Weekend Roundup: August 7, 2020

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This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Navy have signed a new agreement to jointly expand the development and operations of unmanned maritime systems in the nation’s coastal and world’s ocean waters. Through the agreement, NOAA will accelerate its science, service and stewardship mission by leveraging the Navy’s expertise, infrastructure, best practices and training. (NOAA)

In an effort to accelerate the development of the United Kingdom’s unmanned traffic management (UTM) framework, Wing Aviation has joined forces with the UK Department for Transport. Wing will participate in this project through an open competition based on its global experience in supporting and enveloping UTM frameworks with the U.S., Europe and Australia. (DroneDJ)

University of New Hampshire researchers have concluded that when assessing forest imagery collected by UAS, an alternative method of delineating individual forest tree crowns within those images is more accurate than the canopy height model, which is the most commonly used method. Mapping and monitoring forests is a key component of managing natural resources, making this research especially important to New Hampshire landowners and forest managers. (Fosters.com)

Baidu has announced that its Apollo Computing Unit (ACU) is ready to be used on the streets. The company has billed ACU as the “world’s first production-ready” autonomous driving computer. (Engadget)

The city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada has outfitted all of its traffic lights with dedicated short-range communications equipment that will allow for autonomous vehicles to be tested on city streets. Designed by Miovision Solutions in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and Danlaw Inc. in Michigan, the hardware and software will allow for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. (Stratford Beacon Herald)

In Nebraska, the Omaha Public Power District is using drones to conduct inspections. The drones will take high resolution color images and video to look for potential problems. (Washington County Pilot-Tribune & Enterprise)

With assistance from its sales agent Air Canada and the Pontiac Group, Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has entered into a commercial agreement with the Georgina Island First Nation (GIFN) to deploy its drone delivery platform to provide service to the GIFN community in Ontario. Using the Sparrow drone and its DroneSpot takeoff and landing zones, DDC will enable a defined two-way delivery flight route from/to GIFN mainland to/from Georgina Island. (Drone Delivery Canada)