drone Archives

Cargo Drone Takes First Flight

Posted on 25 May, 2023 by Keith McKinley

Dronamics, the world’s first cargo drone airline, has announced the successful completion of the first flight of its flagship aircraft, the Black Swan, at Balchik airport in Bulgaria, demonstrating the potential for the logistics industry to enhance efficiency in the transportation of products.

Born out of two brothers’ desire to find a quicker, greener and more affordable way to deliver goods, Dronamics says it is on a mission to enable same day delivery for everyone, everywhere. This significant milestone is the culmination of months of ground testing and subscale flights. The Black Swan aircraft was remotely piloted by two commercial airline pilots from the Dronamics ground control station.

The successful flight test validates the company’s licensed cargo drone technology for commercial flights in Europe, set to begin later this year, serving industries such as e-commerce, pharma, spare parts, and perishables with a fast and cost-effective solution to meet evolving consumer needs.

“Since the day we first imagined what the Black Swan aircraft could look like, we’ve worked towards this flight. Today we’ve made history and are proud to have demonstrated the validity of our drone technology,” said Konstantin Rangelov, Co-Founder and CTO of Dronamics. ”It’s taken an enormous amount of hard work, belief and drive to prove that what we envisioned works. We can now focus on the next step, the roll-out of our commercial operations, and we couldn’t be more excited,” said Svilen Rangelov, Co-Founder and CEO of Dronamics.

Drone Services for Heavy Payloads

Posted on 30 January, 20237 August, 2025 by Keith McKinley

Leading drone operator, Skyports Drone Services, and electric, autonomous aircraft manufacturer, Pyka, have agreed on a partnership for heavy payload drone logistics. The collaboration will leverage Skyports Drone Services’ extensive operational experience and Pyka’s best-in-class heavy payload aircraft to provide game-changing drone delivery services.

The partnership will see Skyports Drone Services welcome the newly unveiled Pyka Pelican Cargo uncrewed aerial system (UAS) as the latest addition to its fleet. The large autonomous electric aircraft’s 175+ kg payload capacity and 1.85m3 cargo volume, significantly increases Skyports Drone Services’ payload capabilities and complements the existing lineup of UAS solutions currently utilised by the UK drone operator. Pyka’s Pelican Cargo will be deployed for a range of use cases and operations, including services for humanitarian aid, logistics and delivery companies, as well as healthcare and medical organisations.

A full flight programme with Pelican Cargo will begin in early Q2 in Cornwall, UK, and will include flights for the Future Flight Challenge phase three Open Skies Cornwall project, one of four UK Research & Innovation funded projects won by Skyports Drone Services in July 2022. The introduction of Pyka’s Pelican Cargo aircraft into the Skyports Drone Services fleet supports the company’s ambitions of implementing drone operations at scale. The substantial uplift in capacity strengthens the UK drone operator’s proposition and market position.

Alex Brown, Director, Skyports Drone Services, said: “Having a fully electric, autonomous, heavylift cargo drone in our fleet is a real gamechanger. To date, we’ve been focused on operations with smaller, high value payloads; the introduction of the Pelican Cargo brings new capabilities and means we can now fly significant volumes of cargo long distances, connecting communities in remote areas and providing a regular, robust form of transport in and out of hard-to-reach areas. Importantly, we’re doing this now – this isn’t future gazing, it’s a ready-to-go service.”

“Skyports Drone Services is one of the most sophisticated drone operators in the market and an ideal partner for the deployment of Pyka’s Pelican Cargo,” says Pyka Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Michael Norcia. “We are thrilled to be working with the team at Skyports to demonstrate the Pelican Cargo’s revolutionary capabilities and operating economics.”

Warehouse Inventory Drone Solution to Go Live Later This Year

Automated inventory tracking by drone

Posted on 2 August, 2022 by Keith McKinley

PFS, a premier e-Commerce order fulfilment provider and business unit of PFSweb, Inc., has formed a partnership with Vimaan, a technology provider delivering computer vision-enabled solutions for warehouse inventory tracking, control, and management.

Initially, PFS is integrating Vimaan’s StorTRACK AIR, the first-of-its-kind self-flying warehouse drones, to automate inventory tracking activities within one of PFS’s Memphis (US)-based fulfilment operation that stores and picks, packs, and ships inventory for premier brands. Scanning inventory from the ground to the ceiling, the robots capture up to 1,500 locations per hour and deliver highly accurate inventory status details to the PFS Warehouse Management System (WMS). The implementation of this solution will improve the accuracy and traceability of client product inventory across PFS’ fulfilment centres.

“With the rise in demand for multi-node fulfilment operations, it’s more critical than ever to track inventory more efficiently across our facilities,” noted Jon Gardner, Senior Vice President of Fulfilment Operations at PFS. “Vimaan’s technology allows us to implement real-time tracking against our WMS more accurately, efficiently, and safely. It also enables PFS to deploy immediate investigation and adjustments to improve accuracy and responsiveness for our clients. The implementation of this technology means another step forward for PFS’ efforts to drive innovation across our facilities in support of our clients’ e-Commerce operations.”

“We believe near real-time 100% inventory accuracy and visibility across the entire warehouse is attainable. PFS is not only ahead of the curve by being one of the first in the industry to utilise this ground-breaking technology, but they’re also a valuable partner to us as we continue to innovate our technology and solutions,” noted S.K. (“KG”) Ganapathi, Vimaan Founder and CEO. “We expect PFS to gain significant efficiencies during the cycle count/receiving and packing audit processes, resulting in the same significant savings other clients have seen using this technology.”

The technology is being initially deployed at a single location within PFS’ Memphis-based fulfilment campus with current plans to roll out to remaining global fulfilment centres through 2023.

“The deployment of this technology is another key step in our planned innovation roadmap,” commented Zach Thomann, COO and President of PFS. “We are continuously looking at additional methods to produce more efficient e-Commerce fulfilment operations, such as autonomous mobile robotics, goods-to-person systems and advanced scanning technology. We have opportunities to improve our inbound receiving, put-away, quality inspection and shipping processes by deploying these types of solutions and will continue to explore additional capabilities that will benefit our clients. Vimaan has been a great partner to help us achieve these objectives with technology and consultation.”

Potential solution for drone collision avoidance

Posted on 1 December, 2021 by Keith McKinley

Two leading developers of innovative drone technology, Germany-based HHLA Sky and US-based Iris Automation, have announced a partnership to increase safety when manned and unmanned aircraft share the same airspace.

By integrating their unique technologies, the companies are aiming to improve two of the most challenging current tasks in drone operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS): to remotely, globally and simultaneously control over 100 industrial drones from a centralised control centre while increasing local airspace safety by detecting and avoiding other unmanned or manned aircraft.

Merging HHLA Sky’s drone control centre software with Iris Automation’s ground-based aircraft detection technology Casia G opens up a whole new spectrum of use cases for industrial- and security-related drone operations worldwide. These include security surveillance tasks at ports, critical infrastructures, border control and oil and gas industry as well as (intra)logistics, surveying, and asset inspections.

HHLA Sky’s unique drone control centre was developed as the first end-to-end solution for large-scale, industrial and security drone operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). The innovative IoT platform connects, and controls unmanned systems. It allows complete management, monitoring, and reporting across all aspects and tasks of 100+ industrial drones simultaneously – from only one integrated control centre that can be operated globally.

Drones connected with this IoT platform can carry out a wide range of assignments: from perimeter security (e.g. transmitting real-time video feeds) and inspections at ports, plants, and industrial sites (e.g. structured and repeatable data collection), to delivery (e.g. ship-to-shore delivery), environmental monitoring and surveying grounds and buildings. The IoT platform has cyber security built into its core and offers broad analysis and auditing features.

Iris Automation’s innovative Casia G solution is an autonomous ground-based aircraft detection technology. The computer vision system monitors aviation environments to detect, classify and – if necessary – alert UAV pilots to crewed aircraft that pose a risk to drone operations. Using Casia G, remote pilots and their teams may react to otherwise undetectable non-cooperative aircraft (those without transponders or ADS-B and therefore not broadcasting their location). Networking Casia G nodes provide unlimited coverage to protect critical infrastructure, regardless of size.

Matthias Gronstedt, CEO of research and development at HHLA Sky, said: “As our customers’ drone operations grow, safety must scale with it. The ability of Casia G to detect non-cooperative air traffic and provide essential data to the HHLA Sky system, gives us the opportunity to add yet another crucial level of safety.

“This is an important development – both for us and our customers. We are looking forward to offering a truly innovative but affordable BVLOS solution on an industrial scale. Iris Automation’s regulatory expertise and work with bodies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also provides an important added value for us and our partnership.”

Jon Damush, CEO, Iris Automation, added: “One-to-many operations are a key enabler to realising the true economic potential of drones. Doing it safely is critical to sustainability of the ecosystem. Automatic traffic awareness supports safe, scalable, commercial operations the HHLA Sky system is designed to unlock.”

HHLA Sky and Iris Automation are planning to host a closed demonstration event to showcase the integration of both technologies in the spring of 2022. Interested parties may CLICK HERE to register for an invitation to this demo event.

DHL green-lights cargo drone deliveries

Posted on 20 October, 2021 by Keith McKinley

International express service provider DHL Express, and Pen Aviation, an industry-leading ecosystem provider for Unmanned Automated Solutions (UAS), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to commercialise time-critical goods deliveries with unmanned aerial vehicles, leveraging PEN UAS-based solutions. This initiative is in partnership with Raya Airways as the cargo drone operator.

DHL will participate in a Proof of Commercialisation (POC) by the end of 2021 to demonstrate the commercial viability of time-critical cargo drone delivery for port logistics missions, focusing on the maritime industry. The POC will undertake first- to last-mile port logistics missions jointly conducted by DHL, Pen Aviation, and Raya Airways. The POC will specifically demonstrate the cost and time optimisation of a fleet of drones to streamline port logistics, and distribution activities for goods at commercial ports. PEN55V, Pen Aviation’s medium-size cargo drone, will pick up and drop off packages weighing up to 12kg from the cargo ship deck to the port and vice versa, both in the day and at night.

“Cargo drones will be the next generation of transportation in logistics. This POC comes in the wake of the recent 12th Malaysian Plan announcement where the Government of Malaysia highlighted the importance of seamless connectivity and reliability in transport and logistics,” said Julian Neo, Managing Director, DHL Express Malaysia & Brunei. “The use of drone technology will enable us to reach rural communities especially in East Malaysia, where critical items such as vaccines, medicines, and medical devices are needed while allowing us to fulfil our purpose of Connecting People and Improving Lives.”

Under this agreement, DHL and Pen Aviation will work together to certify and utilise the PEN55V to move shipments to seaports over long distances. The long-term goal is to set up a mixed fleet of PEN55V and PEN1360V, Pen Aviation’s heavy-size cargo drones designed and manufactured in partnership with Cavok-UAS.

Jean-Bernard Boura, Managing Director and Founder of Pen Aviation, said: “We decided to tackle every single pain point that hinders unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based businesses today, starting with UAV designs that can meet aviation certification standards. But above and beyond the UAV design, we are excited to confront our overall ecosystem to DHL demanding cargo environment and demonstrate our business enabling logistics solutions, whatever the mile, whatever the mode of transportation.”

For the same payload capability, the PEN55V micro turbine requires three times less energy to fly than battery powered UAVs and does not cause any pollution challenges related to battery manufacturing, charge, and recycling. In line with Deutsche Post DHL Group’s aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 (“Mission 2050”), this solution provided by PEN UAS supports our drive toward clean operations for climate protection.

This initiative will be performed in compliance with the Civil Aviation Directive CAD 6011, a regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia which allows the development of unmanned aircraft technologies. The POC will demonstrate Pen Aviation’s ecosystem superiority to successfully deliver high-volume automated logistics operations with a 24/7 UAV-based freight service.

CLICK HERE to watch the video

Drone to bring autonomous inventory warehouse solution

Posted on 18 August, 202125 July, 2025 by David Priestman

RAWview Drone Systems Ltd, a UK-based drone automation specialist has announced a new partnership with doks. innovation GmbH, a Germany-based developer of autonomous drone-based inventory management systems.

Thanks to ground-breaking technology, the fully autonomous inventAIRy XL drone system is now able to navigate through even the most complex of warehouse layouts to each individual rack location, where the contents are scanned and reconciled against ERP or WMS records, all without any human supervision or intervention and without any reliance on GPS. This is achieved by combining a drone with barcode scanning sensors, a ground vehicle for autonomous navigation and a docking station for autonomous battery charging. The result is an elegant solution that overcomes the biggest limitations of drone-based inventory control: flight endurance, unsupervised operation, and fully autonomous navigation within GPS and light-deprived environments.

Key selling points of the solution:
• Longest operating endurance on the market – 5 hours of fully autonomous operation, compared to approximately 20 minutes of other systems
• Highest workrate on the market – a single inventAIRy XL unit can scan in excess of 2000 rack locations per autonomous mission, compared to approximately 120 rack locations of other systems
• Zero modifications required to facility’s infrastructure
• Autonomous recharging – other systems require manual swapping and recharging of drone batteries
• Ability to operate completely unsupervised and in darkness, ie. between shifts or when warehouse is closed
More importantly, by combining their expertise, the two companies are taking away another major pain point of warehouse operators who are looking to implement drone-based inventory control – the time and resources required to fully deploy and integrate drones into inventory processes.

Traditionally, the process of finding and implementing an appropriate drone solution for autonomous inventory reconciliation is time-consuming, complex, and expensive. In contrast, this partnership gives warehouse management teams access to a 360-degree solution that encompasses pre-deployment feasibility, supply and installation of hardware and software, and ongoing customer support. This means warehouse operators can seamlessly and cost-effectively transition to fully autonomous drone-based inventory control, with virtually no disruption to their normal operation.

Joe Waldron, Product Integration Director at RAWview said:

“As warehouse and project management teams seek to reduce cost, improve safety, and protect themselves against falling labour resources, they are increasingly turning to task automation technologies – one of the latest innovations in this space is drone-based inventory reconciliation.

“During initial conversations with doks. innovations’ management team, it quickly became clear that both companies shared the same fundamental goal – to help businesses work safer, smarter, and more profitably. However, a shared goal was only the starting point; we needed to be sure that the technology behind our solution would meet the aspirations of our customers, and having conducted extensive analysis across the drone technology ecosystem, we concluded that doks. innovation offered a completely unique proposition, which is perfectly placed to resolve our customers’ most challenging inventory management problems, and one that will help us to meet and exceed our customers’ ROI expectations.”

Benjamin Federmann, CEO of doks. innovation added: “As any warehouse manager will know, manual inventory counts are ill-suited to high volume and high velocity operations. With accelerating supply chains, warehouses are forced to assign more time and labour resources to stocktaking activities. Furthermore, scanning thousands of bin locations manually is inevitably prone to human error, which leads to discrepancies in WMS inventory records. Manual inventory operations also present very real safety risks to warehouse employees. These are the issues we set out to eliminate with the inventAIRy XL system.

“Welcoming RAWview as a sales and support partner means that customers receive a critical layer of hassle-free implementation, service, and support – all provided by a leading drone technology specialist.”

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