This week’s “Around the Commercial Drone Industry” news round-up looks at drones in climate change mitigation in Africa, law enforcement using UAVs to find illegal fireworks, and drones for event security in auto racing.

Tea Grower Deploys Drones to Boost Sustainability

In Kenya, Lipton Teas and Infusions is conducting trials that use drone-derived images to improve “crop management, precision farming, and high-throughput canopy phenotyping for the development of climate-resilient tea plant varieties.” According to Sustainability/Beat, Lipton is working with Cranfield University, BBSRC, and the UK Tea & Infusions Association to “test climate change mitigation and resilience practices that will improve tea production methods.” As part of the project, the partners are also specialist drone pilot training in Kericho, Kenya.

Police Drones Stop Illegal Fireworks

A news report from KVUE explained how police in Arlington, Texas successfully deployed uncrewed vehicles to stop the use of illegal fireworks over the recent Fourth of July celebration. During the holiday, Arlington police received 185 reports of illegal fireworks. According to the report, “In nearly 80 percent of those cases, officials addressed the issue and ‘cleared the call’ without sending an officer or firefighter to the scene in person.” According to police officials, drones arrived at the scenes of alleged violations within two minutes, on average, and incidents were “cleared” in about six minutes “from the drone's arrival to its departure.” The speed and success of the drone effort, officials said, enabled Arlington police to steer its resources to more critical emergency situations.

Drones Enhance Security at Grand Prix Race

In yet another example of the ways drones can improve safety and security, officials at the recent Formula 1 Qatar Airways Austrian Grand Prix 2024 in Spielberg, Austria, used uncrewed systems for rogue drone detection and defense. Professional Motorsport World explained that race officials operated an Aaronia Aartos DDS system “from a mobile unit in a Mercedes Sprinter to prevent illegal drone activities.” The system, the report said, was used to “scan the entire frequency spectrum, identifying drones’ positions, speeds and altitudes in real time.” Moreover, the system’s data was shared using a mobile app, “ensuring real-time updates for security officials.”