The Federal Aviation Administration may still be on the fence regarding drone delivery, but that hasn’t curbed innovation in this space.

Every week we round up the latest developments in the Smart World, from new developer platforms to smart city initiatives around the world. Here’s what you missed in the Smart World:

Amazon patent reveals drone stations

Amazon.com has been granted a patent for docking stations for its delivery drones. These docking stations can either be stand alone structures or built on existing structures, and can serve a number of purposes such as extending the range of the unmanned aerial vehicle’s range, acting as a delivery hub, recharging or refueling, and providing routing information for delivery drones, to name a few.

The patent comes at a time when delivery drones are still not federally approved for operation, but it gives Amazon the edge should approval ever come. While the U.S. government may not be ready for delivery drones, Amazon is looking to the U.K. to test this service. The online retail giant revealed that it has started working with the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority for its Prime Air delivery service. The partnership will include test flights in both rural and suburban areas, and will test a number of sensors that help drones avoid obstacles. The trial run will also test multiple delivery drones controlled by a single operator.

Read more about this new patent here and the testing in U.K. here.

Drone startup delivers first Slurpee

If you’ve lost hope on delivery drones, don’t. Last week the first Slurpee was delivered by Flirtey, an independent drone delivery startup, in partnership with the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS) and the convenience store chain 7-Eleven Inc.

The package, which contained a Slurpee, one coffee, donuts, candy, and a chicken sandwich, was delivered to a home in Reno, Nevada. The delivery drone flew approximately flew one mile, adding another milestone in its journey. Flirtey previously conducted a delivery of emergency medical supplies off shore last month.

Read more about this Slurpee-delivering drones here.

GE invests in edge analytics startup FogHorn

FogHorn Systems, Inc., a developer of edge intelligence software for industrial and commercial Internet of Things applications, recently closed a $12 million round of funding. Some of the investors for this round of funding include General Electric Co.’s venture capital arm, Robert Bosch GmbH and Yokogawa Electric Corporation. The new funding will be used to expand FogHorn’s software capabilities and step up marketing efforts.

Read more about this round of funding here.

Industrial Internet for better algorithms

Appearing on theCUBE, broadcasting for the SiliconANGLE Media team, Harel Kodesh, CTO of GE Digital, explains how GE and Predix are positioned to help large companies better utilize the cloud and the IoT for its operations.

During the interview he also mentioned that Predix is focusing on optimizing IoT applications to ensure developers have the choice of tools they need to determine which should be put in the cloud, and which should be put close to the edge.

Read more about Kodesh’s interview here.

Edge or cloud? Where should analytics be, and when?

Talking with theCUBE, Hima Mukkamala, head of Engineering, Predix, at GE Software, explains that Predix has been mislabeled. Mukkamala stated that Predix is not a cloud platform, but an edge-to-cloud platform which allows data analytics to happen on premise, where all the data is, without the need to be connected to the Internet constantly as this is not cost effective.

Read more about Mukkamala’s interview here.

The essential role of developers in IoT

Gene Kim, co author of The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, dropped by at theCUBE booth to discuss how the mobilization of developers is vital to GE’s growing Industrial IoT community. Kim was quite excited with how Predix has attracted so many developers and believes that the platform will make them more productive.

Read more about Kim’s interview here.      

photo credit: G0012323 via photopin (license)