SPH Engineering has introduced UgCS Open, a free version of its widely used UAV flight-planning software. This new offering retains the core features of the paid UgCS Expert version, including 3D flight planning, terrain-aware automation and mission control.
The launch of UgCS Open is aimed at making advanced UAV flight planning more accessible while maintaining SPH Engineering’s focus on professional applications. This version is particularly beneficial for those starting with tasks such as lidar flights, UAV photogrammetry, automated inspections and terrain-aware mission planning.
UgCS supports a wide range of popular UAV platforms, including DJI models such as the M350, M300, Mavic 3 Enterprise and Matrice 4 Series. Unlike cloud-based solutions, UgCS operates locally on PC or Mac systems, offering full offline capabilities and a fast, 3D flight-planning environment. This makes it suitable for complex missions such as lidar surveys, photogrammetry and corridor mapping.
By introducing UgCS Open, SPH Engineering aims to lower the entry barrier for UAV operators while continuing to cater to the needs of experienced professionals requiring advanced mission planning tools.
Hexagon has finalized its acquisition of Septentrio NV. By integrating Septentrio’s GNSS platforms with Hexagon’s existing portfolio, the company aims to enhance access to high-accuracy and high-performance positioning technology designed for Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) efficiency.
According to Gordon Dale, President of Hexagon’s Autonomous Solutions division, the collaboration will enable the delivery of advanced solutions for autonomy and mission-critical applications across various industries.
The combined expertise of both companies is expected to accelerate the adoption of autonomous systems while addressing the needs of emerging sectors such as robotics, UAVs and other mission-critical technologies. Septentrio, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, will maintain its existing business model of providing GNSS technology to a broad base of original equipment manufacturers.
A brand-new innovation in the world of unmanned aircraft is becoming more rare as the industry matures. However, a Denver, Colorado company has been innovating continuously since 2017, patenting a new approach to vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) for a different, ground-breaking design.
The PteroDynamics’ Transwing UAV is not only autonomous but also uses a folded wing design that enables vertical take-off and virtually seamless transition to horizontal flight — sometimes compared to the simplicity of how a bird unfolds its wings to become airborne.
Transwing UAV climbs out on another logistics mission. (Photo: Ptero) Transwing in forward flight. (Photo: Ptero)
According to the company, Its unique “transverse, folded wing design” allows an extremely fast change from vertical to horizontal flight without almost any loss of momentum. Then horizontal flight can be rapid, with four powerful electric motor-driven props providing an initial dash speed of up to 100 knots, an economic cruise of 65 knots with the two outer props neatly folded out of the slipstream, and a range of 60 nm. However, endurance is not so hot currently.
Throughout the years, Ptero has carefully protected Transwing technologies by filing many patents — four of which have been granted and 15 are pending — in 11 jurisdictions around the world.
The target applications have been shore-to-ship, ship-to-ship, and ship-to-shore automated cargo transport of essential small packages (up to 15 lb) for fleet sustainment. The U.S. Navy has now contracted to evolve the existing P4 UAV variant to a P5 design carrying 50 lb payloads. This recent development contract is anticipated to result in a fully loaded 350 lb vehicle with around 400 nm range and an enhanced endurance of up to 10 hours, using a hybrid gas/electric power plant.
The U.S. Navy has observed the operation of earlier Transwing versions during several exercises, including an October 2023 demonstration off the deck of USNS Burlington in Key West, Florida. Then again, in June 2024, off the deck of the USS Curtis Wilbur guided-missile destroyer while the ship was at sea around Hawaii. In this latest demonstration, three Transwing vehicles flew 12 autonomous flights, each carrying around 15 lb cargo, with more than 20 knots winds during takeoff and landing. Although labeled as “flying autonomously,” two Transwing aircraft were controlled by one operator. Ptero says that flights from take-off to landing were fully autonomous – so load the route and operational parameters and go – this appears to be how they were flown.
Photo: Ptero
The unique transition mechanism appears to involve cables or rods pulling each wing around a pivot, which seems to have a cog simultaneously traveling along a ramp inside the fuselage end of each wing—effectively moving both wings from a stowed to horizontal position. However, this is just a supposition, as Ptero did not provide details.
Ptero also has big plans for a P7 huge cargo Transwing — 3,600 lb loaded weight, 620 lb payload, 1,000 nm range, and 9 hours endurance.
A fascinating new UAV initiative, which has the potential to not only fulfill the U.S. Navy’s need for essential small package delivery at sea but also fill this need for other friendly navies around the world. Afterward, hopefully, the many thousands (118,928 Merchant Ships) of commercial ships plying the oceans worldwide might want essential package transport. And once the barrier to the commercial market is broken, perhaps many other long-distance transport applications could emerge.
Meanwhile, Amazon is having a few difficulties with drone deliveries in College Station, Texas. Residents have been complaining about noise from drones performing over 600 round trips daily, so Amazon has recently discontinued its drone deliveries.
Amazon MK30 drone is quieter (Photo: Amazon)
With an improved propeller design, Amazon claims its new MK30 drone is around half as noisy as before, and the company intends to resume operations when new software changes aimed at improvements to enhance safety are available. The MK30 also has twice the range and is equipped with sense and avoid capability.
The company shared that two drones collided during testing at the Amazon private testing location. Analyzing and correcting this issue has taken a while, but quieter, safer deliveries are expected to resume shortly in Phoenix, Arizona and Texas.
A new VTOL vertical to horizontal UAV transition capability leading to ship-to-shore essential package deliveries is apparently in the early stages, and another few teething troubles for Amazon package deliveries — signs that there is still lots of life in this industry.
SBG Systems has released the New Ellipse, a firmware upgrade for the Ellipse product line. The system can now be used as an attitude and heading reference system or inertial navigation system.
Powered by the latest-generation sensor fusion algorithm, the New Ellipse is designed to enhance navigation, attitude, and heave performance for stable and accurate positioning even in high-dynamics environments and challenging conditions.
Additionally, it introduces advanced GNSS-denied capabilities, featuring newly integrated flags that trigger when GNSS jamming or spoofing threats are detected. This allows users to reject or re-enable external sensors — such as GNSS — without resetting the filter. It seeks to provide users with enhanced visibility and control over how the individual system responds to these events, allowing for more precise adjustments in challenging environments.
The New Ellipse offers several new features that simplify system integration. It now supports seamless configuration and interfacing via a robust RESTful API. The user-friendly interface allows for fast and flexible configuration using simple command lines, enabling users to tailor the Ellipse to their specific needs and applications. The firmware upgrade is now available at no additional cost to all users of compatible hardware (v3.x).
DroneDeploy, an aerial and ground reality capture and robotics platform, has entered a strategic partnership with the GEODNET Foundation to enhance enterprise UAV capabilities by providing access to high-precision positioning data.
The partnership will grant DroneDeploy customers access to GEODNET‘s extensive network of 10,000 registered stations. This access will significantly improve the accuracy of UAV surveys, underground utility mapping and documentation for various industries, including construction, mining, energy, and utilities, according to DroneDeploy. The agreement also includes provisions for DroneDeploy to work with its users to establish additional GEODNET stations in areas currently lacking coverage, further expanding the network’s reach.
“Today’s affordable enterprise drones support sophisticated RTK and PPP survey-grade workflows; however, affordable access to RTK base-station data remains a barrier to efficient usage of these powerful capabilities,” said James Pipe, chief product officer at DroneDeploy. “DroneDeploy is pleased to partner with GEODNET and to offer integrated access to GEODNET’s rapidly growing RTK network.”
It cannot be denied that people are seeing more objects flying in the night sky. It is suspected that these are unauthorized UAVs collecting information over U.S. and international military bases and, well, also over people looking up at the sky in their backyards at night. It is unlikely that these unidentified flying objects are causing much harm to the civilian population other than being a curiosity. However, it remains unclear what they might be doing over military installations.
In November and December 2024, numerous reports emerged of UAVs surveilling residential neighborhoods, restricted zones and critical infrastructure across the Northeast United States. This includes areas such as water storage facilities, transmission lines, railway installations, police departments — both local and federal — and military bases.
Military bases reporting UAV overflights included Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey and Ramstein Air Base in Germany. In the UK, Royal Air Force (RAF) bases at Lakenheath, Mildenhall, Feltwell and Fairford in the South of England all reported unauthorized UAV overflight activity, which is somewhat concerning for nuclear weapons bases in Europe. Lakenheath appears to have scrambled F-15s to investigate one such UAV incursion.
Detecting and mitigating threats
In the United States, the increased intensity of UAV sightings has residents and Congress concerned, while various authorities claim that most of these incidents are harmless. A joint statement by the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and the Department of Defense stated:
“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast.”
Nevertheless, these agencies reported, “Local commanders are actively engaged to ensure there are appropriate detection and mitigation measures in place.”
No other major announcements have followed these incidents, but it would seem logical that military bases have begun activating existing detection and defensive systems. Known countermeasures may include specialized radar, laser, optical, acoustic and radio frequency (RF) detection and defensive systems.
Radar always has been employed to detect airborne intruders, and the reflections from them appear on a display, which the ground user can then align with a range of potential defenses. However, UAVs are generally small, while conventional radar is designed to pick up hefty reflections from the surface of full-size commercial and military aircraft.
Photo: Robin Radar Systems
Robin Radar Systems
Robin Radar Systems in Holland has worked to refine radar that can detect small flying objects. Birds can cause havoc at airfields where aircraft take off and land at high rates, so detecting birds for airfield operators is one angle for which Robin Radar Systems has developed a reflection capability. A large bird and a UAV might be very similar in size. To differentiate the two, the company found a way to see a Doppler effect (speed differences) within a radar return, which indicates the spinning rotors of a UAV rather than flapping wings — a system they term micro-Doppler radar. This detection system works to find objects many miles away and at well-defined approach angles from the radar antenna. Therefore, these X-Band radars are mostly based at the places you want to protect, such as airfields. Some radars also can be packaged to be transportable, perhaps for military applications, where a temporary base needs to know if enemy attack UAVs might be on their way.
Other principal detection systems include “sniffing” RF frequencies to detect UAV control signals, but this has a shorter range than radar and does not easily determine distance or approach angle without several triangulating bases. Additionally, of course, UAVs without control signals cannot be detected with this particular RF technology. Optical systems using still/video/infrared (IR) cameras are good in daylight, but not so good in the dark. Acoustic systems use microphones or an array of microphones to listen for rotor sounds but have a shorter range (less than 1/3 of a mile).
Then, if you have suitable defensive capabilities, you could either take down an unwanted UAV by flying a counter-UAV to collide with and destroy it or by trapping it in a net. In a military situation, many UAVs have been shot down by various types and calibers of guns — and even by very expensive missiles. Electronic defenses include jamming guidance and/or control signals by transmitting signals that overcome and scramble the GNSS and/or control signal or by frying its electronics using high-power microwave transmissions or high-powered laser(s) — these last two systems are expensive and heavy, which makes them cumbersome.
Spoofing the on-board GNSS receiver by transmitting false satellite signals to steer the UAV away from its target recently has been used by Ukrainian forces to steer attack UAVs back into neighboring countries.
GNSS jamming is widely used, and there are numerous equipment suppliers; however, spoofing systems are less common due to their additional complexity and cost. Some RF systems can collect data from the opposing UAV and even detect where the operator might be located.
Of course, not all UAVs straying into restricted airspace come from operators with bad intentions — some might be “Sunday-driver” recreational UAV flyers who have allowed their UAVs to stray into the wrong area. This is another reason the FAA requires formal UAV operator training and certification for commercial operations, but this is not required for recreational UAV flyers.
DroneHunter drone net capture system. (Photo: Fortem Technologies)
FAA regulations
The FAA regulations for UAVs are fairly easy to understand, and it would probably take an intentional effort to fly unauthorized into restricted airspace. Otherwise, stay at or below 400 ft, don’t exceed 100 mph, don’t go where you shouldn’t, file a flight plan — ask permission using the automated FAA LAANC online tool — but always stay within visual range of the UAV. Those are most of the basics. Additionally, to operate a UAV commercially, you must also register it with the FAA and install an electronic device to tell everyone in the surrounding airspace the drone’s registration number, which is traceable to the owner/operator. Never fly near clouds, comply with local rules when flying recreationally, and never, ever fly into restricted airspace, particularly around airports, without prior authorization.
These multiple reported UAV incursions violate FAA regulations, so it is reasonable to assume the operators are deliberately flying illegally. Recreational flying requires the operator to see the UAV at all times — so flying at night is not legal either, as the rules state not to fly an hour after sunset or an hour before sunrise. Operators in restricted airspace are committing a crime punishable by fines and/or years in prison. Yet they still fly, so are they nuisance operators who don’t care or is the activity criminally motivated or orchestrated offshore?
Utilizing UTM
Would the coming unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) have been able to keep these intruders away? I am not sure, but UTM is designed to manage UAV traffic, so presumably, it could manage these UAVs to comply with traffic requirements. However, these intruders are already ignoring existing laws, so UTM may more readily enable the identification of rogue UAVs and operators. Recent tests at the FAA/NASA UTM test range in North Texas have drawn huge interest from Walmart and Amazon, as they push to get UAV package delivery working. Wing now delivers for Walmart using a production UTM system in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.
To wrap this up, amongst many recently reported unidentified flying objects, several have been identified as probable UAVs, and some of those over restricted areas could be detected and managed with existing technologies. FAA regulations ban flights in restricted airspace unless approved — i.e., working in coordination with those ground facilities. There are UTMs for UAVs already being used commercially, which could assist in managing all UAVs.
A link to the live event will be sent to you two hours before the event. Your personalized event URL will be automatically generated by the ON24 system. To ensure receipt of the email, please whitelist this email address by adding it to your contacts: [email protected].
This presentation will begin at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 13. A recording will also be sent to you the following day so you can watch it on-demand.
Audience members may arrive 15 minutes prior to live time. If you have any questions, please contact event producer Halle Reid at [email protected].
A link to the live event will be sent to you two hours before the event. Your personalized event URL will be automatically generated by the ON24 system. To ensure receipt of the email, please whitelist this email address by adding it to your contacts: [email protected].
This presentation will begin at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, February 20. A recording will also be sent to you the following day so you can watch it on-demand.
Audience members may arrive 15 minutes prior to live time. If you have any questions, please contact event producer Halle Reid at [email protected].
Septentrio has introduced the mosaic-G5 series, a new range of GNSS receiver modules tailored for robotics and other applications requiring compact components.
These modules represent a significant advancement in size and power efficiency, offering a 60% reduction in size and 40% lower power consumption compared to the mosaic-X5 receiver while maintaining high performance standards. This improvement enables reliable, high-accuracy positioning for devices where minimal size, weight, and power are critical, such as commercial UAVs, compact industrial robots, and high-performance handheld devices.
The mosaic-G5 series expands Septentrio’s existing mosaic portfolio, known for its all-band GNSS technology and robust performance in accuracy, reliability, and resistance to jamming and spoofing. This broad product lineup provides users with the flexibility to select the most suitable module for their specific design requirements.
The mosaic-G5 modules will be gradually released throughout 2025.
A closer look at potentially spoofed aircraft in the Middle East on Dec. 5, 2024. The map indicates that roughly 244 flights were potentially spoofed in Jordan and the surrounding areas. The level of spoofing is indicated by the color of the hexagons — the redder the hexagon, the more jamming was observed. (Photo courtesy of SkAI Data Services)
Electronic warfare techniques, such as GPS spoofing and jamming, are on the rise. With the increasing prevalence of this sophisticated form of warfare, industry experts must be aware of the threats and find ways to manage them to protect daily operations and civilians. It is important to contribute to the conversation about strategies to mitigate these risks.
SkAI Data Services has answered the call by creating a live GPS Spoofing and Jamming Tracker Map. The map — available at spoofing.skai-data-services.com — utilizes live ADS-B data from the OpenSky Network to identify and display potentially spoofed aircraft in real time and where GPS jamming activity was observed within the past few hours. SkAI Data Services developed the algorithms with the support of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences — Centre for Aviation.
The blue markers represent the positions of aircraft just before they were spoofed. Users can hover over the lines to view information about the affected flights or over the hexagons to access insights on the level of interference. (Photo courtesy of SkAI Data Services)
The map displays clusters that indicate areas where spoofed GPS positions of aircraft have been detected. The numbers within each cluster show how many flights were spoofed at that specific location.
The blue markers represent the positions of aircraft just before they were spoofed. The lines connect these real positions to their corresponding spoofed locations. The map also displays areas of potential GPS jamming or radio frequency interference, indicated by colored hexagons. The redder the hexagon, the more jamming was observed. While not all pre-spoofed locations can be detected, increasing the window duration will reveal more lines.
Similar to gpsjam.org, SkAI Data Services uses the reported navigation integrity category (NIC) to identify these zones. Users can hover over the hexagons to see the number of aircraft reporting good NIC (greater than 7), average NIC (between 5 and 7) and bad NIC (less than 5). SkAI Data Services also offers custom API endpoints to integrate jamming and spoofing data into third-party products.
CHC Navigation (CHCNAV) has introduced the X500 rotor UAV, designed for precision aerial operations. It is ideal for surveying, urban monitoring, emergency response, disaster relief and infrastructure inspection.
Equipped with advanced navigation and safety features, the X500 rotor UAV meets the demands of professional operations. Dual GNSS and triple inertial measurement unit redundancy enhance positional accuracy and reliability, whereas integrated millimeter-wave radar provides precise obstacle detection. The drone’s video transmission system supports HD feeds over distances of up to 20 km, and its V-SLAM visual positioning ensures accuracy for tasks such as landing on moving platforms.
The X500 is designed to handle diverse payloads, with a capacity of up to 5 kg and flight durations of up to 58 minutes — or 50 minutes when equipped with the CHCNAV AA10 lidar system. Its open SDK and compatibility with the Mavlink protocol allows for seamless integration with both CHCNAV sensors and third-party equipment. Built for demanding conditions, the X500 features an IP55 rating and can operate in winds up to 12m/s.
The UAV features a new power system, enabling up to 58 minutes of flight time. According to CHCNAV, the BS10 charging station minimizes downtime by charging six batteries from 20% to 90% in just 40 minutes, while hot-swappable batteries ensure uninterrupted operations during extended missions.
Complementing the X500’s hardware is CHCNAV’s SmartGo ground control software, which simplifies mission planning and offers real-time flight monitoring. With various flight path options and beyond visual line of sight capabilities, SmartGo ensures safe, efficient operations while providing full control over mission parameters.
Iran is in the process of initial field testing of a new drone aircraft carrier — the Shahid Bagheri — a converted container ship.
Featuring an angled flight deck and ski-jump ramp, the ship seems well-equipped to launch large drones. Two additional drone-carrier vessels, the Shahid Mahdavi and Shahid Roudaki, have also been spotted during sea trials alongside this latest member of the Iranian Shahed drone-carrier fleet.
The objective seems to enable Iran to extend its drone attack capabilities across the Gulf, which is likely to concern Israel, the United States, and their allies. Nevertheless, the drone-carrier vessels do not appear to possess advanced defense systems, nor are they accompanied by destroyers or equivalent support. As such, they may be highly vulnerable to drone attacks.
In 2004, the UK launched the Watchkeeper drone program, led by Thales UK and Elbit Systems through their joint venture, U-TacS. The program was contracted for £700 million ($852 million), with the first flight expected in 2006. It centered around the Elbit Hermes 450 drone with substantial modifications. The 2006 date slipped significantly as costs climbed through 2010, and authorization for military training only happened in 2014. However, the rollout for operational use was still delayed. During those initial tests, one in seven drones crashed in circumstances often associated with bad weather — not good for a drone designed and intended for all-weather operations. The trials were moved to locations with better weather conditions.
Initially featuring limited surveillance and target acquisition capabilities, the Watchkeeper WK450 drone has been enhanced with upgrades that include synthetic aperture radar and ground-moving target indication, in addition to its original electro-optical/infrared sensor.
Watchkeeper flight in April 2013. (Photo: UK MOD)
The drone was used for English Channel patrol and for some uncontested airspace surveillance and targeting missions in Afghanistan. It was most recently fielded in NATO exercises in Estonia, flying in different weather conditions to verify airspace deconfliction and interoperability with Estonian air traffic control.
Unfortunately, program delays, which have sometimes been associated with over 1000 additional UK requirements during the development cycle, difficulties in training, cost growth from the original £700 to an ultimate program cost of £1.35 billion ($1.64 billion), along with obsolescence brought on by the years of delays — these have all now doomed the Watchkeeper drone program to retirement, which the UK recently announced.
Watchkeeper drones were eventually priced at $5.2 million each for a quantity of 45 to 54, for a task which today’s drones, costing maybe $30 thousand, are much more capable. A fate also perhaps brought on by the fantastic rate of evolution for today’s commercial drones versus the well-trodden, somewhat lengthy path of mil-spec development programs.
The US Air Force has established an advanced technology test area at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) — the Autonomy, Data and AI Experimentation Proving Ground. Near Earth Autonomy (NEA) recently worked with Eglin to demonstrate the capabilities of its Griff 135 multicopter drone and its autonomous avoidance capability.
NEA has developed avoidance and autonomous navigation capability, which allows its drones to fly beyond visual lines of sight by knowing their location with respect to the environment around them. With optical and electronic sensors, the drone builds a point-cloud image of its surroundings on a separate computer from that which manages its autonomous behavior. The two systems interact to provide autonomous flight, including obstacle avoidance, take-off and landing, and, in several cases, the delivery of special cargo, such as blood and medical samples.
In the case of the Eglin tests, the objective was for the Griff 135 to interact with a Service-Malory TRV-150 cargo drone operated by the 413th Flight Test Squadron. Now, we have a four-rotor cargo drone capable of carrying 150 lb of cargo and an eight-foot quadcopter capable of destroying each other in a potential collision. First, they are independent; one is manually operated, and the other has an autonomous capability. But who knows if it can see, detect, and avoid another fast-moving drone in the same airspace? So, the flight test had the two crossing paths to verify, detect, and avoid by NEA drone. Two flight sessions and the Griff-135 did a good job seeing, computing and executing multiple avoidance maneuvers.
NAE UAV. (Photo: NAE)
NAE was awarded a NASA Small Business Innovation Research grant for its autonomous aircraft inspection technology. Before a flight departs, one of the crew members inspects the aircraft, checking flight controls, lift surfaces, and tires for any damage or issues that could impact the upcoming flight or need maintenance later. Engineering personnel also conduct visual inspections, though perhaps not for every flight, to frequently verify the aircraft’s integrity.
NAE has collaborated with NASA and Boeing to create autonomous software that allows their drone to conduct a thorough visual inspection of aircraft. The FAA mandates an inspection card outlining the requirements and the specific path around the aircraft for inspections. NAE has integrated these requirements into its drone, resulting in an automated inspection process that captures a high volume of detailed photographs from every part of the aircraft. This automated system completes inspections in approximately 30 minutes, in contrast to manual inspections, which can take up to four hours. The system is reportedly progressing toward the commercialization stage.
