In this episode, the Roswell Flight Test Crew speaks with John Leipper, the Solutions Architecture Manager for drone manufacturer Insitu. At the Future Farm Drone Rodeo in Pendleton, Oregon, Insitu conducted a drone swarm demonstration using three 3DR Solos – all controlled by a single pilot using a computer. Of course, to stay in compliance with FAA regulations, an individual pilot for each aircraft was on standby should immediate human intervention be required. The long-term goal is to make drones more efficient through automation, requiring less direct human input to gather data more quickly than would be possible with a single drone. Such a control system would also allow the drones to be operated remotely via the Internet or other networks.
Comments
They're clearly getting good overlap on their coverage...
Insitu makes its profits by supplying the military industrial complex. Not even close to DIY anything. I guess killing machines are becoming less profitable. Next up, Precision Ag ......... Alert: intruder in the potato field.
In December 2016, we put together a proposal to control multiple UAVs with our Wing GCS for the UK MOD Many Drones Make Light Work funding competition.
The idea was to use the Wing's mouse functions for a point-and-click style control to select and direct single or multiple aircraft, in a similar style to a computer strategy game. The Wing's joystick functions would then mean the operator can seamlessly move to manual control.
Our application was unsuccessful but still love to work on this. If anyone would like to collaborate, please let me know.
Sam