TopicsCOVER STORY
FAA Part 107 Drone Operations Over People: Categories 1–4
FAA Part 107 Subpart D guide to drone operations over people: Category 1–4 weight and kinetic energy limits, rotor guards, DOC checks, and moving vehicles.
The full list of dispatches is on All Publications & Dispatches.
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Drone Payload Capacity and the Flight-Time Degradation Curve
How drone payload capacity cuts flight time under the M^(3/2) hover power law, Peukert battery loss, heavy lift SAR drone curves, the 55 lb Part 107 cliff, and altitude payload derating.
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Thermal Drone Search and Rescue: Emissivity, Time of Day, and FLIR SAR Settings
How thermal drone search and rescue works: LWIR emissivity, Mylar space blanket reflection, diurnal thermal crossover, Johnson GSD criteria, FLIR SAR settings, and White Hot vs Ironbow SAR palettes.
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Drone Communications: C2 Link Frequencies and Redundancy
A second radio inside 2400–2483.5 MHz fails with the first. Part 88 keeps 5040–5050 MHz for control only. A 5800 MHz backup adds 7.66 dB of free-space loss.
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Tethered Drone Power and Fiber-Optic Relay
A dark fiber is not a power failure. Match the sheet's watts and altitude to the 150-foot public-safety line before either number is reused.
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Search Grid Patterns and Probability of Detection
A grid the aircraft does not fly is a gap. IAMSAR sets coverage as sweep width over track spacing, and the pattern has to match how well the datum is known.
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Prism A-ISR: Public Integration Specifications and Questions to Verify
Review Teledyne FLIR Prism A-ISR (110-0201-92) public camera, SoC, power, and metadata specs alongside a blank UAS integration verification checklist.
HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & STANDARDS
The First Responder UAS Triple Challenge Record
Explore the competition prize rounds held between 2021 and 2022 by NIST and Kansas State University, detailing public safety search & rescue flight challenges, sensor payloads, and counter-UAS evaluation standards.
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Drone Cybersecurity: Access Control, Firmware & Flight Logs
Audit public agency drone cybersecurity across ground control station access, offline firmware signature verification, and flight telemetry log retention.
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FAA Part 107 Waiver vs SGI Emergency Authorization vs LAANC Zero-Grid: Which Path Applies?
Choose an approval path for your drone mission: compare operational waivers, emergency requests, airspace coordination, and public-safety frameworks.
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Public Safety Drone Specifications: Loaded Hover Endurance, Dual EO/IR Gimbal, IP Rating, and Remote ID
Compare public safety drone specifications and prepare a procurement checklist for loaded hover, camera payloads, weather protection, battery turnaround, and Remote ID.