January 25, 2022 -- Over the course of several decades, satellite imagery has emerged as one of the most critical tools for monitoring the Earth’s land, oceans and atmosphere. Despite the power of this data, the Earth observation (EO) sector has faced an array of challenges regarding commercialisation and distribution that has stunted mainstream adoption. Many of these challenges can be traced back to entrenched industry practices that initially focused on catering to Government and Defence customers, which are not suited to modern commercial workflows. These issues are so prevalent, that some industry leaders have at times gone so far as to liken the satellite imagery purchase process to that of a “ hostage negotiation^[1]”.  

The primary difficulties stem from data supply, storage and distribution from suppliers to the consumer. For high resolution satellite imaging companies, the opportunity lies in servicing large government and defense clients, not in smaller (but growing) commercial applications. These problems have essentially made Earth observation data too costly to integrate into innovative solutions across different industries such as agriculture, mining, or construction.

Two Australian startups, Arlula^[2] and LatConnect60^[3] (LC60) have joined forces to address these entrenched industry problems and drastically...

MODI'IN, Israel, Jan. 25, 2022 — (PRNewswire) — Percepto^[1], pioneering autonomous inspection by industrial robotics, announced today the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations forDelek US Holdings^[2]' refineries in Tyler, Texas and El Dorado, Arkansas. Percepto drones inspected its facilities and provided visual data management and analysis. The approval makes Delek US's refineries the first to receive such an approval, and one of the first among US energy companies as well. The operational approval is one of a number received by Percepto customers, including Florida Power & Light, Verizon Skyward and at other industrial sites in Australia, Italy, Spain, Norway, Portugal and Israel.

The BVLOS approval enables Delek US to operate its drones without a pilot to maintain line of sight with the drone. An operator located in the control room can easily manage and monitor pre-scheduled fully autonomous drone missions.

"This approval to use autonomous drone technology is a huge step forward towards cleaner and safer refineries within the oil and gas industry," said Percepto CEO Dor Abuhasira. "Congratulations to Delek US for being pioneers in digital transformation, and implementing new procedures within an industry that has been seeking new solutions to old...

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Jan. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NV5 Global, Inc. (the “Company” or “NV5”) (Nasdaq: NVEE), a provider of compliance, technology, engineering, and environmental consulting solutions, announced today that it has been awarded contracts exceeding $8 million by a Midwest electric utility to acquire lidar data and provide remote sensing analytics across the utility’s entire distribution system to mitigate risk of vegetation-related outages.

NV5’s lidar and remote sensing analytics solutions identify and map the locations and severity of encroaching vegetation, allowing the utility to optimize its vegetation management plans. NV5’s data and analytics will be used to define the utility’s 2022 and 2023 forestry management requirements.

“Trees and storms are the leading cause of electrical service interruption, and the use of geospatial data analytics in identifying risks that vegetation poses to utility safety and service reliability is essential,” said Dickerson Wright, PE, Chairman and CEO of NV5. “NV5’s advanced geospatial solutions help utilities identify vegetation encroachment, forecast operational costs, and mitigate service interruptions while continuing to contribute to safe and reliable electricity delivery for our client’s customers.”

About NV5
NV5 Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVEE) is a provider of compliance, technology, engineering, and environmental consulting solutions for public and private sector clients supporting sustainable infrastructure,...

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hypersonix Launch Systems Ltd. and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) have signed an agreement to launch the DART AE multi-mission hypersonic drone technology demonstrator. In the Hypersonix Kratos Team’s (the “Team”) submission to the Australian Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) Grants Program 2, the Team is planning for a launch and initial demonstration flight of the DART AE Hypersonic Drone System in 2023.

The Hypersonix DART AE, a multi-mission, hypersonic drone, will be fully 3D-printed out of exquisite high-temperature materials and powered by a single, fifth-generation SPARTAN, zero emission, clean hydrogen scramjet engine with a publicly disclosable range of 500km.

Kratos brings to the team and proposed effort its extensive digital engineering capabilities and sounding rocket booster integration and launch experience. The Kratos booster system will accelerate the DART AE drone to a speed greater than Mach 5 and release the vehicle, ignition of the Drone scramjet engine will occur, and autonomous flight of DART AE will proceed along a programmed flight path to a predetermined landing location.

Hypersonix Launch Systems is an Australian Aerospace Engineering company, specialising in the design and build of scramjet engines and hypersonic vehicles. Their SPARTAN scramjet engine is hydrogen fueled and designed to operate between Mach 5...

Growth in unstructured data, focus on cloud infrastructure, and simplification of data access and management will continue to drive innovation

SEATTLE — (BUSINESS WIRE) — January 25, 2022 — Qumulo^[1], the breakthrough leader in radically simplifying enterprise file data storage and management across hybrid cloud environments, today revealed its top unstructured data storage predictions. Based on insights from customers, partners, analysts and industry thought leaders, Qumulo anticipates that as unstructured data continues its rapid growth, enterprises will more readily embrace the cloud, adopt solutions that simplify complexity and tackle legacy challenges around performance, cost and access to data.

“Unstructured data is at the heart of the human experience,” said Bill Richter, CEO of Qumulo. “It’s the foundation of developing the vaccine for COVID-19, creating box office hits, and automating cars. Unstructured data accumulation will soon become an avalanche, so businesses need new tools and techniques to store and manage it simply.”

Qumulo forecasts the following major industry trends will emerge in 2022:

As unstructured data continues to grow, enterprises will need better ways to power innovation: The growth of file data^[2] is rapidly outpacing enterprises’ ability to manage it. Without the right technologies in place, businesses cannot stay competitive in the market. Over the next year, there will be...

KRASNODAR, Russia, Jan. 25, 2022 — (PRNewswire) —In the South of Russia, XAG's agricultural drone has been introduced to the full cycle of rice cultivation. It brings new hope to farmers as the use of drone demonstrates the potential to reduce the cost of rice production and gain additional profitability. Facing the relatively tight water shortage, drone technology from XAG can help Russian farmers obtain decent yield and support the expansion of rice field territories.