LATEST DRONE TECH
The Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas was packed with high-tech drones, accessories, and applications, and contributor Patrick Sherman was there to capture the highlights. Here, he shares the latest on drones in public safety and delivery as well as some new releases.
BEYOND THE CAGE
One unique feature of Commercial UAV Expo is its “Beyond the Cage” outdoor flight demonstration—although the name itself is rapidly becoming an artifact of a bygone era in the industry. For those of you just joining us, it was typical at drone shows held in years past for vendors to set up cages (well, nets) to surround live flight demonstrations of their products, to keep spectators safe from the aircraft and their whirling propellers.
Of course, simply seeing a machine in flight no longer evokes the kind of awe it did in days gone by. Now that baseline aircraft performance is simply assumed, vendors these days are typically content to set up static displays and let participants’ imagination do the rest. However, the chance to see larger aircraft working in real time
