Justin M's Posts (4)

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FLIR introduce new thermal camera Vue Pro

Posted by Justin M on September 9, 2015 at 3:00pm

Source: http://www.flir.eu/suas/content/?id=70728

Introducing FLIR Vue™ Pro

Take drone thermal imaging and data recording to the new heights with Vue Pro

With FLIR Vue™ you get all the thermal imager you need for sUAS operations without having to pay for functionality you'll never use. 

Designed for professional use, FLIR Vue Pro is more than a thermal camera, it is a thermal measurement instrument and data recorder that adds tremendous value to your sUAS operations and services. 

Still with the same industry-leading thermal imaging quality and great value as the best-selling FLIR Vue, the Vue Pro adds full data recording of thermal video and 14-bit still imagery. FLIR Vue Pro also uses FLIR Vue's popular and convenient power-in/video-out connection over a 10-pin mini-USB making integration a snap, and ensuring that you'll have easy access to analog video for downlinking. 

FLIR Vue Pro gives you in-flight control of two camera functions through direct PWM connections, and it's MAVLink compatibility makes it ready for the easy image stitching required for mapping, survey, and precision agriculture applications. Plus, it's compatible with Pix4Dmapper right out of the box 

The convenient mobile app makes pre-flight camera set-up and configuration quick and easy so you won't have to drag a computer out to your flying site just in case you need to change a camera setting. 

Best of all, with MSRPs starting at only $1,999, FLIR Vue Pro is the only thermal imager your drone operations will ever need, and it's affordable for today's commercial sUAS operations. 

FLIR Vue Pro gives you more than thermal images, it gives you thermal data for informed decisions.

On-Board Recording

Vue Pro records 8-bit digital video in MJPEG or H.264 formats and 14-bit still imagery to a removable micro-SD card so you won’t lose any of your data to transmission loss. Imagery is saved to the micro-SD card and can be retrieved either from the card or by plugging the camera into a USB cable, where your computer will see it as a storage device.

MAVLink Integration & Camera Control

In addition to being MAVLink compatible, the same Accessory Port connection gives you access to two camera controls over PWM commands, so you can select color palettes, start and stop recording, or trigger the camera's e-zoom in-flight from your radio controller.

Easy to Configure

Vue Pro comes with a built-in, low-power Bluetooth module, so you can easily configure your camera with our custom iOS or Android apps before you take off. Change color palettes, set your image optimization features, configure your PWM inputs, and start recording all without lugging a computer to the field.

Applications

With the same powerful thermal imaging core used in the most popular cameras in the world, FLIR Vue Pro gives expanded flexibility and performance for a price that makes it perfect for applications like:

  • Search and rescue
  • Precision agriculture
  • Roof inspections
  • Power line inspections
  • Substation inspections
  • Cell tower inspections
  • Security
  • Surveying
  • And anything else you can dream up
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International Drone Day event cancelled in Knysna,South Africa

Posted by Justin M on March 13, 2015 at 4:37am

International Drone Day event cancelled

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KNYSNA NEWS FLASH - Knysna's International Drone Day event scheduled for Saturday, March 14 was cancelled at the eleventh hour following a letter from the South African Civil Aviation Authority according to which flying drones in South Africa is deemed illegal.
 
"Due to a letter received from the SACAA we are unfortunately forced to cancel the International Drone Day event at Ou Drift in Knysna on Saturday.
 
Based on the letter received, the SACAA states that flying drones in South Africa is illegal, which can be argued as there are no laws or regulations for or against drones," SteadiDrone spokesman Ricardo van Lingen said.
 
SteadiDrone, local drone manufacturer, would have represented South Africa in this international event aimed at educating the public about the positive ways in which drones are used to better society and to break the stigma that they are used for harming or spying on people.
 
"As much as we would love to share this amazing new technology with you, SteadiDrone also has a responsibility to abide by the local rules and stand by the SACAA in their decision. New rules and regulations are said to be in place by the end of March this year."
 
While the event headquarters will be in Las Vegas – where 60 North American teams from 35 states will showcase the uses of drones – more than 100 other teams from 50 countries around the world will also be participating on their home soil.
 
In America there will also be world record attempt for the most drones to be airborne at one time – this will be a new Guiness World Record category.
 

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Knysna, South Africa Drone Company flying high

Posted by Justin M on February 20, 2015 at 2:54pm

Big kudos to Duran and team from the small picturesque tourist town of Knysna

Magic place to setup a drone company

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Source :http://www.knysnaplettherald.com/news/News/General/129943/Knysnas-drones-fly-high

For most successful business owners the sky is the limit, but for Knysna’s ace drone developer and manufacturer Duran de Villiers, it has become his playground.
 
And the founder of SteadiDrone’s passion for his trade has not gone unnoticed as he recently made the 2015 Forbes 30 Under 30: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs list, which recognises the continent’s top young businessmen and –women who are set to become future business leaders. This just more than two years after establishing the company.
 
“It is has been an honour and humbling experience to have won various awards over the last two years, the latest being named one of the Forbes 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa this year – to be among 29 other amazing young people who are doing amazing things. I really believe it's simply a mindset: doing instead of thinking. There are many problems out there to be solved, one just needs to get stuck in, and one thing leads to the next," De Villiers said.
 
SteadiDrone designs, develops, manufactures and exports small, unmanned aerial systems, commonly known as drones. These are used for various applications including search and rescue, feature film-making, aerial photography and videography, mapping and even agriculture.
 

“Our products can fly various cameras and payloads from 200g up to 8kg. Our systems include full GPS flight controllers, autonomous flight and missions, stabilised camera gimbals and advanced multi-rotor drones.”

SteadiDrone currently manufactures three models, including a small unit, the FLARE, aimed at flying small action cameras. They also produce a medium drone, the MAVRIK, for larger and more advanced cameras and then a large drone, the X, for long endurance flights and delivering payloads of up to 8kg.
 
The locally produced products is also very competitive on the global market due to several features, including its 'rapid deploy airframe design' which is foldable and allows the drone’s owner to 'fold' the device for easy transportation. “They are also fully ready to fly with everything needed to get off the ground. We have a very unique look and design and our systems are of a very high quality.”
 
All the research, development, testing, manufacturing and marketing are done locally and products are distributed worldwide.
 
The establishment of SteadiDrone did not happen overnight and was built on the foundation of his previous business, Motion Pixel – a media productions company.
 
“With our media production company I saw the need and potential in offering our clients aerial media that simply was not possible and available with traditional equipment. There was a need for capturing aerial images at a fraction of the cost and many times faster and more effectively than the full-scale aircraft alternative. After building our very first drone, I just fell in love with the technology and again saw the potential for manufacturing instead of simply offering the service. We quickly transformed our media production company into an international drone manufacturer and two years on we are one of the leading companies in the industry.”
 
De Villiers, who grew up in Knysna and matriculated from Knysna High School, did not think twice about establishing SteadiDrone’s headquarters in his hometown.
 
“People seem to think Knysna is a tourism town when in fact it was and should be a manufacturing town, a hub of excellent local pioneers selling abroad and bringing money into town, creating employment for locals and actually making a difference. It's easy to make an impact via media and the news, but we need more deep-rooted, growing businesses in town, not necessarily more tourists.”
 
Over the last two years, the business also expanded rapidly due to the booming international drone industry. “We were fortunate to get involved when we did. We've gone from three staff members to 12, from working in a small studio to a large 800m² workshop. Not much has changed in terms of how we run the business, simply improving our products and marketing.”
 
And he attributes his success to, among other factors, the realisation that hard work pays off. “I think everyone wishes and hopes to do well but very few actually ever do, and again, I think it's a mindset. I've realised early on that if I don't push hard, work hard, put in the late nights, effort and time - something no one ever sees - it won’t happen. If I don’t make it happen it simply won’t. I don’t want to be just another number, I'd like to make some form of impact and I think that is the kind of thinking that has brought us here – along with God's grace and blessings.”
 
He added another key ingredient in his recipe for success was good support. “The first ingredient is the best wife anyone could ever ask for, Alexa. April marks our 10th wedding anniversary and everything I do is because of her and her support. She is very much a part of this, often more than I am, and I think it's the key to our success thus far, nothing beats a good team and passion. Great staff are vital - having a core team that you can trust and depend on - and then pure and simple hard work.”
 

De Villiers is no stranger to awards and in he 2009 won a Sony Professional Photographers of South Africa gold award and in 2013 received a Step-Up Technology Innovation Award. Last year he also made the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans list and won a Sanlam Outstanding Achievement Award.

“It is really awesome to receive this recognition as it really pushes us to do more and go further.”
 
ARTICLE: YOLANDE STANDER
 
'We bring you the latest Knysna, Garden Route news'
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Cameraman caught flying drone around Mandela hospital

Posted by Justin M on June 28, 2013 at 2:00pm

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 A dozen police officers apprehended a man who flew a radio-controlled mini helicopter over the Pretoria hospital, where former president Nelson Mandela was being treated on Friday.

The multi-copter had a rotating camera and was in the sky for a few minutes. A multi-copter looks like a spider. It has several arms attached to a central control unit. A rotor is mounted on the end of each arm.

As soon as the gadget landed in the hands of one of the controllers, police rushed to the area. Hundreds of people, including journalists, mobbed the officers as they escorted the man and his helicopter into the hospital.

Minutes later, police officers returned and took the gadget's remote control from another man.

 

The helicopter apparently belonged to FC Hamman Films, a private film company. It was not clear what police did with the man or the helicopter.

According to Reuters Hamman, a South African freelance film-maker, was escorted away by police along with the helicopter camera he was flying with his 21-year-old son Timothy outside the hospital.

"As far as I know, I didn't do anything wrong," Hamman told Reuters by phone from the office in the hospital compound where he was taken by police. He said he was waiting to be interviewed by senior officers and for them to view the footage filmed.

"We were careful not to fly over the hospital," Hamman said.

He said he had intended to offer to media organisations the aerial shots of intense activity around the hospital, where crowds of jostling journalists have mingled with well-wishers paying tribute to South Africa's former black president.

Hamman said he had already used the home-built flying camera in other film projects and had also assisted police with surveillance work in operations against suspected drug-dealers in the Johannesburg suburb of Eldorado.

Police had not so far pressed any charges, he said.

"You can't fly one of those things without a permit," one police officer said at the hospital after Hamman was escorted away. Pretoria police declined to comment further.

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