What is the blockchain?
Blockchain technology is a cryptographic chain of peer-to-peer transactions. Blockchain transactions are stored in a trustless manner, thanks to decentralized nodes that validate and commit them. 
Bitcoin, the first-ever cryptocurrency, introduced blockchain technology and the concept of a blockchain ecosystem to the world. When examining the history of blockchain, we’ve got to look back to 2009. Revealed in 2009 by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin white paper detailed a solution to the double-spend problem surrounding digital peer-to-peer payments.
Transactions in blockchain
Nakamoto evolved transactions into trustless entities, removing the need for an intermediary.
Nakamoto’s white paper presented their problems with traditional finance, stating that e-commerce had come to rely almost entirely on third-party intermediaries to process digital transactions. These intermediaries must spend time and money on mediating transactions, increasing costs for the transacting parties and limiting the potential for smaller, everyday transactions, among other problems.
This solution entailed immutably timestamping transactions via computational proofs and hashing those transactions into an “ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work.” 
Such a chain would exist in a decentralized manner — as a timestamp server distributed among willingly participating nodes. If nodes were to leave and come back, they would take on a copy of the longest existing chain and continue from there.
Decentralizing the transaction process allowed for trustless peer-to-peer interactivity, removing the need for third-party involvement and, ideally, providing cheaper and faster transactions to all. However, once the technology was in place, users needed a way to transact on top of it, which is where Bitcoin came into play. 
So when asking whether Bitcoin or blockchain came first, we now know the answer is blockchain.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/explained/the-evolution-of-blockchain-transactions-contracts-and-applications

India and the fintech industry are not alien to blockchain technology, which has become a huge talking point among startups, media and even in government corridors. And not without reason, blockchain is a platform that allows the recording of information in an extremely secure way, making it near-impossible to alter or break into the system. Blockchain has been described as a digital ledger of records called blocks, which are used to record transactions and track assets in a business network. It is known to democratise processes, ensuring security, transparency and efficiency, with one of the most attractive qualities of this technology being decentralised ownership.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger management technology that can be used for transactions between two people or to track custody of couriers, etc. Since transactions are recorded in almost real-time.
Further, there is a reliable record of each transaction, eliminating the prospect of altering past transactions. In essence, blockchain technology has the potential to make each and every transaction entirely fool-proof.
There is such a steep learning curve with this emerging tech that the government has set up a Centre for Excellence in Blockchain Technology, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It's an interesting avenue where the government is using blockchain technology in the Digidhan portal, which has been created for the “accurate reporting, monitoring and analysis of all types of digital payments transactions” that occur in India. This is proof that the government is embracing innovation, unafraid to explore, and is giving a platform to latest technologies.
Continue reading: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/why-fintech-is-embracing-blockchain-to-ensure-privacy-and-safety-for-consumers-8307021.html

Today many women work in the field of technology. However, the majority are men, indicating that there is no equal treatment between men and women in the industry. In fact, according to recent official data, 52% of women in IT believe that gender limits their careers.
The situation in the field of information technology where the male gender is predominant seems to work discouragingly for women, 1/5 of whom are considering leaving their current position.
Five are the most important obstacles in IT companies that according to women affect their career. The main thing is the lack of opportunities for promotion since 38% of women set it as the most important obstacle to their work and development.
 Next follows the lack of confidence. According to 35% of women this particular barrier significantly impacts their career. Some other women (33%) said that the lack of senior support/ role models is a serious barrier preventing them from fully developing their career. The difficulty between balancing work and other responsibilities and sexism/gender bias were also reported by a group of women as two main barriers with negative impact on their career. More specifically, 31% of women mentioned the difficulty between balancing work and other responsibilities, while 29% of women mentioned sexism/gender bias. 
Continue reading: https://ceoworld.biz/2022/04/01/top-career-barriers-women-face-in-technology-sector/

Women in Technology is a registered student organization at Illinois State University that strives to support and encourage women in technology-based majors and careers.
WIT works to improve professional skills of individuals in heavy technology careers and learning paths. It hopes to expose a new generation of women to a path in this field.
The organization was founded in the spring of 2016. People of any major or gender are welcome, as the focus is on fixing the gender gap in the world of technology.
Senior and WIT public relations officer Sydney Hill is pursuing a degree in creative technology and a minor in IT. She joined WIT because of the gender disparity in her computer classes.
“You don’t realize how out of place and alone you feel as one of maybe two women in a class,” Hill said.
WIT works to empower, inform and build women in technology up through discussions to help their learning paths become the best that they possibly can be.
Continue reading: https://www.videtteonline.com/features/women-in-technology-looks-to-fix-gender-gap-through-encouraging-career-paths/article_e9598ba4-b165-11ec-9d47-2b6d21773ad3.html

Web3 represents the future of the Internet, where users operate in a decentralized way
With the non-fungible token (NFT) becoming the Collins Dictionary word of the year and decentralized finance (DeFi) trending in mainstream media, 2021 has been an important year for cryptocurrencies. To a large extent, this is due to the economic repercussions of COVID-19, as many people have sought new methods to diversify their income and a shift to working from home that allows them to pursue new interests. As a result, many have chosen to invest in cryptocurrency. While this may imply that the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies is well underway, there is one initiative in particular that has the potential to propel crypto into everyone’s daily lives: Web3.
The concept of Web3 has captivated investors and the technology industry in 2021. Web3 represents the future of the Internet, where users operate in a decentralized way rather than relying on large commercial enterprises or centralized government organizations, by emphasizing the community.
Continue reading: https://www.thebharatexpressnews.com/how-long-will-it-take-for-mainstream-adoption-of-web3-to-happen/

As an investor in emerging technology and a nascent observer of Web3, I've spent some time researching this phenomena that has brought many skeptics to the fore, in the midst of whales, and dare I say, a handful Crypto and NFT Kool-Aid drinkers, who have amassed fortunes in the process.
I get that the current web needs some serious fixing. If anything, Web2 has continued to tighten and centralize more control in the hands of Big Tech, governments, and financial institutions. The publishing industry is dying as FB and Google have all but severed the revenue streams for the Guardian, now Buzzfeed and New York Times, relegating these once-giants to plead for monthly donations to stay afloat.
The mortgage crash of 2008 gave rise to Bitcoin, with the promise to separate the financial system from the powers of a sovereign nation, effectively democratizing wealth and financial control for each individual on the planet. And while the last decade has seen an explosive growth in Bitcoin valuation, the extreme volatility within its expensive financial system has kept the mainstream at bay.
Now, enter Cryptocurrency, the rise of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the surge of the Metaverse fervor. The FOMO created by these emanations continues to make the average Joe question the viability or even sustainability of the next iteration of the Internet: Is Web3 to be or not to be?
Will Web3 prevail despite its current environment? And for that to happen, what factors will need to be in place to create a sustainable alternative for mainstream audiences?
I've consumed the views of the critics: Stephen Diehl, Dan Olson, Jacob Silverman, Professor Galloway, and proponents of Cryptocurrency (especially Bitcoin) like Alex Gladstein. I've also decided to bring in some experts on both sides of the aisle: tokenomics practitioners and crypto investors as well as security and privacy experts with healthy doses of skepticism to debate whether we, as a society, are ready for and will accept what some say will be an inevitable evolution to decentralize the web and finally bring more monetary opportunities to individuals and create truly human-centered, and human-controlled environments.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hessiejones/2022/04/02/web3-2be-or-not-2be/?sh=1de4e0d9f4a8

One neat thing about blockchains is that you can see all of the transactions ever processed on them. This feature, unique to public blockchains, will persist for all of time—or, at least, until someone switches the internet off.
You can download a blockchain ledger for yourself and sift through it on your computer. But a much easier method is to parse this data with a tool called a blockchain explorer—a website that lets you scan through a blockchain’s entire history.
Blockchain explorers support different blockchains. Etherscan is the gold standard for the Ethereum blockchain, Solscan is a popular choice for Solana, and Blockchain.com is focused on Bitcoin. But the type of data is usually the same: a robust history of all transaction data ever processed on a particular blockchain.
On an explorer, you can witness the moment, etched forever into history by the immutable nature of decentralized ledgers, that Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto mined coins now worth tens of billions of dollars. Or, you can follow the alleged money-laundering attempts made by those in control of the spoils of the Bitfinex hacker.
Privacy coins such as Monero mark the major exception to this fascinating rule. You can see that a transaction has taken place, but who sent what to whom is obscured.
Continue reading: https://decrypt.co/resources/how-to-read-block-explorer

Moving from the computer playing chess to self-driving cars, technology continues to reinvent itself. Today, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning are everywhere!
Moving from the computer playing chess to self-driving cars, technology continues to reinvent itself. Today, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL) are found in all sectors and at all levels. These technologies are deterministic and make it possible to predict equipment failures or even via a chatbot to interact with customers for a business, for example.
What is the history of artificial intelligence?
The concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has its origins in antiquity and has existed for centuries. Artificial intelligence as we know it today has more recent roots. In 1950, mathematician Alan Turing published “Computing Machines and Intelligence,” which answers the question “Can machines think?” This led to the emergence of Turing test It is a method of testing machine intelligence.
Since Turing’s time, advances in artificial intelligence have continued, especially with the development of a computer program capable of playing chess against humans. Computer scientist Arthur Samuel created this program that is able to record all the previous movements of the opponent and create his strategy. In short, the computer learns from the mistakes of the past and plays at a higher level called the intelligent level at each step. Samuel constantly improved and developed this program and in 1952 coined the term machine learning (Machine learning).
Continue reading: https://technewsinc.com/how-can-machine-learning-and-artificial-intelligence-be-effective-in-your-business/

The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) has been a science fiction staple since at least the 1927 German cult classic film Metropolis, in which an evil robot leads the destruction of a city. In fact, from Blade Runner to The Terminator and The Matrix series, AI in movies has mostly been about killer robots.
Thankfully, in business the reality of AI is more killer app than killer robot. AI has changed not only the technology we use in the modern organization, but also the way we think about problem solving. Ever since technology professionals first saw the potential of early AI solutions, the sky has been the limit of their imaginations.
One real-world application of AI operates at a level of speed, intelligence and efficiency that might seem to approach science fiction: artificial intelligence for IT operations, or AIOps for short. AIOps is a real, concrete, powerful tool to manage the enormous volumes of data you need to wrangle so you can start to realize the benefits of digital transformation. (And no, it can’t mix drinks, mow the lawn or solve the Wordle for you. Yet.)
What Exactly Is AIOps?
AIOps applies data, analytics and machine learning to automate IT operations. These new learning systems can analyze massive amounts of network and machine data to find patterns not always identified by human operators. (That should probably be “impossible for human operators to identify,” but we’re trying to go easy on you.) These patterns can both identify the cause of existing problems and predict future impacts. The ultimate goal of AIOps is to automate routine practices in order to increase accuracy and speed of issue recognition, enabling IT staff to more effectively meet increasing demands.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/splunk/2022/04/01/the-6-myths-and-realities-of-aiops/?sh=5fac11fc5dd3

The use of computer algorithms to differentiate patterns from noise in data is now commonplace due to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) research, open-source software such as scikit-learn, and large numbers of talented data scientists streaming into the field. There is no question that competency in computer science, statistics, and information technology can lead to a successful AI project with useful outcomes. However, there is a missing piece from this recipe for success which has important implications in some domains. It’s not enough to teach humans to think like AI. We need to teach AI to understand the value of humans.
Consider a recent peer-reviewed study from Google and several academic partners to predict health outcomes from the electronic health records (EHR) of tens of thousands of patients using deep learning neural networks. Google developed special data structures for processing data, had access to powerful high-performance computing, and deployed state-of-the-art AI algorithms for predicting outcomes such as whether a patient would be readmitted to the hospital following a procedure such as surgery. This was a data science tour de force.
Although Google’s top-level results in this study claimed to beat a standard logistic regression model, there was a meaningful distinction buried in the fine print. While Google beat a standard logistic regression model based on 28 variables, its own deep learning approach only tied a more detailed logistic regression model built from the same data set the AI had used. Deep learning, in other words, was not necessary for the performance improvement Google claimed. In this example, the AI did not meet expectations.
Continue reading: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/333588-the-human-side-of-artificial-intelligence

Talkdesk’s Future of AI in the Contact Center report found that 84% of CX professionals expect their company’s total spending on AI and automation to increase in 2025 compared to 2021, with 89% of CX professionals — including customer service leaders, managers and operational staff — believing in the importance of using AI in contact centers. However, only 14% of businesses consider themselves transformational with AI.
Just having the technology isn’t enough to produce positive results. AI users also need to follow these five best CX industry practices.
Leverage Timely, Relevant Data
To be useful in CX, it’s important that AI can leverage the right data at the right time, said Karl Phenix, Avtex director of sales engineering. “It’s easy to conceptualize AI as conjuring answers out of nowhere, creating something that wouldn’t exist otherwise."
He added, "AI helps employees gain useful insights and context about customers and proactively answer questions to serve them better. Does this customer prefer to be contacted by phone or email? Are they on the East or West coast? What times do they prefer to be contacted? AI can harness data and make intelligent recommendations, learning and improving from each interaction.”
Continue reading: https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/5-best-practices-for-using-ai-in-your-cx-strategy/

It comes as no surprise that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered increased cyber activity in Europe and the US, with suspected Russian state-backed hackers looking for opportunities to destabilise western economies and critical infrastructures. It’s even prompted US President Biden to recently release a statement outlining the risks and what businesses need to do to try and counter any attack.  
As a Sophos Russia-Ukraine cyberattack page claims, this is all sound advice but the fear is that despite years of guidance and warnings, so many businesses still come up short on security. As Sophos reveals, “every day we assist companies who have only protected some of their assets, keep few if any, logs, are months if not years out of date on patching their systems and have open remote access to the internet with single-factor authentication.”
While for many enterprises this is fixable, there are growing fears that for many verticals it represents a more complex challenge, particularly with the internet of things (IoT). With vertical industries expected to spend over $188 billion on IoT devices and services this year, the prospect of cyber breaches and disruption to industry is very real.
According to a PSA Certified 2022 Security Report, there are significant gaps in IoT security provision, with technology decision-makers citing a lack of internal expertise and cost as inhibiting them from implementing stronger security. Only 31% of technology decision-makers feel ‘very satisfied’ with their level of security expertise in-house, while 59% still admit that internal validation is relied upon to certify security implementations.
Continue reading: https://www.idgconnect.com/article/3655132/industry-needs-to-plug-iot-security-holes-or-face-vertical-meltdown.html

Industries that rely on equipment for their work such as manufacturing are shifting towards the use of IoT. Internet of Things controls or senses objects remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct consolidation of the physical world into computer-based systems.
This results in improved efficiency, precision, and economic benefit with reduced human intervention. For any manufacturing industry, this transformation is important. This helps in improving performance, boosting productivity, and increasing profitability while eliminating unnecessary costs and waste during production.
In fact, IoT is part of the fourth industrial revolution. And this is a big factor. All sorts of benefits can be extracted by manufacturing hubs with the use of IoT. Some of them include-

• Digital/connected factory
• Facility management
• Production flow monitoring
• Inventory management
• Plant Safety and Security
• Quality control
• Packaging Optimization
• Logistics and Supply Chain Optimization

Here are 4 scenarios where IOT can show its prowess in manufacturing-
Energy Savings
Any form of manufacturing uses a large number of resources and energy. It is probably one of the biggest costs involved in the production process apart from the raw materials. The use of IoT results in reduced energy consumption as the systems can proactively manage the work cycles. This can lead to a reduction in costs that can actually be noticed.
It can help to pinpoint the process where the energy leaks happen in the process chain. Every piece of machinery can be tracked and located to manage power consumption in real-time.
Predictive and Preventive Maintenance
Using the Internet of Things approach, monitoring every aspect of a manufacturing operation becomes easier, and leads to greater productivity and safety.
This helps in predicting the problems in advance thus ensuring the supervisors know what their next step would be. It is possible for manufacturers to shift focus from preventive to predictive maintenance. It can also aid in preventive maintenance by conducting automated tests.
When the data of a machine is available at the right moment and place, preventing production delay costs becomes easy. This is one of the many goals of IoT for manufacturing.
Continue reading: https://techbullion.com/the-massive-potential-of-iot-in-manufacturing/

According to the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM), frequently reorganizing and discarding information is essential for the data life cycle. An excess of unstructured data inevitably leads to security vulnerabilities, causes compliance issues, increases storage costs, and impacts day-to-day activities.
Businesses in all industries realize that these problems can be mitigated or even completely avoided by keeping up-to-date and “clean” datasets. It is done through data remediation, which should be at the core of the data management strategy of every organization.
This post provides an overview of the remediation process, its numerous benefits, and its different stages. Read on to discover how companies use this procedure to improve their workflow by reducing data overload.
What is data remediation?
By definition, data remediation is correcting the mistakes that accumulate during and after data collection. Security teams are responsible for reorganizing, cleansing, migrating, archiving, and deleting data to ensure optimal storage and eliminate data quality issues.
In other words, the primary goal of remediation is to manage unstructured data by reducing redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data, commonly known as dark and dirty data.
When is data remediation required?
You must perform data remediation regularly to ensure that your organization’s data is continuously updated, protected, and compliant. However, there are times when remediation is mandatory to avoid security breaches or legal repercussions:

• Change in external or internal laws and policies: As you probably know, data privacy rules are constantly changing worldwide. Additionally, a company’s higher management can implement new internal policies. In both of these situations, it is necessary to stay on the safe side and remediate your data to ensure legal and regulatory compliance.
• Change in business conditions: Software or hardware changes can affect the data within a company. Moreover, you should examine new data resulting from mergers and acquisitions. In this case, you need data remediation to check for security threats and protect from possible breaches.
• Human mistakes: In the workplace, accidents and mistakes are bound to happen. When errors are discovered, you must perform data remediation to assess data integrity and security. It helps you understand the extent of the incident and how you can mitigate any resulting data quality issue.

Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2022/04/03/data-remediation-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters/

The onset of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic led to a surge in demand for edge datacentre capacity in some vertical markets, while also having a chilling effect on the adoption and deployment rates of distributed computing setups in others.
As enterprises across the world pivoted towards remote working during the early days of the pandemic, having a higher number of smaller data processing hubs located closer to users made a lot of sense.
These setups meant enterprises could provide their remote employees with low-latency connections to business applications, with (hopefully) little to no perceptible difference in performance when compared to using those same apps in the office.
It is a concept the music and movie streaming services embraced years before the pandemic struck by leaning on content delivery networks (CDNs) and points of presence (PoP) to host their content, rather than relying on huge, centralised datacentres in remote locations to serve up their content to users.
Having this content close to users reduces the risk of buffering and cuts down on loading times for streaming platforms, making their apps more responsive while also providing them with valuable, geographic-led usage data about who is consuming their content.
In the increasingly competitive world of streaming platforms, any performance issues or user experience blips that stop consumers getting access to the content they want in a timely way can affect the ability of these companies to recruit new users and retain existing ones.

Edge investments on hold
Beyond these use cases, wider adoption of edge datacentres and computing environments has taken a little bit longer than expected, with the pandemic forcing some firms to put their edge plans on ice, according to Roy Illsley, chief analyst at IT market watcher Omdia.
In a research project last year about edge computing, Omdia found that edge investments had been put on hold due to Covid-19.
Continue reading: https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/The-time-is-now-Edge-datacentres-come-of-age

Talk about the potential value of drone technology has driven interest and investment for many years now. While the drone industry is arguably beyond this hype phase, the reality of how and where it can create value is something that many are still trying to define in terms of application and ROI. Multiple presentations during the Energy & Utilities track of Amsterdam Drone Week laid out what these applications look like, how ROI can be measured and much more.
Moderated by Sebastian Babiarz, COO of Dronehub, each presenter detailed what it has meant for them to use drones to achieve significant cost savings, enhance safety and reduce inspection time. How those differences can scale and be further augmented with autonomous solutions was a throughline that each of them mentioned but approach in different ways.
Axpo Grid is Switzerland's largest producer of renewable energy and an international leader in energy trading and the marketing of solar and wind power. Kevin Geiger, Digital Engineer at Axpo Grid, talked about how the company got involved with drones as a means to enable digital asset modeling, a digital workforce, analytics and applications and automated maintenance. Doing so has allowed them to better deliver a full service and redefined their approach to visual inspections, which are supported by Grid Sysytem from eSmart Systems. Douglas Coene from eSmart Systems further defined this connection.
Doing so has enabled the company to be 40% more efficient, but what exactly does this mean? With the same time and same budget, inspectors can get more done. The detailed images captured via drones allow them to zoom in and view details that otherwise might have compelled another look at an asset. With this info, inspectors can determine whether they need to take action or nott, removing what would have otherwise been time and money to make that assessment. Their biggest challenges are related to hardware limitations, regulation, image capture and standardization but he talked through how the organization is looking to overcome each.
Continue reading: https://www.commercialuavnews.com/energy/defining-the-value-of-drone-technology-at-scale-in-energy-utilities

Agricultural drone is a multi-functional unmanned aerial vehicle that is mostly used for optimization of yield, monitoring of crop development level, irrigation capacity and efficiency, combating diseases and pests and plant feeding in agricultural operations. Aerial view provided by agricultural drone; It enables real-time information on crop growth stages, crop health and soil variations. Thanks to high-resolution snapshots and infrared scanning images obtained from agricultural areas monitored during the vegetation process of the planted product, emergency measures can be taken when necessary and yield loss can be prevented. At the same time, spraying drone models with liquid tanks of different volumes allow the application of pesticides or plant nutrients in a short time and with high efficiency without harming human health.
What are the Agricultural Drone Features?
Designed and produced to withstand the harsh physical conditions of agricultural lands, the unmanned aerial vehicle models have also been specially strengthened against the corrosive effects of pesticides and fertilizers. Agricultural spraying drone models, which have different flight ranges thanks to their changing battery capacities, can provide uninterrupted service in large agricultural lands thanks to their changing liquid tank capacities.
Professional drone models, designed for different agricultural usage purposes, offer modular solutions to meet the changing needs of producers operating in the field of agricultural production. Before choosing between drone models, it is important to have information about the types of drones and the areas of use in which they are active.
What are the Uses of Agricultural Drones?
Irrigation planning and monitoring; The water holding capacity of agricultural areas may not be homogeneous due to differences such as surface slope, soil structure and cultivation. The efficiency of irrigation, which is obtained by precipitation or using modern irrigation systems, can be monitored using agricultural drone technologies. By monitoring the parts of the cultivated lands that do not receive any water or receive more water than necessary, efficiency loss is prevented and effective use of water, which is our most valuable resource, is ensured.
Continue reading: https://www.raillynews.com/2022/04/zirai-drone-nedir-zirai-drone-kullanim-alanlari-nelerdir/

Fog delays at airports could soon disappear if a Christchurch start-up's idea takes off.
Millions of flights worldwide are delayed or cancelled by fog every year, but the solution could be a drone.
Pyper Vision is being backed by the Government to develop a drone capable of grounding fog instead of planes.
While in the air, the coffee table-sized drone releases a substance into the sky designed to soak the fog up.
"It just flies over the final approach of an airport, so it's a 10-minute operation and we can get hours' worth of visibility over the critical area that pilots and air traffic controllers need," Pyper Vision CEO Emily Blythe said. 
"The absorbent itself mimics a natural dispersal of fog. It absorbs the moisture in the air as it falls to the ground."
The need for this technology was made clearer this week with hundreds of flights in and out of Wellington cancelled.
"It's worth billions as an opportunity worldwide if you can solve it," Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods said.
Continue reading: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/04/kiwi-company-pyper-vision-creates-game-changing-drone-that-could-be-solution-to-flight-delays-cancellations-because-of-fog.html

 Seeing Turkey becoming a supplier of drones to countries at war that can even kill tanks from the sky – and with tensions still taut between them, Greece hopes to have its first drones working by 2024.
The design of what’s called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is heading into the final stages, said the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) which said the first of them is expected to be in operation in about two years, reported Kathimerini.
The project is being implemented in a partnership between the HAI and the universities of Thessaloniki, Thrace and Thessaly and is called Archytas, named for an ancient Greek mathematician, aimed at improving defense and security amid intermittent worries of a conflict with Turkey.
It was discussed in a meeting organized by the Office of Associates of the Finance Ministry for Research and Innovation, the HAI and the University of Thessaly to bring together those responsible for developing the drones.
That took place at the University of Thessaly in the central Greek city of Lamia to talk about how to use drones to also watch sea and land borders in another plan to keep out refugees and migrants.
They could also be used to check on protesters and for civil protection or commercial use, funded by the Finance Ministry, but it wasn’t said if they will be designed to also have weapons capability.
Continue reading: https://www.thenationalherald.com/greece-sees-first-drones-being-launched-in-2024/

Ever imagined your favourite Starbucks coffee or a burrito flying through the air and landing on your doorstep? Someone, however, dreamed it, invented it, and made it a reality. Today, the industry is continuously working to achieve something even better every day.
When cargo drones were first introduced to the market, it was critical for makers and operators to guarantee that the technology met legal requirements.
Commercial Unmanned aircraft (UA) operations provide a variety of public benefits and services including the transportation of critical supplies, life-saving medications, and commercial commodities. By analysing vital infrastructure on a wide scale, enhancing access to important commodities and services, connecting communities, and supporting first responders, UA is also helping to improve safety and efficiency.
Members of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), and Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) issued the final report, which was aimed to enhance the regulatory path toward autonomous, safe, and frequent BVLOS drone flights.
As per the report, the current constraints imposed by the FAA hinder the domestic UA BVLOS market from expanding and realising significant advantages. The present regulations also don't reflect the skills needed to properly operate highly automated UAS, restricting the opportunity to expand UAS BVLOS operations in order to benefit American people.
The most recent FAA report gives the best indications of how a future BVLOS regulatory system may look. The committee offered recommendations for pilot training requirements and limitations for third-party providers, such as commercial delivery companies.
Highlights of key elements of the ARC proposals include:

• The FAA should develop an universal acceptable level of risk (ALR) for all types of UA operations. This method will allow the FAA to establish a single set of regulations and guidelines, allowing operators to fulfil the ALR using a qualitative, quantitative, or hybrid approach.
• The ARC recommends a series of amendments to right-of-way laws in Low Altitude Shielded Areas (within 100' of a structure or important infrastructure) and Low Altitude Non-Shielded Areas (below 400') to support UA operations.
• Part 107, Remote Pilot Certificate with Small UAS Rating, should be expanded to include topics such as Extended Visual Line of Sight (EVLOS) and shielded UAS operations.

Continue reading: https://www.stattimes.com/drones/cargo-drones-and-regulations-giving-wings-to-future-of-logistics-1345013

Google Wing drones are now delivering supplies to tradies on worksites in Logan, Queensland.
Jesse Suskin, the business’ head of government relations, said while builders don’t often forget their power tools, they can call upon Wing’s devices to fetch things such as painter’s tape. “We have a hardware store we deliver from. As long as the product weighs what it does and fits in the box, we can deliver it.”
Wing launched commercially in Canberra and Logan in 2019 and currently allows for the delivery of packages that weigh less than 1.5 kilograms from a variety of shops that sell household and perishable goods, including coffees and sandwiches.
The business now conducts more deliveries in Australia than in any other country and has previously dubbed Logan the “drone delivery capital of the world”.
“There’s a worksite in Queensland where they’re building a series of homes,” said Suskin. “We’re not delivering to the homes, we’re delivering to the people who are building the homes.
“We’re delivering their tools and hardware when they run out of something or their food during lunch. We didn’t originally think we’d be moving hammers and screws with drones!
“We had a customer reach out who runs a landscaping business, and they constantly ran out of the Whipper Snapper line. So we stock that now.”
Wing started life in 2012 as one of the first projects at the tech giant’s super-secretive research lab, Google X, alongside its augmented reality eyeglasses and self-driving cars. It launched its first trials in 2018 before starting more commercial flights the following year in both Canberra and Logan.
Once a customer submits an order via the app, the drone flies to pick up the package at the designated delivery centre before climbing to a cruise height of 45 metres and flying to the destination.
Once there, it hovers and lowers the package to the ground, automatically unclipping the parcel without assistance from the customer.
Australian Aviation first interviewed Suskin last year for our print magazine, but since then the business has made a number of significant developments.
Continue reading: https://australianaviation.com.au/2022/04/google-drones-delivering-to-tradies-on-site/

Inspecting pieces of infrastructure, means of transportation like rails and at airports with drones can create efficiencies in multiple ways. It’s easy enough to call out these efficiencies as being faster, cheaper or safer than traditional approaches, but what does it mean to turn thousands of photos into actionable information? How can these efficiencies be measured in terms of an ROI? Jarno de Jong from GEO INFRA and Jonas Stjernberg from Robots.expert moderated two panels during Amsterdam Drone Week to outline these specifics and much more.
Tsjerk Koolstra from Dutch Drone Company kicked off the first session by details how his company has used drones for onshore, offshore and confined space projects. He shared details about the John Frost Bridge inspection which saw DDC use several types of drones to inspect all areas of the bridge, including underneath the deck and pillars. Using a drone kept traffic from being disrupted and with the data collected by the drone they were able to create a digital twin that can now be remotely accessed. With it, people can avoid physically being at the location, saving money and reducing the risk of people working on scaffolds.
With tanks located all over the world, Vopak stores and handles products ranging from chemicals, oil, gases and LNG to biofuels and vegoils. Bart van der Meer, Innovation Engagement Leader at Vopak, has pioneered the use of drones as a means to improve their inspections, but the challenges with doing so are as much about people as they are process. What does it mean to shift people’s focus? How can advocates enable belief in new tech with old thinking? It’s a challenge that they’re working through with partner Falcker, and Falcker CIO Duco Boer joined him on the stage to discuss what sorting through these challenges has meant from a technology perspective.

That technology challenge is about answering questions related to how to assess 1,000 photos per tank and what it means to use drones or traditional sensors to capture the info needed for an inspection. Once these decisions are made, the team can use AI-based funneling methods to closely review photos that identify corrosion and damage. That keeps people from having to review every single photo. These differences are defining the ROI of the technology in the short term,but Vopak team is working to switch to BVLOS operations using Percepto AIM to enable value in the long term. They see the technology as an autonomous platform to capture data which is switch they’re pushing for, as autonomous solutions will majorly impact their costs.
Dennis Jansen from Antea Group highlighted what it means to create efficiencies with drones for bridge inspection but highlighted how context drives when and how the technology is applied. Why use a drone for a given task? Jansen answered that question with a look at his team’s work on the Muiderspoorbrug that spans the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal and is part of the Amsterdam-Zutphen railway line. Over 11,000 photos were taken in a single drone flight which allowed the team to build a digital twin. 
Continue reading: https://www.commercialuavnews.com/infrastructure/the-roi-of-drone-technology-in-infrastructure-transportation-and-at-airports

How can farmers increase the value of existing technology – and stay safe while using it?
Is your drone paying for itself? Are you using it safely? Did you potentially bite off more than you could metaphorically chew?
In Future Farming’s latest Field Trials podcast, Fiona Lake, a drone operation and training professional based in Queensland, Australia, discusses drone utility, the role creativity plays in making the technology pay, uses for other ag-tech tools, and much more besides.
Many applications
From Lake’s perspective, drones have the potential to play a significantly larger role in Australian agriculture than is being currently realized. This is particularly true as costs for the equipment continue to drop, and those employing the technology get more creative in its use.
Thermal imaging is one area Lake finds exciting for both crop and livestock sectors. Tasks as simple as checking hay stocks for potential fire-indicating temperature anomalies – an idea posed by a farmer attending one of Lake’s drone training workshops – can save enormous amounts of time and money.
Training in level two thermography certification, she says, is vital if accurate temperature measurement is required, while level one certification is recommended for the most accurate temperature comparison mapping. Like any technology, though, Lake adds thermal imaging has its limitations. Finding livestock or objects buried under snow is one thing, but trying to identify something in the hot Australian outback is another challenge altogether.
Additional lower-level hardware such as water or livestock sensors, temperature probes, and cameras can similarly bring significant risk reduction. In reference to a wider argument, however, Lake wonders whether technology as basic as fire alarms are used often enough.

The thing with ag-tech, what’s also underestimated is the mental health benefits…You find problems early and then you can relax more. If you have tools which can find problems early and put your mind at ease, that’s priceless, and it will make you do a better job of running a business.

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Read more and listen in: https://www.futurefarming.com/tech-in-focus/drones/field-trials-podcast-getting-creative-with-drone-use/

Coffee farmers and cattle ranchers are taking to the skies to control their crops and animals, using drones to not only spray fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides on their plants, but also to assess their health and even locate stray cattle.
The technology has been identified as a viable alternative to many labor-intensive processes on agricultural lands, able to do everything from weed control to helping farmers predict seasonal harvest yields and plant health.
But Hawaii is lagging behind on implementing the technology, one which proponents and agricultural insiders say could help alleviate many of the issues farmers face across the state. The expense of purchasing and operating the drones, despite their increasing affordability, is holding the state back from fully investing.
The number of farms in Hawaii regularly using drone technology remains small, according to Suzanne Shriner, executive director of the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council.
The Kona coffee farmer says that within the council's membership – which represents the macadamia nut, coffee, papaya and floriculture industries – there is a lot of interest from a labor standpoint but it is still "new" technology for farmers.
Continue reading: https://patch.com/hawaii/honolulu/drones-can-take-farming-another-level-hawaii-lagging

As part of the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the government would encourage start-ups to facilitate drone-as-a-service.
Drone-as-a-service enables enterprises to avail of various services from drone companies. This removes the need for them to invest their own money in drone hardware and software, pilots, and pilot training programs.
For example, a mining company wants to conduct a mapping and surveying operation. Using drones in this case would be very convenient and helpful. But, for this, the company will have to buy the associated hardware and hire or even train the pilots needed. And this would involve considerable costs.
Here drone-as-a-service facility comes into play. The miner can go to a drone company, which already has the hardware, software and human resources at hand. This drone company will then use its resources to conduct the mapping and surveying operation, in the form of services rendered, for the miner.
Continue reading: https://www.business-standard.com/podcast/technology/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-drone-as-a-service-model-122033000072_1.html