This week’s “Around the Commercial Drone Industry” news round-up looks at efforts in the UK to integrate UAV and air taxis in the airspace, methane detection with drones and lidar, and how Sacramento is using drones to monitor homeless encampments.

UK Redesigns Airspace for UAVs and Air Taxis

Urban Air Mobility reports that the UK Department for Transport (DfT) is “redesigning crewed aviation flight paths to help pave the way for new technologies like drones and flying taxis to take to the skies.” In what is considered “the largest redesign of UK airspace since it was first formed in the 1950s,” the new UK Airspace Design Service (UKADS) will be designed to reduce flight times and allow planes to improve takeoffs and landings, while “reducing noise and air pollution for residents who live along flight routes.” To begin, the UKADS will focus on redesigning London’s airspace.

Lidar-equipped Drones Aid in Offshore Methane Detection

Montana-based Bridger Photonics has ramped up its efforts to track methane using lidar-equipped drones. As reported in Dronelife, the Montana-based company is expanding its “Gas Mapping LiDAR (GML) system to provide methane-tracking services to the offshore arena and to complex industrial facilities.” Bridger will use “a smaller version of its proprietary LiDAR sensor equipment mounted on a heavy-lift UAV” to better access remote locations and derive needed data. Looking forward, the company anticipates increased demand for its drone-based sensor services “because of the growing demand among oil producing nations to better detect and track methane emissions.”

Sacramento Deploys Drones for Homeless Camp Monitoring

Sacramento, California’s Board of Supervisors has authorized the use of drones to locate homeless encampments. As reported by the Sacramento Bee, the UAVs will “be used to ‘enhance community engagement,’ between the county’s homeless population and Sacramento County Probation.” Specifically, the drones will “document the region’s homeless population and clothing, food, water and hygiene products to homeless residents with outreach efforts.”