For this week’s round-up of commercial drone industry news, we look at efforts in Oklahoma to use drones to deter smuggling at prisons, a new system that lets drones exchange tools while flying, and the use of uncrewed systems to protect poultry farms from the avian flu.

Drones to Provide Continuous Aerial Coverage at Oklahoma Prison

The use of drones to smuggle drugs, weapons, and other contraband into prisons has been well document, and law enforcement agencies around the world are struggling to find effective responses. In Oklahoma, as reported by Unmanned Airspace, the state’s Department of Corrections (ODOC) is fighting fire with fire by creating a drone program to combat contraband smuggling at Red Rock Correctional Center.” Specifically, the department is flying drones to “provide continuous aerial coverage above the facility.” For the effort, ODOC is partnering with Skydio and Levatas to “supply drones and AI systems designed to alert staff to potential safety, security and maintenance issues.” ODOC is “also training correctional officers to become certified pilots.”

Auto-Navigating Drones Fight Avian Flu in Japan

The website Tom’s Hardware details how “Japanese telecommunications and tech giant NTT has designed a laser drone system to protect poultry farms.” According to the story, NTT and its partners have developed “a laser system to scare wild birds away from the farms” and “reduce or eliminate the spread of avian influenza from unwanted feathered visitors like crows and pigeons.” The system is based “an auto-navigating drone” that “fires a beam that is split into many rays” that have been shown to be effective in warding off “pigeons, crows, starlings, deer, etc.” that contribute to the spread of disease.

“FlyingToolbox” System Enables Mid-Air Docking and Transfers for Drones

An article in Interesting Engineering details how researchers at Westlake University in China have developed a system that “allows drones to exchange tools while flying.” Called “FlyingToolbox,” the system enables “mid-air docking and tool transfers” by deploying a lower “toolbox drone” that carries tools and an upper “manipulator drone” that “uses a robotic arm to pick up and return tools mid-flight.” This system has proved successful through multiple text flights, paving the way for its deployment in “environments where sending humans is dangerous, such as disaster zones, high-rise maintenance, or industrial inspections.”