said drones had helped to combat illegal dumping. “You can cover a large area in a short time,” he said. “The areas where the drones are used would otherwise be difficult to access. The drones also allow for improved safety of staff as they now don’t have to enter risky areas.

by Sean Pollock

February 17 2019, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

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Network Rail builds on framework to increase drone coverage

Network Rail is preparing to expand its existing framework of drone companies it has at its disposal to increase its aerial operations coverage nationwide.

Speaking exclusively to Commercial Drone Professional, Rikke Carmichael, head of air operations and Paul Lindup, project manager in specialist aerial services, described how the implementation of the new framework is imminent.

Lindup confirmed: “The new framework is on the cards at the moment and should be going live in the next few weeks to then progress and increase the size of that coverage of companies.”

Giving an insight into how drones are used within the firm, he continued: “Also, inside of that, we have in-house drone operation and that has been under a trial header really for the last two years.

“That started around December 2017 and has only just come to the end of the trial just recently. That was set up to train up and equip Network Rail employees to see what they can do within the company using their own expertise and experience within their day jobs.”

Drones at Network Rail were starting to be used around four or five years ago as the team explored what they could get out of aerial operations in addition to the use of a helicopter.

The framework was then set up just over four years ago to provide them with specialist aerial survey work by drone across the country, by specialist companies.

Four companies that came on the first framework have continued to run more or less the same until now when the team is looking to expand.

Commenting on when and how the framework is used as opposed to the in-house team, Lindup added: “All the specialist survey work by drone has been outsourced to the framework. It’s then only the smaller projects which are less complicated that have been trialled by in-house drones.”

“It [the in-house work] has been going very well but it is not going to replace the framework, it is there to supplement the Framework and work alongside it.”

Most of the work carried out by drones within Network Rail is done assess and inspect equipment in ‘preventative work’ as a means of identifying and dealing with a problem before it becomes one that slows down or even stops operations.

In order to acquire new companies for the framework, Network Rail put the applicants through a process to ensure they can represent the company in the right way.

Lindup explains: “It is through a fair tender process. So, for the current Framework, or the new framework that will go live in the next few weeks we have actually gone through a twelve month process to find the right company to come and work with us.”

“That was an open tender process where they have all applied for it and we’ve basically, or are still in the process of, marking these companies to ensure they fulfil all of the requirements that we need. So it’s not locally, what we’ve got a Framework that will cover the nation for the whole country, and that is managed through ourselves at air operations.”

by Alex Douglas

Commercial Drone Professional

1/4/2019