Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones which can safely land on water are a relative scarcity, and fixed-wing users working in the “splash-zone” could benefit greatly with a drone specifically designed to sustain this type of environment. Thus far, fixed-wing UAVs have been the industry model of choice for surveys which require power; long endurance times, substantial payload and extensive range, and the new Aeromapper Talon Amphibious delivers all that plus the ability to function 100% amphibiously by landing on water and being watertight.
The Aeromapper Talon amphibious has been extensively tested in challenging marine conditions by marine ecologists in London, who were the original inspiration for the design. Marine ecologists, and field biologists, have it tough. Their working conditions on vessels or in far flung remote island locations may appear idyllic but can present many logistical problems and constraints when it comes to gathering data. There can be waves, wind and rain at any given moment and the scientists needed a UAV which could stand up to this harsh environment. We were fortunate enough to not only train two scientists in our UAV handling and piloting, but to send two of the amphibious units to the field, to be tested, proving that the system can be quickly taught and implemented.
The UAV was successfully flown in the British Indian Ocean Territories (BIOT) as part of a scientific expedition led by the Zoological Society of London. This is the first time that a fixed-wing amphibious UAV has been used in the UK Overseas Territories and the applications of a water landing unit in marine ecological surveys, fisheries management and maritime surveillance are vast.
The amphibious UAV was piloted and trialled by an MSc student from Imperial College London, who described the unit as “An incredible tool for gathering vast amounts of ecological and habitat data, safe in the knowledge that we can easily land anywhere near the main vessel, on the ocean. In the tropics, rain clouds can often hit out of nowhere, and with this amphibious UAV, we no longer have to worry about rain water leaking in, either.”. Over 25,000 images were collected during the ecological surveys and the scientists were able to analyse the images to calculate the abundances of sharks and birds. Their camera of choice was the Garmin VIRB which allowed for geotagging of each image. The UAV is already gathering a lot of interest in the research world after being showcased at a marine symposium in London, with scientists and managers from around the world, looking to implement it into their coastal project operations.
The UAV is quickly assembled and deployed by hand (easily done by anyone), from the shore, from a small boat or from large steel vessels, without disruption to the GPS system; an issue which can affect multicoptrers and VTOL drones. What makes this system unique to life on the water, is the fully waterproofed fuselage and internal components, using marine grade parts which will avoid corrosion from salt water. The UAV can also be equipped with a live camera system (excellent for monitoring and surveillance) as well as a 20Mp camera which will take crystal clear stills or film. The UAV is simple to retrieve from the water using a small boat or you can land it near to, or on a beach. With a cruise speed of 60kph, communications range of +30Km and flight endurance of nearly 2 hours, it is possible to cover a huge area, saving money and time.
The range of industries that can benefit from a UAV of these characteristics is quite wide: aquaculture, marine sciences and conservation, coastal management and enforcement, freshwater body management, flood zones, fisheries, disaster areas, around oil rigs, dams; in fact, anywhere where water was once a hindrance to your UAV surveying.
A summary of ten year's research in the area of Drone Design and Development. Written as a design guide to inform and educate future generations of Aeronautic Engineers, RC Enthusiasts and DIY citizen scientists:
Posted by Jordi Muñoz on October 5, 2018 at 9:00pm
Almost 10 years ago with the community help, we released an open source robotic blimp platform based on Arduino and we named it Blimpduino. It was a really cool project, despite the limitations back then..........
And by back then I mean that we lacked cheap WiFi modules, 3D printers, and all sorts of fancy sensors! This leads us to use pieces of wood, repurposed legos parts, expensive R/C tech, bulky/heavy motors, and even a huge 2-cell lipo battery that required a charger with a balancer. Did I mention smartphone? I think iPhone 1 was not even released yet.
Now I'm very glad to announce the developer release of Blimpduino 2, a joined collaboration between mRo and JJRobots (One of the founders is Jose Julio, remember him? He created one of the first codes for quadcopters using Ardupilot 1 hardware). Well, Blimpduino 2 is nothing compared to what we released 10 years ago, here are the main improvements/features:
-Powered by a fast 3.3V ARM Cortex M0 (Arduino M0 compatible). -A tiny laser sensor used as an altimeter (Time-of-Flight ST VL53L1). -Efficient, powerful and ultra-light motors (Used normally on microdrones). -The possibility to control 4 motors and 2 servos. -WiFi ESP8266. This opens many development possibilities. Like Web-based control station (Anyone?). -Smartphone App. -A few I2C and Serial ports available. -3 axis gyroscopes, accelerometer, and magnetometer (MPU9250). Currently used for control assistance. Create your own Fly by Wire! -A pressure sensor with Temperature. Could be used as an altimeter for higher altitudes. -Easy to find, single cell lithium battery. -Build-in Lipo Charger (via USB). -3D printed open source gondola. Modify it or create your own! -Open sourced Arduino code. -Colorful and detailed documentation powered by JJrobots!
Blimpduino 2 was created with two main goals in mind: 1.-A fun platform that you can build in no-time for short-term gratification. 2.-A fully hackable, repurposable and customizable platform. Aimed to quickly entertain experienced engineers/scientist by allowing them to tweak the platform quickly, but most importantly is the perfect platform to teach young minds and expose them to programming, microcontrollers, UDP, PWM, simple PIDs and/or more advanced hardware/software technologies.
For more information and buying info please click here. =)
Posted by Drone Nerds on October 5, 2018 at 9:00am
HALLANDALE, FL, October 05, 2018
Drone Nerds, Inc. the largest UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) distributor in the United States today announced its collaboration with AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in unmanned aircraft systems for both defense and commercial applications, to become an authorized Quantix Hybrid drone dealer in North America.
Founded in 2014, Drone Nerds, Inc. offers the most comprehensive set of services aimed to enable all participants to maximize the value of their drone program, ranging from new consumer users to large scale enterprises looking to roll out comprehensive drone programs.
“Drone Nerds is growing rapidly and expanding its product line with all types of UAV innovations. We support our comprehensive product offering with an array of value-added services that range from drop shipping, custom kitting and packaging, and private labeling on the distribution side. On the enterprise side, we offer fleet management, custom training, pilot program support, and full program rollout services. To all customers, we offer the most experienced and capable repair service team in the industry” said Jeremy Schneiderman, the CEO of Drone Nerds Inc., “Partnering with AeroVironment highlights a significant approach for our development in North America. We firmly believe that our collaboration will help further the adoption of commercial drone technology and deliver numerous benefits to growers and other businesses.”
Quantix, together with the AeroVironment Decision Support System™ (AV DSS), provides an integrated drone and data analytics ecosystem designed specifically for precision agriculture. With one-touch mission planning and launch command, Quantix eliminates the learning curve for operators and can scout up to 400 acres in just 45 minutes, delivering actionable intelligence for today’s growers. AV DSS is a web-based data analytics platform that seamlessly performs advanced image processing, analytics and historical reporting to guide grower’s decision-making and improve their operational efficiency.
“Working with growers, agronomists, crop consultants and academic researchers, we developed Quantix and AV DSS from the ground up for Precision Agriculture,” said Jeff Rodrian, director, AeroVironment Commercial Information Solutions. “We share with Drone Nerds a commitment to quality, innovation and customer service. We’re excited to partner with Drone Nerds to make it easy for growers nationwide to access the fully integrated Quantix and AV DSS data analytics ecosystem.”
Beginning today, Quantix products including Hybrid drone, control tablet, accessories and subscription to its data analytics platform (AV DSS) will be available through the official website and retail stores of Drone Nerds. The customer services will be provided accordingly. For more information, please visithttp://www.dronenerds.com.
About Drone Nerds, Inc.
Drone Nerds is the largest exclusive drone and accessories distributor in the United Sates. By having the largest staff of drone specialists in the industry, Drone Nerds offers the most comprehensive set of services aimed to enable all participants to maximize the value of their drone program, ranging from new consumer users to large scale enterprises looking to roll out comprehensive drone programs. For more information visithttp://www.dronenerds.com.
Contact:
Drone Nerds, Inc.
Nicole Gotwols
+1 (786) 284-5499
nicolegh(at)dronenerds.com
About AeroVironment, Inc.
AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) provides customers with more actionable intelligence so they can proceed with certainty. Based in California, AeroVironment is a global leader in unmanned aircraft systems and tactical missile systems, and serves defense, government and commercial customers. For more information visit:http://www.avinc.com. For more information about AeroVironment Commercial Information Solutions, Quantix and AV DSS visit:http://www.avdroneanalytics.com
SmartAP GCS by Sky-Drones now supports drone fleet management. Unlimited number of drones supported simultaneously with super easy and intuitive control. Just as an example, put a couple of drones for an autonomous survey mission while the third one is monitoring what they do.AirMapairspace awareness services integrated.
Posted by Kostas Alexis on October 1, 2018 at 7:00pm
Dear community,
We would like to inform you about our participation in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge as Team CERBERUS (University of Nevada, Reno, ETH Zurich, Sierra Nevada Corporation, University of California, Berkeley, Flyability).
Please find out more for us through by watching our concept video:
I recently made a monocopter(drone with one motor but can take off and land vertically) that can fly and wrote up the instructions on how to build it from scratch. Enjoy !
This project involves real-time object detection for DJI drones from the ground station using TensorFlow Object Detection API. The TensorFlow Object Detection API is an open source framework built on top of TensorFlow making it easier to construct, train and deploy object detection models. This results in machine learning models capable of localizing and identifying multiple objects in images streaming from DJI drones to the ground station with more computational power.
The ground station code is available at the GitHub repo to apply object detection for streaming videos from DJI drones.
Width of the frames in the video stream --width=480
Height of the frames in the video stream --height=360
Thanks
Special thanks to our sponsors and team members. It was a really cool endeavor and an unforgettable experience that is almost impossible to get anywhere else
Posted by Achal Negi on September 21, 2018 at 4:10am
FlytCloud is an enterprise-grade cloud platform to automate and scale your commercial drone operations - Enabling you to remotely deploy, a fleet of intelligent drones.
FlytCloud provides real-time access to control, telemetry and video/payload data from your drone fleet, over a secure and reliable interface.
AI-engine and integrations with various 3rd party services, allow further extension of its capabilities.
Posted by Wade Zhang on September 20, 2018 at 8:04pm
Integrate PPK(post-processing kinematic) solution for your commerical UAV with our K706 GNSS OEM Board and AT190 Helix Antenna to go for professional survey and mapping.
K706 GNSS OEM board support GPS L1/L2, GLONASS L1/L2, Beidou B1/B2, Galileo E1/E5b with 8GB onboard memory ability, will provide the most easist integration and the most robust post-processing kinematic positioning for your drone.
AT190 Helix antenna support robust signal receiving performance with very small dimension and very light weight. It is ideal choice for the small drones.
The clients could use K706 board's Rinex or Binex raw observation data format for the open source post-processing software like RTKLIB and also others common software. We could also provide our own Compass Solution Post-processing software.
If any interests, pls drop email to gnss.oem@comnavtech.com
Drone protection is essential for those who do not want their investment in this expensive technology to go to waste. Therefore, there are a few critical areas in which drone owners can make sure their drones will last as long as the owner expects and be an enjoyable experience.
Safely transporting the drone by choosing the right equipment to prevent drone damage and purchasing a case and drone supplies are both critical for ensuring the proper protection of a drone.
Safe Battery Use
To prepare a drone for safe transportation, especially on an aircraft, the battery level should be about 35-50 percent due to the increased fire risk and their susceptibility to damage. The terminals of the batteries should also be protected from short circuit by using adhesive strips or films.
Since lithium batteries are at risk of spontaneous combustion, packing the batteries in a LiPo safe bag means it will be fireproof during transportation, and there will also be not as many problems while at the security checkpoint. Additionally, it is essential to make sure the lithium batteries can be put in a carry-on bag, and since these batteries are quite large, using a carry-on bag that is large enough to fit backup batteries.
Using a Carrying Case
A quality carrying case is essential for drone protection. A hard-shell case will not only protect the drone from damage, but it will also make it easier to carry around with no worry. Many people who choose to use a garment bag that is carried over the shoulder put their drones at risk since there is no hard protection.
A hard-shell case also provides the drone owner with slots that fit the drone perfectly into a secure place in which it cannot move. Drone users will find that an investment in a hard-shell carrying case is worth the investment as it will provide extra drone protection.
Overall, using a drone comes with the responsibilities of ensuring that it will be protected while the owner wishes to transport it. Investing in equipment, such as a fireproof battery case and a hard-shell carrying case will eliminate much of the risks associated with potential damage to the drone and its batteries. It is also a matter of convenience for the user to transport the drone and equipment in cases that are specially designed for it. For anyone wanting to use their drone in travel photography, taking the proper precautions is a must.
For more tips on traveling with drones or more learning tips and usage, check out our blog!
Posted by Colin Snow on September 18, 2018 at 12:25pm
We just released the results of our third annual drone industry benchmark survey and it’s a kicker.
The 2018 Drone Market Sector Reportexamines worldwide drone sales, service providers, business and public agency users, and software services. This independent research, which is sponsored byDJI,DroneDeploy,DroneInsurance.com, andTrimble, finds a growing demand for businesses to use drone-acquired data in their day-to-day operations as well as other fresh insights on major drone industry segments.
Research
Our online market survey garnered over 2,500 respondents representing over 60 industries worldwide. Our analysis yields 10 key insights that summarize the current state of the industry, plus detailed analysis of drone adoption by businesses and enterprises.
Report
The 107-page report presents the results and analyses from each survey question. It’s organized to match our survey, with four sections that correspond to the four major segments of the drone industry:
Drone aircraft and payloads purchased
Service providers that offer drone-based imaging or sensing services for outside hire or sale
Businesses and public agencies with drone programs
Software apps or online services for drone operations and imaging
The report features more than 60 helpful figures and tables and offering insight and analysis on:
Who’s buying what types of drones from which makers at what prices and for what uses.
How large the drone-based service providers are, and how they position themselves to their target industries.
Who the business users of drone-based projects are, and which industries have traction.
How much service providers, business users, and public agencies are using flight management, mission planning, and image processing software for drone-based projects.
Findings
Among the more interesting findings are that commercial drone fleet sizes are smaller than most people think. If you believe the hyperbole, there are hundreds of thousands of drones in the airspace at the same time, but the survey finds that the average commercial user has just two drones that are only flying two projects a month and most of those flights consume less than flight three hours.
There are many other insights in the report, but these three are especially worth highlighting:
Professional use of drones is growing. We find that almost three-quarters of all drones weighing over 250 grams are purchased for professional purposes—either governmental or business. This is up from last year.
DJI continues to dominate the market and has made gains this year in every category from drone aircraft at all price ranges, to add-on payloads, to software. Survey data shows DJI is still the dominant brand for drone aircraft purchases, with a 74% global market share in sales across all price points.
Most businesses and public agencies are new to drones, have small programs, and perform their own services. The survey finds that nearly three-quarters of businesses or public agencies have only had a drone program in place for two or fewer years.
Posted by Chris Anderson on September 18, 2018 at 11:34am
Long ago, it was hard to do computer vision -- like PhD hard. Then, about ten years ago, it started to get easier with the OpenCV libraries, which did most of the hard work for you. But even that needed you to program and build a toolchain and it really only ran well on beefy PCs. But about two years ago, a series of small, cheap computer vision modules came out with camera and processor combined, making it possible to do advanced computer vision at the same cost and format of an Arduino.
That include Jevois and PixyCam, but my favorite of them is OpenMV, which combines built-in MicroPython (super easy to program) with a powerful and easy to use IDE and a number of plug-in boards that allowe it to control everything from motors and servos to screens and WiFi, with no additional computer needed. As an example of how easy it is to use, over at our sister site, DIY Robocars, we show how to put together a full computer vision racing car using OpenMV for less than $100.
Now OpenMV is getting even better, with a new processor with twice the speed and memory, along with interchangeable camera modules that allow you to use a global shutter sensor (best for moving robots like drones and cars) and thermal vision, with the FLIR Lepton module. And now it's cheaper, too, starting at $49!
It's popular with the DIY Drones community too, and you can see examples of it being used for indoor positioning and object tracking here and here.
You can back it on Kickstarter here. Unlike many other Kickstarter projects, which are new products from new teams, this is a mature product from a team that has made and shipped thousands of the previous version and the Kickstarter is just to allow them to purchase components at volume to keep the price down. I've been using an early production version of the OpenMV H7 for a few months already, and I can confirm that it works great.
Posted by Kristaps Brass on September 17, 2018 at 4:08am
Hi, friends,
In the middle of the summer we had a chance to participate in an expedition with the aim to locate a missing WWII P-38 aircraft from famous Lost Squadron. Full story was covered by lot of news and publications, so we will not duplicate it here, you can follow links below.
In general they worked well, but there were some small issues…
Low temperature
It was not too cold in the middle of Greenland’s summer even on the ice cap. Our camp was deployed at an altitude of around 700m above sea level, and often it was quite warm during daytime (except 3 days out of the 8 when we had a snow storm :-)) and below freezing during the “night”.
We were team of brave guys and were not worried about the thermometer readings, it did not matter for us as much as it did for our equipment…
During daytime the temperature was warm enough so that it was sufficient to wear thermal underwear and a membrane of second layer. I think that the temperature was close to +10-15 Celsius. At night (when sun was close to the horizon level but not quite below it) ice formed on the floors of our tents and we had to wear 3 layers including gloves, balaclavas etc.
Standard recommendation for using drones in such conditions is “keep your batteries in a warm place”. Ok, but we didn’t have a warm place on the ice cap. Jim Salazar - our expedition lead and a real hero, one time took 2 sets of M600 batteries to his sleeping bag for the night, but it was not very effective. Forgot to ask him how was the night…
Next time we will use something like Peli cases with integrated electrical heaters and good internal insulation to quickly warm up the batteries before start and to keep them warm - but this year we had to fly with a constant “Battery temperature is low” warnings. It was nice to be able to check the temperature of each battery in software (of course we used UgCS for this), so before take-off we checked that the temperature of each battery was +5 Celsius at least.
If somebody knows where to order/buy such cases for M600 batteries please let us know. It is not rocket science to DIY them, but I’d rather purchase ready-made ones.
Our tent after a snow storm, 3rd day on the ice cap:
Except for the batteries we didn’t have any problems with drones caused by low temperature. Before we were taken by helicopter to the ice cap from Kulusuk, almost all our heavy equipment (including drones, GPR etc) were delivered by boat to some point on the shore close to the Lost Squadron site - to minimize cost of helicopter flights. Here the equipment was left in boxes on shoreline under polar bear supervision for 4 long days :). But after delivery to site and 2 days of snow storm (it started in couple of hours after landing and everything was buried under snow) everything worked well after unpacking/charging and some warming under the bright Arctic sun.
Bright Arctic sun
It is an even more serious problem then low temperature. On the ice cap light was coming from all directions - you feel as if you were inside a mirrored chamber together with 1000 Lm of light. Outside nothing is visible on the screens - even when the sun is masked by clouds.
The only comfortable place to work with laptops was inside of our “main” tent, but it requires close and constant coordination between ground station operator sitting inside the tent and the drone pilot outside.
Now we are working on a lot of modifications to the UI of UgCS - we will use much larger fonts and more contrast in the theme everywhere. Critical messages will be displayed over the entire screen and it will not be possible to miss them.
No Internet
For us it was 120km ‘till the nearest WiFi hotspot which was reachable only by helicopter :-).
Next time we will check everything 3 times before leaving the comforts of civilization.
We thought that we had prepared everything. We checked and double-checked our DJIs to prevent any surprises, downloaded maps and elevation data for offline use in UgCS (we used ArcticDEM elevation data – https://www.pgc.umn.edu/data/arcticdem/ ).
But the problem struck us from an unexpected direction. 18 batteries for DJI M600 were taken from our office in Riga and they were tested and used before the expedition in test flights.
Jim Salazar took another 24 batteries from his home in US, half of them were brand new. When we tried to use them on ice cap we got message about old firmware in batteries. F#$%^!!! Is it really so important to block flights in that case????
So if you use such advanced equipment which is coupled to the Internet, you should check that every piece of equipment can work without Internet (with WiFi adapters switched off etc…) I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next generation of DJI drones even the propellers and cables will come with their own firmware and will require periodical updates…
Collision prevention sensors on Phantom 4
We used this small bird to film what we doing here and as cheap scouting drone to check the safety of routes before sending a multi-$$$ system (M600 with GPR) far off into the fog.
To get useful data from the GPR, the maximum altitude from the ground can be 10 meters, but the lower you can go the more accurate the data will be. We tried to use an AGL altitude of 3 meters and used terrain following routes generated by UgCS using ArcticDEM elevation data. But we didn’t have full confidence about the precision of DEM data so when we planned to fly far routes we decided to use Phantom 4 to test whether it was possible to fly generated routes without colliding with the surface of the glacier.
Below is elevation profile of one of the flights down the glacier:
The collision detection sensors and algorithms of DJI Phantom 4 are not only useless in such conditions (where everything is white and you have fog everywhere) but can also cause a lot of problems. In an automatic mission it can decide that it sees obstacle and stop. In case of any problem with the radio link you can lose your drone easily. From my observations false potential collision detections can be caused even by very light fog/clouds - when drone itself was clearly visible.
We recommend disabling all collision detection sensors before flying in such conditions and relying on your eyes, brains and piloting skills.
Flight altitude drift
When we first detected an anomaly under the ice (it was on the first survey line of very first flight!) we decided to make an additional survey of the suspected area using cross-grid with close distance between survey lines and low altitude – 3 m AGL.
When we started these flights it was almost nighttime and the weather was calm, but the temperature started to get colder and colder with every passing minute. As a result katabatic wind began – and it got stronger and stronger as the temperature continued dropping. It was not very strong and without any gusts, so conditions in general were quite safe for flights.
In theory, as the temperature is going down during the flight, the drone should fly higher and higher. But in our flights it descended more and more on each survey line – and finally we stopped the mission to prevent the drone from colliding with the surface of the glacier.
My thought is that it was because of Bernoulli's principle – air pressure in wind should be lower. So the drone made attempts to compensate its virtual ascending. Not sure if I’m right or not.
LiPo transportation
Special thanks to Air Baltic, Iceland Air and Air Iceland Connect– they allowed us to transport 18 LiPo batteries in hand luggage.
All airport staff now knows about LiPo batteries – so don’t try to transport batteries without a special permission. Hopefully it is possible to get special permission from air companies to do this. We had to use a hard box (similar to Pelican), all batteries should be isolated from each other, and have permission on paper with us (we printed the e-mail from the airline).
Thanks
Special thanks to Jim Salazar and Ken McBride – expedition co-organizers. It was a really cool endeavor and an unforgettable experience what is almost impossible to get anywhere else.
If you want to help them in their mission – please follow them on Facebook -
Some of you may have already seen our rugged professional mission control units also presented here on DIYdrones. Most of those are produced to at least industrial IP specifications, but developers and DIYers are constantly bombarding us with requests for lighter and especially cheaper integrated solutions that would be at least on the edge of the affordable in applications where fully rugged builds and tightly waterproof features are not an absolute must.
Well, this is our first shot at this, so we're trying to get as much of your valuable input as possible to create a practical hand-held controller that may as well help a lot of people. We've already built the first prototype based on our current RHH line, some of our own ideas and customer input, so it's probably a good start for a conversation on the technical details for a more generic purpose unit with extensive DIY options. Unfortunately, even if we drop most of the IP67 parts and build features of the RHH design, this particular product will still cost around 1200 Euros in very small series, but at least it's not the fully rugged €4k-€7k range. The final price is going to be determined mainly by production numbers, but at the moment we're just aiming for a batch of a few dozen units, just to be on the safe side. The current technical content of the prototype can serve both direct FPV operation and/or payload control, both in the very same neat little package:
7" high contrast and high brightness (700 nit) 1280x800 screen, non-reflective matte or low reflectance glossy surface
non-bluescreening LCD controller with AV/HDMI/VGA input and full menu control
USB programmable er9x/OpenTX compatible open source RC TX logic with full menu control (eepe compatible)
high quality quad ball bearing Hall effect sensor RC style joysticks with full access to slide/ratchet/spring settings on both sides, thumber and pincher operation supported by design
fully managed Li-ion battery system with simple micro USB charge port and high current connector alternative
industrial grade ultra miniature toggle and pushbutton switches, optional pot and rotary switch
high impact industrial ABS enclosure, 210x280mm compact footprint
charger, USB programmer, PPM and HMD AV connections as standard
optional external RF box setup with single field cable
optional external video connection (CVBS/HDMI/VGA)
optional wireless ground video relay (Miracast)
optional IT hw for IP video streaming, telemetry, etc.
As you can see from the above, this is not a telemetry station with any kind of embedded IT hardware, just a direct FPV and payload controller. We currently manufacture a fully rugged 10" all-in-one telemetry GCS with a powerful Android hw, which we would also like to make a light version of, but we're still working out the kinks there, and we'll let you know.
The main questions we would like to ask You are mainly about the acceptable or necessary build and kit readiness levels, the most generic but still practical control layout and labels, built-in or optional RF modules, etc. We also welcome any other input that you may find important here. This is just a short list of issues that we're contemplating at the moment:
Toggles, pots, other controls... shall we adhere to a generic RC control layout (especially 9x type)?
What is your opinion of the current custom layout that caters for both payload and FPV operation with remapping?
Pots in particular, do you need them at all in a professional controller?
6 position rotary flight mode switch, do you need them while you barely use 2-3 flight modes in general?
Joystick trims, do you need them at all in a professional controller? After all, they are a major source of mishaps in non-RC trained fiddly hands...
Single PCB construction or PCB mounted RC switches with connectorised/solder pad-based wiring for DIY purposes?
Moderate waterproof features, we can seal the electronics of the open joysticks, so the water can go simply through the body with port holes in the bottom service covers (or built-in silica pad) ... is this something you need to survive a passing shower?
If it's not clear from all of the above, this is NOT a crowdsourced project, at least not financially, so you don't need to pledge any money to take part in this little endeavour. We're not a one-trick pony start-up venture as we've been in this industry for a decade now, but we have to keep learning from our customers and peers.
Posted by Steve Stark on September 11, 2018 at 5:06am
The drivers for this market are rapid technological advancements in drones and increase in demand for drone-generated data in commercial applications are the key factors for the growth of the market. Further, the increase in venture funding propels the growth of the UAV drones market.
Military drones are expected to capture the largest share of the UAV drones market. The military drones are being used successfully by defense agencies to guard their borders, to enforce law as well as for combat missions. For example, in September 2017, the US military launched six drone strikes against Islamic State positions in Libya. The adoption of military drones by various countries worldwide for military applications such as border security and spying is the key factor driving the growth of the military drones market.
Among all the major applications of the commercial drones, the market for media and entertainment is expected to hold the largest share in 2017. Drones offer numerous advantages over other methods of capturing images; some of the benefits offered by drones include lower costs and improved quality of films and photos. This is the main driver for the growth of UAV drones market for media and entertainment. The market for precision agriculture is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
The current market is dominated by the players such as Northrop Grumman (US), DJI (China), General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (US), Parrot (France), Thales (France), 3DR (US), Boeing (US), PrecisionHawk (US), Lockheed Martin (US), Textron (US), and AeroVironment (US).
Posted by Sohan Suvarna on September 7, 2018 at 1:00pm
Nearly five decades before the Wright Flyer made its first flight, Henri Giffard had flown 24 km in France with his steam-engine powered airship. Since then airships have risen to its ultimate glory and have also seen a vicious downfall. The end of 20th century has rekindled interest in airship due to their efficiency and ability to stay afloat in the air for prolonged duration. I do not believe that airships can replace the conventional heavier-than-air aircraft. However, they are an ideal platform for applications which demand high endurance such as remote sensing, weather monitoring, surveillance and advertising to name a few.
One of the primary challenges in airship operation is its control. Airship dynamics are sluggish and take longer to respond to the control input from the user. Just like a balloon, it is susceptible to ambient wind conditions making airships difficult to maneuver. Unlike in heavier-than-air aircraft, it is difficult to maintain a desired heading angle in airships as they tend to be laterally unstable. This is why it is essential to have a closed loop control for maintaining the directional heading of the airship.
I had recently developed an airship with enhanced stability using the PlutoX Aerial Robotics Kit. Programming on the PlutoX platform was really easy, due to the fact that library already has pre-programmed APIs for commonly used tools like attitude estimation. I spent merely 3 hours in writing the PID control law for altitude hold, pitch regulation and heading stabilization. The PlutoX controller has inbuilt MOSFET based motor drivers, which could be used to power upto 8 motors. The 600mAh LiPo battery typically lasts about 10~12 minutes for a quadrotor. With this airship, the endurance was stretched to 40 minutes with the same battery.
Posted by yangdaonline on September 6, 2018 at 8:14pm
Sky Eye-U30 gyro-stabilized camera payload can be mounted on any fixed-wing or VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. It combines cutting-edge technologies in lightweight, affordable, gyro-stabilized gimbal system. Which makes it a perfect choice for applications like inspection, surveillance, search, and rescue.
High quality video sensor Sky Eye-U30 is using SONY FCB-EV7520 camera block, which provides 1080P 60FPS full HD video streaming and up to 360X zoom capability. It also features anti-fog, video enhancement and some other advanced features.
Auto object tracking With onboard object tracking module, Sky Eye-U30 is able to track static or moving target easily, keeping it in the center of the frame.
Easy for integration Sky Eye-U30 can not only be controlled via PWM signal, but also serial command. Also gimbal status(like Yaw/Pitch angle, zoom position etc) can be obtained by sending serial command to the gimbal via its serial port, which is really useful for precise gimbal control and system integration.
Clean and simple wiring Sky Eye-U30 comes with one wiring hub for RC receiver and video output port, which makes wiring pretty easy and clean. Also, the gimbal offers 2 smart speed modes: FAST speed and LOW speed. Fast speed mode is used for small zooming range, which makes the gimbal control sensitive and quick. LOW-speed mode is used for large zoom range, will enable you to target the object more accurately.
Compact and lightweight Sky Eye-U30 weighs as little as 690g to help you meet your payload weight allowance.
