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TECHNOLOGY


A DroneUp team prepares to test launch drones carrying personal protective equipment in May in Lawrenceville.


By land, sea and air F


Drones take center stage during pandemic by Sydney Lake


aced with challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, many Hampton Roads businesses and universities are


looking to drones for help. Unmanned flight systems also are likely to drive economic development in the future. In May, when the fear of dwindling per-


sonal protective equipment was still fresh, the Herndon-based Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) partnered with Virginia Beach-based DroneUp to test how drones could assist medical professionals in deliver- ing test samples and PPE with no contact between humans.


Photo courtesy DroneUp With 103 test launches at the former


Saint Paul’s College site in Lawrenceville, DroneUp was able to successfully deliver 100 packages to partner organizations at stations set up around the 55-acre campus. The company then started working in


the spring on a white paper to be sent to the White House with recommendations for best practices and a blueprint for how other orga- nizations and agencies can deploy drones. And although DroneUp couldn’t share specifics of where the project may be headed, company spokesperson Amy Wiegand says that this is an area the company will continue to work on.


DroneUp also has continued to expand


its flight services through its April acquisi- tion of Glenview, Illinois-based AeroVista Innovations LLC, which provides drone training for private and public sectors now as the DroneUp Training Academy. The company also added Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability to its app, which allows drone pilots to get airspace authorization with the Federal Aviation Administration, Wiegand says. “That continues to develop because


technology grows and changes and evolves,” she says.


HAMPTON ROADS BUSINESS - 2020 43


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