Technology

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

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Sep 3

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DJI Mini 5 Pro hovering in front of blooming goldenrod with its forward-facing LiDAR and vision sensors pointed at the camera

Deal

DJI Mini 5 Pro Drops To $683 As The FCC Targets Its LiDAR Sensor

The DJI Mini 5 Pro is $683 at Amazon. Its LiDAR sits inside the FCC category that closes September 2, and a 25% drone tariff lands September 3.

Haye KestelooAug 26

eVTOL

Wisk Builds Hollister Vertiport to Write FAA Rules That Don't Exist Yet

Wisk broke ground on a 100-foot test vertiport at a California airport. The FAA has had no vertiport design circular since 2010.

Haye KestelooAug 26

Ukrainian soldier raising a SHARK fixed-wing reconnaissance drone overhead before launch against a clear blue sky

Delta

US Army Can't Match Ukraine's Delta Drone Software, Secretary Says

Ukraine's Delta software cut its kill chain to minutes. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told the Senate the fault for falling behind was his own.

Haye KestelooAug 26

A man stands in a dry mountain valley field beside a large orange-and-black multirotor drone fitted with atmospheric sensors.

Technology

Rainmaker Says Its Drones Made 143M Gallons of Rain. Florida Calls Cloud Seeding a Felony

Western states are spending millions on cloud seeding. The one drone operator in the boom faces two state felony bans and a stalled FAA flare petition.

Haye KestelooAug 24

Hand holding a micro FPV quadcopter fitted with a single 21700 lithium cell above a lake at sunset

FPV

1S Lithium-Ion FPV Build Flies 34 Minutes And 3 Miles On A Single Cell

A YouTube builder's custom 3-inch quad pairs one 21700 cell with a DJI O4 Air Unit for 34-minute flights and a 5 km lake crossing, plus the DJI part US builders can't get.

Haye KestelooAug 24

Close-up of a scorched Nvidia Jetson Orin computer module soldered to a debris-covered circuit board recovered from a downed drone

AI Warfare

Nvidia Chip Guided the Russian AI Drone That Killed Three Ukrainians

A Russian Molniya drone with an unencrypted Nvidia Jetson Orin chose its own target and killed three civilians at a Zaporizhzhia gas station on July 6.

Haye KestelooAug 24

DJI Air 3 drone behind a red prohibition symbol under a pink BANNED? banner

FAA

The FCC's 'Military-Grade' Drone Definition Is Broad Enough to Catch Your DJI Neo 2

The FCC wants to redefine 'military-grade' drones so broadly it could stop sales of thermal, LiDAR, and dock-equipped models already on the market — including the LiDAR sensor in a 151-gram DJI Neo 2. Pilot Institute's Greg Reverdiau breaks down all seven categories and how to file a comment before September 2.

Greg ReverdiauAug 22

Thermal drone imagery of five elephants glowing orange and purple against dark bush, each framed by a white AI detection box labeled ELEPHANT #01 through #03

DJI

DJI Names 15 Onboard AI Challenge Winners, From Banana Farms to Bridge Cracks

DJI names 15 winners in its Enterprise Drone Onboard AI Challenge 2026, from a Colombian banana farm crop counter to closed-loop traffic inspection in China.

Haye KestelooAug 21

Technology

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