Technology

Sensors, batteries, LiDAR, obstacle avoidance, and the engineering that moves the industry forward.

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175

Beats covered

Reporters on beat

Oct 8

Last updated

Drone technology coverage tracks the hardware and software layer underneath specific products, the sensors, autonomy systems and airframe designs that determine what any given drone can actually do.

Autonomy and AI are the fastest-moving piece of it, and not always in a reassuring direction: an Nvidia Jetson chip guided the Russian AI drone that killed three Ukrainians near Zaporizhzhia, showing how quickly commercial AI hardware ends up in targeting systems. On the research side, DARPA’s Lift Challenge results showed a conventional helicopter design beating experimental lift concepts at a 3.84:1 ratio, a reminder that not every technology bet pays off on schedule.

LiDAR has grown from a niche surveying payload into one of the largest technology desks on the site, and VTOL and eVTOL aircraft are developing into a genuinely separate industry from rotor-based consumer drones. Sensor technology keeps expanding what a drone can be used for in unexpected ways too: Rainmaker says its cloud-seeding drones made 143 million gallons of rain, and Florida calls the practice a felony, a case that sits at the intersection of drone technology and state law neither side anticipated.

Artificial Intelligence, thermal sensing and UTM airspace management round out the desk. Every drone technology story is in the feed below.

Key facts

What this covers: The underlying technology behind drones, not the products built on it: AI, LiDAR, VTOL and eVTOL airframes, thermal sensing and airspace management
Largest sub-desk: Artificial Intelligence, followed by LiDAR and VTOL, reflecting where the fastest technical change is happening
The double-edged story: The same AI and autonomy advances covered here for commercial mapping and delivery are also showing up in battlefield targeting systems

Start here

DARPA Pays Half As A Conventional Helicopter Wins The Lift Challenge At 3.84:1 — August 10, 2026
Rainmaker Says Its Drones Made 143M Gallons of Rain. Florida Calls Cloud Seeding a Felony — August 24, 2026
Nvidia Chip Guided the Russian AI Drone That Killed Three Ukrainians — August 24, 2026

Last updated October 8, 2026 — the feed below updates with every new story.

White DJI Neo 3 drone held over grey paving, seen from the front with its gimbal camera, a slot above the lens and four spoked propeller cages

Technology · LEAK

DJI Neo 3 Specs and Features: What 23 Days of Leaks Have Settled

DJI Neo 3 specs and features from three weeks of leaks: square 1/1.1-inch sensor, 192.7 g, three-cell battery, caged props, RC Mini. No price or date yet.

Haye KestelooOct 85 min read

White Airspection VTOL drone with wings and a tail rotor flying over a sandy beach with a row of offshore wind turbines on the horizon

BVLOS

Airspection Drone Skips the Boat on BVLOS Run to UK Wind Farm

Glasgow's Airspection flew a shore-launched drone 8.7 miles round trip to a Liverpool Bay wind farm beyond line of sight in the UK CAA's BVLOS sandbox.

Haye KestelooOct 6

DJI Enterprise

DJI Certifies First Benelux Dealer for Europe-Only Mapping Training

Drone Parts Center in Nivelles, Belgium, is the first Benelux dealer certified for DJI's GEO training. Matrice 4E and Zenmuse L3 courses now open.

Haye KestelooOct 5

Gray Skydio X10 drone with a three-sensor camera gimbal hovering low over a green field with trees behind it

DFR

Lakeland's $22M Axon Deal Adds Drones, Taps Immigration Grant

Lakeland OKs a $21.98M, 10-year Axon deal with Drone as First Responder flights. An immigration grant is applied to its first two years. Money itemized.

Haye KestelooOct 5

Hand holding a small black carbon quadcopter with four white tri-blade propellers over a grass field

FPV

Quadmovr Flies A 160 Gram 5-Inch Drone By Eye, No Camera, No GPS

Two weeks after his impeller video passed 1.6 million views, quadmovr is back with a 117 gram dry 5-inch quad flown line of sight in acro mode.

Haye KestelooOct 5

A man holds a white and green 3D-printed blended wing body model aircraft at a grass airfield while a second model flies overhead

Video

Ramy RC Crashes Five Natilus Horizon Models Before One Finally Lands

Ramy RC's 24-foot Natilus Horizon prototype is still grounded. Five 3D-printed models crashed before one landed at JetPower. He explains what went wrong.

Haye KestelooOct 5

Federal Aviation Administration headquarters at 800 Independence Avenue SW in Washington, D.C., with the Orville Wright Federal Building sign in front

FAA

FAA Puts $12 Million Into Drone Test Sites as Part 108 Sits Unsigned

The FAA awarded $12 million to 19 drone research projects at its nine test sites. Congress mandated the money in 2024, and Part 108 is still unsigned.

Haye KestelooOct 5

The Mach Initiative's orange 3D-printed KingChaser jet aircraft sitting on a black launch rail on grass, with its jet turbine exhaust visible at the rear

Technology

Mach Initiative Builds 20-Lb RC Jet to Break the 9-Year 465 mph Record

University of Bath students unveiled KingChaser, a 300-newton 3D-printed jet built to beat Niels Herbrich's 465 mph Guinness record. It has not flown yet.

Haye KestelooOct 3

Frequently asked questions

What counts as drone technology coverage versus a product review?

This desk covers the underlying capability, an AI targeting model, a LiDAR sensor, a VTOL airframe design, rather than a specific consumer drone. A DJI Mini 5 Pro review lives on the DJI desk; a story about the AI chip guiding a targeting system lives here.

Why is LiDAR such a large part of drone technology coverage?

LiDAR has moved from a specialist surveying tool to a mainstream mapping and inspection payload fast enough that it now generates more coverage volume than most single technology categories, tracked separately from general drone hardware news.

What is the difference between VTOL and eVTOL coverage here?

VTOL covers vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing drones generally, gas or electric, used for long-range mapping and delivery. eVTOL specifically covers electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, including the passenger-carrying air taxi category, which is developing into its own industry.

Technology

Key facts

Start here

Frequently asked questions

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.