3689460178?profile=originalAfter months of planning, hard work, setbacks, training, re-design, fabrication and construction, DroneJournalism.org today successfully launched and flew JournoDrone 2.


The drone eventually will be equipped with an Arduino-based autopilot (APM 2.0) and cameras to collect aerial photography and aerial photomaps for use in journalism investigations. Sunday, June 3 was a basic shakedown of the airframe, without autopilot or sensors, to prove the airworthiness of the drone.

While the airframe proved slightly heavy and unpredictable at times, our indication is with some modification it will be a competent flyer for our purposes.

3689460353?profile=originalJournoDrone 2 is based on the "FPV Raptor" radio controlled airplane with some important modifications, the most important of which is carbon fiber-reinforced fuselage. The airplane had a fairly good track record as a First Person Video drone, so we didn't feel that we needed to change the layout of the craft. Yet we needed to have an extra layer of security to make it more of a "tool" rather than "toy."

While we had some initial concerns about weight gain, the two layers of carbon fiber and epoxy proved its worth when the aircraft experienced a sudden gust of wind in its second flight and crashed. While the impact separated the motor pod, chipped the propellor, bent the motor shaft, and cracked the casing of an on-board camera, the fuselage was totally unscathed. We were not able to recover the on-board video of that second flight.

A big hand to University of Illinois physics professor Mats Selen, who not only is an RC expert who not only helped immensely with the setup, balancing, and repair, but also provided his piloting expertise for the first flight. He's pictured in the right on the topmost photo.

Mats and I, along with fellow DroneJournalism.org developer and UIUC GSLIS PhD candidate Acton Gorton, are using this learning experience to help our Drones for Schools initiative. Through National Science Foundation (NSF) Math Science Partnershi (MSP) grant, EnLiST, we hope to better STEM education by giving high school students the opportunity to build and program these drones in the classroom and use them to provide aerial intelligence in their communities.


Here's the video from the ground of that first (short) flight:

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  • Thanks!

    Brian, you know, Kevlar sounds like a good idea. I don't think I could get this carbon fuse to shatter, but carbon is more prone to shattering than Kevlar. And as you mentioned, CF interferes with radio signals (due to the fact that it's slightly conductive). I haven't had any radio problems as of yet, probably because I haven't really tested the range beyond 50 yards or so, but I specifically left a portion of the fuse unwrapped (you can't really see it in the photos, but basically the entire top portion of the fuse is unwrapped) to help with radio reception. Should I have any radio troubles, I'll likely have to install external antennae, but that would obviously increase weight and drag. I think Kevlar would be a good choice in the future.

  • Moderator

    Looks good guys. If you were going to do the fuse again, I'd suggest using Aramid (aka Kevlar tm) instead of carbon for the reinforcements.  Carbon is great but it's also a shield so it could impact the performance of your radio systems.  Aramid is light, strong and slightly flexible, so vacuum bagging a layer or two of that over your fuse would really keep the weight down and increase the strength.

  • Well done, kudo's for hanging in there. My AXN Floater has a skew nose from all the bad launches.

  • Mark,


    Thank you for the kind words and encouragement! We're actually at the moment going through the CoA process, but it is not a simple process. The only reason we can even think about applying for this is that we're part of the University of Illinois, a government agency. It's a complicated process that involves red tape and legalese (apparently we need a letter from our state's attorney general to prove UIUC is actually a state-funded institution -- bizarre but necessary). The news website The Daily certainly serves as an example for those who try to fly for commercial purposes, even if that commercial purpose happens to be the work of the "fourth estate."


    I do hope the rules can be liberalized in the near future for journalists, and there is some indication that may be the case (i.e., less stringent rules for MAVs and sUAS) but there are also indications that it may not be so easy.

  • Certainly a great application and one that many have discussed over the years. As you're probably aware at least in the United States the FAA is the big obstacle. News Corp recently used a quad helicopter to survey and report flood and tornado damage but it's reported they are now being investigated by the FAA.

    So the technology is certainly there for some fantastic small, portable and practical aerial solutions - heck, we fly them everyday for fun but through your efforts please help forge the legal aspects of this application and keep us posted on your progress. Here are some links to the News Corp controversy.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vjbuKx8C4

    http://www.suasnews.com/2011/08/6206/daily-drone-to-be-investigated...

    Best regards, Mark

  • Great Job guys!

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