This week’s “Around the Commercial Drone Industry” news round-up looks at a new policy framework for the use of drones in law enforcement, tests on flying drones in icy conditions, and healthcare deliveries by drone to remote Irish islands.

A Framework for Crafting Police Drone Policy

The National Criminal Justice Association reports on a new effort to guide jurisdictions in the creation of “rules and standards around acceptable uses of police drones and robots.” The Policing Project, part of the New York University School of Law, just released a proposed policy framework arguing that “robots shouldn’t conduct lethal or non-lethal force and should only physically make contact with a human in certain circumstances, like to protect them during a search and rescue effort.” Other recommendations include provisions that “even if robots can move autonomously, a human must oversee, and be accountable for, its interactions,” and “warrants generally should be required before robots or drones surveil or enter a property that would require a human officer to get a warrant — and for flyover surveillance of private property.”

Icing Tower Aids in Alaska UAV Flight Study

The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geophysical Institute has erected an icing tower to “help aerospace engineers figure out how to enable drones to fly safely in icy weather.” The 16-foot-tall tower “is somewhat like a wind tunnel commonly used to test aircraft, except it’s smaller and vertical,” UAF reports, and it can “create various types of calibrated icing conditions, enabling drones to fly in a controlled environment that simulates real-world scenarios.” Testing drone flights in these conditions is critical, UAF says, because Alaska is accelerating “an effort to use drones for deliveries to remote communities and for emergency response in harsh weather conditions.”

Healthcare Deliveries by Drone to Remote Irish Islands

AirMed&Rescue reports on “The Healthy Islands Initiative (Na hOileáin Sláintiúil), an effort to test “the use of advanced drones to deliver essential medical supplies to Clare Island, located off the coast of County Mayo in Ireland.” Through the initiative, drones are flown from Carrowmore Beach in Louisburgh, Ireland, to Clare Island—a 10-minute flight. Flying at roughly 120km/h, “these autonomous drones navigate challenging terrains and unpredictable weather, carrying up to 3kg of supplies for specialized remote care.” According to AirMed&Rescue’s report, “the project is led by the Irish company Air Taurus, which specializes in providing aid to humanitarian organizations, in partnership with the Health Service Executive and the University of Galway.”