Drone News

Meet our newest community sponsor Flyte, a drone ops management platform built to help commercial drone pilots streamline their efforts. We added Flyte to our 70 Companies to Watch in 2017 post a little while back when they first came on our radar, and we’re happy to introduce them now as a community sponsor. How Do You Plan and Log Your Flights? There are a ton of factors for commercial drone pilots to consider, and a plethora of tools—too many, really—to support the work they do. What most people don’t realize about operating sUAS is that 80% of the work happens before and after the flight. That’s the sad reality of being a professional drone pilot. You’ll spend more time planning, logging, rendering and producing data than flying. In addition to the sUAS work itself, many commercial drone operators are solopreneurs, who handle not only the work involved in planning and running their ops but also the marketing, sales, accounting, strategy, and other aspects of running a business. This is where Flyte comes in—Flyte was created to provide commercial drone pilots with a single app they could use to manage their operations. How Does Flyte Help? In addition to planning, logging, and reporting support, Flyte provides full and up-to-the-minute information on digital NOTAMS/TFRs and ground hazards, as well an airspace integration through AIRMAP, which enables pilots to integrate into national airspace and communicate with ATC. An app like Flyte can streamline a big chunk of the non-flying part of your commercial drone operation by helping you: Conduct airspace research. Need to know if you’re flying in controlled or uncontrolled airspace? If there are any other hazards or special airspace considerations in the area? You sure do. Capture / save / send that research. Check out the map below. See the alert and caution icons? And how you can create custom marks on the map? You can save all of that research as well. This is particularly helpful to send to a client or other crew members ahead of time. Good for demonstrating professionalism. Flyte Airspace Alerts and Icons Work offline and in-field. Flyte is good for using at home, but you can also use it in the field, before and after flying, to ensure you’re always equipped with the info and resources needed for strong situational awareness and in-the-moment logging. Log your flights, batteries, and aircraft. Even if you’re not a certified sUAS operator, you should be mindful of logging your battery usage and aircraft maintenance schedule. That’s just…taking care of your stuff. Not to mention the safety considerations. Flyte Dashboard Flyte was built for both individual operators and teams, and their packages go all the way up to enterprise level for large operations. Their platform enables management of multiple pilots, drones, risk assessment / documentation to ensure the effective management and digital records of all activities. Flight Planning Flyte allows pilots to map their flight area ahead of time so they can see all airspace, restricted areas, and ground hazards, and plan accordingly. Flyte Dashboard Pilots can locate the airspace they want to map by entering a zip code or address, and even zoom down to a specific building using the satellite map (according to Flyte all satellite imagery is up-to-date, with images no older than six months at a resolution of about fifteen square meters per pixel). Once your flight area is confirmed, the dashboard presents hazards to be considered before flying. The location of each hazard is provided, and each one is interactive. Once the hazards are resolved, the Flight Approval button can be clicked to approve the flight. In addition, pilots can add their own notes or hazards manually. Flyte Hazard View If any changes are required, you can click the “Edit Flight Area” to adjust the flight area and the “Clear Map” button to start over. Flyte Editable Fields for Hazards Kits Management Kits are Flyte’s way of organizing groups of hardware. The goal here is to save pilots from having to repeatedly add individual pieces of hardware into each project. Instead, kits allow you to add one single kit of grouped hardware, so you can save time when setting up operation in the app. For example, there could be a basic kit for a DJI Phantom 4 Professional, intended for perhaps simpler operations such as roof surveys or wedding photography. Within this kit would be the drone, its associated batteries and any equipment specifically required operating that particular drone. Then there could then be a separate kit associated with a DJI Inspire II used specifically for more complicated operations. How Can You Get Flyte for Your Drone Ops? By summer of 2017 Flyte will be offering a mobile app that enables post-flight logging, post-flight analytics, and sharable flight plans. As part of their community sponsorship, Flyte is offering a free 30-day trial to the UAV Coach Community. Request your free 30-day trial of Flyte now for you or your company. Check out Flyte’s roadmap to see when they will hit key milestones in developing and releasing their app: The post Meet Flyte, a Drone Ops Management Platform to Simplify Your Commercial sUAS Work appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

A new very tiny compact DSM2/DSMX satellite receiver !!! and really working in DSMX !!!: http://www.banggood.com/2_4G-SP09X-Micro-DSM2DSMX-Satellite-Receiver-p-1137380.html 0.9g announced more than 300m range of distance is promised. Beware, 3.3V only as input voltage. Works in 11ms & 22ms… So compatible with most of Spektrum radios. Specification: Item Name: 2.4G SP09X micro DSM2/DSMX Satellite receiver Frequency range: 2.403-2.479Ghz Input power: 3.3V Response time: 22ms / 11ms Resolution: 1024/2048 Display method: LED Operating voltage: 3.3V Working current: 60MA Size: 18mm*13mm*5mm Weight: 0.9 g Antenna length: 30mm Data format: Serial port Protocol: DSM2/DSMX Distance: no ground interference (1 m from the ground ) > 300m Uses: Micro indoor/outdoor small aircraft./multi rotor Compatible Transmitters: DSM2 / DSMX series of remote control Bind procedure With F3 flight controller: Connect Flight controller to computer and open Cleanflight configurator From CLI tab type: “set spektrum_sat_bind = 9” for DSMX or “set spektrum_sat_bind = 5” for DSM2 Type “save” and after Flight controller reboot remove USB cable (=Power off the board) Wait a second and reconnect the USB cable. After cold start satellite led(Orange color LED) should start blinking and transmitter should be turned on while pressing the bind button After binding satellite led should be solid. Connect Betaflight and use receiver tab to test that satellite is working correctly. Final step is to go to CLI tab and type “set spektrum_sat_bind = 0” and then type “save”. This must be done so that satellite doesn’t go back to binding mode when the Flight controller is repowered again. Cet article NEWS: SP09X, a 0.9g DSM2/DSMX satellite receiver est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

There has been a lot of speculation in the drone community about what might happen to the FAA, and specifically to drone regulation, under the Trump Administration. Well, it looks like we now have some clarity. In the budget just released by the Trump administration, air traffic control (ATC) would be separated from the FAA, and be placed under the supervision of an independent, nongovernmental organization. In a budget request to Congress released Thursday, the Trump administration stated that this proposed “nonprofit corporation” would be “more efficient and innovative while maintaining safety.” Many aviation groups have spoken out agains the idea. Mike Perrone, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, said back in 2015 that, “Privatizing the air traffic control system is a risky and unnecessary step.” On the other side of the debate, one of the leading proponents for removing ATC operations from the FAA’s control is Representative Bill Shuster, who introduced a proposal calling for this back in 2015 (which is what led to Mike Perrone’s statement quoted above). Shuster plans to reintroduce his proposal this year. Under Shuster’s plan, a board made up of airline and other aviation stakeholders would oversee a new ATC corporation. This new organization would be funded by fees paid by aircraft operators. (Currently, these operations are funded by taxes on fuel and airline tickets.) In this new model, the FAA would continue to provide safety oversight, but ATC operations would be independent of the FAA. Pros and Cons Pros One big pro that Shuster and other proponents of removing ATC from the FAA point to is that this separation would protect the air traffic corporation from the federal budget process, a process which has led to complaints about repeated delays and regular uncertainty for the airline industry. Shuster has said that passengers under this new system would “see a more efficient system, flight times decrease, on-time departures increase, emissions reduced, and 21st century technology deployed to guide our planes from gate to gate.” Notably, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents the FAA’s 14,000 controllers, backs privatization, citing complaints that the FAA has been unable to resolve chronic controller understaffing and has been slow to modernize facilities. Many airlines also support privatization as a quick path to modernizing equipment, and removing uncertainty from their operations. Cons On the other hand, many aviation groups have previously raised concerns about these proposed changes. Most concerns in Congress relate to removing congressional oversight, and adding new fees for air traffic control, which might ultimately be passed down to passengers. In the drone industry, a possible negative, and potentially unforeseen, consequence of privatizing air traffic control could be a ramping down of partnerships toward creating new Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems to control all aircraft—both drones and airplanes—in a given airspace. Without the centralizing authority of a governmental agency, the current collaborations between public and private interests to create UTMs to keep airports safe may be derailed, or simply defunded and deprioritized. However, this new proposed ATC corporation, if it is created, could well pursue these partnerships with private industry. Much is unknown right now about, and it’s still difficult to predict how things might shape up. What Is Air Traffic Control, and Why Does It Matter to Drone Pilots? Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airspace. – Wikipedia One reason drone pilots should care about air traffic control has to do with safety. Rogue drones can potentially take down a plane by flying into its engine, either accidentally or on purpose, and the FAA has been working with the FBI and private partners to find ways to control rogue drones in airports and controlled airspaces. The reason this matters is in part about how the drone industry is perceived by the public at large. Of course, we all want drones to be seen in a positive light, and so it’s important that ATC operations be able to control rogue drones and prevent potentially dangerous scenarios involving drones. A related topic, which is discussed above, is the creation of Unmanned Traffic Management systems, which would help oversee the flight of both planes and drones, and serve to semi- or fully automate ATC operations. This kind of system seems like a good option when considering the proliferation of drones, and the very likely possibility that we will see more and more drones in the air in the next several decades. To continue to make drone flights possible, we have to consider the best, safest ways to share the skies. Working alongside ATC operations and personnel—be it under the supervision of the FAA or under its own, private supervision—is going to be crucial to this effort as we move forward in the industry. The post FAA Would Become Nongovernmental, Lose Authority Over Air Traffic Control in Proposed Trump Budget appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

One more time, thanks to Goebish: https://www.deviationtx.com/forum/protocol-development/6975-dm002-protocol-contains-captures?start=20#60649 Actually, you can grab the beta version for 7E & 10. It will be included relatively soon in the next Nightly Build. Unfortunatly, the Dead band for ruddler commmand is a FC parameter and not linked with the radio. You can play with expo to reduce a bit its effect. You will need a Devo controller compatible with DeviationTX and modded with a nRF24L01+ RF chip. Cet article NEWS: DM002 5.8G FPV Deviated est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen this video. But how the heck did they pull this off? Last weekend at the New York City Drone Film Festival we sat in on a panel session that went over the incredible story behind the making of this video. Although the video is whimsical and a whole lot of fun to watch, the reality is that making it was a very serious endeavor, and it took an entire year and TONS of testing to make this happen. The panel was moderated by Sam Sheffer from Mashable, and included Casey Neistat, Paul Leys of Samsung, and Justin Oakes and Elaine Lozano of Droneworks Studios. Let’s dive in. How Was the Idea for the Video Born? A little over a year ago Samsung launched their Gear 360, and partnered with Casey Neistat to help get the word out. In case you’re not familiar with 360 cameras, they literally film in 360 degrees, so that you need to wear VR goggles to view the entirety of the footage captured. They had VR goggles at the NYC Drone Film Festival and were letting people wear them and watch the 360 video Casey filmed with a selfie stick while being pulled by the massive drone, and it was an amazing (although somewhat nauseating) experience to watch the 360 footage. You could move your head around, as if you were actually on location where the video had been filmed, and it was as if you were simply seeing the world around you. When the 360 first came out back in 2016, Casey was brainstorming ways to use it. It was important to provide at least three points of interest, so that you actually saw something if you looked around in the virtual world the 360 camera captured. If there was only one point of interest, or even two, that wouldn’t really be taking full advantage of the 360’s capabilities, since those shots could be captured just the same using a regular video camera. So, of course, something spectacular had to be done in order to really leverage the capabilities of 360 video. Drones had already been used to film surfers, but what about a video where a drone was carrying a person? You could film not just the person in flight, but the reactions of those on the ground and the surrounding landscape, providing a spectacle that would allow for multiple points of interest. Around this time Casey began talking with Paul Leys of Samsung, and they looped in Justin Oakes and Elaine Lozano of the DroneWorks team. After chatting, Justin did some quick calculations on a spreadsheet and figured out that it was actually physically possible to make a drone that lifted a person into the air, and the idea for the project was born. Making the Drone It took a year to create the custom octocopter that carries Casey Neistat into the sky. During the panel we learned that the DroneWorks team named their unique creation Janet, and that’s the name we’re going to use to refer to her for the remainder of this article. The panel: Janet, Justin Oakes, Elaine Lozano, Casey Neistat, Paul Leys, and Sam Sheffer Building Janet was an incredible undertaking. Every single piece was custom made, and tested to failure to ensure safety and reliability. Elaine Lozano of DroneWorks Studios said that during that time they had 5-50 boxes being delivered every single day containing parts and pieces for building the drone. There is a huge amount of redundancy built into Janet. She can lose batteries, flight controllers, and even multiple propellers and still stay in the air (they even tested her with only four of her eight propellers). Despite her impressive size and power, Justin said that Janet’s not actually that sophisticated. She’s really just a big, incredibly powerful RC helicopter. Janet’s Specs and Details 50 minutes of flight in good conditions, but only 4 during the making of the video given various factors 16 7 cell batteries Every part of the frame was cut from carbon and custom made by the DroneWorks team Every component was tested to failure Fits into 8 different cases, and took about 2 and 1/2 months to transport to Finland, where the video was shot Uses an analog FPV system Flying is fully manual, but it does have a GPS as a failsafe Can only be flown by Justin Oakes (and maybe a few other people in the world) Handles smoothly, “better than ALEXA or RED” according to Justin Oakes Making the Video Challenges Regulatory challenges were top of mind as Janet was being built. Once they had her built, where would they actually be able to fly her? The U.S. wasn’t considered at all, due to the potential red tape flying a person with a drone would entail. The fact that Janet weighs over 50 pounds, and most countries don’t allow drones to fly that weigh over 50 pounds, meant the list of potential countries that would allow them to fly Janet at all (let alone fly her with a person in tow in the air) was pretty short out of the gate. After an exhaustive search, Finland was one of the only countries completely open to letting the Samsung/DroneWorks team fly Janet. Once the decision was made and the plan drawn up, it took about two and half months to transport Janet, in bits and pieces, to Finland. Location was also a challenge. To film the video they took over a town called Santa’s Village, a hard feat in and of itself given that they filmed closed to Christmas in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. And then there were issues with simply getting enough time to shoot. It turns out there’s only a three hour window of light in Finland during Christmas time, from 11:30am to 2:30pm, which left very little time to get all the shots needed. Add to this the fact that Janet could only be in the air for about four minutes before her batteries needed to be switched out, and that switching the batteries took 20-30 minutes, and you can see how hard it was to get any filming done at all. Logistics Safety was a huge concern, both for Casey, who of course was being flown high into the air by a drone, and for those folks standing around, who could potentially be harmed if they got too close to Janet. A team of 50 people—50 PEOPLE!—supported the making of the video. A stunt coordinator and crew of stuntmen were required to keep everyone safe, and to appear as extras in the background during the skiing portions of the shooting (though the people giving Casey high 5s as he snowboards through town are actual Finnish citizens). In addition to the stunt team, Skynamic, based in Mainz, Germany was on site to support filming (they won the Showreel category in last year’s NYC Drone Film Festival). A truck was required just to transport Janet’s batteries and extra parts, and Casey was attached to the drone with an invisible wire, which ensured that even if he lost his grip on the rope connecting him to the drone he wouldn’t fall. The highest they took Casey was 200 feet in the air, although the Finnish authorities had given them permission to go as high as 400 feet. (200 seems like plenty to me.) Piloting Janet was its own subject during the panel, because it was so difficult to do. Justin Oakes was the pilot, and he had a team of three people supporting him as he flew Janet, keeping the path in front of him and space surrounding him clear so he wouldn’t be bumped, and allowing him to focus all of his attention on flying and keeping Casey safe. Justin said he had gloves custom made just to fly Janet in the cold climate of Finland, which could fit a transmitter into them. In short, after learning about all of the challenges and logistics required, it seems pretty amazing that this video was made at all. The post How’d They Do That? The Incredible Story Behind Casey Neistat’s Human Flying Drone Video appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

Want a super GoPro 5 and runcam HD3 competitor ? Here is the new Foxeer Box 4K: http://www.banggood.com/FOXEER-Box-4K-CMOS-FOV-155-Degree-Micro-Bluetooth-WiFi-Camera-Mini-FPV-Sport-Action-Cam-p-1136301.html 70g, 4K@30fps, 1080p@120 !!!!, electronic stabilization. More a SuperVision mode is available (a kind of super Wide HDR). Sound really a great GoPro 5 competitor and seems much better than the RunCam HD3. Description : Brand Name : Foxeer Item Name : Box 4K Camera Sensor: IMX117 CMOS Lens: 155 degree FOV Connectivity: WiFi + Bluetooth Interface: micro USB HDMI Lens protection glass: yes Stereo microphone: yes Display: OLED Waterproof level: IP64 Image stabilization: EIS Video format: H.264 codec,mp4 Resolution:4K30fps/2.5K60fps/1080P120fps/720P240fps/4K25fps SuperVision/2.7K30fps SuperVision/1080P60fps SuperVision/720P120fps ISO range: Auto,100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 Shutter speed: 1/30 – 1/60 EV compensation: -2.0 to 2.0 Size : 4 x 4 x 4cm Battery: 1100Mah (irremovable) Weight : 70g Package Included : 1 x Foxeer Box 4K Camera Cet article NEWS: FOXEER box 4K, the GoPro5 killer ? est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

It is incredible to see how much the New York City Drone Film Festival has grown since last year. In 2016, the #NYCDFF received 355 submissions from 45 different countries. This year, it received over 4,000. We can only imagine what next year will be like… Some of the highlights for us were watching Ty Evans and Phil Bloom talk craft and what’s coming next for drone cinematography during their panel on Saturday; another panel that included Casey Neistat, and Justin Oakes and Elaine Lozano of DroneWorks Studios, where we got all the details on how the HUMAN FLYING DRONE video was made possible; an incredibly moving standing ovation for the #NODAPL winner in the documentary category; and the videos, the videos, of course the videos! The team grabs a photo op with the #NYCDFF backdrop Alan and Lana try out the FPV experience on Sunday at the Liberty Science Center Without further ado, here are the winners from this year: X-FACTOR & BEST IN SHOW By: MMP3 (Mixed Motion Project) Director: Ilko Iliev and Marin Kafedjiiski Producer: Ilko Iliev and Marin Kafedjiiski Stunts: Ilko Iliev D.O.P: Marin Kafedjiiski Music: The Derevolutions Film Location: Bulgaria Team Location: Bulgaria A journey that involves parkour, video game-type features, incredibly smooth editing, and is just a whole lot of fun. NEWS/DOCUMENTARY: #NoDAPL: Drones Monitor North Dakota Police By: AJ+, Shiyé Bidzííl, and Myron Dewey Film Location: North Dakota Team Location: United States A behind-the-scenes look at how drones helped record police activities, and thereby helped keep protesters safe, during the extended protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. NARRATIVE: Drone Star Wars By: Corridor Digital Directors: Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer Producers: Sam Gorski, Niko Pueringer, and the Corridor Digital Team Film Location: California Team Location: Los Angeles, California A new twist on an epic battle we all know, fought in miniature. LANDSCAPE: Australia By: Wild Pacific Media Editor: Caspar Mazzotti Cinematography: Nick Robinson, Luke Peterson, Caspar Mazzotti, Cam Batten, Sid Tinney Film Location: Australia Music: ‘Lumina’ by M J Petrie; ‘Swarm Of Lights’ by N Jean, G Felix, S Casais; ‘Earthrise’ by C P Haigh Team Location: Sydney, Australia A look into the wildlife and incredible landscapes of Australia, with a mind bending technique for switching shots that literally turns the world upside down. EXTREME SPORTS: Cala d’en Serra – Drone Parkour By: Giles Campbell Longley & Kie Willis Directors and Editors: Giles Campbell Longley & Kie Willis Drone Pilot: Kie Willis Camera Operator: Giles Campbell Longley Stunts: Eric Moor Film Location: Cala d’en Serra in Ibiza, Spain Team Location: United Kingdom A parkour adventure shot against a beautiful seascape backdrop. FREESTYLE/FPV: Fresh Squeeze By: Robert McIntosh Director and Producer : Robert McIntosh Film Location: Venice Beach, California New forays into the cinematographic possibilities of FPV, with tight squeezes through tiny places that lead at the end to a beautiful sunrise. ARCHITECTURE: Byzantine By: BigFly Director and Producer: Joris Favraud Music: Audiomachine Film Location: Eglise Saint Louis, Paimboeuf, France Team Location: France A close-up look at the interior of a cathedral, with some mind bending flips and turns that accentuate the beauty of the architecture featured. FEATURING DRONES: Drone Cake Baking By: Tilt Director: Lucas Zanotto Producers: The Tilt Team Film Location: Norway Team Location: Norway A whimsical take on cake baking, using DIY materials and gadgets attached to drones to build a layer cake in the least efficient, most delightful way possible. DRONIE: Family Island By: Florian Fischer Director and Producer: Florian Fischer Ceator Location: Germany Three time winner in the dronie cateogry for the #NYCDFF, Florian Fischer takes the dronie to the next level yet again this year with a continuous shot that begins with him behind his family home, follows a straight line through the house (where we see his family lounging symmetrically to either side of the camera’s path), and goes all the way out to the ocean nearby to show us the island where the house sits. VIDEO UNAVAILABLE SHOWREEL: KopterCam 2017 Showreel By: KopterCam Directors: Taneli Mustonen; Tom Harper; Jaakko Itäaho; Samuli Valkama; AJ Annila; Jukka Metsäaho; Shashanka Chaturvedi; Jyri Rapo; Parker Ellerman D.O.P.s: Daniel Lindholm; Steven Hall; Mika Orasmaa FSC; Anssi Leino FSC; Jason West; Rasmus Wilén; Dániel Garas; Aleksi Kipahti; Albrecht Silberberger Music: “No Other Name” by Ryan Taubert Team Location: Finland An aerial reel that reaches the level of high art with its smooth transitions, organic integration of music into the flow of images, and excellent, creative cinematography. STILL PHOTOGRAPHY: Sea and Salt Photo By: Wellington Rodrigues Photo Location: Germany The post And the Winner Is…Meet the 11 Winners of the 2017 New York City Drone Film Festival appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

Want a compact and solid 90mm frame ?. Here is the awesome E90: http://www.banggood.com/Awesome-E90-90mm-Micro-Brushless-FPV-Racing-Frame-Kit-Carbon-Fiber-12g-p-1135536.html This frame is compatible with the Eachine Minicube (3.5cm between the lower and upper plate). No information about the thickness but I guess it’s a 2mm frame. 12g in total. A good candidate to replace the Eachine Aurora 100 frame Description: Brand: Awesome Item name: E90 Micro Racing Frame Kit Wheel base: 90mm Size: 78*78mm Material: carbon fiber and CNC Aluminum alloy Weight: 12g Flight controller mounting hole: 20*20mm, M2 Aluminum standoff: D3.5*4mm Cet article NEWS: AWESOME E90 frame (90mm, 12g) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

INTRODUCTION The Eachine RatingKing F14 is a 1/14th 4WD buggy brushed machine equiped of a builtin 1000TVL CCD FPV camera and 25mW 5.8G FPV transmitter. More a 720p camera is also included to record HD videos. A 550 brushed motor is here to push the car up to 35km/h. Probably one of the first full FPV RTF model. Let’s discover the bundle. BOX CONTENT + 1 x RatingKing F14 car (with a 1500mAh/30C Lipo with T-dean connector) + 1 x Radiocontrol + 4 x AA Ni-Mh batteries + 1 x 250mAh 1S LiPo + 2 x Zip-ties + 1 x 720p camera + 1 x Powerchord microLOSI-3p 1.25mm JST + 1 x USB charger with 2S balancer plug + 1 x USB charger with microLOSI connector + 1 x Stickers sheet + 1 x Spare C-clip + 1 x Antenna tube + 1 x Instruction manual (English) OVERVIEW The F14 is a 4WD 1/14th buggy. All the structure is nylon plastic based renforced with some fiber. The general thickness of the lower frame is 3mm. -FRONT VIEW The frontal shock abosorber…. Large enought but no specific spring or flexible part behind to absorve energy of a massive frontal shock. In case of a brutal crash, the mechanical effort will be transmitted more to the bended part of the main lower structure. Shock absorbers are installed via ballhead. Four positions can be selected, the default one is the third. If you need to increase (a bit) the ground clearance, you can play with this position; 12mm hydrolic shock absorbers. They are more efficient that ones who came with first WLtoys models for example. -SIDE VIEW 3cm of ground clearance metal cups and dogbones are here for rear and front sides. -REAR VIEW The video transmitter is installed in rear part. A large plastic box with one unique red button on top, a 3-positions DIP switch for the taillight and an antenna mount hole. To select the Vfreq among the 40CH supported, jjust long press the red button. No possibility to directly jump to a current Vband. If your briefly press on the button, you will set the position of the OSD informations. 3 positions are proposed. A fourth option allow to remove completly OSD informations. Displayed informations are the current Vbat , the time elapsed and the current selected Vfreq. A taillight is here. 8 different colors can be set. Ideal for FPV racing will several machines. -UPPER VIEW What I really appreciate is the easy access of the main powerswitch as well as the JST connectors for the FPV rig. If you want to drive in LOS conditions onlyy, disconnect the JST connector and voilà. -BOTTOM VIEW The main lower Nylon plastic announced to be reforced with 30% of fiber. The general thickness is 3mm. Flathead screws are used. I am a little bit afraid for the front part in case of brutal frontal shock. Tyres LiPo A 1500mAh 2S LiPo with Tdean connector. FPV Camera module The FPV camera is a CCD 1000TVL model with an excellent light sensitivity. Ideal for night runs. The field if view is not too large; 110 degrees. A good choice IMHO. A tiny switch to select NTSC or PAL format A raw sample of the FPV cam The sound is also broadcasted. Really this FPV camera outporforms any CMOS camera of AIO bundle. 720p Camera module The 720p camera offers a Field of View of 120 degrees with 30fps. This is the same camera as for the Eachine Racer 130. The microSD slot and a 3pin position 1.25mm connector. Notice the central pin is the AVout. It means this camera can be used also to broadcast an FPV signal. A unique trigger button for recording. The red rear light will blink when recording and stay solid when it’s not. A 250mAh LiPo is given to power during 15min the module. Raw sample Unfortunatly borders are a little but blur. More some frame are lost during recordings. Even worse, with high vibrations, I noticed recorded files were corrupted. Disassembling Just 4 clips to remove to open the canopy. The ESC is 45A model well cooled with several heatsinks Good news, the receiver is independant so you can replace it for your favorite model The steering servo is a 25g model Ballheads are here The pinion and the spur gear are well protected from dust introduction. Notice the spur gear is the unique one non-métal. Transmitter A classic controller only for left-hand. No dead zone for the Wheel. Controls are relatively precize. One steering pot and one throttle pot are here for fine-tuning. Two upper button are here also to reverse channel. 4 AA Ni-Mh rechargeable batteries are already installed In practice the range is pretty good. No problem to exceed 100m for both the control and FPV rance. That’s great UNBOXING, ANALYSIS AND DEMO RUNS What a fun car !!!! It’s fast, nervous with a good torque. For me it’s faster than former WLtoys L9x9 series for example. I am really impressed by the FPV cam… and the FPV range is great despite being a 25mW model only. Obviously racing outdoors with chaotic ground will introduce a lot vibrations in FPV….. Paradoxally, the best and fun applications are indoors or on smooth asphalt. For the 720p camera, first of all the light sensitivity is much poorer. probably a CMOS sensor behind. More with high vibrations, for most of my runs, I lost all recording. files were corrupted or even worse, the microSD card completly unreadable. On smooth asphalt, it’s just super fun !!!! Fast, maneauvrable…. I like. If you have a goggles including speaker, the sound is also transmitted. Immersion feelings will be increased :). Runing time are around 10-12min. CONCLUSIONS A lot of positive elements for this car. First of all it’s a fast, nervous and maneouvrable machine well adapted for asphalt, soft surfaces and sand. With these type of surface, the FPV practice is fun helped a lot with the excellent performances for the CCD FPV camera. Most of rotatives elements are in metal and the gearbox and motors are well protected against dust introduction. My main concern is about the 720p camera… with average performances in term of light sentivitiy, bluring a bit corners. More recording can be lost with high vibrations. The price of this bundle is a little but high…. you can almost grab a brushless model for the same price. I guess without this 720p camera, 10USD or more would have been saved. PROS + Fast and nervous car + 4WD 1/14th buggy + Independant receiver + Great CCD FPV camera with OSD informations + Good FPV range + Diff box with metal gears + Metal cup, dogbones, ballheads + Easy powerswitch access + 4xAA Ni-Mh included CONS – 720p recording with non-constant 30fps – Video files can be corrupted by vibrations – Nylon spur gear – A bit expensive (the 720p camera should be ommitted) This buggy have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude. You can find it actually for 130USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-114-RatingKing-Real-Time-FPV-Buggy-With-Camera-4×4-RTR-p-1131295.html Cet article TEST: Eachine RatingKing F14 FPV (1/14th 4WD buggy, 550 motors, 1000TVL CCD, 40CH 5.8G 25mW ) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Here at UAV Coach we are proud to announce that we’ll be a media partner for AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2017 in Dallas, TX from May 8th to 11th. With 7,000+ attendees, 650+ exhibitors, and 200+ educational sessions, the AUVSI team isn’t exaggerating when they describe XPONENTIAL as “the largest global community of leaders in drones, intelligent robotics and unmanned systems” coming together to shape the future of our industry. Enter to win! As a media partner, we’ve been given 5 VIP passes (each valued at $1879) to distribute to our community members. Huzzah! Here’s what a VIP pass comes with: The VIP Club, where the industry’s key players conduct business, hold meetings and enjoy a little R&R Executive luxuries, including private meeting rooms, lounge space and complimentary daily continental breakfast and lunch The Chairman’s Reception for executive-level networking (Tuesday, May 9, 5:00-6:00 PM; open to VIP Pass holders and invitees only) All networking events—First-Time Attendee Reception, Welcome Reception, and The Mix The industry’s leading Educational Program (and all conference proceedings) and Startup Showdown Keynotes, presented by the power players in today’s unmanned ecosystem The entire XPO Hall—the largest in the industry, packed with the latest innovation technologies Interested in snagging one of our VIP passes? Just go to this Facebook post and write a comment, following the instructions in the post. Easy! If you don’t win the giveaway, you can still use the code UAVCOACH to apply a 20% discount when purchasing a conference ticket. About AUVSI XPONENTIAL The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)—the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of unmanned systems and robotics—represents more than 7,500 members from more than 60 countries involved in the fields of government, industry and academia. AUVSI members work in the defense, civil and commercial markets. “Unmanned systems are transforming the enterprise. From energy and agriculture to broadcasting and security, unmanned systems, robotic and drone technology is enabling applications that were previously impossible. The educational program at XPONENTIAL is designed not only to showcase these advancements, but to provide attendees with real-world examples, best practices and smart strategies to leverage the power of unmanned systems in their own organizations.” – Brian Wynne, AUVSI president and CEO. Conference Tracks AUVSI is divided into three tracks: Policy: Airspace, local, state and federal government cooperation, international trade affecting unmanned systems, and regulation of unmanned maritime systems. Technology: Defense technology innovation, drone delivery technology, protecting intellectual property, software development powering unmanned systems and automated vehicle technology development. Business Solutions: Remote sensing, drones in the wireless industry, mapping and imaging, maritime applications for oil and gas, aviation risk management, and managing and protecting data. The XPONENTIAL 2017 educational program will also include extensive technical sessions supported by white papers and a presentation series on government and defense opportunities for industry engagement. In the exhibit hall, education programs are planned for the Starting Point Theater, Solutions Theater and Poster Sessions area. There will also be special sessions, such as Women and Diversity in Robotics, and the Startup Showdown live pitch event, featuring new companies that are developing the future of innovation in the industry. More than 7,000 industry leaders and professionals from more than 55 countries are expected to attend XPONENTIAL 2017. The exhibit hall will showcase more than 650 cutting-edge companies from around the world, representing more than 20 industries. Keynotes and Host Brian Krzanich was appointed chief executive officer of Intel Corporation and elected a member of the board of directors on May 16, 2013. He is the sixth CEO in the company’s history, succeeding Paul S. Otellini. Krzanich has progressed through a series of technical and leadership roles at Intel, most recently serving as the chief operating officer (COO) since January 2012. As COO, his responsibilities included leading an organization of more than 50,000 employees spanning Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group, Intel Custom Foundry, supply chain operations, the NAND Solutions group, human resources, information technology and Intel’s China strategy. Krzanich began his career at Intel in 1982 in New Mexico as a process engineer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from San Jose State University and has one patent for semiconductor processing. Krzanich is also a member of the board of directors of the Semiconductor Industry Association. Terry McAuliffe is the 72nd Governor of Virginia. Governor McAuliffe’s top priority is building a new Virginia economy. Whether traveling to Bedford or Beijing, Governor McAuliffe is working hard to create and maintain jobs throughout the Commonwealth. To ensure that Virginia remains competitive, the Governor is implementing major economic development initiatives designed to strengthen the Commonwealth’s pro-business climate, ensure efficient investment in world-class infrastructure, and develop a 21st century workforce capable of meeting the needs of emerging businesses and industries. Through these efforts, Governor McAuliffe and his Administration have helped close more than 800 economic development deals worth more than $14 billion in capital investment—more than $5 billion more than any previous Administration. Jim Cantore is one of the most recognized faces in weather. Known for his live reports from severe weather events, Cantore embodies the passion and knowledge of The Weather Channel (Weather) that makes him the weather authority viewers turn to when the forecast turns dire. He has covered every major weather event of the past 30 years, including Hurricanes Katrina and Irene and Superstorm Sandy, solidifying his role and the role of The Weather Channel as the leading source for severe weather coverage. Cantore is well known for his animated, tenacious style, both in the field and in the studio. As Weather’s storm tracker, Cantore reports tirelessly before, during and after weather events, providing live reports and insights for the network. When not in the field, he covers the latest forecast and weather news on “AMHQ,” weekdays from 6 – 9 a.m. ET. He is also is a frequent contributor to NBC programs such as “Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “TODAY,” as well as for NBC affiliates nationwide and multiple MSNBC shows. Want to Attend AUVSI XPONENTIAL? Here Are the Details XPONENTIAL 2017 will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas from May 8 to 11, 2017. Remember, to enter our giveaway to win 1 of 5 VIP passes just go here. And don’t forget use the code UAVCOACH to apply a 20% discount when purchasing a conference ticket. The post UAV Coach Partners with AUVSI XPONENTIAL appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

Very similar to the ARFUN 90mm and the Liantian 90L, here is a new 90mm brushless racer, i.e. the SPC-90C: http://www.banggood.com/SPC-90S-90mm-FPV-Racing-Drone-BNF-with-Omnibus-F3-OSD-Blheli_S-10A-5_8G-48CH-25mW-VTX-p-1134571.html The electronic of this machine is very close to the two quoted competitors: F3 omnibus FC with builtin Betaflight OSD, 4-in-1 10A BLheli_S/Dshot600 board, 1104/7500Kv and a basic 600TVL AIO 48CH 5.8G FPV camera. No information about the thickness of the 3K carbon frame. The machine is shipped with a 450mAh 2S LiPo and the total weight is announced to be 86g. This machine should be 3S compatible but more with tr-blades props maximum. In addition of betaflight OSD, a builtin buzzer is also added. Good news, four different choices of receiver is offered: FrSky (D8+telemetry), FlySky (AFHDS-2A ?), Spektrum DSM2 and Futaba SHFSS. Look another great microFPV flyer … We are lucky to have such new machines …. Specification: Item Name: SPC 90S 90mm Mini FPV Racing Drone Model: SPC 90S Wheelbase: 90mm Material: 3K Full Carbon Fiber Size: 73mm*85mm*23mm Weight: 56g( battery not include) 86g ( Including battery) Motor: 1104 7500KV brushless motor ESC: 10A BLHELI_S 4 in 1 ESC Propeller: 50mm 5-blades propeller Receiver: DSM2 Receiver/ Frsky Receiver/ Futaba Receiver (optional) Camera: 600TVL 1/4 CMOS Camera PAL/ STNC Switchable VTX: 5.8g 25MW 48CH FPV transmitter Battery: 7.4V 450mah Lipo battery (JST 2P Connector) Omnibus F3 Flight Control: Flight controller: Omnibus F3 Integrated with OSD Built in 5V@1A BEC Processor: STM32F3CCT6 MCU Sensor: SPI Sensor MPU6000 Size: 27mm*27mm*5mm Mount hole: 20mm*20mm Lipo: 2-4S Supports popular receivers such as SBus, PPM, DSMX. Buzzer, programmable LED, voltage monitoring, HLHeli ESC Weight: 8g 10A Blheli_S 4 In 1 ESC: Size: 27mm*27mm*5mm Mount hole: 20mm*20mm BB2, 48MHZ Chip Lipo Battery: 2-4S Con. Current: 10A Peak Current: 15A (5S) BEC: NO Programming: YES Support D-Shot, Oneshot, rotation directions Weight: 6.3g Package Included: 1 x SPC 90S 1 x 600TVL camera 4 x 1104 KV7500 Brushless motor 1 x DSM2 receiver Or Frsky Receiver Or Futaba Receiver 1 x Mini F3 OSD Flying Tower 4 x 50mm propeller 1 x 5.8G 25mw image transfer 2 x 7.4V 500mAh battery Cet article NEWS: SPC-90S (90mm, 86g, F3 omni+BetaOSD, 4-in-1 10A BLheli_S/Dshot600, 25mW 48CH AIO) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A new Walkera Furious is announced, now shrinked to 215mm: http://www.banggood.com/Walkera-Furious-215-215mm-F3-5_8G-200mW-600TVL-FPV-Racing-Drone-DEVO-7-Remote-Controller-BNF-RTF-p-1134374.html Well … electronic is up to date… but no presence of a builtin OSD for example. The main plus of this new product in the introduction of a 1/3 inch Super HAD II CCD camera with a Wide-HDR. Not a lot of information about ESC but they are not Dshot ready. The design looks clean with removable arms, a good point for maintenance. In the other hand, the price is high versus the Eachine Wizzard X220 for example. Come in BNF or RTF (devo 7) versions. SPECIFICATION: Brand Name: Walkera Model: Furious 215 Item Name: 215mm F3 5.8G FPV Racing Drone AIRCRAFT Wheelbase: 215mm Weight: 375g ( excluding battery ) Transmitter: DEVO 7 7-channel Flight controller: FCS – F215 F3 FC Brushless motor: WK-WS-28-017 2500KV Brushless ESC: Furious 215 ESC(support Oneshot42, Oneshot125) Propeller: 5040 5 inch 3-Blade Prop Battery: 14.8V 1300mAh 60C 4S LiPo Flight time: 8 – 9 minutes Working temperature: -10 to 40 Deg.C CAMERA Lens: 2.5mm Image sensor: 1/3 inch Super HAD II CCD Resolution: 600TVL Sensor: CCD FOV: 130° Camear Focus: 2.5mm Integrated microphone: yes WDR: D-WDR DNR: 2DNR Day / night: Color / Auto / Black and White Power supply: 5 – 17V FPV TRANSMITTER Model: TX5838 ( FCC ) Frequency: 5.8GHz Channels: 8 Transmission distance: 1.5km Output power: 200mW or less DEVO 7 Remote Controller Frequency: 2.4GHz DSSS Output power: 100mW or less Current consumption: 230mA ( 100mW ) or less Power supply: 8 x 1.5V AA battery ( not included ) Mode: Mode 2 (Left Hand Throttle) FPV Distance: 1.5km PACKAGE INCLUDED: RTF VERSION: 1x Walkera Furious 215 Drone 1x Devo 7 Remote Controller 2x 5040 CW Propeller 2x 5040 CCW Propeller 1x Battery 1x Manual BNF VERSION: 1x Walkera Furious 215 Drone 2x 5040 CW Propeller 2x 5040 CCW Propeller 1x Battery 1x Manual Cet article NEWS: Walkera Furious 215 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Lest active last months, but WLtoys is not dead. At least they try to deliver some orignal new design. The WLtoys Q696 is announced (in three version). The A is the 5.8G FPV version: http://www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_617223.html Here we have a brushed video plateform with 2-axis (brushed) gimbal + a 1280x1080p@30fps camera. The camera is also broadacasting the FPV signal in the 5.8G band for the Q696A. The autonomy is announced to be around 13min thanks to the large capacity but proprietary 2600mAh 2S LIpo. The last WLtoys have now a super precize Altitulde hold despite the absence of GPS. A great plus to shoot stablized and smooth videos. The control range is announced to be around 150m maximum. For the 2-axis gimbal, I don’t expect miracle with…. in general all gimbal with brushed motors don’t offer smooth stabilization (cf aosenma CG035 for example) Main Features: – With the 2-axis gimbal, the 5MP camera can be used for taking smooth 1280 x 1080P videos and 1600 x 1200P photos – 5.8G FPV camera allows you to see the real-time image on the 4.3 inch large screen of the FPV monitor – 2.4GHz 4CH dual-way transmitter enables you to know the real-time voltage, speed, height and flight duration – Air Press Altitude Hold. The UAV can maintain a certain height above the ground thanks to the high-precision barometer – Headless Mode allows beginners to ignore the front of the drone, and move the joysticks in order to pilot it to wherever they want – Simplification of control. One Key Return makes it extremely easy to recall the quadcopter, while 3D Rotation is for aerobatics – Plug-in 7.4V 2600mAh 20C LiPo battery for up to 13 minutes’ high-speed flying Specification General Brand: WLtoys Type: Quadcopter Model: Q696 – A Features: 5.8G FPV,Brushed Version,Camera,Radio Control Motor Type: Brushed Motor Functions: 3D rollover,Air Press Altitude Hold,Forward/backward,FPV,Gimbal Control,Headless Mode,Hover,One Key Automatic Return,One Key Landing,One Key Taking Off,Sideward flight,Turn left/right,Up/down,With light Size: Large Built-in Gyro: 6 Axis Gyro Kit Types: RTF Level: Intermediate Level Connectivity Remote Control: 2.4GHz Wireless Remote Control Channel: 4-Channels Mode: Mode 2 (Left Hand Throttle) Radio Mode: Mode 2 (Left-hand Throttle) Detailed Control Distance: 100-150m Compatible with Additional Gimbal: Yes FPV Distance: about 100m FPV Screen Size: 4.3 inches Transmitter Power: 4 x 1.5V AA battery(not included) Model Power: Rechargeable Battery Battery Battery: 7.4V 2600mAh 20C LiPo ( included ) Flying Time: 10-13mins Charging Time (h): 200mins Camera Camera Pixels: 5MP Video Resolution: 1280 x 1080P 30fps Dimension and Weight Product weight: 0.4550 kg Package weight: 1.0500 kg Product size (L x W x H): 50.00 x 50.00 x 15.50 cm / 19.69 x 19.69 x 6.1 inches Package size (L x W x H): 51.00 x 37.30 x 17.50 cm / 20.08 x 14.69 x 6.89 inches Cet article NEWS: WLtoys Q696A, a 5.8G video plateform with 2-axis gimbal est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Want a beginner quadcopter with the Hubsan H501S look ?. Here is the Eachine E033: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-E33-2_4G-6CH-6-Axis-Gyro-With-Headless-Mode-LED-Light-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1134307.html This model should be an ultra durable machine with a flexible plastic. Prop guard are also included. A basic 6-axis stabilized machine. Headless and one key return features are included. Flight time is anounced to be around 8-10min… not so bad. Control range is also promised to be around 100m. Maybe the protocol is already Deviated. Description: Brand name: Eachine Item name: Eachine E33 RC Quadcopter Frequency: 2.4G Channel: 6CH Gyro: 6 axis Product battery: 3.7V 450mAh 25c(Included) Charging time: 60-70mins Flying time: 8-10mins R/C Distance:80-100m Camera: without camera Product size: 26*26*11cm Package size: 49*8.1*32.1cm Transmitter: Mode 2 Color: Balck Features: – It has a stuck protection function,can protect the motor from damage. – With Headless Mode,no need to adjust the position of aircraft before flying. – With one key return function, makes it easily to find the way home. – It has 6-axis gyro which can have more stable flying and be easy to control. – 6 Channel which can do ascend, descend, forward, backward, left sideward fly, right sideward fly and rolling 360° – With LED lights making the flight more spectacular especially in the dark. Package Included: 1 x Eachine E33 RC Quadcopter 1 x 3.7V 450mAh battery 1 x USB charger 4 x Propeller 1 x User manual 1 x Transmitter 1 x Screwdriver Cet article NEWS: Eachine E033, an Hubsan H501S Toyclone est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

We’ve written before about ways to make money using aerial thermography, and of course we covered our own Intro to Aerial Thermography course and why we created it to offer skills that will give commercial drone pilots an edge a little while back. Today we want to go further, and look closely at how some of these applications actually play out in real life. In these two in-depth case studies from Workswell, creator of the thermography sensor Workswell WIRIS, we get a close look at how aerial thermography is being used for inspections with the end goal of preventing accidents while improving efficiency at a major industrial facility, and also how aerial thermography is helping to facilitate the cultivation of different plants in agriculture. The second application is mind blowing—it involves using the “thermal behavior” of plants to identify their specific classification, which makes cultivation for specific outcomes much, much easier. Let’s dive in. [We just re-opened our Intro to Aerial Thermography course—learn more here.] 1.Inspections: Using Aerial Thermography to Measure Temperature Extremes for Burners at a Gas Processing Plant Overview Last year CONDOR Solutions carried out an inspection of the burners in an oil processing facility owned by a company called OPF, which receives and processes gas for transport via pipeline to a crude oil terminal. Covering an area of more than 62,000 square meters, or almost 39 square miles, the facility is massive, and contains pumps that allow processing of up to 195,000 barrels of oil a day. The burners are crucial to the work of the facility, and undergo daily stress by being constantly subjected to extremes of heat and cold. The goal of the inspection was to create specific measurements for the extremes of temperature to which the burners are exposed, so that the data could be used to create a precise maintenance and inspection schedule that would allow for problems to be detected far before any potential breaking points for the materials used to build the burners. The Inspection In addition to the standard camera SONY Alpha 7R attached to their UAVs, CONDOR Solutions used a thermal imaging camera, the Workswell WIRIS, to inspect the burners for extreme temperatures. Due to the extremes in temperature, thermal measurements were divided into two parts: The burners’ mast from the bottom part up to the top service runway. The upper part of the burner’s shank. The thermal imaging camera allowed for a measurement of temperatures up to 1,500° Celsius, or 2,732° Fahrenheit (woah, that’s hot!), using a high temperature filter. The temperature profile shown above was created as one of the final deliverables for the inspection, using data gathered with the thermography sensor. The graph and thermogram above clearly show where the pipeline isolation finishes. At this point, the temperature sharply increases up, and consequently the temperature gradually decreases together with the height, up to the upper part (i.e., the shank) of the burner, then the temperature rapidly increases up again, to about 2,000°Celsius, or 3,632° Fahrenheit. Conclusions Using the data gathered by the CONDOR team, the facility managers were able to create an optimal schedule for maintenance and inspections to reduce breakage, as well as enhancing production potential for the facility. Pretty neat that the data gathered, which couldn’t be gathered any other way, was used not only to make things more efficient, but also to help avoid accidents and ultimately keep the people working at this facility safer than they’d otherwise be. 2. Agriculture: Using Aerial Thermography for the Cultivation and Phenotyping of Cereals Overview This application is more complicated than the inspection application covered above, and, well, it’s also just darn clever. The goal here was to use cultivation to emphasize certain traits in a staple plant, such as wheat, and de-emphasize others, in order to get a more ideal version of that plant for various conditions (you could imagine wanting several varieties—those that are hardy in the cold, or do well during periods of drought, and so on, depending on the area in which you want to grow your crop). The process of cultivating different seeds in order to create new cereal varieties is incredibly time consuming, because it requires manually going through fields of crops and looking for different types of characteristics (not to mention knowing what characteristics to look for in the first place) in order to list, and then track, which kind of plant is growing where on a specific plot of land. In this case, in order to cultivate different seeds, the genetic resources of minor cereals were tested in three-year seedbeds, using known findings related to the collections of genetic resources. It was crucial to track the different types of cereals being grown, and that is where aerial thermography comes in. The Application The genetic resources (i.e., the plants!) being evaluated in this instance included winter and spring wheat, winter barley, both forms of triticales (a wheat hybrid), vain types of Hordeae (barley), and a number of other minor crops. And this is where things get really fascinating, because it turns out that thermography, enabled by UAvs, has extended the range of classifiers for plants (that is, aerial thermography has allowed for the creation of new ways to classify and categorize plants—which is pretty incredible), and now allows us to classify plants in terms of their thermal behavior in relation to their transpiration response. “Transpiration response” in plants is roughly equivalent to sweating—plants have openings on their leaves that allow water to escape—so, in short, plants were identified from the air based on how heat affected them, and how much, or if, they transpired. Which is way faster than walking around a field with a clipboard. The Details In the spring of last year 224 genotypes of wheat and 10 genotypes of triticale were sown. For scanning the temperature condition of experimental varieties, a thermal imaging camera (Workswell WIRIS) was used, supported by a UAV based on Gryphon Dynamics’ frames system. The flight was pre-programmed using UGCS Ground Station, and the data was processed using Pix4D and analyzed by both the Workswell CorePlayer and the Workswell Thermoformat software. Conclusions The preliminary analysis of the data indicated that the approach was useful for the process of cultivation and phenotyping (i.e., identifying different genetic types), where the varieties have specific symptoms and significant differences in the areas of both visible and infrared radiation. In short, thermography was able to help us view plants in a whole new way, and this approach wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t aerial—that is, if the thermal sensor wasn’t attached to a UAV. The ways in which aerial thermography can be useful to agriculture are already many, and there are certain to be more applications and more types of use cases for existing applications as we move forward in our use of drones. And we can only imagine what future uses might be discovered for this new “using thermal behavior to identify plants” application—what kinds of wheat and other plants will be cultivated more efficiently and with greater yields? How many thousands of hours of labor will we save, and how much new food will be produced? We’re excited to find out. The post Aerial Thermography: An In-Depth Look at Two Fascinating Applications Aimed at Keeping People Safe and Growing More Food from Existing Resources appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

After the ARFUN 90mm, here is another 90mm with more or less the same advanced electronics, i.e. the LANTIAN 90L: http://www.hobbygaga.com/fr-lantian-90l-brushless-trolley-f3-flying-tower-dshot-tune-with-osd-and-dsm2-frsky-flysky-receiver-p274320.htm In the menu, a F3 FC with betaflight OSD integrated, BLHeli_S/Dshot600 10A 4-in-1 ESC board and strong 1104/7500Kv motors. For the FPV rig, a classic AIO 25mW. Four choice of receivers are proposed: Futaba SFHSS, FrSky D8, FlySky (AFHDS?, AFHDS-2A ?) and Spektrum DSM2. The prop guard is already installed the weight standalone is announced to be 66g. Add close to 30g for the 380mAh 2s LiPo.. Two batteries are given in the bundle. I guess with triblades or biblades, the machine should run in 3S setup. No information about the arm thickness but according to the photo, IMHO, should be 2mm … Specification: – Diagonal sizet:90mm – Flight controller:F3 – ESC:BLheil-s 10A 4 en 1 – Motor:1104 7500kv – Props:2″ – Battery:2S -3S – FPV:5.8G 25mw – Camera uptilt angle:15 degrees – Alert:Buzzer and light – Protection:Guard for both motor and props – OSD:Builtin OSD – Firmware:Betaflight – Dimension:120×140×30mm(with the prop guard) – Weight: 66G – Receiver:DSM2/ FRSKY/ FLYSKY /FUTABA PACKAGE INCLUDED: – 1 * Quadcopter – 2 * 2S 380mAh Battery – 8 * Props – 2 * Velcro strap Cet article NEWS: LANTIAN 90L (BNF, F3+betaOSD, 10A 4-in-1 BLheli_S/Dshot 600, 25mW AIO) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A direct rebranding of the Eachine E010S: http://www.gearbest.com/micro-brushed-racer/pp_617109.html Same ingredients: F3 board, 0615/53000 rpm motors, 800TVL 40CH 25mW AIO FPV camera. Announced to be around 25g with a 150mAh LiPo. IMHO, this modele is exactly the same than the excellent Eachine E010S, except motors. Here they are “only” 53KRPM where for the E010S they are announced to be 59KPM. Main Features: – Extremely tiny and light. Merely 25g with a wheelbase of 65mm, highly maneuverable – Integration of 800TVL HD camera, omnidirectional antenna, and video transmitter – 5.8G 40CH real-time image transmission within 100m and about 200m receive distance – Ducted fan design – quiet rotation of the propeller and efficient flight indoors and outdoors Specifications: Wheelbase: 65mm Flight controller: F3 with integrated receiver Receive distance: about 200m Motor: 615 coreless motor, 53000rpm Propeller length: 31mm Resolution: 800TVL TV system: NTSC / PAL switchable Video transmitter: 5.8G 40CH 25mW Image transmission distance: about 100m Size: 82.5 x 82.5 x 24mm ( not including camera ) Flying environment: indoor and outdoor Material: PC, ABS Assembly: DIY Recommended Part: Power supply: 3.7V 150mAh lithium-ion battery Cet article NEWS: Furibee F36S, YATWC: Yet Another TinyWhoop Clone (Eachine E010S rebranding) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A new promising microbrushless FPV racer is announced here: http://www.gearbest.com/brushless-fpv-racer/pp_617108.html 3mm of thickness !!!!! F3 board with Betaflight OSD, strong 20A 4in-1 BLHeli_S Dshot600 ESC board, DYS 1104/7500KV (should be 3S compatible), 600TVL CMOS 48CH 5.8G AIO cam, builtin buzzer and strong light what else ? A serious competitor to the new Aurora 100 !!!. I asked to review this one but according to my source, this product won’t be available before April. Main Features: – True “X” carbon fiber frame, perfectly symmetrical, with 3mm thickness and smooth edges – Mini F3 flight control system with OSD supports PPM / SBUS / DSM2 / DSMX receivers – Superior operation with 4-in-1 BLHeli – S 20A ESC which uses the latest DShot signals – Outstanding 600TVL HD CMOS camera, extremely sensitive to light, offers you high-quality image – 5.8G real-time image transmission, 48CH wide coverage within 200m range – Powerful DYS BE1104 brushless motor. Each can generate up to 118g thrust – The alarm can give out 80dB loud noise and 10 lm strong light to keep track of your UAV – Well-balanced and suitable for flying indoors and outdoors thanks to the five-blade propellers Specifications: Flight control system: Tower Mini F3 3K carbon fiber frame thickness: 3mm Brushless motor: DYS BE1104 7500KV Brushless ESC: 4-in-1 BLHeli – S 20A Propeller: 1935 five-blade, 50mm long Video transmitter: 5.8G 48CH 25mW Camera: 600TVL HD CMOS Field of view: 120 degree Image transmission range: 200m Antenna gain: 3dBi Alarm: audible ( 80dB ); visible ( 10 lm ) Power supply: 7.4V 300mAh 25C LiPo ( included ) Note: There are different colors of the propellers, which is subject to stock availability. Although the ESC supports 2 – 4S LiPo, the flight controller only supports 2 – 3S LiPo. Cet article NEWS: ARFUN 90mm (F3+betaflightOSD, 4-in-1 20A BLheli_S/Dshot600, DYS 1104/7500Kv,3K 3mm frame, 600TVL 48CH 5.8G AIO) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Want a shrinked (and hope fixed) version of the Eachine Aurora 90 ?. Here is the 68mm version: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Aurora-68-68mm-Mini-5_8G-600TVL-FPV-Racing-Drone-BNF-with-F3-OSD-48CH-25mW-VTX-p-1132680.htmlThe new model keeps exactly the same electronic ingredient except for motors, now we have 1102 smaller and lighter but still 2S compatible. The other elements remain the same: eachine minicube with F3 omni+betaflightOSD, 4-in-1 10A BLHeli_S Dshot600 ESC and for the last layer one of these three choices of receiver: FrSky D8,Spektrum DSM2/X and FlySky AFHDS-2A. If of the new version they solved the three known problems of the EA90: Prop hitting the aluminium standoff, some drifts in angle mode and some sudden up-tilt after hard turns, the new EA68 can be a fantastic indoors and indoors flyer. Probably a direct comptitor of the new Emax Babyhawk. Announced flight time is poor … only 3min despite a 400mAh LiPo.. Strange. I guess the final total weight will be around 70g. Let’s cross finger and wait & see. I will ask to review one Specification: Brand Name: Eachine Model: Aurora 68 Item Name: Eachine Aurora 68 68mm Mini FPV Racing Drone Wheelbase: 68mm Size: 93mm*93mm*50mm Weight: 48g( battery not include) Receiver: ( Optional) -Specktrum DSM2/DSMX Compatible receiver -Flysky 8ch AFHDS2A receiver -Frsky SBUS D8 mode receiver (RSSI Output) Motor: Eachine 1102 KV11500 brushless motor ESC: 10A BLHELI_S 16.5 1-2S 4 in 1 ESC Dshot600 Propeller: 38.1mm 4-blades propeller Camera: 600TVL HD CMOS 1/4 inch VTX: 5.8g 25MW 48CH NTSC/PAL video transmitter Flight Control: Minicube F3 Flight controller built-in OSD OSD: Betaflight OSD Firmware of flight controller: Betaflight 3.1 Flight time : 3 minutes Rear LED Ready (LED_Strip function) Buzzer Ready Battery: 7.4V 400mah 40C lipo battery Flight controller Specification: -Size:27mm*27mm*5mm -Mount hole: 20mm*20mm -Processor: STM32 F303 MCU -Sensor: SPI Sensor MPU6000 –Built-in Betaflight OSD ( Batt voltage, RSSI , Artificial Horizon , Fly mode , -Flytime, Craft name etz.) -Firmware version: Betaflight 3.1 Dshot ready -Target: OmnibusF3 ESC specification: -Size:27mm*27mm*5mm -Mount hole: 20mm*20mm -Firmware version: BLHELI_S 16.5 -BB2, 48MHZ Chip -Lipo Battery: 1-2S -Con. Current: 10A -Peak Current: 15A (10S) -BEC: 5V @0.1A -Programming: YES -Betaflight passtrough ready -Dshot600 ready(Default) -Support oneshot42 oneshot125 Multishot Dshot -Damped light on Features: -Extremely light and more powerful -STM32 F303MCU + BLHELI_S ESC make your Operating feel more stabilly and silky -Adjustable Angle of Camera -Jaw-dropping flight performance -Betaflight support -Acro mode / Air mode /Angle mode support -Built-in OSD(Using F3 MCU controls OSD over SPI bus in DMA mode) -OSD Configuration has been include in BETAFLIGHT GUI -Radio Stick to control PID Tunes -BLEHELI_S pass-through ready -Frsky Mode :Telemetry RSSI Output ready Package Included: 1x Aurora 68 68mm Drone 1x Battery 1x Manual Cet article NEWS: Eachine Aurora 68 (48g, F3 omni+BF OSD, 10A BLheli_S/Dshot600, 1102/11500Kv) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

INTRODUCTION After the promising but in practice dispointing Eachine Aurora 90, here is the Eachine Aurora 100. This time bye bye the full carbon based prop guard system and the X design. Here we have more a 98mm machine with a classic H design. But all the electronic remains the same: strong F3 omnibus FC with a builtin betaflight OSD, 10A 4-in1 BLheli_S/Dshot 600 ESC, 600 TVL 25mW AIO FPV camera, 1104/7500Kv brushless motors, and a builtin buzzer. As for most recent Eachine model, three choices of receiver are available: DSM2/X spektrum, Flysky AFHDS-2A, and FrSky D8. Let’s check this new model. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine Aurora 100 (with a 2S 450mAh LiPo with JST connector) + 4 x Green spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 1 x Screwdriver + 1 x M2 Allen key + 2 x Rubber band + 1 x Velcro band + 1 x Instruction manual (English) OVERVIEW The 98mm machine as the EA90 includes the Eachine minicube, a compact three layers boards system. The lower board is the 4-in-1 ESC + PDB, the second is the F3 board while the top one is receiver. The main lower structure is full 3K carbon based with 1.5mm of thickness. -FRONT VIEW With the battery strapped playing the role of landing gear. -SIDE VIEW The CL antenna is no more protected and directly exposed to crash. More, the FPV range will be impacted by the low profile positionning of the antenna. The left side now offer a clear access to the microUSB port :). Moto”s wires are directly soldered. on each latteral side. -REAR VIEW The rear LED bar is fully programmable via betafligh and bonus for the EA100, the larson scanner effect is here -UPPER VIEW A large and relatively loud square buzzer is installed on top For the FrSKy receiver, the bind button is positioned on top -BOTTOM VIEW A unique carbon plate with builtin arms. ESC chips. I advise to cover the lower PCB with liquid electrical tape. with battery strapped -WEIGHT 94.3g with the battery and the velcro strap, it’s 13-14g lighter than the EA90 Motors & props Racestar 1104 motors 7500Kv. They should be 3S compatible. Same 2035 racerstar quadriblades as for EA90. Shaft section is 1.5mm. LiPo Exactly the same 450mAh with main certainly an overrated 80C for discharge rate. FPV AIO module The same AIO 5.8G 48CH 600TVL camera but a with a three leaves antennna. The FOV is not officially announced but not too large, probably around 120 degrees. Good news, the camera is well fixed in the red aluminium mount dislike the EA90. It will reduce even more the jello effect. The lens orientation can be ajusted via the two upper latteral screws. The 48CH module present two tiny button. The first front one flip/Mirror the video but if keep pressed more than 2s, it cycle between NTSC (default) and PAL system. The rear button is shortly pressed selects one of the 8 Vfreq in the current Vband and if long pressed cycles among the six supported bands A raw video sample UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT Whaoohhh … this machine out of the box is super fun. Good news, no more weird behaviours, drifts, sudden rear right motor thrust lost. The machine is clearly more powerfull. 13g less and it make a huge difference. Punch outs are very good despite being a 2S system only. I noticed some vibrations can be heard with high throttle inputs, probably due to the flexibility of arms..In another hand, no jellos can be observed in the FPV link. Of course, now props are much more vulnarable to crash and you will have to stock a lot as spare. The FPV camera offer correct light sensitivity and for FOV well adapted for outdoors application. THe FPV range is IMHO a little bit negatively impacted by the low positionning. Flight times are around 3min30 in average. CONCLUSIONS The Aurora 100 is clearly far superior to the EA90 in term of stability and power. All problems of the first model seem over. This machine is a super outdoors acro flyer. The builtin betaflight OSD is a great addition. In the other hand, the price is the durability probably less important with thin 1.5mm arm, and the absence of prop and antenna guards. PROS + Powerfull machine + Stable and great acro flyer + No more drift/motor thurst lost as for the EA90 + F3 Omni FC + Dshot600 ESC + Betaflight OSD + Builtin Buzzer + Easy microUSB access + AIO camera can be uptilted and is better fixed + LED bars including Larson effect + Comes with Betaflight 3.1 well tuned with default factory CONS – No more prop guard – Cloverleaf antenna exposed – Fragile props – 3min-3min30 of flying duration This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude. You can find it actually for 130USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Aurora100-100mm-Mini-Brushless-FPV-Racer-BNF-w-F3-OSD-10A-Dshot600-5_8G-25MW-48CH-VTX-p-1127606.html Cet article TEST: Eachine Aurora 100 (94.5g, F3+OSD, 10A BLheli_S/Dshot600, 600TVL AIO FPV cam) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Probably the real TinyWhoop killer is introduced by KongKong: http://www.geekbuying.com/item/KINGKONG-Tiny-6-65mm-Micro-FPV-Racing-Quacopter-Advanced-Combo-Yellow-376844.html An amazing ultralight TW clone with 800TVL 25mW AIO cam, F3 board, 250mAh LiPo, tribaldes probs, strong 0615 motors, 19.7g standalone, 26.2g with the 250mah !!!!. 4min of flight time are announced Cherry on cake, there is an Advanced model including 5 spare batteries !!! What else ? HIGHLIGHTSMicro FPV Quadcopter Kit VTX CAM 16CH transmitter, Cmos 1/3 800TVL HD camera, Mini camera is the eye that can capture all the details. High Performance Motors. It comes equipped with our high performance 720 brushed motors, mounting hole 1mm. Improved Flight Controller. The open-source Micro F3(FC+VTX+Brushed ESC All in one PCB)brushed flight controller runs CleanFlight and supports PPM, DSM, or SBUS signals.. 250mAh Lipo Battery. 250mAh 3.7V 30C Lipo flight battery,can provide up to 4 minutes of flight and can be conveniently recharged with the included USB charger. SPECIFICATION General Brand:KINGKONG Item Name: Tiny 6 Wheelbase: 65mm Propeller: 31mm 3-Blade Weight: 18.9g(Battery Not Included) Flight Controller: Micro F3(Betaflight) Brush VTX: 25mW/16CH Camera: 800TVL FOV:150° Motor:615 Brushed Battery: 3.7V 250mAh 30C Charger: 200mA/500mA (Switchable 1s Five-way Charger USB Or 2~6s Lipo Powered) Frequency table: 5658Mhz 5806Mhz 5705Mhz 5790Mhz 5695Mhz 5843Mhz 5740Mhz 5820Mhz 5732Mhz 5880Mhz 5760Mhz 5860Mhz 5769Mhz 5917Mhz 5780Mhz 5945Mhz Recommended receive: DSM2 (JR,Walkera,Spektrum) PPM Flysky FS-RX-2A(Flysky FS-I6,FS-I6X,FS-I6S,FS-TM8,FS-TM10,FS-I10) AC800 Frsky D8R (Frsky X9D X9E X12S) FM800 Futaba Fasst PACKAGE CONTENTS 1 X FRAME KIT 4 X Canopy(Yellow/Red/White/Pink) 4 X Propeller Sets 1 X 800TVL Camera 1 X F3 FC + VTX + Brushed ESC All In One PCB 5 X 3.7V 250mAh 30C Battery 4 X 615 Motor 1 X Five-way Charger 1 X Wrench If you want a variant with stronger motors, the Tiny 7 variant includes strong 0720 motors, stronger prop guards larger 40mm triblades props and a 500mAh battery: http://www.geekbuying.com/item/KINGKONG-Tiny-7-75mm-Micro-FPV-Racing-Quacopter-Advanced-Combo-Yellow-376845.html Specification General Brand:KINGKONG Item Name: Tiny 7 Wheelbase: 75mm Weight: 32.4g(Battery Not Included) Propeller: 40mm 3-Blade Flight Controller: Micro F3(Betaflight) Brush VTX: 25mW/16CH Camera: 800TVL FOV:150° Motor:720 Brushed Battery: 3.7V 500mAh 30C Charger: 200mA/500mA (Switchable 1s Five-way Charger USB Or 2~6s Lipo Powered) Frequency table: 5658Mhz 5806Mhz 5705Mhz 5790Mhz 5695Mhz 5843Mhz 5740Mhz 5820Mhz 5732Mhz 5880Mhz 5760Mhz 5860Mhz 5769Mhz 5917Mhz 5780Mhz 5945Mhz Recommended receive: DSM2 (JR,Walkera,Spektrum) PPM Flysky FS-RX-2A(Flysky FS-I6,FS-I6X,FS-I6S,FS-TM8,FS-TM10,FS-I10) AC800 Frsky D8R (Frsky X9D X9E X12S) FM800 Futaba Fasst Package Contents 1 X Frame kit 4 X Canopy(Yellow/Red/White/Pink) 4 X Propeller Sets 1 X 800TVL Camera 1 X F3 FC + VTX + Brushed ESC All In One PCB 5 X 3.7V 500mAh 30C Battery 4 X 720 Motor 1 X Five-way Charger 1 X Wrench Cet article NEWS: KingKong Tiny 6 & 7, perfect Tinywhoop clones ? est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Want a full working FrSky D8 microreceiver ? at least as good as a D4R-II ?. Probably this LR1000 model is an answer: http://www.banggood.com/Mini-FrSky-8CH-LR1000-Receiver-Long-Range-Compatible-FrSky-X9D-Taranis-Taranis-Plus-XJT-p-1132192.html 1.4g, announced to have 1km or range (far from the 2.5km with an genuine long range receiver in D16 mode), connexion via SBUS, telemetry, and RSSI on CH9 for future betaflight OSD connexion… Sounds to be a fully debugged module. Description: Brand Name: FrSky Item Number: LR1000 Range: Up to 1 Kilometer Input Voltage Range: 3.5V-10V Weight: 1.4g Size: 23x14x4mm Compatibility: FrSky Taranis, Taranis Plus, & XJT Features: – 1kM Far Reaching Range – 1.5g Ultra Light Weight Layout – Incredibly Compact for Tight Installs – S-bus Compatibility w/ No FC Inverter Necessary – (8) Channels of Output w/ 9th Channel Dedicated to RSSI – Ultra Rapid 0.1s Telemetry Hub Update Rate – FrSky Compatible, Including Taranis, Taranis Plus & XJT Module Cet article NEWS: Mini D8 FrSky receiver LR1000 (1.4g, 1Km, SBUS, telemetry, CH9 RSSI) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A little while back we had the pleasure of meeting Uttam Puadasaini, flight coordinator for Nepal Flying Labs and a geomatics engineering graduate from Kathmandu University. Through his work with Nepal Flying Labs, Uttam has been flying and coordinating UAV missions in Nepal, and he has also been a general booster in the area for commercial drone use. We’ve been fascinated to learn more about Uttam’s work with the Nepalese aviation authority in getting drones accepted for commercial use, and we wanted to ask him more questions about his background and experience with drones. These conversations are what led to the interview below. [Want to learn more about international drone laws? Check out our in-depth guide to drone laws by country, and our recent in-depth article on BVLOS around the world.] About Nepal Flying Labs Nepal Flying Labs is a non-profit that was created by WeRobotics in partnership with Kathmandu University, in the wake of the Ghorka Earthquake in the fall of 2015, which devastated the country of Nepal, destroying ancient monuments and killing over 8,000 people. Among other things, Nepal Flying Labs provides training for how to use UAVs to support disaster risk reduction and assist with early recovery efforts following disasters. Nepal Flying Labs is hosted at Kathmandu University, and the work they do involves both community engagement and training in the use of UAVs, as well as professional-level aerial videography, surveying, and mapping to help with disaster relief. Nepal Flying Labs has partnered with DJI for hardware and Pix4D for editing software. To date they have received numerous donations from both partners to enable their operations. Watch the video below to learn more about the work done following the Ghorka Earthquake in a collaborative project involving DJI, Pix4D, UAViators, Kathmandu Living Labs, and Smartisan at Kathmandu University, where Nepal Flying Labs was born, to map crisis situations in real time. About Uttam Puadasaini Uttam Puadasaini is a coordinator for Nepal Flying Labs and a geomatics engineering graduate from Kathmandu University. About his interest in drones, Uttam wrote us recently: For a UAV hobbyist like me, being the coordinator of Nepal Flying Labs (NFL) is an amazing opportunity as it provides me with all of the necessary resources (hardware and software) required to deploy drone technology and expand its use in Nepal (and beyond!). Through NFL I hope to promote the use of UAVs in a variety of civil applications, such as high resolution mapping, precision agriculture, conservation, transportation of medical supplies, support for environmental research, and other projects. — Begin Interview: UAV Coach: How did you first get involved with the drone industry? Uttam Puadasaini: My journey in drones began while I was doing an undergraduate project in my final year study at Kathmandu University. Back in 2014, my project team did a first academic study with drone images in Nepal titled “Generation of High Resolution DSM using UAV images.” This is how I first started working on drones. UAV Coach: We know you studied Geomatics Engineering in school. Can you tell us more about what this is, and how it applies to your work with drones? Uttam Puadasaini: Geomatics Engineering (GE) is an Engineering discipline that focuses on the acquisition, processing analysis, and management of spatial information. I studied Geomatics Engineering at Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal in 2014. GE emphasizes the use of the latest technologies for the collection, management, and analysis of spatial data. A Geomatics Engineer operates different kinds of technology and collects geospatial information of the land, including both the natural and artificial resources around us. Drones are incredibly useful tools for acquiring high resolution spatial information, which can then be used for several purposes. UAV Coach: Describe what Nepal Flying Labs does in one sentence. Uttam Puadasaini: We are focused on creating a future where local communities can use robotics for social good. UAV Coach: Can you tell us more about Nepal Flying Labs (NFL)? What kind of work you do, where do you do it, and who do you generally work with? Uttam Puadasaini: NFL is a robotics innovation lab based in Nepal that solves challenges using appropriate robotics & Al technologies. It is a part of the global WeRobotics network. We create data products and services for local organizations, NGOs, and INGOs using UAV-captured information, and provide training on UAVs, GIS, and other aerial and marine robotics technologies. As a non-profit organization, we always ensure that the projects we take on directly benefit human life and the physical, natural environment around us. As we help develop local drone-based service providers, we also help create local demand by working together with local, national, and international teams in conducting robotics-related projects in Nepal. NFL is trying to grow into a drone expert center in the country, with the goal of developing local capacity in delivering drone-based services by providing training, equipment, and processing expertise to local businesses and new service providers. Our expertise and equipment comes from the strong technical partnerships that WeRobotics has created with the world’s biggest drone and GIS software companies, including Parrot group (senseFly and Pix4D), DJI, and ESRI. We have both fixed wing and rotor wing drones and also all the software required to process the images we capture. As a non-profit organization, however, we must ensure that the projects we take on directly benefit human life and the environment in which people live. UAV Coach: What separates you from other companies in your space? Uttam Puadasaini: Whenever there is a demand for new technology we focus on building local capacity and expertise rather than bringing experts from elsewhere in the world. Creating local expertise helps a country to make the most out of robotics technology, and grow from the inside. Also, we are organizing a “drones as service” business incubation program to create a drone-related service business in Nepal. We are helping interested local groups build their capacity to develop their own self-sustainable drone services company. UAV Coach: What does the regulatory scene look like for flying UAVs in Nepal? Is it hard to get started? Uttam Puadasaini: The Nepal [Ghorka] Earthquake in 2015 was a huge tragedy all over the country. Nearly 3 million people have been displaced. As a result, over 8,000 people died and more than 20,000 people were injured. Assessments show that around 500,000 private houses were destroyed and another 250,000 were partially damaged. 14 out of 75 districts in the country were declared as the ‘most affected’ districts in terms of damage level and total losses. Prior to the earthquake in 2015 there were no official regulations for drone flights in Nepal. Immediately following the earthquake, only a few organizations started using drones for immediate damage assessment and post disaster mapping. There were many foreign volunteers and organizations coming to Nepal to support the country in this time of tragedy, and some of them were using drones to take the footage of the damage. This was an efficient way of capturing the real scenario on the ground. However, a few of those groups of people also flew their drones over restricted areas, like world heritage sites and even police and army barracks. As a result, the government of Nepal suddenly started viewing drone regulation as a sensitive issue, and quickly released strict drone flight directives. Nowadays, anyone who wants to fly a drone in Nepal has to get permissions from civil aviation, and a few different ministries and departments. It’s not an easy procedures these days. UAV Coach: Do you anticipate expanding operations of NFL (or WeRobotics) beyond Nepal? Uttam Puadasaini: WeRobotics already works in different countries through local flying labs and NFL is one such flying lab, mainly focused to work in Nepal. However, the lessons learned at NFL can be applied elsewhere in the world. We hope that, through different kinds of projects in the mixed topography country of Nepal (high mountains, hills and flat plain regions), we can become a leading center of expertise in the unique skills required to map highly-mountainous terrains with drones, so that we can implement the things we learn over similar terrains elsewhere in the world. Also, the experience doing a number of humanitarian projects in a disaster-affected community will be a good lesson to all other humanitarian practices who want to use this technology in post-disaster scenarios. UAV Coach: What do you love about drones? Uttam Puadasaini: What I really like about drones is they are an easily/quickly deployable technology and can be quickly launched into the air within minutes. My first official drone project was a research project at Kathmandu University led by Dr. Rojan Kayastha where I flew drones to capture high resolution images of a Glacier at 4000m altitude for glacial change study. After that, I participated in a training that happened in September, 2015 at Kathmandu University. I was very excited to be a part of this training for “the use of drones to assist with critical functions for disaster preparedness and response,” which was a joint effort of Patrick Meier, founder of the UAViators Humanitarian UAV Network (UAViators.org), faculty from Kathmandu University, Kathmandu Living Labs, DJI, and Pix4D. Recalling back, I remember Randy Braun from DJI saying that “this technology might completely change someone’s career,” which is exactly what happened to me. This training became the turning point in my professional life and the start of my drone career. This was the first time I learned how to fly a drone, and it was even the first time I saw a commercial quadcopter in real life. Here are some 3D maps created for the village of Panga, as part of the collaborative project Uttam talks about here (this is the same project featured in the DJI-produced video above, in the “About Nepal Flying Labs” section of this article): UAV Coach: What drone(s) do you fly? Uttam Puadasaini: I fly both fixed wing and rotor wing drones depending upon the project objective(s). I usually work with the following hardware: DJI Phantom 4 Pro: Rotor Wing Sensefly eBee : Fixed Wing Sensefly eBee+ : Fixed Wing Parrot Bebop 2 UAV Coach: What are your predictions for the drone industry? Please feel free to answer at length (what you see way down the road, what you see for next year, where you see regulations headed in the U.S and abroad, new applications, etc. ). Uttam Puadasaini: The last few years have been amazing for drone industry. Here are some of my predictions: For Next Year With the increase in the usage of drones, drone software as well as hardware companies will become more competitive industries.This might also lead to the reduction of prices for drones and related software—with increased competition. As people, institutions, and organizations in many countries are using drone technology for positive and life-saving uses, people will have more open minds about the technology in coming years. New Applications Cargo delivery using drones, especially the delivery of urgent medical supplies in rural places far from city areas. Drones will be used more and more for agriculture, surveying, and mapping, among other commercial applications. Drone journalism is also significantly increasing and a lot of media agencies, even in developing countries, are adopting the use of UAVs for their efforts. — Below are some more images Uttam sent us to share his work with UAVs in Nepal. Enjoy! The post An Interview with Uttam Puadasaini, Flight Coordinator for Nepal Flying Labs appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

Just saw this brushless tinywhoop in 83mm format !!! http://www.gearbest.com/brush-fpv-racer/pp_616204.html F3 board, 1102 motors 10 000Kv, 10A BLheli_S ESC…. a 800TVL AIO FPV cam… probably a 25mW model. The weight is aanounced to be around 80g. No information about the builtin receiver offered in this RTF produdct (probably one classic trio: FrSky D8, FLysky, DSM2/X). A 550mAh 2S battery is given in the bundle (this battery standalone should turn around 25-30g). Specification: General Brand: DYS Type: Frame Kit Version: RTF Motor Model: 1102 Motor Type: Brushless Motor KV: 10000 Flight Controller Flight Controller Type: F3 Remote Controller Specifications Channel: Unknown Remote Control: 2.4GHz Wireless Radio Control Camera Video Resolution: 800TVL ( horizontal resolution ) Electronic Speed Controller Firmware: BLHeli-S Continuous Current: 10A Battery Flying Time: 4mins Dimension and Weight Product weight: 0.0800 kg Package weight: 0.8900 kg Package size (L x W x H): 30.00 x 30.00 x 20.00 cm / 11.81 x 11.81 x 7.87 inches Package Contents Package Contents: 1 x Drone, 1 x Transmitter, 1 x 7.4V 550mAh LiPo Battery Cet article NEWS: DYS 83mm, a brushless tinywhoop (1102/10000Kv, 10A BLheli_S, F3, 800TVL AIO) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

There are many Syma X8 clones around the corner. The Xin Lin X8G is a new one: http://www.banggood.com/XIN-LIN-XINLIN-X8G-5_8G-FPV-With-2_0MP-HD-Camera-GPS-Altitude-Mode-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1131858.html. The originality of this new one is to add to the same brushed design some GPS features (altitulde hold and RTH) and a complete 5.8G rig. The machine comes in RTF format even including a small 4.3″ FPV monitor. The FPV camera is also able to record videos probably in 720p resolution. Well .. strange to see a GPS module on a large brushed model but for this solution represents probably the cheapest in the market. I regret the abssence of a wider lens to enjoy much better the FPV immersion. The control range is announced to be around 320m… not so bad and expected flight time about 10min… Unfortunatly, the pitch orientation can’t be ajusted by the radio. Unfortunatly, still a narrow pinhole lens …. How it’s possible to imagine to fly without stress in FPV with such lens ? Description: Brand name: XIN LIN Item No.: X8G Color: Black, White Charging time: 150 mins Flying time: About 10mins controll distance: 320m Working frequency: 2.4Ghz FPV frequency: 5.8G Size (LxWxH): 60X60X20cm Flight battery: 7.4V 2000mAh Li-Po battery Transmitter battery: 4 x AA battery( not included ) Night Flight: Yes Functions: Camera, GPS, One press home, High hode mode, Headless mode, Hover, Up/down, 3D rollover, Forward/backward, One Key Automatic Return, Turn left/right, Speed up, Sideward flight Feature: With 5.8G FPV 2.0MP HD Camera. Real-time video transmission capabilities, remote control LCD screen can playback video. With GPS auto positioning system, accurate positioning location. Large 7.4V 2000mAh capacity battery ensures the strong power, Superior 10mins long flight time. With headless mode function,no need to adjust the position of aircraft before flying .. With one key return function, makes it easily to find the way home. With high density air pressure sensor which can precisely hold the height. With 6-axis gyro which can have more stable flying and be easy to control. With highlight LED lights, make it more dazzle beautiful and colorful night light. Package Included: 1 x XIN LIN X8G RC Quadcopter 1 x Transmitter 1 x Monitor 1 x 4G Memory Card 1 x Battery Charger 4 x propeller 1 x 7.4V 2000mAh Li-Po Battery 1 x English manual Cet article NEWS: Xin Lin X8G, brushed 350mm Syma X8G clone with GPS & 5.8G FPV est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article