This week’s “Around the Commercial Drone Industry” news round-up looks at recent unexplained drone sightings in the US, Canada’s new rules regarding drone flights, and how UAVs can improve wireless communications networks.

More Mysterious Drones Spotted in the US

Since last November, citizens throughout the US have been reporting sightings of mysterious drones (or, possibly, other vehicles) in the sky. It started in Northern New Jersey, many people have reported seeing what appear to be drones in the sky during the late night hours. These sightings, and subsequent sightings in other states, have led to public scrutiny of government officials and concern over safety.

Recently, more unidentified vehicles have been spotted in the US. For example, on Long Island, the Suffolk Times reports that “There have been multiple reports of unexplained drone activity on both forks, including several over Southold and three over Riverhead last month, as well as at least one over Shelter Island and one in Laurel this month.” According to the report, “There is little uniformity among the sightings. Some drones have been observed hovering for hours in one place, while other reports detail clusters of drones or unidentified objects flying in various patterns.” Local officials have reached out to federal officials to help with the issue.

Elsewhere, mystery drones have been reported flying over US power plants. A report by the Shreveport Times states that drones “were seen flying over or near Entergy's River Bend nuclear power plant in West Feliciana Parish” in Louisiana, and NewsNation reports that local authorities “received a call about ‘four to five’ drones flying around the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant in Welch, Minnesota” last week. Both incidents are under investigation.

Canada to Lift Drone Flight Restrictions

From CTV News Ottawa comes reporting that Transport Canada planes to release updated rules early this year for drones. According to the report, “new regulations will lift restrictions on longer distance flights that go beyond a pilot's visual line of slight in ‘low risk’ areas.” The report states that “The list of updated rules is expected to be unveiled early this year, then will be in effect by the fall.” 

How Drones Can Improve Wireless Communications in Urban Areas

As reported in UAS Vision, Chinese researchers supported by the Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Department of Education, have published a paper detailing the ways uncrewed systems can help address challenges presented to wireless networks operating in urban areas. Titled “Advancing reliability and efficiency of urban communication: Unmanned aerial vehicles, intelligent reflection surfaces, and deep learning techniques,” the paper “presents a three-dimensional dynamic channel model for UAV-assisted communication systems with IRSs” (intelligent reflection surfaces).  This approach, the researchers assert, will enable drones to help wireless communications operate efficiently despite contending with “challenges such as tall buildings and trees” that impact communication pathways.