The Blog

Behind every autonomous aircraft is a collection of systems working together. An autopilot controls flight. A ground station lets the operator plan and monitor a mission. Communications links carry information between them. Payloads and onboard computers add capabilities specific to the job. Ryan Johnston, CEO, poses with the Dronecode Foundation board members at the Linux Foundation Summit. Open source drone technology helps developers build these systems on shared foundatio

Some of the most interesting unmanned aircraft missions begin with a sentence that sounds something like this: We know what we want the aircraft to do. We just aren't sure the FAA will let us do it. We have heard some version of that for years. Flying higher than 400 feet. Operating closer to clouds. Going beyond visual line of sight. Testing new detect-and-avoid technology. Using ADS-B Out in a specific approved configuration. Operating an advanced aircraft in an environment

There is a difference between knowing what an aircraft should be able to do on paper and knowing what happens when you take it somewhere difficult and keep pushing. We have always been more interested in the second one. Albatross UAV is gearing up for takeoff on the airfield, ready to do some high-altitude testing with the distant mountains and clear skies as the backdrop. Over more than a decade of flying Albatross, some of our most useful lessons have come from operating we

The next generation of unmanned systems is being built around a very different idea of what an aircraft should be able to do. Defense organizations are increasingly developing systems that can collaborate, share information, carry different sensors and payloads, respond to changing mission conditions and operate as part of a larger autonomous network. The aircraft still matters enormously, but in programs like these, it is only one part of a much more sophisticated system. Th

Using the Atmosphere to Extend UAV Endurance Most unmanned aircraft treat wind as something to overcome. DARPA's Albatross program is exploring a very different idea: teaching autonomous aircraft to use atmospheric conditions as a source of energy. PhysicsAI was awarded a DARPA prime contract to develop advanced artificial intelligence agents capable of identifying dynamic wind conditions, optimizing flight planning and executing autonomous soaring maneuvers. Applied Aeronaut

The future of military unmanned aircraft systems will depend on more than the capabilities of any single drone, payload or software platform. Increasingly, it will depend on whether those technologies can work together. That is the problem the MAVLink-Military (MAVLink-M) working group is working to solve. Led through the Dronecode Foundation, MAVLink-M is an open extension of the MAVLink protocol designed to address the growing requirements of military and government uncrewe

IS4S and Applied Aeronautics were proud to work alongside 13 companies at the MAVLink-Military Integration Hackathon, hosted by the Dronecode Foundation and Auterion at Auterion’s facility in Virginia in July 2026. This three-day event consisted of two days collaborating, debating, building, and hacking before culminating in a third day of field demonstrations. Ultimately the teams produced seven working integrations using MAVLink-Military as the communications platform. Ab

If you’re working in or watching the drone industry, you’ve likely heard the acronym BVLOS again and again. Short for Beyond Visual Line...

In recent years, the defense sector has witnessed a significant shift in operational capabilities, largely thanks to the advent of small,...