TopicsCOVER STORY
Drone as First Responder Cost: A Quote Worksheet
Compare DFR proposals using a blank cost worksheet for startup, annual operations, maintenance, staffing hours, exclusions and dated quote evidence.
The full list of dispatches is on All Publications & Dispatches.
Topics
Emergency Drone Authorization: An SGI Request and Handoff Checklist
A checklist for U.S. emergency drone requests: which Special Governmental Interest route applies, what to record, and what a denial still forbids.
News
FAA Drone Research Grants: What the $12 Million for 19 Projects Covers
The FAA awarded $12 million for 19 drone research and test projects through its UAS BAA program. The projects by area, how the program works, and what is still unknown.
News
Munson Healthcare Drone Delivery, Phase Two: What the Michigan Pilot Is Testing
Munson Healthcare's drone delivery pilot in Traverse City has announced phase two for October 6 to 30, 2026. What it tests, what phase one showed, and what is not public.
Topics
Drone Communications Relay: How a UAS Brings Connectivity Where Cell Service Fails
How drones relay data for responders without cell service: aerial cell sites, local and mesh relays, store-and-forward, tethered or free-flying, and what limits each one.
Topics
GPS Spoofing, Jamming and Drones: How UAS Navigation and Control Are Protected
What GPS jamming and spoofing do to a drone, how operators can detect them, which public safeguards reduce the risk, and why jamming a drone yourself is illegal in the U.S.
Topics
Drone Search and Rescue Under Forest Canopy: How a UAS Search Is Optimized
What optimizing a drone search and rescue flight actually changes, why forest canopy makes it hard, which levers help, and how to check a detection claim before relying on it.
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.
Topics
First Responder Drone Software: A Handoff Checklist
Map dispatch, live-video and evidence handoffs with named owners, a blank local matrix and eight proposed acceptance checks. Untested results stay unknown.
Topics
Drone as First Responder Policy: An Owner and Evidence Matrix
A blank matrix that assigns each drone-as-first-responder rule an owner and a record. One county FAQ is the example. Unknown cells stay blank.
Topics
Remote ID Serial Numbers: A Registration Audit for Mixed Drone Fleets
Match each Remote ID serial to the FAA inventory row for a mixed fleet, and leave a cell blank when no opened source names it.