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INTRODUCTION The Eachine Falcon 120 is smallest element in the Falcon’s familly after the 250, 210, 210 Pro and the 180. With this 120mm version we have a X-brushless racer with strong 1306/3500 Kv motors, 4-in-1 20A ESC board multishot compatible and also officially Dshot600 is supported. For the RTF version, a flysky AHFHDS-2A radio solution is integrated. Finally, three choices of flight controllers can be selected: CC3D/Naze32 and SPF3. I will review the SPF3 version. BOX CONTENT No specific packagaging for the Eachine Falcon 120 (EF120)…. to reduce costs main probably. + 1 x Eachine Falcon 120 (with a 3S 850mAh LiPo with XT60) + 1 x Transmitter (using 4xAAA batteries not included) + 1 x Emax B3 charger + 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 1 x 5.8G cloverleaf antenna They had no time to provide an instruction manual… … OVERVIEW The falcon 120 is small (120mm) but look strong with all carbon elements integrated. The main lower carbon structure welcoming arms is a 2mm element covered by a 1mm foam protected all the botton surface. -FRONT VIEW A X-frame is adopted. No landing gear so th battery will be in direct contact with the ground and won’t allow perfect horizontal take-off. The central tower is tall enough to welcome all electronics: PDB + 4-in-1 ESC for the first floor, SPF3 board rotated of 45 degrees on the second then FPV rig on top. The stem of the 5.8G cloverantenna (RP-SMA connector) is semi-regid but very short. It will limit a bit the FPV signal propagation and more will also limit the maximum uptilt angle of the FPV camera As you can see, the FPV camera is absoluptly not protected. Probably the first victim of a massive frontal crash. Quadri-blades 3″ props coming with two different colors, a good point for LOS flights. -SIDE VIEW All UART ports and microUSB port if the SPF3 are accessible. By default Betaflight 3.0.1 is installed. As said previously, the max uptilt angle (30-35 degrees= of the FPV camera is limited by the bottom power connector and the short length of the antenna’s stem. -REAR VIEW 6 LEDs bar programmable through Betaflight and installed centrally a small buzzer, in practice not super loud be enough to hear it in a radius of 10m -UPPER VIEW A super compact FS-A8S AFHDS-2A compatible receiver is installed and connected via i-BUS protocol. By default the 2.4G antenna is no properly installed. You can install it more vertically by blocking it via the holes located on the top carbon plate. The main connector for ESC command -BOTTOM VIEW The 1mm foam element protecting all the bottom carbon surface. It help a bit to secure the battery installation avoiding the battery to slip. -WEIGHT 232g in total … so not super light for a 120mm machine but at least under the 250g limit. The EF120 is abosoluptly not a indoors flyer !!! Acro outdoors only Motors and props Stronge racerstar 1306 motors announced to be 3500Kv !!! so super strong for a small 120mm machine 5mm of shaft section LiPo Despite being 4S compatible, a 3S 850mAh model is provided. This battery uses a XT60 connector. IMHO, a XT30 smaller model would have been a better and lighter chose. Camera module A 700TVL, 1/3″ CMOS camera A tiny switch to select between NTSC/PAL system. Notice also the main connect (power + video + audio) is installed bottom limiting also the maximum uptilt angle of the camera. More in case hard frontal crash, probably the connector will be at minimum disconnected or even worse broken. You have also to check before the first take off that the lens is correctly locked. If not add a drop of hot glue after beeing sure the focus is correct. A M12 lens thread for the 120degrees DFOV lens. A raw sample of the FPV camera If the video signal is clear, the light sensivity/WDR is far to be perfect. Good news, the sound is correctly broadcasted. Can be usefull. Video transmitter A 200mW VTX 5.8G 40 channel is installed below the last upper carbon plate. On the left side, a tiny button is here to select the current Vfreq (short press) and the current Vband (long press) Two small red lights on top indicate the current selected Vfreq and Vband Transmitter A classic Flysky i6 model rebranded by Eachine. As usual to enter into the setup, you have to press inner both horizontal trim buttons while powering the radio Three 2-way switches and one 3-way selector are installed. At least switchC (3-away) and switch UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT The promised Dshot600 compatible ESC are not here …. only MultiShot is supported by these BLHeli_S ESC. It’s already not bad because in practice, they already offer super smooth flights. Unfortunatly also, they can’t be flashed via BLhelisuite & BLheliconfigurator passthrough …. In term of power even from 3S setup, the machine is super fast !!!! and strong : whaoohhh it’s great. No problem for powerloop I like it…. banking well and classic betaflight settings already offers great performances. Better can obtained with last BF 3.1 where looptime can be even more reduced. Well the main negative point, I would say is the presence of jello with high throttle inputs whetever TPA ajustemment settings …. No miracle with powerfull motors installed on 2mm arms …. a 3mm solution, probably would kill the jello effect. The FPV camera is also maybe a small weak point. Light sensitivity with the WDR don’t do miracle. I would dream a CCD camera installed instead and even more a SPF3 including directly betaflightOSD …. This machine is fun to fly with… it’s really fast. Flight times are in average of 4Min30-5min with the original battery. The buzzer can be more loud too. For LOS flight, no frontal light … CONCLUSIONS I would say probably the best Falcon machine….. Strong and fast, BLHeli_S ESC, strong FPV signal and powerful F3 board… The FPV camera is not only weak for light adaptation but is absoluptly not protected against frontal crash. The Dshot600 is not here with the first batch but I have being said it will added for the new batch. In anycase, it’s not a drama since I really enjoy the EF120 in the current state. What we can expect in a new revision of the EF120 ? (EF120 Pro ?) A F3/F4 board with builtin OSD, Dshot600 compatible ESC, CCD camera ….. would be a major forward step. PROS + Powerfull and fast machine + 4S compatible + 1306/3500 motors + SPF3 board + Compact 120mm + Multishot BLHeli_S ESC + Builtin buzzer + Programmable LEDs CONS – Exposed FPV camera – Limited uptilt angle by FPV antenna – Jello for high throttle inputs – Light sensitivity – Short antenna stem – No Dshot600 compatible (at least first batch) Default EF120 Betaflight configuration 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 166USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Falcon-120-F3-CC3D-NAZE32-FPV-Racer-RTF-with-4-IN-1-ESC-700-TVL-Camera-5_8G-40CH-VTX-p-1112795.html Cet article TEST: Eachine Falcon 120, the little monster in the familly .. est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

RISE has a new little FPV drone for use indoors – the Vusion House Racer! This little guys measures 120mm diagonally and comes ready to bind to your RISE J2000 or Tactic SLT radio system. It captures video 640x480p (in AVI format) through the onboard camera, transferring it to your RISE radio where it can … View the full article

We’ve seen so many incredible videos shot via sUAS in far flung locations lately that we decided to collect some of our favorites into a post, so we could share them with everyone in our community. These are places we’d love to visit. We feel lucky that we’ve gotten to know them a little bit through these videos, and we’re grateful to all the pilots and videographers out there who send us their impressive work. We spend a lot of time thinking about cameras and drones, and sometimes it’s nice to stop thinking, and just enjoy the pretty pictures. So without further ado, here are the videos. 1. South Africa This video was shot using the tilt-shift effect, which makes everything appear miniature. Love how we get to experience Cape Town and other parts of South Africa through this unique perspective. There is just so much LIFE in this video! Details This video was shot by Hloniphizwe Coleman and Luke Maximo Bell using a DJI Phantom. About the video Luke wrote us: “We have admired tilt shift videos for a while, but given only 24 hours to capture our video, we were daunted by the proposition of finding and gaining access to the buildings and looks-outs tilt shift videos are normally captured from. To solve this we turned to probably the greatest filmic problem solver to come out in my short career as a videographer: the drone.” 2. Africa This video was shot over three years in dozens of locations in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia. It provides a great introductory tour to all the diverse landscapes and ecosystems on the massive continent of Africa. Details Though we couldn’t track down details about the technical side of things, there is a long list of locations available on YouTube to show you all of the different spots where filming was done. Very impressive work. 3. Namibia This video has it all: landscape, wildlife, and the people themselves from the country of Namibia. Something we love about this video is that you can tell the videographer is in love with this landscape. Though arid and harsh, there’s great beauty here, and the camera work really brings it out. Fun fact—the location at 2:47 was used in a surrealistic image that appears on our TV’s screensaver, and we always wondered where it had been taken. Now we know! Details This video was shot by Paganel Andreev Andrew with a DJI Phantom 2, using a GoPro Hero 4 (for the drone shots). Other cameras and lenses used to shoot the video were: the Canon 5D mark 3; the Canon 1Dx; the Canon EF 100-400; the Canon EF 16-35; the Canon EF 24-70; the Canon EF 135 f 2.0; the Canon EF 24 f 1.4; and the Canon EF 28-300. 4. The United Kingdom This video goes from snow to beaches, covering different terrain throughout the United Kingdom. Love the diversity of seasons and landscapes presented here—one more place we need to visit! Details The video was shot by Mark Pateman, owner of Firefly Imaging, using a DJI Inspire 1 with the standard Zenmuse X3 camera. The video was edited with Final Cut Pro X. Mark is a former student from our Aerial Post-Production Course, as evidenced by his skillful editing abilities. Regarding locations, all of the shots in the video come from the UK. The majority of the footage was shot in the Lake District in the north of England, and some of the beach clips were shot on the south coast of Wales. 5. Switzerland, Scotland, and Ireland We’ll admit, we used to think of Scotland and Ireland as drizzly, grey places, but this video resoundingly proves that idea wrong. Some of the shots here have a real epic feel to them, and the shots over the villages in Switzerland are just stunning. Can you imagine living there? Details This video was shot by Britton Kowalk in several locations: First section – Jungfrau Region, Switzerland (the canyon above Interlaken). Second section – The Quiraing & The Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye, Scotland Last Section – Dunloe Gap, Ireland 6. Flying with Dolphins in Scotland When you think of Scotland, the first thing that pops into your head probably isn’t dolphins. But this beautiful video shot throughout Scotland may make you think again. Aside from the shots of dolphins (which are great, and start around 2:26) the landscape shots here are incredible. Details The video was shot by Matt Heal with a DJI Phantom 4. 7. Iceland Photographer Edgar Granados combined thousands of photos to create this time-lapse video showcasing Iceland’s natural beauty. No wonder Game of Thrones was filmed here—every location is epic, stunning, and surprisingly varied. Details This video was shot by Edgar Granados with the DJI Phantom 3 Professional, using the Canon 6D. 8. Indonesia The videography in this video is excellent—from the first shot, you can see that the videographer has a real eye for symmetry. And so much territory gets covered here, from old and new architecture, to landscapes, to scenes of people in both rural and urban settings. Hope you enjoy this video as much as we do. Details This video was shot by Nicolas Ragot with the DJI Phantom 2, using the GoPro HERO4 Black Edition. 9. Bali More Indonesia! This video was shot on the island of Bali, in Indonesia, and really showcases the natural beauty and diversity of the place. Love how much drama there is in the landscape, with the mountains sweeping up high into the sky over stunning beaches. The terraced farms are beautiful, and give you a glimpse into a different way of life. So much diversity of life and landscape! Details This video was shot by Bali Drone Production with a DJI Phantom 3 Professional edition. 10. Rawai, Phuket Island, Thailand Rawai is located on the southeast corner of Phuket island, in Thailand. You know all those mind blowing images of green rocks rising dramatically out of the ocean you see, with people swimming in the foreground, and it looks like some crazy set from the movie The Beach? Well, this is where those are taken. (Actually, The Beach was shot in Thailand, so that makes sense, doesn’t it?) Details This video was shot by Bilel Ben Fayala using a GoPro4. 11. Hawaii Of course, no list like this would be complete without a video from Hawaii. With its pristine beaches and majestic volcanoes, the Hawaiian islands make it pretty easy for any videographer to come up with gold, but this video goes above and beyond with its diversity of locations. We love seeing how GREEN everything is. Wish we were surfing a wave into the sunset over there right now. Details This video was filmed entirely on the DJI Phantom 4. The post 11 Aerial Videos of Places We’d Like to Visit appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

Are you an FPV racer that needs some fresh cells? Check out MaxAmps new FPV Race Edition LiHV+ 1600mAh 4S LiPo packs! These batteries load your racing drone with MaxAmps latest LiHV+ technology, providing a higher voltage under load, typically during hard corners or hard acceleration. Internally, these packs have 1mm thick ‘battery plates’ that … View the full article

INTRODUCTION The Eachine EX120 is a 120mm brushed hexacopter with strong ingredients: SPF3 Evo board and a 800TVL 1/3″ 40CH AIO FPV camera. But probably more interesting, the EX120 is powered via a 2S LiPo to boost performances and why not reach brushless performances ?. The EX120 is sold with three type of receivers: FrSky D8, FLySky AFHDS-2A and DSMX. Let’s discover this new EX model. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine EX120 (with a 2S 450mAh LiPo with microLOSI) + 1 x USB charging cable + 6 x Spare props (3 CW, 3 CCW) That’s all …No instruction manual, spare motors. No specific packaging probably to reduce costs OVERVIEW The hexacopter is a 120mm machine so much larger than recent 80-100mm QX & EX models. The EX120 have a large lower unibody carbon frame welcoming also arms. The lower carbon plate has 1mm of thickness. Another upper plate is also here more to protect all the electronic. -FRONT VIEW Out of the box black props are installed front and orange for the four remaining ones. The FPV camera is not uptilted probably to minimize prop intrusion in the Fielf Of View. In the spare bag of props, 2 oranges and 4 black props. After minor moddings, the FPV cam is raised a bit and with the antenna installed more vertically to increase drastically general control range -SIDE VIEW The right side shows the FrSKy D8 receiver. By default, the associated antenna is completly jailed Inside limiting a lot the control range. A full complete SPF3 evo board is installed, not a shrinked version usually found for micromachine. The microUSB port is on the left side A small tip to raise the FPV camera for more agressive flight is too insert a piece of foam/paper beneath the camera -REAR VIEW A 6 programmable leds and a buzzer are installed rear. The buzzer is not super loud but permits to hear it in a radius of 10m approximatively. By default, the light’s effect is minimum staying solid green. -UPPER VIEW The upper plate protect the SPF3 board and hold the rear LED bar and buzzer. Be default the FrSky antenna is completly jailed between the two carbon plates…. A must to do first mod consists in install more vertically the 2.4G antenna -BOTTOM VIEW A small piece of foam is installed beneath to secure the battery installation via these two rubber bands. With the battery attached with the rubber bands -WEIGHT 87.7g !!!! so more than 20g heavier than a QX90 for example. We can understand than two extra motors will add de facto 10g. So the big open question…. the 2S setup will be strong enough ? A little foam is installed on each motor as landing gear and motors can be easily replaced thanks to 1.25mm 2 pins microJST connectors Motors 8520 motors 2S compatible 5200RPM probably the main postive of this setup. If the QX120 was only 1S compatible, probably the extra 20g versus a classic quadcopter would kill all the benefit of the six motors. Classic 55mm props with 1mm of shaft section LiPo A 450mAh model with 30C of discharge rate and ending with a microLOSI connector. AIO FPV Camera module A 800TVL 40CH 1/3″ 25mW AIO camera with a 3leaves RHCP camera. The camera is attached via a black rubber band, flexible enough to protect a bit the AIO system in case of frontal crash. A unique button to select the Vfreq (short pressed) and the cycle between the 5 Vbands (3s pressure) The FPV camera offer great brightness and light handling. More for a 25mW, the FPV range is pretty good Disassembling A complete SPF3 board with an external FrDky D8 receiver. Cleanflight 1.13 is installed by default. Probably no available compact 2S compatible FC was available during the EX120. At least 3-4g could be save with a direct integration. UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING AND DEMO FLIGHT In practice, the EX120 is punchy… and we can immediatly remove the doubt of lack of power. The 2S system is efficient and punch outs are almost comparable with brushless 1103 motors performances. In term of flight caracteristics, we can feel the machine is more heavier and by consequence you can’t perform super narrow turns. The EX120 is more adapted for outdoors acro flights. No problem to perform flips and rolls. The FPV range range is pretty good too. We can regret the absence of the telemetry feedback with the actual receiver firmware. But thanks to an USBISP module, we can reprogram the receiver with a new firmware with active telemetry. CONCLUSIONS A good EX’s model more adapted for outdoors applications with power compatible with real acro flights and without major drawback as soon as you uptilt a bit the FPV camera and installed vertically the 2.4G antenna. Some optimizations can be done mainly to save some weight and boost even more performances : i) installing a more compact brushed 2S FC, ii) removing the the upper carbon plate and the LED’s bar. We can probably expect soon an upgraded model with a FC integrating also a betaflight OSD chip. PROS + Efficient 800 TLV 1/3″ AIO camera + SPF3 board 2S compatible + Strong 8520 2S compatible motors + Acro capable machine + Builtin Buzzer + Programmable LED CONS – 2.4G Antenna jailed into the carbon structure – Large prop intrusion in the FOV – Precoce LVC buzzer alarm – No telemetry for the FrSky D8 receiver – No spare motors optional – No betaflight OSD 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 76USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-EX120-120mm-With-800TVL-FPV-Camera-F3-EVO-Brushed-LED-Buzzer-Racing-Quadcopter-p-1114602.html Cet article TEST: Eachine EX120 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A new 80mm miniwhoop with 0720 motors from Cheerson: http://www.banggood.com/Cheerson-TINY-CX-95S-CX95S-80mm-FPV-Racing-Quadcopter-BNF-Based-On-F3-Flight-Controller-p-1123487.html Here we have a SPF3 board with a builtin DSM2 receiver and a 25mW FPV-VTX combo. You will need to assemble everything since it’s a kit system. Flight time are announced to be around 4min with a 400mAh 1S LiPo…. 43g in total with the battery, so relatively Light. Triblades props seems much better than the horible model coming with the Eachine QX70. Wait & See… Description: Brand Name: Cheerson Item NO.: CX-95S Item Name: Cheerson CX-95S CX95S Racing Quadcopter Frequency: 2.4G Blade size:40mm Wheelbase:80mm Motor: 720 Coreless Motor Receiver: DSM Receiver Flight Control Board: F3 Flying Time: About 4-5 mins Charging Time: about 40mins R/C Distance: About 100-400m FPV Range:About 30-50m Flight Speed: 60km/h Quadcopter Battery: 1S 400mAh(Included) Size Of Product: 100*107*46mm Quadcopter wieght(with battery): 43g Camera:0.3MP Color:Blue/Orange/Green Material:PC+ABS Features: * Flight control base on F3 evo flight controller. * With 720 Coreless Motor. The Coreless motor is plug type, simple and convenient to use. * This drone need to be DIY or assembly complete (optional) to experience the FPV flight. Package included: 1 x CX95S Frame Kit 4 x 720 Coreless Motor 1 x F3 Flight Controller 1 x DSM Receiver 8 x Propeller 1 x Battery 1 x Charging Cable 1 x Screw Rubber Set Cet article NEWS: Cheerson CX-95S (43g, 80mm, SPF3, 0720 motors) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

INTRODUCTION The AOMWAY Commander V1 is a new FPV goggles, a direct competitor of the Skyzone Sky02S V+ with almost the same set of features: 40CH Diversity, builtin DVR, WVGA screens, HDMI input, 3D capacity. Only is missing the frontal camera for the AOMWAY but in the other hand, the price is more attractive. Let’s see if the first goggles from AOMWAY can really challenge the Skyzone product. BOX CONTENT + 1 x AOMWAY Commander V1 + 1 x DCin power cable + 1 x 5.8G linear antenna + 1 x 5.8G half-planner linear antenna + 1 x AVcable + 1 x Transportation bag + 1 x Instruction manual (Chinese/English) OVERVIEW The general quality of the aomway goggles is good, made with a high quality mate plastic. Like the skyzone, SMA connectors are installed latteraly. The goggles seems lighter than the Skyzone model. Goggles -FRONT VIEW A large AOMWAY logo printed front -REAR VIEW A facial sponge is already installed even if a spare one is provided in the bundle. Compatible with lens insert (from -2 down to -6) -UPPER VIEW From left to right, we have a 3.5mm jack earphone port, a microSD port, a RF button to select Vfreq, Vband and lunch the autoscan, a left joystick controling brightness, contrast, input sources and turn on/off RF capacity, a right joystick controlling the DVR recording and menu navigation and a headtracker button. Beaware for the microSD card, a class 10 minimum is required to enjoy full bitrate and 25fps. The left small button if briefly pressed cycles between the 8 Vfreq associated with the current band. If pressed more than 3 seconds, you can cycle between the 5 bands. Finally if pressed more than 5 seconds, you lunch the autoscan procedure. The left joystick control the brightness (up/down) and the contrast(left/right). When pressed centraly, you can turn on/off the 5.8G RF module. It’s important to turn off the RF module before to access to the DVR menu. The builtin Diversity receiver supports 5 bands and in total of 40CH. -BOTTOM VIEW The bottom side welcomes the headtrack plug, IPD ajustement sliders, fan, AVin/out plug and a miniHDMI port. The fan in theory removing potential fog on lens The HDMI mini plug and the 3.5mm jack quadripole for AVin our AVout connexions. By default, the AVout is active since the 5.8G module is turned on by default. As soon as you turn off the RF module, the 3.5mm port becomes an AVin. The headtracker main plug -WEIGHT The DC plug ending with a +5V voltage regulator from 2S/3S/4S LiPo source (via correspondingly balancer plugs) Standalone without antenna attached and the DC plug The total weight is just under 200g The transportation bag under 100g -SCREEN DISPLAY & OSD INFORMATION In RF mode (2D & 3D), the current band and frequency is displayed on the top left and if the DVR mode have been turned on too, the “REC” word is also displayed on the top right. I regret the absence OSD RSSI information. In comparaison with the skyzone, builtin screens offer comparable sharp display but I found the skyzone have deeper black and slightly better brightness. To record, you need first to press 3s centraly the right joystick then press shortly to turn on/off recording. Important thing, sometimes the DVR module don’t boot correctly and you will need to restart the system completly. -DVR MENU To enter into the menu, you have first to turn off the RF mode by pressing more than 3s the left central stick then press more than 3s the right central stick. Notice, it’s possible to guess the menu without turning off the RF channel by selecting an orthogonal channel to the current 5.8G source. The main interface of the Menu is main certainly extracted from the HMDVR/Eachine pro DVR module, but here only 3 options are available:i) playback recorded file, ii) format the microSD card or iii) select the recording mode. I regret the absence of all the settings of the original HMDVR module. In playback mode, you can play in forward or backward direction and fast forward/reward up to x8 Whatever the RF source in NTSC or PAL format, files are recorded in VGA (640×480) at 25fps. It means first the video must downscaled from D1 NTSC (720×480@30fps) or D1 PAL (720×576@25fps) to VGA (640×480@25fps). Good news, no cropping was observed so all OSD informations from a full GPS machine will be correctly displayed. THe bit rate is 5.7kbs paradoxally the skyzone offers a larger bitrate of 8Kbs but I suspect that the skyzone for PAL sources have two stages of compression explaining bad results for PAL sources. UNBOXING, ANALYSIS AND TESTING Both 3D rendering is working perfectly from the RF soruce or the HDMi port as soon as both channels are splitted left and right. It means the 3D camera from skyzone using two different Vfreq won’t work with the AOMWAY Commander. A full comparaison of DVR recordings between the AOMWAY. AOMWAY recordings are less detailed but less corrupted by compression artefacts. Seems also the AOMWAY DVR don’t loose any frame among serveral minutes of recording. In term of RF sensitivity, both systems have similar performances. CONCLUSIONS The AOMWAY Commander V1 are in practice very close to the skyzone Sky02SV+ at least in term of features and performances: builtin screens, RF senstivity and DVR capacity. Well if builtin screens for the skyzone offer more deep dark, DVR recordings are better for the AOMWAY… The AOMWAY DVR lacks of advanced settings at least to record fpv flux in the native resolution… Probably one firmware will probably add this option. At least no important negative drawbacks for the AOMWAY and they are announced to be sold cheaper. PROS + Superb builtin LCD screens + Builtin diversity + 40CH + HDMIin (scaling to 720p) + Can display 3D RF/HDMI sources + IPD ajustable + Headtracker + Builtin DVR w/o cropping + No frame lost in DVR recording CONS – Ergonomy/navigation not super easy – No status led for DVR recording – Both NTSC/PAL recorded in lower VGA resolution @ 25fps – Restricted DVR settings – Poor instruction manual Optionnaly – No RSSI OSD display – No miniUSB port This FPV goggleshave been courtesy provided by AOMWAY 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 362USD at http://www.banggood.com/Aomway-Commander-Goggles-V1-2D-3D-40CH-5_8G-FPV-Video-Headset-Support-HDMI-DVR-Headtracker-p-1107684.html Cet article TEST: AOMWAY Commander V1 FPV goggles (WVGA, diversity, builtin DVR, 3D, HDMI in) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

The Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado announced the completion of a research project earlier this week that used drones to collect data within the park. This is a big news, primarily because drones are generally banned from all national parks. [Skip down for some analysis of drones in national parks and related legal questions, or continue reading to learn more about the Great Sand Dunes project.] The research project used drones to create accurate geospatial maps of the sand dunes, and provide researchers with high quality data sets about the dunes. Image Source Star Dune seen from 400 feet above its surface. The image was compiled using high-resolution photos taken from a Black Swift Technologies drone on Oct. 19, 2016. About the Great Sand Dunes Project Monitoring the changing heights of the dunes, and how they shift over time, is part of the work required of the staff at Great Sand Dunes National Park. Historically they have done this work on foot, since vehicles aren’t allowed to drive on the dunes. But with the highest dune reaching to 755 feet tall, and the vast area of land to be covered in the park, doing regular full ground surveys is almost impossible. Drones provide a possible solution, and this project’s goal was to do an initial test run. Image Source The Great Sand Dunes flyover happened on a single day, October 19, 2016. The drone took high-resolution images of 1 square mile of the park centered around the Star Dune (pictured above), which is the tallest dune in North America, at 750 feet tall. The project was a collaboration between the NPS, Black Swift Technologies, and Wohnrade Civil Engineers, with permission from the FAA. Wohnrade Civil Engineers was the FAA-licensed service provider for the flight, using a SwiftTrainer fixed-wing drone that had been developed by Black Swift Technologies. “The park monitors the dunes to see how much they shift. How high are the dunes? Is it higher in elevation than last year? It’s generally for in-house research…The milestone project will give research staff at the park meaningful data for monitoring change detection within the dune field, and to quantify, visualize and interpret resources it is charged with protecting.” – Mary Wohnrade, President of Wohnrade Civil Engineers Said Steve Sorenson, aviation manager for the intermontane region of the National Parks Service: “The early flights were more of a test than anything else, and any future flights will likely result in us gaining the appropriate NPS approvals to launch from within.” The final deliverables from the project were: High-resolution georeferenced orthomosic image; Topographic mapping at a 1-foot contour interval; 3D model of the 1-square mile area of interest; Georeferenced point cloud. Some History about Commercial Drone Pilots, the FAA, and the National Park Service Back in June of 2014, the National Park Service banned the use of drones in all of its 401 parks. This ban came on a wave of one-off bans that had been made at various national parks throughout the U.S. (You can find the ban itself on the NPS website.) In 2013, the year before the national ban was announced, drone pilot and videographer Raphael Pirker got into a public skirmish with officials at Grand Canyon National Park, a fight that ended up in court and thrust the entire debate about commercial drones into the spotlight. Pirker’s story is a fascinating piece of the evolution of the FAA’s attitude about drones, in part because he was the first person to have been fined by the FAA for piloting a drone. At the time, Pirker was told he had violated an FAA regulation created for commercial airplanes. According to a Wired article: “The $10,000 levy [against Pirker] invokes the same code section that governs the conduct of actual airline-passenger pilots, charging modeler Raphael Pirker with illegally operating a drone for commercial purposes and flying it ‘in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.'” But Pirker was eventually acquitted, which was a huge victory for commercial drone pilots. The presiding judge on his case publicly declared not only that Pirker wasn’t in violation of the FAA regulation in question, but went even further, saying that “there are no laws against flying a drone commercially.” This ruling made big problems for the FAA. They were now faced with the reality that there were no regulations on the books to help them regulate the burgeoning industry of commercial drone pilots, which, up until this point, they had simply declared illegal. Now commercial drone operations in fact appeared legal, and legislation needed to be created to deal with that fact. Fast forward from June of 2014, when NPS issued their ban, to June of 2016 when the FAA issued Part 107, and you can see how the FAA’s regulatory ability has evolved and grown more nuanced over time. So Is It Illegal to Fly a Drone in a National Park? We will admit, the law still seems to be grey. Although the NPS has clearly issued a ban on drone flights, it’s unclear whether they actually have the right to do so. Technically, the FAA has jurisdiction over all airspace, including the airspace over National Park Services land. However, NPS can certainly ban people launching, landing, or operating a drone on their land (this distinction comes into play in a recent Orlando ordinance requiring drone pilots to be permitted, and we can only imagine we’re going to be hearing a lot more about it). The loophole this wording leaves open is for pilots to fly drones over NPS land while standing outside NPS demarcations—but then you almost certainly will run into BVLS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) scenarios, which are clearly not allowed by Part 107. Although you could argue the point and weigh the technicalities even further, ultimately we feel like this is a situation where pilots should honor the wishes of the NPS. There are a host of reasons why the NPS doesn’t want drones flying over federally protected lands. Some of these reasons have to do with avoiding harm to the animals that live there, and others have to do with generally preventing a scenario where the skies are so full of drones that one of the main reasons for having protected areas (that is, to provide quiet, serene spaces removed from the advances of technology) becomes lost. We’ll admit that this latter scenario seems unlikely right now, but we can understand why the NPS might want to be proactive in eliminating that possibility. And as bullish as we are about drones, we’re OK with the idea that there are some spaces that still remain untouched. The post Great Sand Dunes National Parks Allows Drone Flights for Scientific Research appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

INTRODUCTION It was not a surprize to see very fast some tinywhoop FPV clones… and after the excellent Makerfire microFPV, here is the special FPV version of the popular Eachine E010, i.e. Eachine E010S. The boosted E010 version now includes a 800 TVL AIO FPV cam and a strong F3 evo board. Three choices of receiver are available: FrSky (D8 mode)/ DSM2 and FlySky. For this latter no precizion if it’s the AFHDS or AFHDS-2A protocols. To boost performances, 59000 RPM 0615 coreless motors are also integrated… Let’s discover this new ultra compact FPV machine. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine E010S (with a 1S 150mAh LiPo with microLOSI) + 1 x USB charging cable + 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 2 x Rubber bands + 2 x Double side tape bands + 1 x Wrench prop tool + 1 x Instruction manual (English) OVERVIEW Like the E010, the E010S is a 66mm machine In comparaison with the Makerfire microFPV Exactly similar in size but the Makerfire protect much better both the AIO and the flight controller board thanks to its plastic canopy. -FRONT VIEW -SIDE VIEW The ducted system is based on a more flexible transparent plastic. Should be very durable versus time. Ducted branches are inclined of 45 degrees to increase the powerlift. -REAR VIEW A large gauge lead wires ending with a microLOSI connector. Probably by installing a thinner one with microJST connector could save 0.5g. -UPPER VIEW Installed on front, the CC2500 RFchip and the corresponding bind button. -BOTTOM VIEW The battery bay large enough for the 150mAh LiPo Good news, motors are connected via miniJST plugs, making the motor’s maintenance more easy -WEIGHT 20g without battery and just 25g AWG So close to 2.5g lighter than the Makerfire but with a 200mAh. With the 200mAh LiPo of the Makerfire, just 0.6g added Motors To boost performances, strong 0615mm red motors are installed announced to be 59000 RPM Classic 0615 motors run in general more at 54000 RPM LiPo A 150mAh 1S LiPo with microLOSI connector. A strong model with 45C of discharge rate enough to power all elements Camera module A 800 TVL 25mW 40CH CMOS FPV camera. A cloverleaf left polarized. Versus time & crash, the CL antenna should be replaced with a linear antenna less efficient but more fragile too. The lens thread is in M7 format and offers 170 of DFOV so clearly more adapted for indoors proximity flights than outdoors ones. The AIO module is directly taped on the F3 evo board. A unique button to select the Vfreq (short press), the Vband (press 2s) and the NTSC/PAL mode (press 5s) The color are vivid and light sensitivity pretty good…. Here is a raw video sample. UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT The E010S is super stable as for most of Tinywhoop and default Cleanflight settings are well tuned. By default, only angle flight mode is pre-programmed. The red 0615 motors offers effectively a good powerlift probably strong enought to fly acro a bit and to perform two, three flips and rolls. The light sensitivity and color rendition of the AIO cam is great… at least as good as for the Makerfire. The 150mAh LiPo offers 2min30 of flight time so 30s less than the Makerfire (but with a 200mAh model). All the tricks to increase flight time can be applied: transform quadriprops into bi-props, trim the battery bay to fix directly the LiPo with rubber band for example. When Vbat and telemetry are enable, Vbat is transmitted by telemetry for FrSky D8 version CONCLUSIONS The Makerfire was already a serious candidate for the crown of the king of whoop. With the Eachine E010S, we have a machine close to 2g lighter with strong motors, a powerful F3 board and a sharp AIO FPV camera. The machine flies superbly in proximity conditions. The price range is also super attractive. The flight time is main probably the more negative point (2min30) but with basic moddings, it can be largely improved. Cherry on the cake, the FrSky version offers Telemetry. Recommanded machine. PROS + SPF3 board + FrSky D8 w/ telemetry + Vivid 800TVL AIO FPV camera + Strong motors + Durable + 25g + Great and cheap BNF bundle CONS – 2.30 min of flying duration Eachine E010S Cleanflight dump configuration 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 55USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-E010S-65mm-Micro-FPV-Raicng-Quadcopter-with-800TVL-Came-Based-On-F3-Brush-Flight-Controller-p-1119427.html Cet article TEST: Eachine E010S, the new Tinywhoop king ? (25g, F3 evo, 0615/59000RPM, 800TVL AIO 25mW cam) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Image Source Amazon filed a bevy of drone-related patents this week, a total of four in all. Most prominent among the patents is a patent for a drone with foldable wings. Other patents are for a system for determining the center of gravity for a payload that’s put on a delivery drone; a system to recharge a drone’s batteries while in flight (hurray for that); and an autonomous delivery transportation network. The foldable-wing design is covered by a patent that was published on Tuesday, as was the center of gravity patent. Both of these patents originate from applications first made in 2014. Notably, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is named on the list of inventors for the center of gravity patent. Why Foldable? The flexibility of being able to fold the wings would allow the drone to adjust for different takeoff and in-flight positions, and ultimately to make it more suitable for deliveries in tight spaces (we speculate—this has not been made explicit by Amazon). Image Source This diagram illustrates how the foldable-wing drone goes from vertical takeoff to horizontal flight. Image Source This diagram illustrates the two different positions for the wings, one with the wings folded down, one with the wings extended. For takeoff, the drone would be folded around to provide a stable base, which will allow the drone to takeoff vertically, with the rotors spinning in a horizontal plane. You don’t have to think too hard to imagine the benefits of this kind of takeoff for tight spaces, such as cities, where Amazon may hope to make deliveries via drone one day. Once the drone is in the air the wings and tail fold back out to create a configuration like you see on an airplane. In this position the rotors spin in a vertical plane, as they do on an airplane, to propel the drone forward. For landing, the wings and tail again fold up so that the drone can land vertically, just as it takes off. In the USPTO (United States Patent and TradeMark Office) filing, Amazon compares the foldable-wing drone design to a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey military aircraft. The Osprey also tilts its rotors from vertical to horizontal, depending on whether it’s taking off or in flight. The Center of Gravity Patent If the question of whether the patent for the foldable-wing drone will be used for deliveries is still a little open for debate, the center of gravity patent Amazon filed this week is not. From the patent itself: “…a system and method for determining the center of gravity of a payload engaged by an automated aerial vehicle and adjusting components of the automated aerial vehicle and/or the engagement location with the payload so that the center of gravity of the payload is within a defined position with respect to the center of gravity of the automated aerial vehicle…” Clearly, the goal here is for the delivery, or “payload” as it’s called above, to be securely balanced within the delivery drone’s storage space so that it doesn’t shift during flight and cause the drone to become destabilized. Image Source This diagram illustrates the way motorized arms on a drone (labeled as 205) could be extended or retracted to adjust for a payload’s center of gravity. Other Recent Amazon Patents Battery Extension Patent The patent filed this week for extending a drone’s battery life while in flight is pretty darn impressive. Essentially, the patent covers a few ways additional electricity could be generated while the drone is in flight. One is using airflow to rotate one or more of the propellers so the associated propeller motors generate electricity, and the other is using kinetic energy related to the motion of flight to do the same thing. Wind energy harnessed in flight—how cool is that! Autonomous Delivery Transportation Network Patent The patent filed this week for establishing an autonomous delivery transportation network makes it possible for a network of delivery drones to function without direct human supervision, establishing “a central management system that directs the operation of a network of vehicles for delivering items.” Kind of spooky (we just can’t help but think of SkyNet when we read things like this…) but also exciting at the same time. Mega Drone Patent Another recent patent filed by Amazon is for a Mega Drone, in which a group, or “flock,” of drones is put together to form one single, huge drone. The drones could detach to perform various tasks, and then regroup to save energy. As the patent reads, the mega drone could be used for transporting “virtually any size, weight, or quantity of items…” Another benefit to the large size of the mega drone is that the linked drone array would be more visible, thereby allowing aircraft and air traffic controllers to spot them more easily. Image Source This diagram illustrates a group of linked drones, forming a “mega drone.” Why All the Patents? With this flurry of patents, you might think Amazon was getting ready to launch it’s AirPrime service, or gearing up to start moving quickly. But we wouldn’t hold our breath. Most likely Amazon is covering its bases, making sure that the technology they need to make drone delivery a reality (and which is proprietary to them) doesn’t get snapped up elsewhere. We see these patents as similar to what happens in the movie industry when a major studio buys the option to make a book into a movie. It doesn’t necessarily mean the movie will ever get made—it just means they don’t want anyone else to make it. The post Foldable Wings, Center of Gravity Detection and More Featured in New Amazon Drone Patents appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

The city of Orlando announced yesterday a new drone law that requires permits for drone users. The law went immediately into effect on passing. Violators who fly drones without a permit within the city limits will be subject to heavy fines. Also, jail time is possible for anyone operating UAVs under the influence (not a problem we typically hear about, but perhaps Orlando has its own challenges due to tourism and related issues). The law seems to be aimed not so much at regulating drone flights in the city as at capitalizing on them, despite some cheery language: “…the City wishes to increase the ability of hobbyists and commercial users to operate unmanned aircraft within the City of Orlando, while recognizing the need to protect the safety and privacy of the citizens and visitors to the city…” -Drone UAS Ordinance No. 2016-87 Given how rich the city is with rides and attractions there are dozens of great aerial videos out there, like the one embedded below, with shots of the city. These may now be harder to make, and we may see fewer of them. Details of the Law According to the new ordinance, sUAS use is now restricted within 500 feet of city-owned parks, schools, and venues, as well as within 500 feet of gatherings with more than 1,000 people. Here are the details: A permit is required to fly a drone anywhere in the city of Orlando. Permits cost $20 per flight, or $150 annually. Those who fly without a permit will be subject to fines between $200 and $400. Anyone operating a drone under the influence of alcohol or drugs can be arrested and jailed (in addition to being subject to fines). Federal vs. Local Law The catch to all of this is that the airspace over a city cannot technically be regulated by a city or local ordinance, but only by the FAA. This article from On the Radar, a blog published by the Fox Rothschild law group, sums up the law concisely (the bolding is ours, not theirs): The federal government has exclusive sovereignty of U.S. airspace. Congress delegated to the FAA the ability to define “navigable airspace” and the authority to regulate “navigable airspace” of aircraft by regulation or order. 49 U.S.C. § 40103(b)(1). One reason the FAA has blanket authority over all U.S. airspace is to avoid the confusion that would be caused if a pilot flying over multiple cities needed to need to be aware of dozens, if not hundreds, of local laws. Of course, the advent of drones have complicated all of this, but the law, and the distinction between federal and local jurisdiction, remains clear. In fact, you could make the same argument for drone regulation as you might make for an airline pilot. As drone applications grow, it’s completely imaginable that drone pilots may fly operations that encompass multiple cities. Indeed, they may need to do so right now—imagine a pilot in Florida surveying multiple orange groves for blight, or a construction company surveying multiple work sites. The possible use cases are many, when you stop to think about it. Having to be aware of, and licensed or permitted in, each city a commercial drone operator happens to be passing through would be a mess of red tape. Flight Over Orlando Isn’t Illegal, But Flying from Within Orlando Is Say that again? Although the city of Orlando cannot technically control what happens in the air (as explained above), they can still regulate what happens on the ground. This means drone pilots can be fined for taking off, landing, or operating a drone without a permit from within city limits, but not for the flight itself. A careful reading of the new Orlando law reveals that the lawmakers were aware of their jurisdiction, although they may not have wanted to advertise the limitations to their authority when they announced the new law: The Orlando law does not refer to flight per se, but instead reads that “It is prohibited to cause an unmanned aircraft to launch or land, or for any person to operate or assist in the operation of…” This is how every declaration of limitations regarding drones under the new ordinance starts, with those bolded words being the clear boundaries of what they can regulate. Flight itself is not mentioned within the law. Meaning that, hypothetically, you could stand somewhere outside the city limits and fly a drone over Orlando without being in violation of the new law. Insurance Requirements One last thing to note about the Orlando law, which seems to have been slipped in at the end, is that the ordinance notes that “all applicants for a UAS permit shall furnish proof of insurance of the types and amounts set forth by City Policy and Procedure.” Does this mean you have to have insurance to fly a drone (or, excuse us, to launch, land, and operate one) in Orlando? It sure sounds like it. And since the FAA has not yet mandated insurance for commercial drone pilots, this is one more step toward regulation, and possible over-regulation, that is important to note. Why Should We Care? Regulation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The FAA has taken some great steps toward professionalizing the drone industry through issuing its Part 107 requirements. But there are at least two big reasons why we should be alarmed by the Orlando law. One reason is that commercial drone operations may span multiple cities. In fact, they may span multiple states. If pilots have to be aware of laws from one city to the next (that is, if every city goes the way of Orlando) the potential mess of red tape this will cause will put a serious damper to the expansion of the industry. This is still true even if you don’t have to worry about being physically within the city limits, because, let’s face it, you still need to know that you’re not supposed to be within those limits, and that’s a lot of information to keep track of. The other, related reason we should care is that up to this point drone pilots have presented themselves as a responsible, professional group of people. We are proud to be part of this industry. But if cities create unenforceable laws (and let’s face it, the new law in Orlando seems pretty unenforceable) with unrealistic expectations, the tensions between commercial drone operators and non-UAV folks (be they civilians, government entities, or local officials) may mount. Compliance relies, in some part, on setting reasonable expectations. Paying to fly in every single city does not seem reasonable to us, and setting hurdles in front of commercial operators, who may be working within a very tight budget to begin with, simply sets drone pilots up for making a touch choice between ignoring the law and working to be in compliance despite very real hurdles to doing so. The post Orlando Passes New Law Regulating Drones appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

What a concentration of all technologies into this 9.4g cube !!!!: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Minicube-20x20mm-Flytower-Compatible-Frsky-Flysky-DSM2-DSMX-Receiver-w-F3-Blheli_S-10A-ESC-p-1122985.html With the Eachine Minicube, it’s simple you have everything: F3 board integrating betaflight OSD, strong 4-in-1 10A ESC (1-2S system) Dshot600 compatible !!! and 3 type of receivers: FrSKy (D8+telemetry)/ DSMX/ FlySly (AFHDS-2A). The bundle is just great for compact < 100mm machine with some 1103/1104 brushless motor. The perfect AIO camera can be this new Eachine model with a 4 pin connector for OSD pluggin: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-AIO-FPV-5_8G-25mW-48CH-VTX-600TVL-CMOS-14-inch-Camera-For-Aurora-90-100-Mini-FPV-Racer-p-1122902.html. I hope now new Eachine brushless racer will integrate this Minicube. Probably yes. Description: Brand name: Eachine Mount hole: 20mm*20mm Size: 27mm*27mm*20mm Weight: 9.4g 1. Eachine Minicube Receiver 1). Eachine Minicube DSM2/ DSMX satellite Receiver Frequency range: 2.403-2.479Ghz Input power: 5V Response time: 22ms / 11MS Resolution: 2048 Display method: LED Operating voltage: 3.3V Working current: 60MA Size: 27mm*27mm*7mm Mount hole:20mm*20mm Weight: 3.1 g Antenna length: 100mm Data format: Serial port Protocol: DSM2/DSMX Distance: no ground interference (1 m from the ground ) > 300m Uses: indoor small aircraft. Compatible Transmitters: DSM2 / DSMX series of remote control 2). Eachine Minicube Flysky 8CH AFHDS2A receiver Channels: PPM 8CH Model type: Multi-rotor Frequency range: 2.408-2.475GHz 2.4GHz system: AFHDS 2A Work Mode: PPM Transfer method: FHSS Built-in Buzzer (Low voltage alarm) Configure by Betaflight configurator Antenna length: 100mm No ground interference ( Transmitting and receiving 1 m from the ground): >300m Working current: 40mA Size: 27*27*7mm Mount hole:20mm*20mm Weight: 3.1g Compatible Transmitter: Compatible with FS-i4, FS-i6, FS-i6S, FS-i6X, FS-i10, FS-GT2E, FS-GT2G, FS-GT2F 3). Eachine Minicube Frsky Compatible 2.4G 8CH Receiver: Frequency range: 2.403-2.479Ghz Channels: 8CH Work mode :D8 Mode Output: SBUS Antenna length: 100mm No ground interference ( Transmitting and receiving 1 m from the ground): >500m Built-in Buzzer (Low voltage alarm) Configure by Betaflight configurator Working current: 80mA Dimensions: 27*27*7mm Weight: 3.5g Compatible with FRSKY ACCST Compatible with X9D(Plus)DJT/DFT/DHT Telemetry: RSSI, 1S-3S voltage (A1), 1S-3S voltage (A2) 2. Eachine Minicube F3 6DOF Flight Controller: 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 3. Eachine Minicube 10A BLHeli_S 4 In 1 ESC: 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: STM32 F303MCU + BLHELI_S ESC make your Operating feel more stabilly and silky Jaw-dropping flight performance LED_STRIP solder pin BUZZER Ready Cleanflight/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 Package included: 1 x Minicube Receiver 1 x Minicube F3 6DOF Flight Controller 1 x Minicube 10A BLHeli_S 4 In 1 ESC Cet article NEWS: Eachine Minicube (9.4g, F3 FC + betaOSD, 4-in-1 10A Dshot600, FrSky/DSMX/FlySky) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Is an official product from FrSky ? not sure but the FrSky Vantac Q100 is announced to be a brushed 100mm racer: http://www.banggood.com/Frsky-Vantac-Q100-100MM-Naze32-5_8G-16CH-700TVL-FPV-Racing-Drone-with-XM-Receiver-BNF-Version-p-1122982.html Well according to specification, the flight controller is an old Alienflight naze32 still based on F1 processor. No builtin buzzer, no specific lights for example, even is the frame structure seems not bad. The main originality is the presence of the FrSky XM receiver … that’s all. Not sure it’s a very competitive model especially versus some Eachine QX90C/QX95 models. Specification: Brand Name: Frsky Item Name: 100MM Naze32 5.8G 16CH 700TVL FPV Racing Drone with XM Receiver Model: Vantac Q100 Wheelbase: 100mm Color: Res or Yellow Flight controller: Naze32 Brushed Firmware version: Cleanflight 1.13.0 ALIENFLIGHTF1 Motor: 8520 Brushed Motor Prop Size: 65mm Receiver: FrSky XM Receiver Camera: 700TVL HD 1/4 CMOS FPV Camera Video Transmitter: 5.8G 16CH Batterry: 3.7V 550mAh 25C Lipo battery Flight time: 5-7 minutes Weight: 41.8g (Without RX and battery) Size: 85*85*25mm Package Included: 1 x Q100 Frame kit 1 x N32 Brush Flight controller 1 x FrSky XM Receiver 1 x 700 TVL Camera 4 x 8520 Brushed Motor 1 x 3.7V 550mah Lipo battery Cet article NEWS: FrSky Vantac Q100 (100mm brushed Naze32, FrSky XM) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

– Eachine EX120: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-EX120-120mm-With-800TVL-FPV-Camera-F3-EVO-Brushed-LED-Buzzer-Racing-Quadcopter-p-1114602.html – Eachine Chaser 88: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Chaser88-F3-FPV-Racer-ARF-with-4-In-1-6A-ESC-5_8G-40CH-VTX-800TVL-13-Cmos-Camera-2-3S-p-1120343.html – AOMWAY Nexus: V1 1080p: http://www.banggood.com/Aomway-NEXUS-V1-FULL-HD-1080P-10CH-AV-FPV-Transmtiter-Receiver-TX-RX-Combo-p-1099344.html – AOMWAY Commander V1: http://www.banggood.com/Aomway-Commander-Goggles-V1-2D-3D-40CH-5_8G-FPV-Video-Headset-Support-HDMI-DVR-Headtracker-p-1107684.html Cet article NEWS: SeByDocKy’s weekly news #60 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

While it’s impossible to track each and every drone company in such a fast-moving industry, we’ve done our best to highlight the biggest players and to give you a sense of who is doing what in the drone industry. Make sure to bookmark this page if you’re doing industry research. Looking for a particular type of drone company? To help you find the companies most relevant to your interests, choose the option that best describes you from the list below. (Or you can skip this feature and simply see the full list of drone companies by category.) Tell us who you are, and we’ll direct you to the companies most relevant to your interests: I fly drones just for fun. I fly drones commercially. I want to hire someone who flies drones. I fly drones just for fun. Awesome! Here are links to the types of companies that will most likely fit your interests: Hardware—Companies that make drones and drone accessories. Drone Industry News—The best in the industry for breaking news and in-depth analysis. And here are some other resources you might find useful: For beginner pilots Cheap Drones for Beginners How to Buy a Drone How to Fly a QuadCopter For intermediate to advanced pilots Best Drone Accessories Top Camera Drones The Complete Guide to FPV Drone Systems I fly drones commercially. Nice work! (Get it?) Here are links to the types of companies that will most likely fit your interests: Hardware Companies—Companies that make drones and drone accessories. Flight Operation Management—Tracking, storing, sharing, and analyzing flights and flight data, including tools for team collaboration. Data-Processing Tools—Enabling drone pilots to use all the data gathered by their drones. Marketplaces, Databases & Funders—Places for drone pilots to find work and companies that fund other drone companies. Drone Industry News—The best in the industry for breaking news and in-depth analysis. And here are some other resources you might find helpful: For those just getting started with their drone business A Step-by-Step Guide to the FAA’s Part 107 Drone Certification Process Drone Pilot Ground School For those already up and running In-Depth Guide to Drone Insurance Guide to Drone Laws by Country Course: Mapping and 3D Modeling 101 Course: Aerial Post-Production 101 Course: Introduction to Aerial Thermography I want to hire someone who flies drones. Hard to navigate all the options out there, isn’t it? Here are links to the types of companies that will help you find what you need: Miscellaneous—Drone companies that provide services (such as surveying, inspections, and agricultural tools), and a mixed bag of many other types of drone companies that don’t fit neatly into a single category. Marketplaces, Databases & Funders—Places to find lists of drone pilots and service providers. Drone Industry News—The best in the industry for breaking news and in-depth analysis. You also might want to check out our blog, since we write about drone companies that provide various types of service, from agriculture to inspections and much more, all the time. List of Top Drone Companies in 2017 For easy navigation, we’ve tried to categorize these companies based on their core offering. Use the following links to jump to each type of company: Hardware Companies Drone Industry News Flight Operation Management Data-Processing Tools Marketplaces, Databases & Funders Miscellaneous Hardware Companies Companies that make drones and drone accessories. DJI DJI is one of the top consumer drone manufacturers, known mainly for their Phantom series. Their Phantom series has become the quintessential drone for new to intermediate pilots and videographers, and the simultaneous launch in late 2016 of the Inspire Two and Phantom 4 Pro was huge news in the industry. Follow DJI: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Parrot Parrot makes some of the best drones on the market. Their Bebop drone is always a favorite in lists around the web, and the 2.0 version is even more robust than the original, with a 25 minute battery life and powerful motors for flight in greater altitudes. Parrot also designs, develops, and markets consumer products for smartphones and tablets other than consumer UAVs and drones. Follow Parrot: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Yuneec Yuneec first started innovating in the aircraft industry before creating the first commercially successful, ready-to-fly fixed wing RC airplane. Eventually, they transitioned into their increasingly popular aerial video quadcopters. In early 2017 they announced the launch of the Typhoon H520, designed specifically for commercial applications, as well as a huge customer service initiative to provide high quality service. Follow Yuneec: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Kespry Kespry manufactures drones made specifically for capturing, viewing, and analyzing aerial imagery and survey data. Their customers include aggregates, mining, construction and surveying companies. Follow Kespry: Youtube | LinkedIn Back to Top Autel Robotics Autel Robotics has been delivering solutions for new aerial exploration through their market-leading quadcopter and camera drone technology. They emphasize transforming complex technology into simple solutions, and creating easy-to-use aerial devices for photography/filming and imaging. Follow Autel Robotics: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Insitu Insitu runs the gamut of drone services, providing hardware in the form of commercial-focused drones; software for extracting intelligence from raw data gathered by drones; and drone-related services for commercial applications, such as surveying and reconnaissance. Their ScanEagle drone was designed for aerial imaging, with diverse applications such as agricultural assessment, oil or gas pipeline inspection, and force protection. Follow Insitu: Twitter Back to Top EHANG EHANG designs and manufactures drones that can be controlled entirely via a smartphone app. Their GhostDrone 2.0 has some great features such as self-protection, which makes it automatically return in case of low battery or lost communication; dual sensors, so that a backup kicks in if the first sensor fails; and app control, designed so that “smart algorithms” kick in to reduce human error during flight. Follow EHANG: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Aeryon Labs, Inc. Aeryon Labs, Inc. creates drones for diverse applications, ranging from Commercial, to Public Safety, to Military & Defense. In addition to their sUAS units, they’re known for their “ruggedized” payload systems for commercial drone camera work, and their video processing platform, designed to enable the various uses their products support. Follow Aeryon Labs: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top CyPhy CyPhy designs and manufactures drones that are specific and purpose-built, targeting applications and problems that can only be solved by robotic design. Their drones are designed with both commercial and government uses in mind. Follow CyPhy: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top senseFly senseFly is a Parrot-owned company founded in 2009 by a team of robotics researchers, and is an industry leader in mapping drones. Their data collection and processing tools are employed by customers around the world in fields such as surveying, agriculture, GIS, industrial inspection, mining, and humanitarian aid. Follow SenseFly: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Freefly Freefly is the inventor of the Movi Gimbal Stabilizer, and they’ve also been responsible for pulling surfers via drones (coolness factor through the roof for that!). In 2015 they unveiled their new, highly professional drone, the Freefly ALTA, which has been so popular that the Alta has become synonymous with Freefly, and is commonly used interchangeably with the company’s name. Follow Freefly: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Flyability Flyability created Gimball, the world’s first collision-tolerant flying robot capable of remaining stable after contact, and safe to fly close to people. Flyability’s Elios was developed using this technology specifically for industrial inspection professionals. Their collision-tolerant systems allow, for the first time, safe and easy access to places out of reach of current drone systems. In 2015 Flyability won the UAE Drones for Good Award, which came with a whopping $1M prize! Follow Flyability: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Draganfly Innovations Draganfly Innovations hand-makes their systems in North America. They produce drone systems that specialize in public safety applications, aerial photography, industrial inspection, and education/research. Follow Draganfly Innovations: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Action Drone USA Action Drone USA produces portable industrial drones to help companies get jobs done safely and efficiently. They manufacture rigs that are specific to any commercial application and are easily compatible with third-party software. Follow Action Drone USA: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top GoPro GoPro had a failed first launch of their Karma drone in 2016, but CEO Nick Woodman has announced a re-launch slated for February of 2017. GoPro is of course known for making action sports cameras, which are some the best in the industry for capturing aerial photos and videos using UAVs. Follow GoPro: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Intel Intel is leading the industry in terms of innovation and creating new technology to meet developing needs. Most recently they’ve teamed up with Disney to create aerial light shows that can replace fireworks displays. Intel both creates drones and the systems required for other companies to create their own drones. Follow Intel: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Ambarella Ambarella is the leading developer of low-power, high-definition (HD) and Ultra HD video compression and image processing solutions. Most notably they create chips specifically designed to allow cameras on drones to function better in low-light or high-contrast situations, and produce much smoother video. Follow Ambarella: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top FLIR FLIR is a company that brings innovative sensing solutions into daily life for drones through thermal imaging systems, visible light imaging systems, locator systems, measurement and diagnostic systems, and advanced heat detection systems. FLIR’s imaging solutions are not limited just to use on drones. Follow FLIR: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Workswell Workswell creates state-of-the-art thermal imaging systems designed for commercial unmanned aerial vehicles. The Workswell WIRIS 2nd gen thermal imaging system allows for real-time sensor control via a standard RC radio transmitter that communicates directly with the drone. Follow Workswell: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top UDI UDI creates larger sized quadcopters and multicopters for consumers. Many of their drones are less than $100 and feature cameras for aerial photography and videography, and three of their drones are featured on our list of cheap drones for beginners. Follow UDI: Website Back to Top Hubsan Hubsan manufactures some of the most popular consumer drones on the market. Their X4 series are excellent starter quadcopters and are featured in our list of cheap drones for beginners. Follow Hubsan: Facebook Back to Top Cheerson Cheerson is an extremely popular drone manufacturer. They developed the Cheerson CX-10, the smallest quadcopter to date and a top seller on Amazon, also featured on our list of cheap drones for beginners. Follow Cheerson: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Syma Toys Syma Toys is a China-based company that manufacturers consumer drones, quadcopters, helicopters, and even an RC car/quadcopter hybrid. Their X5C is featured on our list of cheap drones for beginners, and is a great starter drone for new pilots who want to learn how to fly a quadcopter. Follow Syma Toys: Website Back to Top Sky Viper Sky Viper creates drone for aerial video, racing, and general recreation (as indicated on their website, where one of their taglines is “Serious Performance. Serious Fun.”). Sky Viper has a flight simulation app (in Google Play and the Apple Store) for those pilots interested in buying their drones but want to learn a little more about how the drone might handle, which is pretty neat. Follow Sky Viper: Facebook Back to Top Blade Blade produces quadcopters and mini-drones for the consumer market. Many of their drones are great for beginners and offer people cheap ways to learn more about aerial photography. Follow Blade: Facebook Back to Top Drone Industry News Companies The best in the industry for breaking news and in-depth analyses. DroneLife DroneLife provides the latest drone news, product releases, YouTube videos and legal precedents to help drone enthusiasts and professionals stay informed about everything related to drones. Follow DroneLife: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top The Drone Girl The Drone Girl is a drone-focused news site run by reporter Sally French, a regular contributor to MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal, among several other news sites. The Drone Girl was created with the intent of exploring drones and how they can assist the world via the imagery they produce, and is an outlet to publish aerial photos, videos, and stories about the evolution of drones. Follow The Drone Girl: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Drones at Work Drones at Work is a news site for the commercial drone industry created by commercial drone developer Kespry, with the goal of highlighting all the exciting developments of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across a range of solutions in agriculture, construction, delivery, inspection, mining, safety, surveying and others. Follow Drones at Work: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top sUAS News sUAS News is one of the leading sources for news and information in the drone industry. sUAS News was started by UAS pilots and professionals in 2008 (which is a lifetime ago in the fast-moving world of drones, and shows a good deal of forethought). Follow sUAS News: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top The FAA The FAA regularly updates it’s website and sends out a newsletter with the latest information about drone regulations and related news. To subscribe to their drone-related newsletter, go to their drone-focused webpage and click the envelope icon with the plus sign on the upper right hand corner of the page. Follow The FAA: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top UAV Expert News UAV Expert News is run by drone industry professionals, and is one of the leading sources for UAV news, information, and education. Follow UAV Expert News: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Drone Analyst / Skylogic Research Drone Analyst is a research, content, and advisory services firm for the commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry. They help constituents make critical business decisions by providing research-based insights on commercial drone markets. Their three target constituents are: 1) Manufacturers, suppliers, and business service providers who need research and insight into buyer needs; 2) Buyers of UAS technology and services, to help inform their acquisition decisions; 3) Investors who need to distinguish technical and market viability. Follow Drone Analyst: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Flight Operation Management Tracking, storing, sharing, and analyzing flights and flight data, including tools for team collaboration. SkyWard SkyWard is a flight operations management platform designed for drone operators. Their platform can be used for “solopreneurs” to to plan and track flights, and also for large teams to coordinate efforts. Check out this interview we did with Skyward Co-Founder Eric Ringer on how to run a commercial drone operation. Follow SkyWard: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top KittyHawk KittyHawk is a one-stop shop for flying, logging, and coordinating UAV operations. They have a strong focus on providing value for their pilots, which manifests in the usability of their platform and the fact that they allow for unlimited logging of hours. Follow KittyHawk: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top NV Drones NV Drones offers next-generation drone management and analytics for the 21st century pilot, with a mobile app available from Google Play and web/mobile integration that allows pilots to to upload flight logs from the most popular drones and software. Follow NV Drones: Twitter Back to Top Drone LogBook Drone LogBook is a flight data management platform for UAV pilots. Some extra neat features they provide, in addition to what you’d expect, are that their platform allows pilots to track battery charges and usage as well as tracking the use of equipment and drone accessories. Follow Drone LogBook: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Flyte Flyte is a platform to help pilots manage their operations. 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. Follow Flyte: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Data-Processing Tools Enabling drone pilots to use all the data gathered by their drones. PrecisionHawk PrecisionHawk’s mission is to “build the airspace platform delivering better answers, faster while enabling safe, low altitude flight.” They provide user-friendly data collection tools to collect and process high-quality data. PrecisionHawk offers everything from data processing to 3D terrain mapping. Check out PrecisionHawk’s DataMapper, a software suite that converts UAV imagery into actionable information. Follow PrecisionHawk: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top DroneDeploy DroneDeploy offers powerful cloud-based drone software that’s compatible with any drone. It allows you to map and create 3D models and analyze and share the data right from your device. Follow DroneDeploy: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Skycatch Skycatch’s mission is to “capture the world’s data and create visual intelligence to help people operate faster, safer, and smarter than ever before.” They provide actionable data using UAVs to help construction managers and engineers fine tune their operations. Follow Skycatch: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Pix4D Pix4D provides unmanned aerial vehicle image processing software. Their desktop software is a complete mapping and modeling solution that automatically converts aerial images into 2D mosaics and 3D models. Follow Pix4D: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Pix Processing Pix Processing created a desktop software application that performs 3D structure reconstruction from aerial and handheld imagery. Their software can be used for 7 main applications: mining, agriculture, the wood industry, geodesy, insurance, architecture, and archeology. Follow Pix Processing: Website Back to Top Redbird Redbird is a pioneer in the acquisition and analysis of aerial data collected by UAVs. Their advanced cloud-based platform, Cardinal, optimizes resources, ensures safety, and saves costs on construction sites, mines, or quarries. They’ve also partnered with Caterpillar, the leading construction equipment manufacturer in the world. Follow Redbird: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Esri Esri is responsible for building ArcGIS, one of the most powerful mapping softwares in the world. ArcGIS connects people with maps, data, and apps through geographic information systems (GIS). It is a location platform that’s accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Esri software is used in a variety of applications, from Fortune 500 companies, to national and local governments, to public utilities and tech startups. Follow Esri: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Maps Made Easy Maps Made Easy creates software that allows drone pilots to make their own maps with accurate, high resolution imagery that they control. Their mapping software includes features such as 3D stitching, which is piecing together different images and data points to create a single 3D map; stockpile volume measurement, which allows users to measure and track stockpile volumes through their web browser using only aerial images; and the only web-based georeferencing tool, which aligns images to known points on the ground. Follow Maps Made Easy: Twitter Back to Top Avision Robotics Avision Robotics has extensive experience in the development of modeling and simulation software. They’ve built a powerful platform that controls the communication and navigation of large amounts of robots and drones, which perform various real-life tasks in agriculture, construction, mining and military applications. Follow Avision Robotics: Facebook Back to Top Skydio Skydio has over a decade of experience building drone navigation systems using onboard sensors. They pioneered GPS-denied flight using a broad range of sensing and algorithmic technologies. Skydio is currently developing software to make drones more aware of their surroundings so that surveyors, cinematographers, and other pilots focus on getting the shots they need rather than worrying about crashes, flyaways, and other mishaps when flying a drone. Follow Skydio: Twitter | LinkedIn Back to Top Airware Airware‘s operating system (the Aerial Information Platform) helps businesses safely and reliably operate drones at scale, comply with government and insurance requirements, and build industry-specific drone software solutions. It enables autopilot technology, a Ground Control Station for dispatching drones, and a cloud platform for customizing missions and collecting data. Follow Airware: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Marketplaces, Databases & Funders Places for drone pilots to find work and companies that fund other drone companies. Note: If you’re a U.S.-based drone pilot looking for work, the four marketplaces listed below are a good starting place, but make sure to visit our full list of drone pilot directories and networks at Drone Pilot Ground School to help with your search. DroneBase DroneBase is a service that allows you to either hire a drone pilot to complete a project or become a freelance pilot for them. They match up each job and pilot based on location, availability, and equipment required. DroneBase is the first drone service provider that DJI has invested in through SkyFund and they’re projecting huge revenue growth for 2017, with customers and qualified pilots operating around the world focused on aerial imagery, video, mapping, and data. Follow DroneBase: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Air-Vid Air-Vid is an online UAV pilot directory with pilots in over 60 countries world-wide. If you’re a pilot looking for work, you can request to join their directory here. Follow Air-Vid: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Skytango Skytango is a marketplace where drone pilots can find work, and those looking for stock drone footage can purchase it. They offer a fremium model for their platform for those looking to get their feet wet, and a paid pro version for those want more robust features to help make sales for their commercial drone operation. One neat offering from Skytango is that they’ve partnered with drone insurance providers to make finding insurance smooth, and get a discount in the process. Follow Skytango: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top SkyFund SkyFund is a venture capital firm that invests in drone startup companies. They’re backed by DJI and Accel, and fund UAV entrepreneurs across a variety of application, hardware, peripheral and services categories. Follow SkyFund: Twitter Back to Top Commercial Drone Fund Commercial Drone Fund invests in companies that want financing to help advance their drone technology and grow their business. They invest in sensor hardware, software applications, data analytics, services, and industry-specific solutions. They accept pitches here. Follow Commercial Drone Fund: Website Back to Top Miscellaneous The drone industry is incredibly dynamic and fast-moving, which makes it hard to categorize all of the companies out there. Some of the companies listed here provides services, some (like the Drone Racing League) provide entertainment, but these are just a few examples. If you feel like one of the companies listed here should be moved or changed, please shoot us an email at mail support@uavcoach.com. Aerial MOB Aerial MOB provides drone services and aerial cinematography. They’ve been doing some really innovative work—check out this single-shot two minute video they did for Dancing with the Stars. The logistics and professional ability needed for this kind of continuous shot are just mind blowing! Follow Aerial MOB: Twitter | LinkedIn Back to Top Drone Racing League The Drone Racing League “wants to be to drones what the WWE is to wrestling,” as Vice Magazine puts it. The Drone Racing League organizes and promotes drone racing around the U.S. and the world. Check out the DRL racing simulator to see if you might be able to make the cut and be one of their newest pilots. Follow the Drone Racing League: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Zipline Zipline is one of the biggest startups using drones to provide medical equipment and services to remote areas. They recently partnered with the government of Rwanda to deliver blood and other much needed supplies to rural villages. Follow Zipline: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top 3D Robotics 3D Robotics has just finished a rocky year in the commercial sector, during which they shifted their primary focus from making drones for consumers to providing software solutions for industrial drone applications. Their new venture, Site Scan, looks promising, and they’re touting it as “the complete drone data platform.” Follow 3D Robotics: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Matternet Matternet is a UAV manufacturer that builds world-class flying vehicles and intelligent software. They developed the Matternet One, the first smart drone made exclusively for transportation. In 2016 Matternet partnered with Mercedes-Benz “to create the integrated delivery solution that will transform how people receive lightweight goods on demand.” Follow Matternet: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Raptor Maps Raptor Maps optimizes produce farming by using tractor-mounted sensors and drones. Read this article we wrote about Raptor Maps to learn more about how they’re making waves in the agriculture drone space. Follow Raptor Maps: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Gamaya Gamaya uses hyperspectral imaging technology to help farmers get better and more accurate data. Hyperspectral imaging is 10x more powerful than the standard multispectral technique used by the vast majority of drones in the ag drone startup world. Read this article we wrote to learn more about how Gamaya is helping farmers get the data they need to optimize their efforts. Follow Gamaya: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Agribotix Agribotix helps people use drone technology in agriculture. They are singularly focused on agriculture, with the goals of helping farmers increase yields and maximize the bottom line while reducing their environmental footprint. All Agribotix solutions include FarmLens™, a cloud-based data analysis and reporting solution for people using drones in agriculture. Outputs include prescription maps for in-season fertilization, weed reports for geolocating resistant patches and estimating coverage, and specialized reporting. Follow Agribotix: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top SkySpecs SkySpecs created Guardian, a drone that avoids obstacles. Their patent-pending software also enables drones to fly, inspect infrastructure, and collect data autonomously. Follow SkySpecs: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Sky-Futures Sky-Futures offers oil and gas inspections by drone (both onshore and offshore). They provide HD video, still, and thermal imagery. Check out this video to see them in action. Follow Sky-Futures: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Flytrex Flytrex is an Israel-based drone company that’s created the first cloud-connected drone designed for deliveries, as well as a platform to enable drone deliveries aimed at delivery companies or large retailers that want to make deliveries via drones. They are also developing drone hardware tailored for point-to-point or point-to-area delivery. Follow Flytrex: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Amazon.com Amazon is not only one of the premier online drone retailers, they’ve also been working for several years on a drone delivery system—Amazon PrimeAir. The PrimeAir service is designed to “safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using small unmanned aerial vehicles.” Although we wrote a post about their first test delivery in late 2016, it looks like it will still be years before they’re fully operational. Follow Amazon PrimeAir: Facebook Back to Top Flirtey Flirtey is the first U.S.-approved drone delivery company. Flirtey is interested in working with companies in time-sensitive last mile logistics; including online retail, fast food, letters and parcels, urgent medical delivery, and so on. Follow Flirtey: Twitter Back to Top Dedrone Dedrone created a piece of drone tracking technology called the DroneTracker, which uses multiple parameters, such as noise, shape, and movement patterns, to help guard against spying, smuggling, potential terrorist attacks, and invasions of personal privacy. Follow Dedrone: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Measure With FAA approval to fly 324 drones for business purposes, Measure was founded to help businesses avoid the operating risk and capital expense associated with running one’s own internal drone operations. Measure offers cost-effective mapping and aerial imaging solutions for customers world-wide. Follow Measure: Twitter Back to Top Image in Flight Image in Flight offers site surveying services, architectural photography, construction support, the creation of advertising videos, and a host of other drone applications. Follow Image in Flight: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top SilverHawk Aerial Imaging SilverHawk Aerial Imaging is a drone company offering visual data, multispectral data, 3D modeling, infrastructure inspecting, and asset monitoring. Check out this cool testimonial from their work with the Survivor Man television show. Follow SilverHawk Aerial Imaging: Facebook Back to Top DroneView Technologies DroneView Technologies is a full-service drone provider that offers aerial imaging solutions, videography, photography, and pilot training. Check out their full range of applications here. Follow DroneView Technologies: Twitter | Facebook Back to Top Blue Chip UAS Blue Chip Unmanned Aerial Solutions was founded by veterans of the military armed forces with 45+ years of military service. Their aerial imaging applications include photogrammetry, inspection, cinema, and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index). Follow Blue Chip UAS: Twitter | Facebook Thank you for checking out our list of drone companies to watch in 2017. Hopefully you found some interesting businesses to follow, and learned a little more about ones you already knew. And if your company was featured, congratulations on your success! Keep up the good work as we all continue to push the UAV community and industry forward. What do you think of this list? Any companies you would like to see that weren’t featured? Shoot us an email at support@uavcoach.com to let us know. The post 70 Drone Companies to Watch in 2017 appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

INTRODUCTION The Eachine X73S comes after the fiasco of the Eachine X73, a 73mm whoop machine completly rotten by a brownout problem for the receiver. With the X73S, a lot of thing have been redesigned and introduced. Now we have a 1S brushless machine with 1103 motors. It should offer much more power compared to the former brushed edition. Except that, the machine is still based on a Naze 32 FC but now flashed directly with Betaflight. The FPV rig is the same AIO 25mW 48CH 5.8G FPV camera. The X73S comes in BNF version with three choices of receiver: DSM2/X, FrSky D8 and Futaba SFHSS. Let’s discover this product. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine X73S + 1 x USB to serial module + 1 x Prop guard No instruction manual …. especially for the AIO FPV camera Vfreq selection. OVERVIEW The X73S is a micro X 73mm brushless quadcopter with main structure based on a 2mm PCB board where all the electronics is installed on the upper side. So no carbon element. Like many nano’s the idea here to use the PCB as main frame is challenging for a machine potentially three time more heavier. Like most new X-quadcopter, a surelevated FPV rig is installed on top of the structure. First absence … a buzzer and for such tiny machine it was a must to have …. but there will have two small workaround… -FRONT VIEW -SIDE VIEW The 2.4G antenna of the FrSky receiver is attached via a UFL connector. If the extremity is well tuned to 32mm, the antenna is a little bit too long IMHO. The left side welcomes the UART port where the USB stick need to be plugged for Betaflight configurator or to flash a new ESC’s firmware. The right side shows the bind button of the FrSky receiver. You will need to keep it pressed while powering the battery to enter into bind mode (see video) Good news, the FrSky D8 module have been flashed with a telemetry compatible firmware. You can retrieve at least the RSSI value on your radio. A very useful help to search your lost machine into high grass. -REAR VIEW The same FPV camera is mounted on top Unfortunatly, the installation of the camera on its seat pleace will be less and less strong versus crashes. It will be required to glue it. More it’s strongly advised to add a drop of hot glue on the 5.8G uFL connector to avoid any damage to the buitin VTX in case of ejection In practice, the 2.4G antenna can be installed vertically as follow -UPPER VIEW Each arms welcomes all FETs of the ESC. The open question: how strong/robust will be the arm at least for electrical tracks present on each arms ? Good news, ESC can be flashed directly via BLheli configurator or BLhelisuite. They are flashed with the 14.8 version. They are referenced as DP-3A. They handle 3.5A (with a peak at 4A) so no way to run them in 2S configuration. Nice light effect with the transparent props. White color for front, and green for rear. The rear lights will blink as soon as the LVC is reached. -BOTTOM VIEW No electronic installed on the bottime side, just the battery bay able to welcome a 600mAh 1S LiPo without problem. Four small plastic pads are also here to increase a bit the ground clearance to make more easy take off. With a 400mAh LiPo battery 600mAh LiPo of all the Eachine QX’s/NX’s are also fitting perfectly -WEIGHT Standalone, the X73S weights 31g … pretty light just a 2-3g more than the original brushed version. The prop guard adds 2.3g .. With a the 400mAh battery Motors The main originality of the X73S: brushless motors are installed on the bottom side, IMHO to free the FOV of the AIO FPV camera. Some 1103 motors announced to be 10 000 KV !!! so super fast but will the torque strong enough for the quadri-blades props ? By consequence, you have to install your X73S perfectly horizontally for take-off and obviously motors are directly exposed to any crash :(… A small light motor’s pod would have been a more secure solution. Quadri-blade props are 50mm model, not flexible but build with a hard plastic so potentially much more breakable. If you plan to fly the XT3S more indoors it’s strongly advise to install the prop guard first and also to stock some spare props. What a shame no extra props are given in the original bundle. Shaft section is 1.5mm Camera module The same 600TVL CMOS camera as for the X73. A 1/4″ sensor with a light sensitivity announced to be around 0.5Lux … Not so bad but can be better. In practice, there is a small positive inclinaison something around +5degrees. But not real possibility to set this angle since the rear plastic camera mount blocks any ajustement. The 6 dip switches role is given in the follow table IMHO, this FPV camera is saturated for the white balancing, colors not super vivid as you can see in this raw video sample: Anyway, the video is relatively clear and precize. Betaflight default configuration The X73S comes with betaflight 3.0.1 pre-installed on the builtin Naze32 board. Only two ports are available. For ESC PWM is pre-selected but oneshot 125 can be turned on. The FC runs at 1Khz… we can’t go faster. The PIDs are settings are nothing else than the default betaflight. In practice, I found that increaseing D values to 40 for both pitch & rolls offer more stable flights. Two flight modes are set by default: angle and acro. As said previously, the X73S’s ESC new firmware can be flashed directly by BLheli configurator… I advise actually to not flash any new firmware. I advise more to set the “beacon delay” to 1min to let buz the buitin piezo associated to each ESC. UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO Before take off, you have to check several point more or less all linked with the props. They must be installed/pressed enough to not pop off midflight and not to far for being blocked by a CMS conpounds. The main good news: no more brownout problems !!!!! yeah.. The machine flies beautifull until the end. The LVC alarm let the rear props blinking. A more Advanced flight. Here you can check that motors are strong enough for real acro flights, for flips and rolls. In comparaison, it’s similar to a Eachine QX95 and more powerful than the QX90. Despite the strong windy conditions, the machine with ajusted PIDs works beautifully. One potential negative point. I observed a lot of vertical desynchronuzations in the FPV signal really annoying. I don’t know if it’s linked with my ground station part but I don’t think so. It’s confirmed that the FPV cam is probably one of the weakest point with the props. I had many crashes and I was positvely suprized by the robusness of the frame at least for ground surfaces. For more hard surfaces, without prop guard … I am not sure it will be the case. As expected the FPV camera pop off several times from its seat. I confirm also that the RSSI is a big plus to find your lost model. With the 600mWh LiPo, expect 6 min of flight time. CONCLUSIONS The Eachine X73S represents first of all a fixed and working X73’s miniwhoop: no more brownout, strong flight time, punchy machine acro compatible with betaflight pre-installed. For indoors applications, the prop guard must be absoluptly installed because the props are relatively fragile and no spare are given. More generally, I feel the X73S won’t be a super durable machine for some reasons: i) motors installed bottom side and directly exposed, ii) PCB body based with a potential electric shorts and iii) fragile FPV camera support. PROS + No more brownout problem + Lightweight Brushless racer (~44g w/ 400mAh LiPo) + Betaflight ready (w/ 3.0.1) + Powerfull enough for acro flips & rolls + FrSky D8 with telemetry + Nice light effect + iPX/uFL connectors + 6min of flight duration w/ a 600mAh LiPo CONS – No spare props – Fragile props – No buzzer – No instruction manual – AIO FPV cam white balancing too saturated – Prop guard installation 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 96USD at http://www.banggood.com/Cheerson-CX-10C-CX10C-Mini-2_4G-4CH-6-Axis-RC-Quadcopter-with-Camera-RTF-p-989909.html Cet article TEST: Eachine X73S (~44g, Naze 32, 1103/1000KV, 48CH 25mW AIO cam) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

At one time, Lily Robotics was one of the darlings of the drone industry. Back in 2015, Forbes wrote a short, glowing article about an sUAS camera drone that sounded a little magical, a lot amazing, and the good feeling presented in that article had generally persisted from that point on. “The quadcopter flies itself and can follow you at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour at a height of 10 to 30 feet,” the article said. The article also reported that Lily’s camera drone had three cameras (one camera to do the recording, one that looks at the user to visually track them, and another camera looking at the ground to make sure it’s stabilized), and could be controlled with a small device that fit into your pocket. And you could just throw it into the air to get it going. And it was waterproof. But last week Lily Robotics announced that it was going to have to close it’s doors, despite $34 million in pre-orders. And then rumors began flying around that many of the shots Lily used to promote their drone, and drive up all of those pre-orders, were in fact cribbed from the DJI Inspire and GoPro cameras, and weren’t taken by Lily Robotics’ drones at all. In fact, it looks like Lily may have closed because they are being sued, and not necessarily for the reasons they claimed when they made their announcement. With all the information out there, it’s hard to sort out exactly what’s true and what’s just a product of the drone rumor mill. In this article we’ll do our best to tell the Lily story, explain why the company folded, and get to the bottom of the fraud rumors. Want to skip the background and go straight to the fraud rumor and lawsuit fact-checking? Here you go. The Early Promise of Lily Robotics One of the early differentiating factors about Lily was that they were decidedly not trying to make waves in the drone market per se, but rather, they were trying to provide an innovative camera solution for general consumption. What they wanted was a self-flying drone that could avoid obstacles on its own while filming a person in motion. That is, not so much a drone, but a highly intelligent, semi-autonomous camera, enabled by a drone. As Lily co-founder Antoine Balaresque put it in an interview with Forbes: “We want to be in the GoPro space, not the drone space. We don’t see this as a drone. This is robotics technology applied to cameras…To me, a drone is a military device that just flies around and shoots people. The only thing I see with Lily is a camera that flies. I guess it’s a matter of wording.” Whatever you want to call it, the idea was revolutionary at the time: a drone you could fling in the air that would continue flying, use a GPS to track user movements and take pictures, with no need for a pilot steering the device. Here is the video that started all the hype about Lily back in May of 2015: This video is where the huge push for pre-orders really began. At a price of $499 via pre-order (as opposed to $999 for those who waited for it to hit the shelves), Lily seemed like miracle technology at a competitive price. And at a half-off, why not make the pre-order? Just a hint: This is the video Lily is being accused of creating with the use of DJI and GoPro products. More on that in just a little bit. So What the Heck Happened? You’d think that $34 million amassed from 60,000 pre-ordered units would be plenty to ensure production and delivery. Think again. On January 12th, 2017 (just about one week ago) Lily issued an announcement that stated: “…we have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds. Over the past few months, we have tried to secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line and ship our first units – but have been unable to do this.” That one phrase—the inability to “secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line”—is the only concrete explanation provided in the announcement for why the company is closing its doors. Trouble could have been noted as long ago as December of 2015, when Lily pushed back their launch date to the summer of 2016, and then again in August of 2016, when they yet again punted the release to early 2017. But how in the world could a company that already has $34 million in pre-orders and at least $14 million more in funding still need yet more money just to actually make the drones they built a company around? And to that the fact that it seems they not only did not have enough funds, but they were actually seeking $15 million more just to build the drones they had pre-sold. Information on what specifically went wrong is still somewhat scarce, but based on their own announcement we can deduce that they basically got ahead of themselves. Like 3D Robotics, who essentially lost their bid in the commercial sector by overcommitting to orders before they had the funds to create the hardware needed to fulfill the orders, Lily sunk so much into R&D and overhead that they couldn’t deliver the drones they had promised people. Some of the best analysis we’ve seen on what the problems could have been came from Tekla Perry writing for IEE Spectrum, who speculates: The most likely reason [Lily failed] may simply be that Lily couldn’t run fast enough to stay ahead of the pack. The company is no longer the only flying camera out there: other drones have been demonstrated that can be tossed into the air, self-stabilize, and follow a selected subject, like the Hover camera, from Zero Zero Robotics. [Or] maybe the company burned money too fast…Or maybe software problems did it in; at the time of the delay announcement, Lily’s then-head of communications Kelly Coyne told me the problem was with the flight controls. Or maybe it was all of these reasons combined. Regardless, it seems safe to say that all of the millions of dollars pouring in seems to have given Lily’s founders a false sense of confidence about their ability to deliver, even if the math didn’t add up. Because one important piece of the equation is that, if you’re pre-selling your product for 50% off (that is, $499 instead of $999), your profit margin is going to be much, much smaller. And if you don’t cap your pre-sales (and instead let them soar to a whopping 60,000 units, which is really a mind blowing number), well, there goes the bulk of your potential profit. Rumors of Fraud A week after the initial announcement that Lily would be closing its doors, the story has taken a more sinister tone, with rumors flying around that they intentionally committed fraud to bring in all those pre-orders. Here’s some fact checking we’ve done regarding those rumors: Rumor: Lily Robotics is under investigation by Indiegogo’s Trust and Safety team. Conclusion: False. According to this article from DroneOn (and despite rumors that appeared in sUAS News to the contrary), Lily Robotics never used Indiegogo as part of it’s pre-order efforts. According to Kelly Coyne, Lily’s Head of Communications: “The official Lily Camera is available for pre-order exclusively from our website, www.lily.camera. We did not partner with any crowdfunding platforms such as Indiegogo or Kickstarter for our pre-order campaign. Several months ago, a fake page popped up on Indiegogo.” Rumor: Lily Robotics co-founders have fled the country and plan to keep the pre-order money collected. Conclusion: False. This rumor has popped up in different drone-related forums, but no real reporting has been done backing up the claims. Rumor: Lily Robotics used products from DJI and GoPro to create promotional materials and claimed the materials had been made by Lily products. Conclusion: True. Apparently the San Francisco DA has filed a lawsuit alleging that Lily “engaged in false advertising and unfair business practices.” Remember that spectacular promotional video included a little above, which has over 12 million views? Well, according to an article in S.F.-based news source SFGate, the DA is accusing Lily of using the DJI Inspire and GoPro cameras to shoot parts of the video, thus misleading people regarding what Lily was actually capable of doing. “After conducting what it said was a months-long investigation, the [S.F. District Attorney’s] office alleged that Lily lured customers with a promotional video that was actually filmed by a “’much more expensive, professional camera drone that requires two people to operate.’” We dug deeper, and found this story substantiated by The Guardian and the SF Business Times. Here is a quote from the Guardian article: “According to emails quoted in the complaint, other footage was shot using a GoPro camera mounted to a Lily prototype. In the emails, the company’s co-founder Antoine Balaresque expresses concern that viewers could be able to tell. ‘I am worried that a lens geek could study our images up close and detect the unique GoPro lens footprint,’ the complaint quotes him as saying. ‘But I am just speculating here: I don’t know much about lenses but I think we should be extremely careful if we decide to lie publicly.'” So Why Did Lily Really Close It’s Doors? It turns out the lawsuit filed by the San Francisco D.A. came out the day after Lily Robotics issued their announcement about shutting down operations and issuing refunds. Just think about that for a moment. The law suit was filed the day after they announced they were closing. Now, we’re not big on conspiracy theories, but it seems to us that there might be a smoking gun here. That is, that Lily closed because they knew the news was about to break that they had intentionally misled all of those folks who had placed preorders. That being said, it’s still unclear where the truth lies. Lily might be innocent of the allegations. After all, right now all we know is that there is a case against them, not how the case will be decided. And all of the discussion above about why they closed is probably also valid. They probably did overcommit. They probably did spend too much on R&D and overhead, and too little on actual production. As the drone industry continues at its insanely rapid pace, there are sure to be more Lily’s that crop up. Companies with huge promise that, for one reason or another, just can’t deliver on the great idea that rocketed them to the front of people’s minds. The post Did Lily Robotics Close Because They’re Being Sued? The Story Behind the Company that Folded Despite $34 Million in Pre-Sales appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

INTRODUCTION Few months ago have started the war of FPV gogggles offering large FOV with at least 5″ builtin displays. The first model introduced was the headplay HD followed by a popular clone the Skyzone SJ-V01. At the time, Eachine introduced the Goggles ONE but a lot of fatal errors in the original design killed its potential success. A new revision is now introduced with Eachine Goggles 2 with the same screen caracteristic, an excellent 5″ supporting up to 1080P resolution but also in theory fixing all problems of the original EG1. More with the EG2, a diversity system is introduced to improve the general RX sensitivity. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine Goggles Two + 2 x 2200mah 2S LiPo with DC connector + 1 x Power unit + 1 x 5.8G Cloverleaf antenna with RP-SMA connector + 1 x 5.8G Half-plannar antenna with RP-SMA connector + 2 x Facial sponge + 1 x HDMI cable + 1 x RCA to 2.5mm jack + 1 x Fresnel lens clearning kit + 1 x Instruction manual (English) OVERVIEW In term of dimension, the EG2 mimics perfectly the original size of the EG1, maybe the Goggles two is slighty taller. First visual difference, no more cheap plastic covering the body.. here we have a full EPO body and IMHO it’s a better choice. More … seems lighter too. No more problem to fasten 5.8G antennas… A free circling gap have been introduced Neither on top or the bottom sides, we can’t guess screws to split in two the goggles… We retrieve the same 5 buttons of the EG1. From left to right we have: “scan” button where in RF mode, a simple press run the scanning procedure over the 40CH, the “Source” selection between (RF/AV/HDMI). The current selected source is displayed during 5s on the top left of the screen. The third button is to enter into the menu or validate the current selection of a setting. The “+” in RFmode selects one the 40CH or decreases a value in the menu setting. The “-” in RFmode selects also one of the 40CH or increases a value in the menu setting. At the right of the buttons, we retrieve the HDMI input port in mini-format and a 2.5mm jack to plug either your earphones or an AV source. I deeply regret the absence of an AVout for an easy DVR pluggin to record your favorite FPV sessions …. A first mod to do IMHO A large Goggles 2 sticker The battery can be jailed into the headstrap By default, no facial sponge is installed. You must tape of the two provided. Not a lot of free room to wear the EG2 with large glasses …. The battery have been upgraded to a 2S 2200mah (versus a 1600mAH for the EG1) WIth this model, expect to enjoy at least one full hour of usage and as for the EG1, the current voltage is displayed on the lower left part of the screen. It will requires close to 2h to full recharge it. We can maybe regret the absence of a balancer plug for the battery. Another improvement, not only the diversity is introduced but one antenna is a Cloverleaf model for proximity range and the second a half-planner for long range FPV Now RP-SMA connector are much more easy to access and to fasten the antenna Good news, no more noisy fan…. the electronic have been upgraded and large aerial section is introduced to cool all conpounds Weight A total of 430g … with a larger battery … A good news for your confort Display Generally, the good eyes, no problem of focusing and the image is crisp and precize. Personnally, I regret the non-possibility to tune the Fresnel lens distance. For my old eyes, I can’t perfectly read for example small bottom OSD informations. – WIth a FPV source On the bottom left, the current voltage of the battery, blinking when low-voltage is here. The right side shows the current frequency …. but not the current band. It’s a detail Good news, you can force the aspect ratio in settings to 4:3, a nice introduction for the EG2. – With a HDMI source The screen is adapted perfectly. The image is precize and clear, ideal for Home cinema applications Menu UNBOXING & ANALYSIS No more black-screen and the general RX sensibility is great !!!! Champagne CONCLUSIONS Six months have passed between the EG1 and the EG2 and all this time was really benefit for the new variant. I would say they fixed 99% of the original problem but not only: the diversity improves performances, the goggles is now lighter, a full OSD with a lot of paremeters are now available and we can now manually select some important parameters (Vfreq, video format, aspect ratio). Well this product is not yet perfect. Is missing at least an AVout to plug an external DVR and the possibility to tune the Fresnel lens distance for poor old eyes. A big bonnus would be to have a buitin DVR… probably in Goggles Three future release. PROS + Super quality screen + 1080P resolution + Good RX senstivity + No black screen + Manual channel selection + Manual aspect ratio selection + Manual PAL/NTSC selection + Cloverleaf/Half-plannar antennas + Current channel displayed + A lot of settings available from the menu + HDMI input + HDMI cable + Confortable + Lighter than the Goggles 1 + More than 1h of battery duration CONS – No Avout – No builtin DVR – No Fresnel lens distance ajustement This FPV goggles 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 140USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Goggles-Two-5-Inches-5_8G-40CH-Raceband-HD-1080p-HDMI-FPV-Goggles-Video-Glasses-p-1094862.html Cet article TEST: Eachine FPV Goggles TWO est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

After the introduction of the Mobius Mini with the lens A (110 deg of DFOV), here is the B version enlarging the DFOV to 135 degrees: http://www.banggood.com/Mobius-Mini-Lens-B-135-Degree-Wide-Angle-Super-Light-FPV-1080P-HD-Camera-DashCam-60FPS-H_264-AVC-p-1121842.html. Still announced to weight 27g …. Please check my Mobius mini lens A review here: http://www.drone-maniac.com/test-mobius-mini-the-27g-hd-cam/ Specifications: Angle of View: FOV 135°(but with less distortion) Video: 1920 x 1440 30fps, 1080P 60fps, 720P 120fps, VGA 240fps H.264 AVC High Profile, MP4 Audio: aac Photo: 2688*1512; 1600*1200;1920*1080;1280*960 (Time Lapse photo supported JPEG) Mode switches: Video Mode 1, Video Mode 2, Photo Mode, you can customize each mode to suit your application. TV out: PAL/NTSC Low latency of composite video out, less 60ms 1080p 60fps, less 40ms 720p 60fps Interface: Mini 10Pin USB(USB2.0 Highspeed) Memory: support Micro-SD memory card (not included in the package). Suggest Class 6 or above. 64GB card supported. LED indicator light: Red, Yellow, Blue, Green Internal lipo battery: 300mah. It can record over 30 minutes for 1080p 60fps. Power Input: standard USB DC5V, with over voltage protection (5.6V-25V) Dimensions: approx 54.5mm(L)*29mm(W)*14mm(H) Net weight: approx 27 grams only (battery included) Features: Smallest, lightest camera which can do Full HD 1080P 60fps. Low latency of composite video out, less 60ms 1080p 60fps, less 40ms 720p 120fps Smart Mounting Solution with Heatsink function Amazing image quality The case bottom has 4 M2 screw studs molded into it and anchored in the heat sink inside. These can be used to attach the camera to a flat plate for a mount of your own design. Smart Mounting Solution with Heatsink function Standard 1/4″ camera mount Material: copper Detachable Used as heatsink as well Package included: 1 x Mobius Mini Camera (Lens B) Cet article NEWS: Mobius Mini Lens B est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

– Racerstar 55×3 props: http://www.banggood.com/10-Pairs-Racerstar-R-BN55X3-55mm-3-Blade-Propeller-Bullnose-1_5mm-Mounting-Hole-For-1103-1106-Motor-p-1118199.html – Eachine X73S “Jumper”: http://www.banggood.com/X73S-73mm-Betaflight-Naze32-Brushless-1S-FPV-Racing-Drone-ARF-w-5_8G-32CH-25MW-600TVL-Transmitter-p-1117946.html – Eachine Falcon 120 RTF: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Falcon-120-F3-CC3D-NAZE32-FPV-Racer-RTF-with-4-IN-1-ESC-700-TVL-Camera-5_8G-40CH-VTX-p-1112795.html – Eachine Goggles 2: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Goggles-Two-5-Inches-5_8G-40CH-Raceband-HD-1080p-HDMI-FPV-Goggles-Video-Glasses-p-1094862.html Cet article NEWS: SeByDocKy’s weekly news #59 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

As commercial applications for drones continue to grow at an exponential rate, it can sometimes feel hard to keep track of them all. If you fly a drone commercially and own your own company, you may have started your business by offering aerial photography and/or videography to real estate businesses, or maybe surveying to construction companies. But with everything in the industry growing so rapidly, you may find that those more traditional sUAS services are becoming crowded, and competition stiff. If that’s the case, you might be hungry for new sectors where you can put your commercial pilot skills to use. Or maybe you just want to diversify your skill sets in general. This post is about aerial thermography, another fast-growing sector in the commercial drone space, and how you can actually make money doing it. Before We Dive In, What Exactly Is Thermography? Thermography is the translation of thermal energy (heat) into visible light in order to analyze a particular object or scene. An aerial thermographer uses a thermal camera to measure that translation as it’s happening. Here is a list of seven ways you can make money with aerial thermography as a commercial drone pilot. 1. Fire Fighting After a fire seems to have burned itself out, it can still be smoldering in places that are difficult to detect by the naked eye. Using aerial thermography, fire fighters can see where those lingering “hot spots” are, and make sure they keep themselves from harm. Aerial thermography can also help identify the location of fire victims, either within a house or a forest fire, so that fire fighters know where to focus their energy and time. How to make money in this sector: While most fire departments are probably not going to be hiring freelance drone pilots to fly aerial thermography missions on a regular basis, they will almost certainly be interested in finding ways to use the service. Many fire departments interested in using aerial thermography will be looking for training sessions so that they can learn how to do aerial thermography in-house, and some may even want to hire experienced drone pilots for part- or full-time work, based on their need. The best way to find out if there is an interest is to reach out to the fire departments in your area. They may not have aerial thermography on their radar, but may be interested once you explain the potential value for their work. 2. Power Line Inspections One of the many uses of aerial thermography is in preventing fires that occur as a result from failures in power lines. By detecting weak points in the transmission and distribution network, which is a highly complex system of lines of interconnecting electric energy sources, drones equipped with thermal imaging systems can identify problem areas before a breakdown or fire happens and prevent the fire from happening. Check out this video from Workswell to see how easily problem areas in power lines are detected using aerial thermography. Just imagine trying to find the same problem areas manually, and the power of aerial thermography will be immediately apparent. How to make money in this sector: Reach out to local power companies and try to get a meeting with someone responsible for operations. Make sure to present the potential savings your services can provide, and email this information even if you can’t secure a meeting. Some power companies are actually using helicopters for these inspections, which is incredibly expensive; manual inspections are also expensive, in part because of the high insurance premiums required. Become familiar with these costs and use those price points to persuade companies to use your services. Make sure to keep building your resume by doing similar inspections in other areas, so that you can keep coming back to bigger companies to make the case for why they should hire you. 3. Solar Panel Inspections If a solar panel is malfunctioning, this could mean a huge daily loss in potential energy gathered. But manual inspections are time consuming, and cost prohibitive. Using aerial thermography, an entire field of solar panels can be inspected quickly, checking for any hot spots where there might be problem areas. When the alternatives are either doing the inspection by hand, or not doing it at all (which could risk losing huge amounts of potential energy), the cost-benefit analysis alone should help commercial pilots secure this kind of work in a snap. How to make money in this sector: Do your homework, and draw up a clear cost-benefit analysis that shows how much a solar company could save if they used your services as opposed to what they’re currently doing for solar panel inspections. Some solar panel owners may not be doing regular inspections at all, in which case you’ll need to talk about the value of inspections, and how they could potentially be saving lots of energy by identifying problems early on. Make sure to reach out to all solar panel owners in your area to explain how you can save them money with your services. 4. Building HVAC (Heating Ventilation, Air Conditioning) and Roof Inspections Thermography can allow pilots to perform a simple energy audit of any building, either someone’s home or a large corporate structure, in order to determine where there might be excess heat, or where heat might be escaping. This is one application that companies with large buildings might not even know they need, but would probably be grateful to have offered. Just think about it—the bigger the building, the more potential savings in store if these kinds of heat-related problems can be detected. How to make money in this sector: Owners of large, commercial buildings are the most likely candidates for this type of service, since the potential savings for them if they can identify areas where energy is being wasted could be huge. If you already have connections with local realtors through aerial photography, see if you can get introductions to people who own large buildings and might be interested in this service. Also, consider attending homeowners meetings and other events of that nature to spread the word about how you can help people save money through your services. Keep in mind that the school board might oversee one of the largest groups of buildings in your area. If you can get on the agenda of one of their meetings, you may be able to get a large contract that could keep you in business for weeks, or even months. Check out this video from FLIR to see how thermography can be used for building and home inspections. 5. Cell Tower Inspections Just as with power lines, aerial thermography can also help detect problem areas in cell towers. This is yet another scenario where the only alternative would be manual inspection, which can be costly, as well as dangerous for the people who have to climb up and do the inspection. Big cell companies like AT&T and Verizon are starting to use drones for cell tower inspections, and we can only imagine this sector growing. Even if these companies end up wanting to do these inspections in-house, this could be an opportunity for commercial drone pilots to get in on the ground floor and secure stable, long-term work with large companies. How to make money in this sector: This is a scenario where you may want to reach out to a local company providing this service and work with them for a while to develop a resume and contacts before trying to go it on your own. However, there might not be a local outfit, so make sure to be proactive in searching out contacts in the local branches of cell phone companies in your area, reaching out to them, and letting them know about the inspection services you offer. Also, try to build your resume doing similar inspections for locally-based companies so that you have experience to point to when you do get to talk to a decision maker at a big company. Image Source 6. Search and Rescue When someone is lost outdoors, timing is everything. Whether the climate is hot or cold, the longer they stay outside the more dangerous the situation becomes. Since drones can cover a huge area of space in a short period of time, using aerial thermography to find people lost outdoors not only makes sense, it can potentially save lives. In addition, if a person is injured or too weak to call out, someone searching could potentially walk right by the person they’re trying to save and not see them. With a drone, all you have to do is look for the heat signature of the person you’re trying to rescue. How to make money in this sector: Search and Rescue teams are often volunteer-based, but will pay for group trainings. Draw up a proposal for a training, and consider attending a local S&R meeting to do a short presentation on the value of aerial thermography in helping find lost people exposed to the elements. If you can help people understand the value and detail step-by-step how they could actually apply the knowledge you can share with them in a search and rescue scenario, you may find yourself with a full docket of trainings scheduled in no time. And keep in mind, once you a do a training for one group, the word-of-mouth factor is likely to help you find work throughout your area, and beyond. 7. Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) Inspections Yet another scenario in which drones can go where people can’t, and really shouldn’t go. In the video below, the Roswell Flight Test Crew (RFTC) demonstrates how a drone could help “perform real-time reconnaissance for firefighters responding to a hazardous material spill.” From their YouTube channel: “Equipped with a FLIR thermal imaging camera, RQCX-3 Raven flies over 1,000 feet down range to inspect a rail car carrying a deadly cargo of molten phenol, instantly making information available to the incident commander that would otherwise take much, much longer and put lives at risk.” As a side note, the RFTC is doing some great work with drones and drone training resources. Their YouTube channel is well worth checking out if you’re interested in learning more about how drones can be used to save lives and keep people safe. How to make money in this sector: Reach out to your local fire department to find out about opportunities involving this application of aerial thermography. They may need help with training, or want to take you on part- or full-time, or case-by-case, to help with scenarios that involve hazardous materials. Also, investigate companies in your area that work with hazardous materials, and send them your contact information in case they ever need support with HAZMAT inspections. Here is the video of RFTC’s aerial thermography HAZMAT demonstration: A Few General Tips on Making Money Create promotional materials, and keep them on hand. Make sure to have a flyer ready to give someone who’s curious about what you do, and make sure your materials clearly explain the value and different applications of your skill sets. And don’t forget to include your contact information! Establish and maintain a web presence. To get an edge over your competitors, try to have a strong web presence in your area of expertise and geographic area. This way if people are searching for the type of service you provide, they’ll be able to find you. Get experience by working with a larger commercial outfit. If there is an established commercial drone company in your area providing the type of services you want to provide, you may want to see if you can work with them, even if only on a part-time basis in order to get the skills and experience necessary to start doing inspections on your own. Educate your customers. Given that a lot of drone-related services are still emerging fields, you may need to educate your potential customers on the value you can provide. Keep this in mind when reaching out to new contacts, and make sure to be ready to explain how you can save them money and optimize their existing practices with your service. Do your homework. If you can show your customers how you’ll save them money, the decision will be a no brainer for them. So investigate what they’re currently doing, and send them a proposal showing how much your inspection could potentially save for them. This approach not only highlights savings, but also your work ethic and diligence. Think outside the box. Use the contacts you have to get introductions to new potential customers. If you’ve been working in real estate, see if you any of the realtors you know can provide introductions to owners of large businesses who might need your services. If you’ve trained fire fighters, make sure to ask if they have contacts at other local fire departments, or even regional ones who might pay for you to travel there and train their staff. It never hurts to ask! Want to add aerial thermography to your list of skill sets? Check out our Intro to Aerial Thermography course, and get up and running in no time. The post 7 Ways to Make Money with Aerial Thermography appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

INTRODUCTION In the QX’s serie, the Eachine QX105 represents in theory a major gap by integrating a F3 board with a builtin OSD, some strong 1020 brushed coreless motors and a FrSky D8 compatible receiver with a working telemetry. The FPV rig is still based on a 25mW AIO 600TVL CMOS 48CH FPV camera. For the first time and for a moderate price, we can have a FPV racer with both OSD & telemetry feedback.. A breakthrough in the domain. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine “Bat” QX105 (with a 1S 600mAh LiPo with microLOSI connector) + 1 x USB charging cable + 1 x Parallel charging cable + 2 x Velcro bands + 2 x 1020 spare motors (1 CW, 1 CCW) + 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 1 x Prop remover wrench + 1 x Instruction manual (English) Funny, I received a probably a pre-release version without the official packaging. It’s Eachine FB90 box presently No instruction manual but the electronic version can be found here: http://img.banggood.com/file/products/20170113040621Eachine%20BAT%20QX105%20User%20manual%20guide.pdf OVERVIEW The QX105 is almost full carbon based with a main 1mm lower unibody plate welcoming arms, a front camera support and uppser plate protecting mainly the electronic and the builtin buzzer. The machine is a 100mm model and at firt glance as soon as you carry the machine, you can fell the extra weight linked witn 10mmx20mm coreless motors. -FRONT VIEW If the FPV camera is well protected, it’s not the case of the cloverleaf antenna potentially breakabke after a fast forward crash. -SIDE VIEW On the left side, only motor’s connectors are vidible. The special shape of the motor pod offer an ground clearance of 1.5-2cm. The right side welcomes the microUSB port of the AIOF3 flight controller when you can configure betaflight settings or flash a new version. Motors connector are basic 1.15mm 2 pins model. Originally, the 2.4G FrSky receiver antenna is installed on the top right of the FC as well as the bind button. Good news, the receiver is promised to be flashed with a firmware fixing the telemetry feedback. The Carbon structure has 1mm of thickness -REAR VIEW As the QX95, a rear bar with four programmable LEDs is installed indicating by default left and right turning, stopping and throttle value. -UPPER VIEW Installed in the middle and jailed into the uppser carbon structure, a buzzer is here. By default, the buzzer emits as soon as the LiPo in load is below 3V… In practice, the variace of the voltage Under load is important and it’s not rare the machine starts to emits buzz after 1 or 2 min… A battery with a higher discharge rate should help a lot. -BOTTOM VIEW The Four main FETs are installed backside. There are referenced as A08K 33, at least supporting some 6A … but are they strong enought for the big 10mmx20mm motors ? It’s an open question When the battery is installed via the velcro bands, the bottom side is much more protected from direct impact but not from water intruision. -WEIGHT With everything installed: QX105 = Props + LiPo + velcro bands, the machine weights more than 73g !!!! so close to 18g more than a QX90 in the same configuration but with only 8mmx20mm motors …. Motors & Props One on the main novelty … the 10x20mm coreless motor Dark edition assumed to spin faster They are installed/jailed into a plastic motor pod relatively rebust 66mm props are longer than classic Hubsan model. They are similar to the Parrot spider, known to bring the best thrust. LiPo As for all QX’s models, the same 1S 600mAh LiPo with microLOSI connector. No discharge rate and no voltage protection…. AIO FPV Camera module A wide M7 lens with 120 degrees of FOV, more adapted for outdoors flights. The angle orientation can be set via the two latteral screws 6 bands are supported for a total of 48 5.8G channels. To select a Vfreq Inside the current band, short press the rear camera button. To cycle between bands, a long-press (> 2s) is requiered The video signal is precize but the light sensitivity is far to perfect … CMOS 1/4″ camera don’t do miracle. At least, all OSD informations are perfectly displayed …. the battery voltage, the RSSI, the horizon line, the time ellapsed If the RSSI is expressed in %, the RSSI sent by telemetry is in dBm scale, so they are not matching. Disassembling The buzzer…. Of course assign a free switch to control it for the lost machine case… You can also localize via the RSSI values sent by telemetry of displayed on the screen That’s great UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT The default PIDs are not adapted and lot of instabilities are present. More even close to 0%, the applied throttle is still strong and can be a source of crash. There is a weird behaviour of the throttle stick in practice. As you will see later, it’s probably linked with the relation between FC’s MOSFET and 1020 motors. For the punchout, first tests are disapointing … If you were expecting a monster of power with these 10x20mm, get away…. it’s not the case here. The thrust is comparable to the QX90 …. so less than the QX95… In a new attempt, I increased D values as depicted below If the machine become much more stable and flyable in all the three main flight modes, the throttle’s weird problem is still present. Generally, the FPV signal is precize but light transition management is poor … It’s not super easy to fly FPV relax. Definitively this machine is not super powerful, not catastrophic but to perform flips & rolls, it won’t be super strong. In any case, at the end of my video, after a small crash, a MOSFET burnt. Amazing …. and just after a moderate crash. Clearly it seems that trhottle behaviour and the poor durability of MOSFET with 10x20mm are linked …. IMHO, MOSFET are undersized …. stronger models should be installed on the AIOF3 for 1020 applications CONCLUSIONS Harg …. a so frustrating situation…. and one more time the devil is in the detail. On paper, this machine was perfect… powerfull processor, fixed FrSky telemetry, builtin betaflight OSD, strong carbon structure, builtin buzzer and programmable LEDs…. But 4 black squares are killing most of the enthousiasm…. First of all, the throttle bahviour is hard to manage (still hovering at 10%), and the MOSFET seems to die relatively fast under stress…. If the QX105 with betaflight flies correctly, it’s not the expected and advertised monster of power…. IMHO, all the electronic should transfered on a QX90C plastic frame with 8mmx20mm motors … Everything would scale around 56-57g…. PROS + AIOF3 board with F3 processor + FrSky D8 receiver with working telemetry + BetaOSD integrated + Strong robust structure + Buzzer + 66mm props + Spare battery & motors CONS – Undersized MOSFET for 1020 motors – Weird throttle behaviour – Not superpowerful – Instable with default settings – Relatively poor light sensitivity of the AIO FPV camera 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 79USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-BAT-QX105-wAIOF3_BRUSHED-OSD-600TVL-CAM-1020-Motor-Buzzer-Micro-FPV-Racing-Quadcopter-BNF-p-1116393.html Cet article TEST: Eachine “BAT” QX105 (73g, 10×20 motors, F3 ARM core, Betaflight OSD, AIO 25mW 48CH) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

INTRODUCTION After the success story associated with the Inductrix Tiny whoop, it was not surprizing to see avalanche of clones. Here is the Makerfire micro FPV, a whoop including a F3 board flashed with Betaflight and directly with a 520TVL 25mW AIO 40CH FPV cam. The ducted system is of course still here. Let’s discover the bundle. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Makerfire Micro + 1 x 200mAh, 35C with microJST connector + 1 x USB charging cable OVERVIEW The Makerfire micro uses the same canopy structure than the JJRC H36/Eachine E010. A 70mm ducted machine with quadri-blade props. The FPV camera is jailed/protected by the upper plastic conapy. No clover leaf antenna but a linear model is prefered. For durability, it’s a better choice and the range limitation is minim for indoors applications. -FRONT VIEW -SIDE VIEW -REAR VIEW -UPPER VIEW -BOTTOM VIEW The LiPo is jailed into a piece of foam covering the battery bay. The installation is solid. Anyway, to configure the Makerfire and to access to the microUSB port, you will need to remove it. The microUSB plug is on rear side, while a tiny bind button is available front. Motors are plugged to the FC via connectors, a good point for motor maintenance. -WEIGHT 27.4g in total …. so approximatively 2g more than a trimmed E010 + TX01 camera Motors As for all tinywhoop clones, the Makerfire is equiped of 6mmx15mm coreless motors. They are announced to spin at 65000 rpm so faster than classic 615 motors. LiPo A 200mAh 35C LiPo ending with a 1.25mm mini-JST connector. A 5.6g model. Camera module The AIO FPV camera is installed with a slight positive angle. The FPV camera is a 520 TVL CMOS model. The front button permits to flip the video signal. When long pressed, you can cycle between the NTSC & PAL standards. The rear button when shortly pressed cycles among the 8 Vfreq Inside th current band. A long press, cycles between the 5 bands (Race band supported) The camera is plugged via a dedicaced connector. 4.5g for the camera + the plastic support. The camera standalone should turns around 3.6g-3.7g A raw sample video. As you can see, the performances is quiet good in term of light sensitivity. The FOV is large (170 degrees) more adapted for indoors flights. Disassembling The 2.4G antenna is this thin copper wire soldered on the backside of the main PCB. If you want to extend the range, you should install it more vertically by drilling a small hole in the plastic canopy UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION, BINDING AND DEMO FLIGHT The machine is super stable and nible. Manoeuvrability is great but despite the 65000RPM, motor’s thrust could be better. Don’t expect to have a full efficient acro machine here. 27g… is around 2 extra grams versus a modded JJRC H36 + with a TX01 AIO cam. I really appreciated the FPV camera working efficiently in low light conditions. Flight times are far from the 5min announced but more around 3min. CONCLUSIONS The Makerfire micro FPV is without doubt a serious candidate for beeing crowned the king of “whoop”. All ingredients are solid. Durable, nibble, betaflight compatible and with a good FPV camera. Except the 3min of flight times and the lack of strong motor’s thrust, the makerfire mini is in general a good machine perfect for indoors proximity FPV applications. The same mods as for all whoop machine can be applied to boost flight times & performances. PROS + SPF3 board w/ betaflight + 65000 RPM 615 motors + Durable + Good FPV camera + Spektrum DSM2 receiver + 200mAh/35C LiPo CONS – No spare props – No spare battery – 3min of flight time Default Betaflight 3.0.1 dump This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Gearbest 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 79USD at http://www.gearbest.com/multi-rotor-parts/pp_591322.html Cet article TEST: Makerfire Micro FPV, a BNF tinywhoop FPV clone (27g, F3, 25mW 40CH AIO FPV) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

2016 was a HUGE year for drones. In the US, the FAA released Part 107 regulations concerning commercial drone pilots, and all over the world the drone industry grew, expanding into new commercial sectors and growing its presence in existing ones. What does 2017 hold for the commercial drone industry? This post from Drone Industry Insights (DroneII.com) makes seven predictions for this year, and we think they are spot on. Note: This post was originally written by Jeremiah Karpowicz, the Executive Editor for Commercial UAV News. Image Source 1. New Questions Around Legality and Authority Will Arise Many people believed that, in the US, The FAA’s Part 107 would resolve every legal challenge associated with operating a drone for commercial purposes, but that was never the real expectation or intention. But Part 107 does not cover certain operations like flying beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) or nighttime flying. Operators can go through a waiver process to receive approval around those kinds of operations, but that process in some ways represents a step backward. “The fact is that everyone and their brother wants to fly at night and BVLOS. Right now, each operator that wants to do something like that has to file a separate Part 107 waiver with the FAA. A rule that standardizes things for everyone will cut down on the waiver applications the FAA has to cull through, and will save agency resources.” -Steve Hogan, Drone Lawyer at Ausley & McMullen While many in the industry have shifted their focus to a rule that will create that kind of standardization, the FAA is not the only government entity that operators need to consider. The FAA has the authority to regulate all aspects of civil aviation, but the FAA only has authority to determine how drones can fly safely. What’s allowed to be done during an otherwise safe flight is in the jurisdiction of the states, and many states, and even some municipalities, have started to legislate accordingly. Long before anyone knew what Part 107 was going to look like, Hogan stated that the drone industry needed to pay attention to what was happening at the state level across the nation, as the laws there could kill the drone industry. This is an issue that will come into even greater focus in 2017, as the hyper-focus on the FAA starts to dissipate. Operators and organizations have been focused on making sure they’re in compliance with FAA rulings, and doing so will remain essential. However, being involved in shaping, enacting, and enforcing state and local drone regulations is going to be crucial going forward. Image Source 2. We’ll See a Transition from “Exploring” to “Implementing” As soon as drones were readily available to consumers, professionals in many different industries wanted to leverage the technology. What surveyor wouldn’t want to easily be able to capture an entirely different perspective of a site? Similarly, project managers envisioned how drones could be able to impact critical tasks like change detection. That enthusiasm was something Michael Singer, CEO at DroneView Technologies, saw firsthand. Over the past few years Singer has talked with hundreds of companies that were developing a curiosity around what drones could mean for them, and in many cases they even bought a drone to run some tests. The challenges they ran into centered on being able to derive value from them, which usually related to regulation and logistics. However, all of that has begun to change. “What we’ve seen going into 2017 is that large companies have bought into and have validated with field tests the fact that drones actually do bring value to them. They want to make real commitments, and in doing so change their current workflow and behavior. If they were flying with a plane to do aerial acquisitions or walking with field crews and using GPS to do traditional survey, in certain use cases they’re replacing that with drones. The adoption cycle is now focused on implementing to workflow as opposed to R&D or exploring and getting comfortable with the validity of the data.” -Michael Singer, CEO at DroneView Technologies The hype and excitement around drones being a “cool” solution was enough to get many professionals interested, but in the end it’s really all about what problems are being addressed and what problems are being solved. Does this new tool bring greater efficiency to the workflow and solve problems? That’s a question that no longer has an undefined answer, and it has created a transition that will begin to take shape in 2017. It’s not something that will happen instantaneously though. How enterprises are or aren’t embracing this transition will be a major topic throughout 2017. 3. Insurance Will Become a Priority Concerns about what it means to operate a drone legally have been top of mind for commercial drone operators since the early days, but needs and requirements relating to insurance haven’t been as much of a priority. The reasons behind this are varied, but it’s safe to say recent regulation that defines what it means to legally operate a drone has changed the mindset for both operators and stakeholders. But motivations behind that change aren’t strictly related to regulation. “There has been a shift in mindset, but this has been primarily driven by the reality of operating a drone for a commercial endeavor. The growth and scope of commercial use cases has led to greater awareness around risk factors and this, coupled with companies’ general risk management procedures, means that any commercial operator who wants to be able to fulfill a variety of commercial contracts needs proper insurance.” -Chris Proudlove, Senior Vice President of Global Aerospace What proper insurance looks like can sometimes be an open question though, and it’s complicated by distinctions between general liability (GL) carriers and specialist aviation insurance providers. Right now, many operators simply need to prove they have some sort of insurance to stakeholders, even though exactly what that means to either party is as best ill defined. How policies deal with issues like privacy, damage and liability will change and become more sophisticated, especially as organizations establish requirements regarding insurance before they hire a service provider. It’s a change that’s already begun to happen. “Companies that establish their own internal insurance requirements are becoming increasingly common,” Proudlove continued. “It’s standard practice for high end commercial operators to have to demonstrate significant limits of insurance to fulfill contracts. $10m or even $25m is not unheard of. We certainly see this type of requirement becoming more prevalent during 2017.” A top priority in 2017 will revolve around sorting through the offerings of organizations like Global Aerospace that provide specialist aviation insurance with ones that offer drone on-demand insurance and even companies that provide a general liability policy that might not cover everything an operator thinks it does will become. Being able to identify what type of policy works best is something that will become a standard part of drone projects of every size. 4. A Worldwide Drone Market Will Begin to Take Shape Part 107 might have redefined what it means to operate a drone for commercial purposes in the United States, but countries across the world are all at different stages in terms of how they’re regulating drones. (Want to know the drones laws by country? Check out this free guide to drone laws from UAV Coach.) What it means to legally operate a drone in France is different than what it means to do that same thing in Germany, and while that complicates the issue, the interest in the technology is there. Companies like Sky Futures have operated in 23 different countries, which is just a hint at the sort of worldwide opportunities that are and will soon become available. Some of those opportunities are related to whether or not entities like the European Union (EU) are able to create regulation that goes beyond the border of a single country, and progress is being made. Kay Wackwitz is the CEO & Founder of Drone Industry Insights, a market research and analytics company based in Hamburg, Germany, and he has insight around how that process is shaping up, and also what it means for local regulation. “The EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) has planned to have the NPA (Notice of Proposed Amendment) done by the end of 2016,” said Wackwitz. “This NPA is then being commented on by all EU member states and subsequently reviewed by EASA until mid 2017. Based on these comments the EASA will form the ‘EASA opinion’ in early 2018, which will be the basis for the adoption of all the member states (2019). However, local regulations will also evolve during this time in the EU-member states and start to open the skies for certain modes of operation (e.g. BVLOS).” -Kay Wackwitz, CEO & Founder of Drone Industry Insights Just as in the United States, the drone industry as a whole is moving forward while regulation details sort themselves out. This process will create opportunities for operators and organizations across the world that want to leverage drone technology as the needs of so many different people working in so many different places are discussed and worked through. “The drone space is a melting pot for technologies across all industries,” Wackwitz continued. “There is always a certain thrill to see the latest innovations and the game-changing opportunities that come along with it. We think drones are going to become much smarter and independent combined with a more specific design to fit a certain job. The one-fits-all solution will of course remain available to the recreational and prosumer market while commercial platforms mature and become part of the individual value-chain.” 5. Public Concerns Around What Professionals are Doing with Drones Will Begin to Dissipate One of the biggest challenges that first responders and even industrial operators have around being able to utilize drone technology is not related to the tools themselves. Drone pilots and organizations interested in using drones face public scrutiny, as members of the public express concerns about their privacy when they see a drone flying near them or their home. These concerns and fears will begin to dissipate in 2017, not just because of the public awareness campaigns that are designed to specifically address these concerns, but also because drones will be able to create and showcase so many concrete benefits. Jeri Donaldson is the CEO and owner of FlyCam UAV, a UAV systems integrator and builder and the US distributor for a UAV that carries sensors that detect radiological, biological and chemical threats. These are the sorts of capabilities that will help the public understand why seeing a drone in the sky should make them feel relieved, rather than threatened. “While the general public still has its reservations about UAVs as a whole, I believe that once they see the benefits and life saving capabilities of UAVs they will have a more open mind about them. As stories of their abilities to locate a stranded hiker or detect a radiation leak before it becomes critical become common place, the media will focus on the positives of UAVs which will help the general public become more accepting of them.” -Jeri Donaldson, CEO and owner of FlyCam UAV That acceptance will come once members of the public understand that if a swimmer can’t swim back to the beach because of a rip tide, a UAV could be flown out to the swimmer with a flotation device. A thermal camera mounted on a UAV can be used to find a skier trapped under the snow after an avalanche. These uses can resolve emergency situations in a far quicker manner, but not having to put additional lives at risk is just as important of a consideration. “Whenever you can take the human element out of a potentially dangerous situation it’s a positive,” Donaldson said. “Before we started using UAVs to carry chemical and radiation detection sensors the job of checking for leaks fell on an individual or group of individuals to put on a hazmat suit and hand carry detection devices into the contamination area. Now radiation levels can be monitored or tested from a safe distance.” There is no limit to the life-saving capabilities of UAVs, and as the public as a whole begins to understand this concept in 2017, more organizations and departments will be able to adapt the technology. 6. Organizations Will Consider What Scalability and Implementation Actually Mean We already mentioned the transition from “explore” to “implement” that we’ll see from organizations in 2017, but what will that implementation actually look like? It’s a question that doesn’t have a simple answer, because implementation for an organization that does business in multiple countries and sectors looks different than it does for a company focused on a single region and in a single market. Being able to sort through those kinds of details is something that David Boardman, Founder and CEO at URC Ventures, sees happening in a major way in 2017. “I think a lot of the drivers are going to be on the geographic scale of what you’re trying to accomplish. If someone has a handful of high value mine sites, it’s going to be pretty easy to put a business case together to say that should stay internal and that competency should be built in-house. As you move to broader geographic scale though, that’s when suddenly the economics are going to be more challenging in terms of doing something in-house. Because then it’s a question of how many pilots you have, whether they can get to all the locations and fly at the frequency needed, etc.” -David Boardman, Founder and CEO at URC Ventures Seeing these questions asked and answered by stakeholders will lead to the implementation of different kinds of drone programs, which will likely mean we’ll see a number of highly visible scale-up efforts in 2017 within industries such as construction, aggregates and mining. These efforts will provide some leading indicators around how enterprises decide to scale their programs. That might sound like a simple process, but there will be considerable challenges and arguments over the specifics, which will take place between stakeholders at different levels within an organization. It’s something Boardman has seen as companies have worked their way through the “experimentation” phase, and will become that much more pronounced with so much more on the line. “The drone enthusiasts are going to run into the reality of the financial operations of the company,” Boardman said. “There are going to be some big clashes in 2017. The financial people are going to ask to see the measurable ROI. They’re going to want to see a scale-up plan. The cost to build the internal operation around that is going to be a significant investment for a company versus outsourcing that for a few thousand or even a few hundred dollars per job.” Whether it makes sense for an organization to build their own drone program from scratch or utilize service providers without taking on the costs and risk associated with the former option will be a major point of discussion and contention throughout 2017. 7. There Will be a Slew of Industry Shake Outs The recent acquisitions, mergers, pivots, sales, and partnerships that we’ve seen in the commercial drone industry are just a hint at what’s in store for hardware and software providers (the case of 3DR’s failure in the commercial hardware market is one useful example of all the change that’s been taking place). Simply deciphering who does what is a complicated prospect in the industry right now, and these sorts of deals will increase in 2017, further defining what commercial drone solutions are available, and what features they possess. Such developments are partly related to consolidation for market share, but as ever, it’s mostly an issue of economics. This is something that Chris Korody, Principal at DroneBusiness.center, has looked at closely. “The bottom line is that there are not many profitable companies in the drone space. We know that VC investment is down and the F1000 tech company venture funds are for the most part only investing in small ($1-5M) chunks. On the other hand, companies that already have VC investment will only sell for a significant multiple. I think the more likely scenario, and perhaps a trend, is for someone for whom drones are an adjunct rather than a core business to buy a particular technology and the team behind it to round out an offering or reduce time to market.” -Chris Korody, Principal at DroneBusiness.center Essentially, what Korody is talking about is a “complete drone solution”, and it’s one that professionals in every industry have been directly and indirectly asking to see developed. Simplicity is essential for operators of all types and sizes, which means the concept of being able to utilize a system that delivers them actionable information rather than data is what they’re all asking to see in one way or another. The process to get there will see a number of companies fall to the wayside though. As a quick example, Korody mentioned that the UAV market can’t possibly support ten different LiDAR manufacturers. A few of the companies fighting for market share will become de facto standards and the rest will fail, which means that anyone making an investment in the technology needs to consider not only how that product will impact their project in the present, but also what the future of that company looks like. What’s the best way to approach such considerations though? “The only real protection is to buy carefully and be very clear about where the ROI is going to come from for each individual investment,” Korody concluded. The drone industry isn’t the first or last to leave certain innovators and stakeholders disappointed with how things shake out with the market. Luckily, those shake outs will help ensure the technology can be properly leveraged in 2017 and beyond, which makes paying attention to what that process looks like absolutely essential. The post 7 Commercial Drone Predictions for 2017 appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

Brushless tinywhoop war is started …. Here is a new competitor from Emax: http://www.banggood.com/EMAX-Babyhawk-85mm-Bullet-6A-BLHeli_S-Femto-F3-AIO-5_8G-25MW-COMS-VTX-Mirco-Brushless-FPV-Racer-PNP-p-1120866.html A 85mm machine with 1104/5000Kv motors (where competitor now start now to include 1103 model), BLheli_S 6A ESC. The FC is a FemtoF3…. The FPV part done by a 25mW AIO with an unprotected cloverleaf antenna. With full configuration, prop guards installed the machine will reach 86g …so for indoors applications, it start to be a little bit heavy. The big open question is how strong will be the prop guards, the camera support and the CL antenna ?. Announced to be sold in RTF with a TBD compatible radio or in PNP where PWM, PPM and SBUS connexions are accepted. A lot of compact brushless models are announced for example the Eachine aurora 90 or the Eachine X73S (I should review both relatively soon). For the Emax model, no information of the presence of a buitin buzzer. No chance also to see implemented betaOSD on a FemtoF3 board. Actually, the PNP version will be first available. Description: Brand: EMAX Item name: EMAX Babyhawk 85mm Mirco Brushless FPV Racer All-in-One Camera and VTX 25MW CMOS Femto F3 FlightController/PDB board with built-in 5v 3A regulator with LC Filter Bullet 6A BLHeli_S Plug-In ESCs 1104 5000kv Brushless Motor 2.3″ Propellers 85mm Molded PC Plastic Body/Frame 85mm Molded PC Plastic Motor Guards Weight: Babyhawk + 2.3″ Propellers = 60g Babyhawk + 2.3″ Propellers + Motor Guards = 68g Babyhawk + 2.3″ Propellers + 2S 300mah lipo = 78g Babyhawk + 2.3″ Propellers + Motor Guards + 2S 300mah lipo = 86g (NOTE:Just need pwm, ppm, sbus ready Radio Receiver to make PNP fly) Package included: RTF (Ready-to-Fly) Combo -All-in-One Camera and VTX 25MW CMOS -Femto F3 FlightController/PDB board with built-in 5v 3A regulator with LC Filter -Bullet 6A BLHeli_S Plug-In ESCs -1104 5000kv Brushless Motor -2.3″ Propellers -85mm Molded PC Plastic Body/Frame -85mm Molded PC Plastic Motor Guards -Radio Receiver (Protocols tbd) -Radio Transmitter (Protocols tbd) -FPV Receiver/Goggles PNP (Plug-n-Play) Combo -All-in-One Camera and VTX 25MW CMOS -Femto F3 FlightController/PDB board with built-in 5v 3A regulator with LC Filter -Bullet 6A BLHeli_S Plug-In ESCs -1104 5000kv Brushless Motor -2.3″ Propellers -85mm Molded PC Plastic Body/Frame -85mm Molded PC Plastic Motor Guards Cet article NEWS: EMAX Babyhawk (Brushless 1104/5000Kv, 85mm, 86g, FemtoF3) est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article