It takes real intelligence and plenty of collaborative muscle to harness the potential of artificial intelligence. Most of us can barely grasp the concept of human-made machines learning how to process and analyze enormous amounts of data, then using that mass of information to understand things at new scales and in new combinations, delivering useful insights that our brains would never be able to produce on their own.
Now University of Delaware Prof. Rudolf Eigenmann, interim chair of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and professor of electrical and computer engineering, is playing a critical role in a new $20 million National Science Foundation-supported project designed to expand access to artificial intelligence.
AI for the masses, you might call it.
The project, called the NSF AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE), is one of 11 new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes the NSF announced recently. It is the second year of such investment by NSF. This $220 million in support follows the $140 million that created the first seven AI institutes in 2020. The overall effort now includes partners in 38 states.
Continue reading: https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2021/september/artificial-intelligence-cyberinfrastructure-rudolph-eigenmann/

As a business leader, you probably want to improve your organization's diversity, merit, and fairness — whether related to hiring, advancement, teamwork, or other initiatives.
It's a critical area with high stakes. For example, there's evidence that diverse teams perform better, due to an integration of different skills and perspectives, and that fair systems generate employee devotion by giving credit where credit is due. Moreover, racial, gender, and other biases in hiring, promotion, and compensation have significant legal implications for businesses and other organizations.
The good news is that there are new ways to improve diversity, fairness, and merit — with the data already on hand in your enterprise. New technology enables you to use data to surface, understand, and address issues related to diversity and performance in unprecedented and sustainable ways.
The following are three specific ways to make that happen.
Continue reading: https://www.businessinsider.com/dei-ai-data-increase-diversity-inclusion-at-work-2021-9

O’Reilly this week published the results of its salary survey, which showed the average salary for AI and data professionals in the U.S. and the U.K. was $146,000 per year. While that’s certainly more than many jobs, it represents just a 2.25% annual rate of increase on average, according to the survey, which also sliced and diced the salaries by education, job title, gender, state, programming language, and platform.
Among the 3,136 data and AI professionals (ie. data scientists, data engineers, and AI and machine learning specialists) who took O’Reilly’s survey over the Internet in June, those from California earned the most, earning an average of $176,000 per year. That should not be surprising, considering the number of big tech firms who make their home in Silicon Valley, as well as the state’s overall high cost of living. Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland followed the Golden State, with average salaries less than $150,000.
Men accounted for 81% of the survey-takers, and they reported average salaries ($150,000) that were significantly higher than that for women ($126,000). Women earned just 84% of what men earned, the survey stated. “That differential held regardless of education,” O’Reilly points out in the survey.
However, despite the salary differential, a higher percentage of women had advanced degrees than men, according to the survey, which shows 16% of women had a doctorate, as opposed to 13% of men. And 47% of women had a master’s degree, as opposed to 46% of men.”
Continue reading: https://www.datanami.com/2021/09/16/data-and-ai-salaries-continue-upward-march-oreilly-says/

A CEO friend asked me, “Will AI ever be able to offer an ROI for enterprises?” I thought the answer through and wrote it down. Then, I realized that this information could be beneficial and valuable to many people, so here’s my answer, based on my experience in the artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity training industry. 
Let’s begin by defining where we stand and ask the same question about IT projects in general: “Will IT ever be able to offer an ROI for enterprises?” Here, the statistics are known to be about a 30% success rate. So, if AI, with a current success rate of about 15%, can reach the IT project success rate, we can consider the mission accomplished. 
What are the best practices for achieving success with AI? First, the quality of the AI answers should be “good enough.” The measure of “good enough” is called the “error rate.” For example, IBM’s translation in the 2010s was based on rules extracted from translations of Canadian parliament speeches. This rule-based approach was fragile and one had to add a manual check. So, an AI project based on the IBM technology of the 2010 timeframe would not deliver an ROI. Today, the accuracy of Google Translate reaches the 94% range. This quality is good enough, and people find it satisfactory.
In this instance, by “people,” I mean lawyers who are using it to translate the documents in their cases. Why am I choosing lawyers for my use case? Lawyers have a low tolerance for mistakes. So, when an AI algorithm offers its services, they demand precision from it.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/09/17/will-ai-ever-be-able-to-offer-an-roi-for-enterprises/?sh=2bf72bde2025

Regulators are clearing the runway for drones to transport vaccines and other live-saving drugs, in a ground-breaking venture funded by government.
The project, to be run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), is one of 21 bold new initiatives backed by the government’s Regulators’ Pioneer Fund to propel cutting-edge innovation across the UK.
The Fund supports projects led by regulators and local authorities that help support the country’s regulatory environment to keep pace with technological advances of the future – benefiting both entrepreneurs and consumers.
Using its grant, the CAA will develop world-first standards for special containers that will allow drones to safely carry sensitive goods like medical products, so that remote communities can access critical supplies without delay. At present, there is no regime anywhere in the world for testing and approving these containers to make sure that they do not leak even in the event of a crash.
The aviation regulator has also received money to create a service for the public to report safety concerns about drones, while Oxfordshire County Council has won funding to help innovators understand their legal requirements when setting up new trials in the drone industry.
Business Minister Lord Callanan said:

Good regulation should spur entrepreneurship, not stand in its way, and this Fund will keep the UK at the cutting-edge of innovation.
The projects we are supporting could pave the way for exciting developments across a range of sectors, from drone technology to healthcare, all of which will bring benefits to British businesses and consumers alike.

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In total, 21 projects received a share of £3.7 million of funding, and winning projects include:

• Oxfordshire County Council – in collaboration with the Met Office, Ordnance Survey, and others – received £198,000 to develop a tool to help self-driving car developers know when they can conduct trials
• The Health and Safety Executive received £198,000 for a project to support construction companies to share information about dangerous incidents to help prevent injuries
• Cornwall Council received £200,000 to improve the monitoring of harmful algal blooms that can enter the food chain through shellfish, leading to sickness and product recalls
• The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency received £200,000 for a hub bringing together businesses and regulators in the Grangemouth Industrial cluster to move towards a net zero economy

This investment comes on top of the £10 million awarded by the Fund from 2018 to 2020, which saw approximately £700,000 provided to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to develop synthetic datasets, supporting the development of cutting-edge medical technologies to fight coronavirus (COVID-19) and cardiovascular disease.
Continue reading: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vaccine-carrying-drones-and-self-driving-cars-government-fund-backs-cutting-edge-innovation

By 2022, 2.85 million small drones will be flying the friendly skies, according to projections by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Our numbers are nowhere near as high. According to Transport Canada, as of Aug. 31, 63,200 drones were registered in this country. There were 59,700 pilots with a basic certificate and 6,350 pilots (mostly flying drones for commercial purposes) with an advanced certificate.
One of those commercial purposes is insurance.
When insurers and contractors in Canada first began using drones, many employed their own in-house drone pilots, said Kabir Shaal, co-founder of Drone Software Canada. But those numbers have dwindled.
“Over time, we noticed there was less interest in in-house pilots and a [still]-developing interest in pilots for hire,” he said. “It has grown tremendously in the last few years.”
The main reasons? Cost of training and equipment, complex regulations, and attrition (pilots often change employment after getting certified). In fact, Shaal said he certified seven advanced pilots for one client; after 18 months, only one of the seven was still with the company.
But whether insurers use their own in-house pilots or hire pilots from a third-party company, drone use has several benefits.
First, it’s safe. Adjusters no longer have to climb a roof. “We go with eyes in the skies and feet on the street,” said Shaal.
Second, scalability. During a peak event, when many drone inspections are occurring, “a single drone operator can ‘feed’ multiple adjusters with precise, consistent data,” said Shaal.
Third, drones are faster than humans. According to Shaal, residential property inspections typically take 20 minutes.
Fourth is currency. “Some insurers have been using satellite imagery for measurement, particularly after cat events,” said Shaal. “It’s highly accurate.” But those satellite images “could be three days, three weeks or three months old,” he said. “And, in a cat event, you want to know the condition of the roof today. Drone imagery provides the current condition of that damaged roof or siding.”
Finally, drones are increasingly being used for pre-loss risk assessments, typically for larger buildings, such as schools, churches, and older commercial and residential buildings.
Continue reading: https://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/insurance/flying-high-drone-use-in-insurance-1004212510/

Dave Krause of Influential Drones and volunteer FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) Industry Member is joined by Dawn Zoldi of P3 Tech Consulting in a DroneLife.com 2-minute highlight reel of Friday's National Drone Safety Awareness Week Topic: "Safe Flyers Bolster Public Safety & Public Acceptance" #FlySafe

Dave Krause of Influential Drones and volunteer FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) Industry Member is joined by Dawn Zoldi of P3 Tech Consulting in a DroneLife.com 2-minute highlight reel of Sunday's National Drone Safety Awareness Week Topic: "Part II, Safe Flyers Share the Sky, Get Out and Fly!" Be sure to continue learning about drone safety by taking free educational courses about drones and aviation by visiting www.FAAsafety.gov. Learning never stops! Safety continues beyond this week! #FlySafe

Dave Krause of Influential Drones and volunteer FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) Industry Member is joined by Dawn Zoldi of P3 Tech Consulting in a DroneLife.com 2-minute highlight reel of Saturday's National Drone Safety Awareness Week Topic: " Safe Flyers Share the Sky, Get Out and Fly!" #FlySafe  

Devon, you co-founded Linum Labs in 2016. What does your start-up do and what is your vision for Linum Labs?
I originally co-founded Linum Labs in Cape Town, South Africa in 2016. Today, we are a blockchain software production studio with employees across Africa, Europe and North America. We focus on building a diverse array of custom blockchain applications for our global clientele.
Our goal is to pioneer exciting and novel technological solutions for our clients. We serve as a bridge between ordinary people and the incredible opportunities blockchain technology provides.
By integrating research into our daily work, we stay ahead of the curve. Our dynamic and flexible work culture constantly adapts to the industry’s needs.
Continue reading: https://www2.deloitte.com/ch/en/pages/technology/articles/blockchain-technology.html

China’s internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), recently issued a draft proposal of regulations to manage how technology companies use algorithms when providing services to consumers.
The proposed law mandates that companies must use algorithms to “actively spread positive energy.” Under the proposal, companies must submit their algorithms to the government for approval or risk being fined and having their service terminated.
This is an incredibly bad and even dangerous idea. It’s what happens when people who don’t understand AI try to regulate AI. Instead of fostering innovation, governments are looking at AI through their unique lenses of fear and trying to reduce the harm they worry about most. Thus, western regulators focus on fears such as violation of privacy, while Chinese regulators are perfectly okay with collecting private data on their citizens but are concerned about AI’s ability to influence people in ways deemed undesirable by the government.
If the Chinese law is adopted, it will create a lengthy bureaucratic process that will likely ensure that no small company or startup will survive or even enter the market. The moment you allow government regulators to be the final arbiters of what emerging technologies can and cannot do, you’ve strangled innovation. The only people who will profit under such a law are large companies that can invest in unproductive bureaucratic activities due to massive cash reserves and bad actors because they’ll ignore regulators and do whatever they want. Cash-starved startups who wish to follow the law will be most disadvantaged by this approach.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90676516/china-ai-law-problems

Investors in AI-first technology companies serving the defense industry, such as Palantir, Primer and Anduril, are doing well. Anduril, for one, reached a valuation of over $4 billion in less than four years. Many other companies that build general-purpose, AI-first technologies — such as image labeling — receive large (undisclosed) portions of their revenue from the defense industry.
Investors in AI-first technology companies that aren’t even intended to serve the defense industry often find that these firms eventually (and sometimes inadvertently) help other powerful institutions, such as police forces, municipal agencies and media companies, prosecute their duties.
Most do a lot of good work, such as DataRobot helping agencies understand the spread of COVID, HASH running simulations of vaccine distribution or Lilt making school communications available to immigrant parents in a U.S. school district.
However, there are also some less positive examples — technology made by Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO was used to hack 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, human-rights activists, business executives and the fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a report by The Washington Post and 16 media partners. The report claims the phones were on a list of over 50,000 numbers based in countries that surveil their citizens and are known to have hired the services of the Israeli firm.
Continue reading: https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/15/the-responsibilities-of-ai-first-investors/

Despite the often-negative discussion about testing in schools, assessments are a necessary and useful tool in the teaching and learning process.1 This is especially true when it comes to diagnostic and formative assessments, which give teachers real-time direction for what students need to learn to master course content. It is this space where the advancements of technology can particularly benefit teaching and learning, as there is growing recognition in the field of psychology that tests help students learn. Sometimes called the testing effect, this theory suggests that low-stakes quizzes help students gain knowledge—and improve instruction.2
Advancements in technology have led to new developments in the field, such as stealth assessments, that reduce some of the stress students may experience around assessments. This approach makes testing more ubiquitous and useful for teachers because the methods are woven into the fabric of learning and are invisible to students.3
But to get to a place where all teachers have access to such tests, there needs to be greater investment in testing research and development that results in better systems of diagnostic and formative assessments. This issue brief reviews developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and the types of advancements in diagnostic and formative testing it makes possible. This issue brief ends with recommendations for how the federal government can invest in testing research and development.
Continue reading: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2021/09/16/502663/future-testing-education-artificial-intelligence/

Dr. Sian Proctor has made history as the first Black woman to serve as a pilot of a spacecraft when SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Mission launched on Wednesday.
Proctor, who is a geoscientist and professor, will be one of four people in the first-ever all-civilian spaceflight, serving as a Mission Pilot on SpaceX’s Inspiration4. She will be the fourth Black woman to travel into space, but will make history as the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft with the three-day trip circling the earth, the New York Times reports.
Proctor, a Guam native, had her interest in space sparked at an early age due to her father himself being an engineer for NASA. As a child, she was labeled as a “tomboy” because of her love for building planes. It was then when she aspired to be a fighter pilot once she grew up.
After receiving her master’s degree in Geology, and her Ph.D. in Science Education, Proctor embarked on her career as a geoscience professor for South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona where she taught for over 20 years. Proctor also serves as Vice President of Education at Star Harbor Space Academy.
Proctor spoke to The Space Channel — a Local Now partner of theGrio — about how vital astronauts are.
“When we think about astronauts, we don’t really think of them as guinea pigs. They are research subjects and so we submit them to all kinds of medical tests and all those things,” Proctor said.
“You can think of the twin studies like how we’re also investigating technologies and so I brought in this drone study and the whole idea is with that suit I was wearing when you go into these moon and Mars simulation you’re acting like you’re on that planet or that body.”
Years of training and various educational space programs have been key in the preparation of the pilot’s journey set for Wednesday. Her training includes the Mars Desert Research Station, Mars mission at HI-SEAS, and a Moon mission in the LunAres Habitat. Proctor was selected as one of NASA’s astronaut finalists in 2009, KJZZ reports.
Mission Inspiration4 was created by high school dropout turned-billionaire, Jared Isaacman, according to the New York Times. He’s the founder of the highly successful payment processing company called Shift4 Payment, and will also be funding this trip.
Continue reading: https://thegrio.com/2021/09/15/sian-proctor-makes-history/?fbclid=IwAR1qkJXayJNRGkh2EPytrxQSqJI0zjjnCh3iYml1I4U3_8JJwjppHxEz6ew

Do you know what a ‘shecession’ is?
The phrase was coined doing Covid to highlight how the recession had resulted in far more job losses in women than in men.
It was against this backdrop that in July this year I did something I’d never done before – I left my (relatively secure) public sector job for my first ever private sector role.
With my 47th birthday on the horizon I realised if I didn’t take the plunge now, I never would.
Everybody’s circumstances are different but in my case my husband Marc launched Redmoor Health in 2017, specialising in supporting health and social care staff to deploy technology.
I’ve always been involved in the background and have watched with pride as the business has grown to 20 staff, won UK-wide clients and picked up several awards.
Redmoor Health’s turnover has grown to £2m with plans to reach £5m by 2024, prompting us to move into new offices in Strawberry Fields Digital Hub in Chorley.
As the business grew so the need for greater governance increased to the point that Marc created a new role of corporate director and said he had the perfect candidate in mind – me!
But here’s the thing. All my life I’ve worked in the public sector, first in healthcare and then in local government, so what did I know about the private sector?
I’ve held a number of senior roles that have taught me a range of skills around governance, stakeholder engagement, policy development, managing partnerships,  HR and ‘soft’ skills like patience.
Although I knew I could do the job I was scared about making the switch in my mid 40s.
A friend said there was a term for this – imposter syndrome – and it’s especially common in women.
Thankfully there is a happy ending to this story. I’m proud to say that I took the leap of faith and joined Redmoor Health as corporate director.
Continue reading: https://businesscloud.co.uk/opinion/shecession-imposter-syndrome-and-being-a-female-in-tech/

Companies are desperate to hire tech workers like Stefan Hayden, a 38-year-old software engineer who lives near New York City.  
“Not a day goes by where I don’t have multiple recruiters emailing me, or messaging on LinkedIn,” Hayden told me last week. Engineers with a few years experience under their belt, like Hayden, are practically getting stalked by recruiters these days, he said. “I’m specifically a white dude in programming in the middle of my career,” he said, explaining part of his appeal.  
The thing is: recruiters are missing out on millions of people, according to a new report from Harvard Business School and Accenture, because they’re screening out applicants who don’t check all their very specific and possibly unreasonable boxes.  
The researchers estimate there are more than 27 million of these “hidden workers” in the U.S.   
Maybe they don’t have all the required years of experience, or they took time out of the workforce to care for children or an elderly relative or themselves. Hidden workers might also have mental health or physical challenges, maybe they’ve been sick or were previously incarcerated.  
Or they served in the military.  
Incredibly, even now—in a pandemic that has sidelined so many workers—some employers will stop considering those out of the workforce for longer than six months.  
And make no mistake, hidden workers want to work, the authors point out. Employers aren’t even considering them.  
Part of the problem is computer algorithms are screening out qualified candidates for failing to meet ridiculous standards, Kathryn Dill, reported in a piece for the Wall Street Journal last week, diving into a particularly maddening part of the HBS report. 
Continue reading: https://fortune.com/2021/09/15/recruiters-engineering-men-women-job-hunt-linkedin-technology/

Tom Renn, MD of Bruntwood SciTech - the UK property provider dedicated to the growth of the science and technology sector - looks at how the North of England is leading the way in creating a more diverse tech sector. 
 
There’s no doubt that the lack of diversity in the tech sector is an issue. From the need to upskill and reskill more workers, to making sure there’s fairer opportunities and systems in place to ensure people of all backgrounds can work in tech, there’s certainly work to be done. 
Diversity in tech isn’t just about equality, it’s about innovation, talent, skills and social responsibility. 
Developing new technologies through a single lens only restricts creativity. On the other hand, developing new technologies through many lenses means more representative products of a broader demographic, driven by new perspectives, bigger visions, wider audiences and more opportunities.
The facts
Although Tech Nation’s 2020 Jobs and Skills report saw that demand for tech roles in the UK has increased 40% within the past two years, women still only represent around 17 - 19% of the tech sector workforce, and only 15.2% of tech roles are filled by people from ethnic minority groups.
Not only is there a huge gender and ethnicity gap within tech companies, but also far less investment is received by tech founders in these groups.
To put this into a local perspective, the 2019 Digital Skills Audit revealed that just one in every five technical roles in Greater Manchester are currently filled by women.
Worryingly, this underrepresentation is mirrored nationally at education level; figures from Wise Campaign reveal that just 39% of A-Level Maths students in 2018 were female, with this number dropping to 22% and 12% in Physics and Computing respectively. Despite this, girls outperformed boys in STEM subjects in 2018, showing just how much female talent the sector is missing out on.
Tech diversity starts in school
Creating a more diverse and inclusive tech sector begins in school. Bruntwood SciTech is always on the lookout to support projects and initiatives that start here, something done by Manchester Digital’s ‘Digital Her’ project.
Over the years we’ve joined the likes of Auto Trader, BJSS and GCHQ to help break down stereotypes and perceptions about what it means to work in the tech sector. 
This has been really important in encouraging diversity in STEM. The 2019 Digital Her roadshow reached over 1200 girls aged 12 - 13 across Greater Manchester, with a 37% increase in young women reporting they would consider a career in digital and technology as a result of the roadshow.
Talking to young people is all about debunking the common myth that working in tech is synonymous with men coding on computers in a basement - a recurring theme amongst young people when asked the question, "what does working in tech look like?"
Across the North, more work is being done to encourage this positive change. Circle Square-based entrepreneur Nile Henry founded The Blair Project to tackle underrepresentation in motorsport. Nile and his mum, Dr Marilyn Comrie, work with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to convert used petrol go karts into fully electric e-carts. 
Continue reading: https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/features/2021/09/how-north-leading-way-diversity-tech

Here's something we should all be talking about: Women, who make up half of the U.S. population, remain severely under-represented in technology, and they continue to flee the industry at alarming rates. In fact, women make up just about 25% of technology workers, and the quit rate for women in high tech jobs is 41%, or more than twice that of men. 
Although some cynics argue that women don’t want to work in tech, that’s a typical stereotype that can obscure the path to viable solutions. In truth, women can be excluded from tech by a variety of forces, but the evidence shows that women thrive in tech under the right conditions, bringing talent and innovation to resource-starved IT teams. 
So what exactly are the right conditions for women? The same conditions under which anyone would thrive: encouragement; hands-on tech discovery in school; the presence of role models in leadership positions; mentorship; executive sponsorship; fair pay; workplace inclusion; and the flexibility to parent while employed.
The great news is that substantially increasing women’s involvement in technology is not a zero-sum game. The technology skills gap is well-documented, and there are more than enough job openings in technology to go around.
Here are seven key steps we can take to close the gender gap in technology:

1. Start girls early. Competence is not a function of gender but rather of belief, passion, and effort. Starting in kindergarten, we should intentionally provide girls with concrete opportunities to discover their natural wonder around technology. 
2. Recruit in new places. A standard tactic for recruitment involves seeking graduates from a traditional set of colleges and universities with as much prestige as your workplace can demand. This can be a dated practice that won’t necessarily fill all the open tech opportunities. Companies should cast a wider recruiting net and update their hiring approaches and criteria. For example, a college degree shouldn’t always be a requirement; military service or another salient career experience can be an excellent substitute. One household-name tech company is looking even further into nontraditional sources, turning formerly incarcerated women (and men) into full-time paid software engineers.
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   Continue reading: https://fortune.com/2021/09/15/women-in-tech-gender-gap-inclusion-mentorship/

The government is to clear the way for transplant organs, vaccines and other live-saving medical products to be flown around Britain by drone. Trials in Scotland have shown drones can dramatically reduce delivery times and costs, especially in remote locations. Over the last three months, drones have been flying every day between Oban and the Isle of Mull in Scotland, transporting blood samples, Covid tests and other medical consignments.
Now the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), working with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), will develop and test a special standardised container compliant with international dangerous goods regulations. It will allow the medical drone flights to be conducted outside special trials and for the deliveries to become an everyday occurrence across the UK. The CAA will “develop world-first standards for special containers that will allow drones to safely carry sensitive goods like medical products, so that remote communities can access critical supplies without delay,” a spokesman for the regulator told the Telegraph. The project aims to be completed by March next year, using a £55,000 innovation grant from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Business Minister Lord Callanan said: “Good regulation should spur entrepreneurship, not stand in its way, and this project will help keep the UK at the cutting-edge of innovation. “The CAA drone project could pave the way for exciting developments in the sector, bringing benefits to British businesses and consumers alike.”
Continue reading: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/government-gives-go-ahead-vaccines-organs-flown-around-uk-drone/

The Australian Broadband Advisory Council today released a report on digital agriculture. Widespread adoption of digital agriculture is critical to lifting the value of Australian agriculture from $60 billion to $100 billion by 2030, an objective set by the Australian Government.
The report considered three questions.
Does a ‘connectivity threshold’ exist in regional and rural Australia where connectivity becomes an enabler of digital agriculture, rather than a drag on it?
Connectivity to support digital agriculture is required across the entire farming operation, and not just at the homestead: connectivity out in the paddock for soil moisture probes; down by the creek, dams and bores for real time monitoring of water usage; on the move around the farm as digitally tractors work; and above the farm as drones strike at weeds.
However, the report found that across the country, beneath the broad brush strokes of mobile coverage and National Broadband Network (NBN) fixed and wireless networks, there are localised connectivity gaps on, across and between farms. The report called this patchiness ‘salt and pepper connectivity’.
Salt and pepper connectivity, in human geography terms, is all about scale. Salt and pepper connectivity is experienced not at the national or state level or even local government area level, but at the local community level, with variability between neighbouring farms or even across an individual farm. The report provides a case study of Tony, a cotton farmer 8kms outside Narrabri. In an effort to achieve greater water efficiency, Tony has spent $1.5 million on a large lateral irrigator with an onboard SIM connected to the mobile network. The idea is that the ‘robot’ can roll across the farm watering at night and can ‘call out’ by messaging Tony’s mobile phone when it has fallen over and needs him to get out of bed to right it. Tony’s farm is within line of sight of a mobile tower on a mountain about 45kms away. However, as coverage is patchy and variable on his farm, he cannot count of the ‘robot’ being online, and so he still has to get up during the night to manually check it.
If the threshold has not been crossed, what connectivity is required for digital agriculture to be put in place and what measures can be taken to get it in place?
If the problem is salt and pepper connectivity, the ultimate goal has to be ubiquitous connectivity across farms: or as NBN puts it “no paddock left behind”. However, the report concludes that carrier mobile and fixed wireless networks may not necessarily be the best way of achieving that goal:
National carriers may continue to be the primary providers of connectivity in rural Australia, but their focus – in terms of both technology and business outcomes – is on serving premises and ‘people on the move’ along transport corridors.
Carrier networks, by business case and technology, are geared to solve connectivity issues at large scale – which means premises and vehicles, not paddocks and cows.
Continue reading: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b3d7b08d-f3a4-446b-a3f4-96b5f8a754bb

Researchers have developed a real-time approach that can help prevent incidents like the large-scale disruption at London’s Gatwick Airport in 2018. Possible drone sightings at the perimeter of the airport caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used a combination of statistical techniques and radar data to predict the flight path of a drone, and whether it intends to enter a restricted airspace, for instance around a civilian airport. Some of the results will be reported today (15 September) at the Sensor Signal Processing for Defence Conference in Edinburgh.
Their solution could help prevent a repeat of the Gatwick incident, as it can spot any drones before they enter restricted airspace and can determine, early, if their future actions are likely to pose a threat to other aircraft. This new predictive capability can enable automated decision-making and significantly reduce the workload on drone surveillance system operators by offering actionable information on potential threats to facilitate timely and proportionate responses. Real radar data from live drone trials at several locations was used to validate the new approach.
Drones have become ubiquitous over the past several years, with widespread applications in agriculture, surveying and e-commerce, among other fields. However, they can also be a nuisance or present a potential safety risk, especially with the wide availability of cheap and increasingly more capable platforms. A few days before Christmas 2018, reported drone sightings near the perimeter of Gatwick Airport caused hundreds of flights to be disrupted due to the possible risk of collision. No culprit was found.
Continue reading: https://innovationorigins.com/en/selected/real-time-drone-intent-monitoring-could-enable-safer-use-of-drones/

India’s varied landscape of towering mountains, expansive deserts, and wetlands susceptible to flash floods has long been an obstacle course for authorities trying to reach citizens in remote areas. In the COVID era, officials are navigating that maze to deliver vaccines, and they’re up against a ticking clock: the government’s goal to vaccinate each of India’s 950 million adults by the end of 2021. 
The extraordinary task calls for an innovative solution—one India piloted last weekend.  
On Saturday afternoon, a dome-shaped white drone the size of a mini refrigerator took off from the Vikarabad parade ground in the southern state of Telangana. Dozens of onlookers applauded as the device climbed upward before zipping off to the east. Within seconds, it was out of sight. Minutes later, the drone landed three kilometers away on the grounds of a state-run community hospital. 
On its journey, the drone cradled a medical cold storage box packed with dry ice and special insulation to protect precious cargo: vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella. It was the first shipment in a 28-day pilot program spearheaded by the World Economic Forum that, if successful, will create a drone network to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to India’s hardest-to-reach places. The project, called Medicine From the Sky, is a partnership between WEF, the state government of Telangana, Apollo Hospitals HealthNet Global, and the government think tank NITI Aayog. For the pilot program, three drone startups—TechEagle, SkyAir, and Marut—have offered their services for free.
If the shipments of vaccines prove successful, the program will expand to delivering other critical medicines and emergency blood supplies.
“This is the first time in the world, when a revolution is about to start, India will not be a follower but a leader,” India Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said at the launch ceremony.
Continue reading: https://fortune.com/2021/09/15/drone-vaccine-delivery-india-telangana-covid-campaign/

Dave Krause of Influential Drones and volunteer FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) Industry Member is joined by Dawn Zoldi of P3 Tech Consulting in a DroneLife.com 2-minute highlight reel of Thursday's National Drone Safety Awareness Week Topic: "Safe Flyers Know the Latest Rules" #FlySafe

September 14, 2021 (Security Television Network) -- Two hundred years ago a skull and crossbones flag on the ocean signaled an imminent threat. Now, those who defend and make their living at sea face a new lawless and unpredictable threat: cyberattacks.
Internet of Things: Maritime Vulnerabilities
When it comes to cyber threats, industry and military experts agree: U.S. maritime operations are vulnerable.
“As we have seen from recent incidents,” explained Captain Jason Tama of the United States Coast Guard, “the maritime industry’s growing dependence on continuous network connectivity and converging layers of information and operational technology make it inherently vulnerable to cyber threats.”
CAPT Tama identifies the transition to the Internet of Things (IoT) approach as a major source of that vulnerability. IoT is an information technology term that describes a system of devices or of self-contained systems that are connected and able to communicate over a single network. This connectivity is achieved largely by the introduction of firmware into vessel and onshore hardware systems. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, firmware refers specifically to the “combination of a hardware device and computer instructions or computer data that reside as read-only software on the hardware device.”
Continue reading: https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/44731766/how-the-us-navy-hunts-down-cyber-threats

Computer scientist Joy Buolamwini knows a lot about racial bias both in and outside the lab. The MIT Media Lab researcher and founder of Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) works to uncover subtle instances of racial discrimination in facial recognition software, but like many Black people, she’s experienced it IRL as well. 
According to Kaiser Family Foundation research, about 7 in 10 African Americans have experienced unconscious racial bias. This discrimination runs the gamut from social media beauty filters favoring white-identified beauty features to prejudiced AI-driven hiring systems, it adversely affects people of color in tremendous ways. 
Olay, a company that has built its brand on inclusive beauty, has partnered with Buolamwini for the  #DecodetheBias campaign to impact meaningful and informed change by helping to triple the number of WOC in STEM by 2030. 
Buolamwini sat down with Essence to share her experience as a Black woman in STEM, her Olay partnership and the upcoming Netflix documentary that follows the journey to dismantling the systems that reinforce racial bias online against Black women. 
Continue reading: https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/olay-partnership-joy-buolamwini/