• Category Archives drone
  • Drone radar breakthrough

    Out of my price range, but. This could be a game changer.

    https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/12/echodynes-pocket-sized-radar-may-be-the-next-must-have-tech-for-drones-and-drone-hunters/

    Its a little bit technical, so if you are interested, go read it. But, long story short, they have come up with a new antenna system that is a fraction of the size and weight of a typical radar installation.

    Here is the summary.

    It accomplishes all this in a package about the size of a couple iPad Minis, weighing a pound and a half, drawing only 35 watts of power. Systems with comparable capabilities might be ten or twenty times bigger and more power-hungry. The only real catch is that the range is shorter than the larger systems — they might see a plane 12km out. But as Echodyne pointed out to me, quadcopters aren’t flying at 300 knots; it’s more important to locate closer, more active threats and obstacles.

    At ten grand, you won’t be buying a MESA to mount to your bike, but if you’re Amazon or Uber or anyone looking into commercial applications for drones, it’s more than a little enticing.

    So for a small (and for now) expensive package, your drone can see with new eyes.

    I’m thinking couple this with some AI and you will have an autonomous drone (either land or air based) with some really compelling (scary?) modes of operation.


  • Smart Sunrise 3

    Is it obvious to you that this shot has not been taken with the drone?
    Why? (Either way).
    I could be standing just out of the frame with the remote. (I’m not. Mostly because I am not confident enough to be walking around while the drone is in the air – I tend to be froze on the spot focused on the job of flying).

    No, for me, the dead giveaway that this is not a drone shot is the quality. The drone just can not give such a sharp saturated image.

    Anyway, the real reason for this shot from my camera is because of the beautiful golden tones of the desert and the hint of the road.
    I pretty much built Martty for this road (and Palomar).


  • VTOL Drone

    There are a heap, and I mean a HEAP of companies doing this sort of drone.
    Picked one almost at random (the wing was designed by an Aussie mob) to give an example of what I am looking at a lot of these days….

    4 lift props, just like the quad-copter we are all pretty used to seeing, a fixed wing and some sort of pusher (or pull, or both in some cases) prop, powered by either gas or batteries.
    Transition to and from forward flight is taken care of by software and a little help from the pilot on the ground (flicking the switch when its safe to land or move forward)
    The big attraction to this sort of mashup or hybrid is the long endurance. As soon as you start flying forward, you can switch off the power hungry lift props and just use the wing to provide the lift.
    We are probably going to see more and more of these as the cost and size comes down. I expect them to pop up first in agriculture…. The long flight time is perfect for mapping large areas of land. Right now, you have to have a ton of batteries and you lose a lot of time coming back to base to swap them out.

    Since my (drone) interest is in radio tower, power-line and wind turbine inspection, I don’t see one in my future just yet….. But, as you know, I like to try and be a little informed as to whats out there in pretty much everything… which means, you lot get dragged into it as well.

    Oh, and VTOL stands for Vertical Take Off and Landing.

    Very cool.


  • Smart Sunrise 2

    Same direction as the last shot, but further back.
    I am trying to get my head around how to take good drone shots (not just dronies).
    I used to think that my goal was to somehow take the photo where it was obvious to the viewer that the photo came from something non-earthly… But I have been changing my stance on this.
    This shot is an example. You cant see me, so it’s possible (to the viewer) that I have parked the car and walked back up the road to take the photo. Does that matter? Who cares if the viewer figures out if it is taken with a drone or not?
    Regardless of if I am standing at a lookout photographing someone else’s car or not, the photo shows the landscape. At the end of the day, I enjoy taking landscape photos with the right camera for the shot. Land based or otherwise.

    Borrego Springs to the mid-left, Salton Sea on the right edge – the silver bit that blends into the orange cloud.
    The green blotch dead center is the main golf course.

    My main gripe is with the camera. It is built into the drone and can not be changed. It just does not have the quality I need for most of the style of photo I want to take. That’s what my other drones are for, to carry the camera I end up buying to boost the quality of the image.


  • Dronie

    Got to go for a drive a few weeks back.
    Got to fly at sunrise.
    Drove all over the place, but this was taken at Borrego Springs.

    It’s the rule that you can’t fly and not take a dronie.

    Flying the Phantom 3 Pro (the one I bought off Benson).
    It is my only photo drone at the moment, I am still working on getting the others to fly and then get a camera mounted, so they are a little ways off yet.