Warm Regards – Industry – Sip ‘n’ science – Research Topic – Verticals Plug – Recent Gallery
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Warm Regards!
I had a chance to fly on the Southside of Pittsburgh this weekend Figure 1.
Industry
I work as a sub. My district WiFi has been down for a week. I work in a computer lab today. Even the room landline phone is broken. I can scatter grains of sand on a flat surface, use a stick to mark the pile. “We call these letters. In our day, we used them for…”
-“…for finding meat?”
“No, child, we used them for memes.”
I finished onboarding for a new school district so I can possibly land long-term assignments, qualify for promotion, and be able to afford a master’s degree. This will be an adventure, just like navigating Pittsburgh Figure 2.
Sip ‘n’ science
- Sky’s Edge: Open-Source Robotics and More (skysedge.com). Check it out.
- D Region Absorption Predictions (D-RAP) | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center
- Nematodes!
- Testing for cell tower spoofing. BVLOS got you, fam.
Research Topic
Nearly half a dozen people die every day in the US while they wait for an organ transplant operation. I staked my education on finding an alternative to the insane costs like those found in Figure 3. Someone posted this on social media this morning. Because hospitals do not publish their rates…my research suffered. My research suffers because profits matter over people. Profits drive the system. [CEO shrugs shoulders and waddles away]. I wanted to create a network of autonomous medical drones to alleviate costs. I created a 5-year industrial plan that involved the development of franchises around organ transplant nodes already in operation. I thought the tech would mature correctly, but lab-grown organs would not. Hospitals eat the cost. They hire couriers and procurement services. They fly surgeons here and there. I found small, local delivery feasible. I found hypersonic CONUS flights feasible. I didn’t say it was a cakewalk to mature the science, but I think that AI analytics in the age of data mobility will suss out a way.
Guess who tried to get local hospitals to adopt UV OR cleaning technology adoption ten years ago? Me. Why? Because I studied the science. I worked in nursing homes and hotels for a while before I studied robotic engine tech, mechatronics and drone stuff. Years of commodity flow, infection control, watching the revenue, developing long-term management projects.
Germicidal lamps worked, at least it seemed to work to me. There were other opportunities hospitals could adopt to make rooms sterile. Why weren’t these methods implemented? The use of copper for common touch points are good, but what about airborne particulate, the stuff that swirls through the building and HVAC systems? You know, the baddies? Hit them with radiation. It was explained to me hospitals are slow to adopt UV sterilization because of culture change.
I tried to get hired at a couple of hospitals back between college degrees. I was the Jeremy Wade of blood borne pathogens. One team was more interested in me re-enacting how I walked on the set of The Walking Dead. I moonlighted one summer years ago as a zombie, so I capered around their conference room and freaked them all out properly. This is how my people express thanks.
The chance to move live organs and tissue by drone only arises when the science allows, culture dictates, and money serves a greater good. So, can it be done? Yes, and easier by the day. Does culture dictate this need? No. They want dumb stuff. The majority of things shipped through Amazon could go by air. There needs to be a culture change at a collective level. Refer to hospitals adopting UV to kill MRSA. This was experimentally verified in 2013 and talked up a bit three years later. Two years after that, more tests verified UV at 222 nm works as good as typical 254 nm germicidal lamps that caused cancer. 230 nm is harmful, 254 is harmful, 222 nm apparently not.
Creeps the clock. Maybe we need a gimmick. We need an eyecatcher! Put it on a robot. Nevermind that robots are ideal for handling biohazard. Put it on a dog, even. Maybe an event. Covid refocused attention upon touch-free microbiological testing and exposure to radiation for tests and solutions development.
If those lamps were on articulated arms with a rangefinder, you could pass the lamps over the surfaces of a room much, much more precisely. In addition to blasting airborne particulate in gross amounts, you could have splatters and undesirable effluvia at least identified through fluoroscopes and other stuff my caffeinated brain demands be real. The room is mapped, then irradiated, then coupons scanned periodically for changes in contamination levels. You keep the unit in a bay with a similar lamp embedded in the interior cladding. The bay is on casters. If needed, you could roll it somewhere, set a timer on it, irradiate a room with no one in it, and then put it away again if everything else broke. You just need light emitted at that wavelength to work.
Recent Gallery
Fly Your Ideas
Verticals Community Learning Center
Drone Cinematography Classes!
So, everyone who attempted the test passed and earned an FAA TRUST certificate. We tested through a site administered by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University because I support their UAV technology courses.
The three days I participated as a volunteer instructor at Verticals were as follows: April 28th, May 5th and May 12th, 2022. I guided students through the process of learning how to safely fly drones in uncontrolled airspace. Two students flew my professional drone over the nearby Monongahela River, by an old truss bridge. One landed the professional drone, wow! On the first day! We planned a video with storyboards and a huddle on production elements. They brainstormed, scheduled shots, got gear, and produced the footage. One the last day, students edited and shared footage.
I basically hustled parts, minor repairs, battery charging, and network connections to and from supply to the production locations. I answered questions. One team was outside the building, another inside. I invited students to explore their own styles. They had fun. The teams erupted with creativity and effort. I had hoped to use the course module in a creative writing lesson or a programming lesson. The presentation that I use sort of serves as a class rubric, but I supply the students with worksheets to plan their productions step-by-step.
I learned some crucial limitations and opportunities for the next session. The most valuable thing is to have a report formatted to assign communication channels, teams, roles, and work schedules. Safety issues were routinely handled successfully. All craft and pilots, tablets and other parts of the Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) made it back in the box, so to speak. All inventory recovered, repairs and orders made, all data shared in the cloud, students back in their districts, rooms ready for the next class.
Verticals Plug
Verticals is a local community development center that gives kids a choice of after-school programs that enrich young lives and provide a sense of pride in community. A link to the group is provided. Some school districts, like Monessen and Brownsville, pony up transportation. It makes a huge difference to the kids, and I am grateful to meet the van drivers. They like the class, too!
- How to fly recreational drones with basic and advanced maneuvers.
- How to plan flights for capturing media.
- Get the soon-to-be mandatory – and EASILY OBTAINED – TRUST flyer certificate from the FAA, online for free.
- How to film, edit, and share a video you make with drone footage and apps.
- How to fly a drone with Scratch Python block code.
- Provide information about industrial drone applications and jobs.
Local Resource in Action
Community groups will have some authority to determine the nature of its flight operations in local airspace come this fall 2022. As long as a responsible pilot is connected to the group, the area can develop flight operations that best suits the needs of the group. A FRIA is basically an area supported by a Part 107 drone pilot or more qualified pilots. The FAA determines the location and quality of FRIAs.
I can see a drone academy being a part of an 21st-century community, so I am studying what we need to do to qualify to become a FRIA. I have a break from school in a month, and I like to read legislation. One of the problems is that it’s not 1986 anymore. These rules were written before the Internet absolutely debased the concept of community. It used to involve, at the very least, physical mail for remote correspondence, on land lines, even. Brick and mortar have given way to ones and zeros. The architecture is in an electric field instead of a dirt lot. “Model aviation” was a concept that existed before FPV, before streaming, before smart phones, before laptops. Ridiculous changes continue to occur and need to occur more quickly because of climate change.
- (1) is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
- (2) is exempt from tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
- (3) the mission of which is demonstrably the furtherance of model aviation;
- (4) provides a comprehensive set of safety guidelines for all aspects of model aviation addressing the assembly and operation of model aircraft and that emphasize safe aeromodelling operations within the national airspace system and the protection and safety of individuals and property on the ground, and may provide a comprehensive set of safety rules and programming for the operation of unmanned aircraft that have the advanced flight capabilities enabling active, sustained, and controlled navigation of the aircraft beyond visual line of sight of the operator;
- (5) provides programming and support for any local charter organizations, affiliates, or clubs; and
- (6) provides assistance and support in the development and operation of locally designated model aircraft flying sites.
Topics in the Verticals Youth Empowerment program include artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, drones, digital fabrication, coding, media production, design studio, blockchain, and crypto. Courses in the topics are presented alongside fitness and wellness resources. The center director is retired NFL pro-football player William James, who stepped off the gridiron and into a new life arena. William has an amazing base of supporters, collaborators, volunteers, and stakeholders who help make this happen. Very grateful.
Verticals Youth Empowerment Center is designed to stimulate young minds, give parents an inclusive environment in which to socialize, and to offer youth a sense of pride in themselves and their community. There are other facilities in the works.
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I became a drone technology service integration researcher in 2017 while in university. I have a passion for drones. Contact me for information about services.
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