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DJI’s next Drone leaked – DJI Mavic Compact Drone
BREAKING: DJI is releasing the DJI Mavic TODAY (Sept. 27th). See all the details and updates to the Leaks on this page. The DJI Mavic is here! Check it out Now! The Mavic has just been released! It features a new DJI technology called OcuSync, which appears to be the successor to Lightbridge. OcuSync claims up to 7km (4.3mi) range at 720P and 1080P streaming in closer range. It even allows transfer of videos and images taken at up to 40Mb/s while the Mavic is in the air! *DJI Mavic Release* – The Announcement Event Live Stream for the DJI Mavic Release – Adventure at your Fingertips Event will be available here. Check back Sept. 27th at 11:30 EDT New York time or subscribe to our list to be notified. DJI will stream the Event for the DJI Mavic Release live at this link here. The Event will start at 11:30 EDT Time (US), 17:30 EU (Germany, France, Spain), 23:30 China. Be notified by signing here. UPDATE 9: The DJI Mavic will be released in two Versions at launch. They will be the DJI Mavic S and the high-end DJI Mavic Pro. Pricing for the high end is rumored to be around $1299. From the release of the FCC ID sticker locations and the stickers themselves we know that there will be two versions of the DJI Mavic coming on September 27th at the live event detailed above. This goes along with earlier rumors that there will be a lower end version utilizing an ofdm (wifi) based link. This should be similar to the remote control system used in the Phantom 3 4K. The Mavic Pro will feature full-range Lightbridge as we know it on the Phantom 4. There may be further limitations to the Mavic S such as Camera Resolution, but the main thing currently is pointing to the technology used in the remote control. Speaking of remote controls, we also get a sneak peak of the bottom of the Mavic remote control, see the third FCC image below. DJI Mavic S – Model M1S DJI Mavic S – Model M1P Mavic GL200A Remote Control UPDATE 8: DJI Go App for Mavic leaked: Thanks to an anonymous source we received screenshots of a yet to be released DJI App which has placeholders for 2 different Mavic drones. Just like the Phantom 4 was codenamed Tomato the Mavic is codenamed Maverick. Hence why the screenshots show Maverick. Interestingly, there appears to be a new DJI GO PAD app mentioned. This may be a version of the Mavic with built-in display, however the leaked images do now support a built-in display for an app like this. The second image also supports the rumors of multiple version of the Mavic coming on Sept. 27th. The base model will have a wifi based remote control limiting it’s range, and at least one other “high-end” model which will feature Lightbridge and have a 5km range. There are 3 rumored version of the Mavic. Leaked screenshot shows mention of a DJI GO PAD App UPDATE 7: Additional DJI Mavic photos leaked: It seems that during the final testing of the DJI Mavic more photos were taken :). Here you can see the side view of the remote control. Note the white USB cable hanging down....
read moreDJI Wind 1 – DJI’s New Industrial Drone Leaked
DJI’s new industrial drone is the DJI Wind 1. In a recent leak, images of the Wind 1 appeared along with a few of its Specs. It is rumored to be officially announced September 2nd-7th during the IFA in Berlin. The Wind 1 name may be an internal codename. We could see it releasing under the Mxx Product Line or getting it’s own such as the Agras MG-1. Stay tuned as this page is being updated as more information becomes available. Here’s what we know about the DJI Wind 1: DJI Wind 1 – Industrial Drone that is rumored to be Rainproof (more on that later…we aren’t sold yet) “Windproof “- Max Wind Resistance 12 m/s (26.84mph / 43.2 km/h) Size – 740mm Diagonal from Motor to Motor Dimension – 582mm (L) x 582mm (W) x 280mm (H) Operating Temperature: -10°C to +50°C Weight (with TB47D Battery x 2) 4040 grams Weight (with TB48D Battery x2) 4225 grams Max Takeoff Weight: 6000 grams Max Load Weight (With TB47D x2): 1960 grams Max Load Weight (With TB48D x2): 1735 grams Hover Accuracy (GPS Mode) Vertical: 0.5 m Horizontal: 2.5 m Max Angular Velocity: Pitch-axis: 300°/s Yaw-axis: 150°/s Max Pitch Angle 35° Max Ascent Speed: 5 m/s Max Descent Speed: 4 m/s Max Wind Resistance: 12 m/s Max Flight Speed 22 m/s (in ATTI mode, no payload, no wind) 17 m/s (in GPS mode, no payload, no wind) Flight Times: Hover Time (with TB48D Battery x2) 38 minutes Hover Time (with TB48D Battery x2 + Zenmuse X3) 31 minutes Hover Time (with TB48D Battery x2 + Zenmuse Z3) 31 minutes Hover Time (with TB48D Battery x2 + Zenmuse XT) 31 minutes Propulsion System: Customized E1200 Motors The Wind 1 is aimed at commercial customers with the rumored launch price of €9,950. This price will include two batteries and the Pelican style hardcase. The new Wind 1 features the same integrated centrifugal cooling system as the Agras MG-1. This means that air enters the front of the drone through the black grill, where then dust and particulate matter are filtered out. Next, the air flows through the carbon fiber arms and dissipates through the motors. This allows the internal components and motors to be cooled much better than on traditional systems and extends the life of motors up to three times. While the Shell in the first pictures may be rainproof, we habe our doubts of the above pictured configuration will be rainproof. It shows a cutout for a CAN-Bus expansion port and four mounting pins sitting on top of the body shell of the Wind 1. At the top of the image, you can see a special case with a handle on top. This most likely houses a special sensor module which can then be mounted via the quick-release mount on top of the quadcopter. This may be a compact Guidance System as found for the Matrice 100 series, or a new set altogether. The GPS Antenna is mounted internally in the body shell. Original...
read moreCommercial Drone Rules Part 107 – What You Need to Know
UPDATE: The FAA released the official Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 107 Rules: The FAA Fact Sheet is available here Get the official Summary here The entire 624-page small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) document can be found here If you are interested in becoming a commercial drone operator under the Part 107 of the CFR14 please sign up to receive helpful information on passing your FAA required Exam. Yes! I’m interested in operating my Drone commercially We have been waiting for the new rules for commercial drone operation. Today is rumored to be the day that we finally see the new 14CFR Part 107 rules for commercial sUAS (small Unmanned Aircraft Systems). Compared to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which was issued in February 2015 there are a few changes: Minimum age for a Remote Pilot in Command is 16 years old Maximum altitude changed to 400 feet AGL Requirement to read, speak and understand English Current Part 61 manned aircraft certificate holders (pilots) will only have to pass an online test Note that non-certificated Drone Operators will have to pass an FAA Exam at an FAA FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) This new Part 107 Code of Federal Regulations will get rid of the time intensive and costly requirements which are currently in place. You will no longer have to deal with the 333 Exemption, be a manned airplane pilot, have a visual observer, and you won’t need to hold a certificate of authorization or issue a notice to airmen. The leaked 14CFR part 107 Summary: Please stay tuned as we will update this Page as new information is...
read moreFAA Releases Drone Registration Numbers
FAA Releases Drone Registration Numbers Shutterstock The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday released two databases of all registered commercial and hobby drones in the U.S., five months after announcing a rule that all owners of drones greater than 0.55 pounds need to register their aerial vehicles online with the government. California is home to Silicon Valley, Silicon Beach, and now — it appears — Silicon Sky. The state comes in No. 1 for having the most registered drones, both in the commercial and hobby space. In the commercial drone space, Menlo Park, Calif. takes the cake for having the most registered drones. Menlo Park, which has 176 registered drones, is one of the cities that makes up Silicon Valley and is home to Facebook Inc. (which is working on drones of its own). It’s also home to startups such as drone delivery company Matternet and Skydio, which was founded by a team of researchers from MIT and Google’s drone team, and creates drones that are smart enough to react to and avoid obstacles like trees, similar to DJI’s Phantom 4. Other areas topping the list include Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, as well as Los Angeles and its neighboring city Burbank, where crews are increasingly using drones to shoot Hollywood films. Cities with the most registered commercial drones Ranking City Number of users registered to operate commercial drones 1 Menlo Park, Calif. 176 2 Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Ala. 138 3 Los Angeles 83 4 San Diego 61 5 Austin, Texas 59 6 Burbank, Calif. 57 7 Houston 53 7 Atlanta 53 9 Miami 50 10 Portland 46 Source: Federal Aviation Adminstration And if you’re looking for drones being used for hobby purposes, look to Houston. The city is No. 1 with 3,061 registered hobby drone users. But Houston also comes in the top 10 for having the most registered commercial drone users. Dyan Gibbens, founder and CEO of Houston-based drone company Trumbull Unmanned, says she’s not at all surprised that Houston ranks so high for commercial drone use, given Houston’s strong energy sector. “Houston is supportive of innovation, and when you look at oil and gas companies, they are really technology companies,” she said. “Drones make operations better, faster and safer.” Cities with the most registered hobby drone users Ranking City Number of users registered to operate hobby drones 1 Houston 3,061 2 San Diego 2,445 3 Austin 2,111 4 Los Angeles 2,104 5 Miami 2,047 6 Las Vegas 2,028 7 San Jose 1,955 8 Phoenix 1,799 9 San Antonio 1,775 10 Chicago 1,664 Source: Federal Aviation Adminstration Nearly a half a million drone users have registered for hobby purposes since registration opened in December. And Goldman Sachs says the market is only growing. The consumer drone industry will grow from a $1.6 billion market in 2015 to a $3.3 billion market by 2020, according to a March 2016 Goldman report. *Note that commercial drone operators must register each drone they operate. Hobby drone users must register themselves, so the number doesn’t factor in how many drones they actually have. By: Sally French Source: Marketwatch Check out the interactive maps of the commercial and for-hobby-use drone registrations: Link to interactive Commercial Use Registration Map Link to for-hobby-use Registration Map ...
read moreFAA tests an FBI drone-finding system at JFK
Peter Cade / Getty Images Airports are getting more worried about civilian drones wandering into commercial airspace. While the object that struck a plane landing at Heathrow last month was almost certainly not a drone, security experts fear that unmanned aircraft loitering near airports could get sucked into an engine and bring down a whole plane. After multiple near-misses at JFK in the last two years, the FAA borrowed an FBI drone detection system and field-tested it at the international airport last week. Beginning May 2nd, the FAA deployed five different rotor and fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems in about 40 trials to evaluate the FBI’s detection technology. Academics and staff came from a host of agencies, including the FBI, Department of Justice, the Queens District Attorney’s office, and Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey. Basically, anyone interested in safeguarding air travel and prosecuting local offenders. The drone-detecting tests expanded on research done earlier this year at Atlantic City International Airport. The FAA must continue these evaluations as part of the FY 2016 Appropriations law. The agency hasn’t nailed down a strategy to detect civilian drones and their operators, but least we can rest easy knowing we can knock them out of the sky with a net bazooka or trained hawk when the time comes. By: David Lumb Source:...
read moreHydrogen-powered drone takes flight
BBC Click’s Jen Copestake has been given exclusive access to the test flights of a drone powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Intelligent Energy’s fuel cell can power a modified drone for up to two hours – about six times longer than the average with a normal battery. Refuelling with compressed hydrogen takes a few minutes compared to recharging a battery. The company sees its drones being primarily used in industry for agriculture and oil and gas mapping, before being offered as a consumer product. Intelligent Energy expects to have the fuel cells ready for commercial use in the next year. Source:...
read moreFire Chief used drone to help deliver life vest to stranded kid
Tuesday afternoon the Auburn, Maine fire department responded to a call that two boys were stranded on a rock in the Little Androscoggin River in Mechanic Falls. The boys’ tube had overturned in the rushing waters. Fire chief Frank Roma’s crew was brought in because of its experience in swift water rescues. But Tuesday afternoon they added a new strategy to their operation, using a drone to help deliver a life vest to one of the stranded boys. Roma has used his own DJI Phantom 3 Professional a few times to document his department’s training operations. Generally, he uses it as a hobbyist to shoot videos in Maine. But on Tuesday, with the device in his truck and an awareness of how emergency responders have used drones to aid their efforts, Roma decided to see how it could help save the stranded boys. “I’ve seen there’s greater potential way beyond just taking pictures,” Roma said. “There’s using them for looking for lost children, search and rescue, hazardous materials incidents and documenting arson investigations in large buildings that might not be safe for individuals to enter.” Roma initially planned to scout out conditions down the river, to see what might await the boys if they were swept away. But when he saw one of the boys didn’t have a life jacket, his priorities changed. Roma attached a nylon water rescue line with Velcro to the bottom of his drone. Then, amid the deafening sound of the rushing water, he used hand signals to explain to the boy what would happen next. Roma then flew the drone out and had it hover above the boy, who unattached the line. With it in hand, the boy tugged on it to pull the life vest to him. Roma had never practiced this before, but it worked. “I’ve flown it long enough that I was comfortable in doing what we had to do given the situation,” Roma said. ‘“He followed along and played his part perfectly.” Once the boys both had life vests on, the team used a raft to recover the boys from the rock. Roma plans to keep using his own drone when opportunities arise, but said with a tight budget it might be tough to justify purchasing other drones for the department. “It’s nice to be able to have an opportunity to take a technology we are just on the cusp of in terms of really being able to fully utilize to its maximum effect, and be able to suggest it’s something that people might want to consider,” said Roma, who said he’s received calls from interested emergency responders around the country. By: Matt McFarland Source: Washington...
read moreDrone helps firefighters in teenagers’ rooftop rescue
Emergency services arrived at Market Place in the town at around 9.15am after a shop manager reported hearing voices coming from the roof Fire crews were helped by a local photography company who used a drone to pinpoint their location. A fire service spokesman said they were ‘immensely grateful’ to the photography company for their assistance. The rooftops in the town centre are a maze but the images captured by the drone allowed us to locate the teenagers and meant that officers did not have to put themselves at risk by accessing the roof”. – CHIEF INSPECTOR PHIL VICKERS The teenagers were brought safely to the ground around two hours later with the help of the Aerial Ladder Platform from Lincoln South. Source:...
read moreHow to test your microSD memory card’s Integrity
How sure are you that your memory card is genuine and also up to the task of saving all files without corruption? Was that crazy deal on the name brand card too good to be true? It is essential for our microSD memory cards to perform when it’s time to get the footage we want. Today we detail how to test your memory card to ensure it’s up to the task. We stumbled onto this topic while using our old GoPro Hero 3 black on a project and got the dreaded bicycle icon on the GoPro’s display. After a quick search, we found out that this was the file repair icon. Since we make it a point to purchase genuine name brand cards from Sandisk or Lexar through authorized dealers it was a little frustrating at the time to get the error. The error can occur when the GoPro has issues or the memory card is having problems. In our case the file was intact and only the last few seconds of the clip weren’t captured, but not wanting this to occur in the future we made our way to find a tool which could test the integrity of the microSD memory card, or any memory card really. There seem to be quite a few tools for windows such as H2testw which is a german tool available here (English translation here). It was developed by a german computer magazine to check for physical errors on memory cards. For mac users, the App F3X is available. It is a command line tool with an available GUI called F3X. To download the app without having to compile etc., scroll to the end of this page here and find the latest version for download. Here is F3X in action: F3X first writes files to the available space on the card selected and then reads them back to check for issues. It is always important to backup any important data from your memory cards before starting any kinds of tests and then erasing or formatting the card to ensure all available space is being tested. When the checks are complete you will be informed if your memory card is up to snuff or if there were issues found. Note however that the controller on the microSD card itself can block out bad sectors of memory when it runs across them. We still find it useful to run a check when first getting a new card or to ensure that an older card is still fit for duty. In our case of our GoPro 3 Problem, the card checked out fine, it is a genuine card. We believe the camera may have temporarily overheated, or the aging battery dropped the voltage just low enough to cause an...
read moreWatch an 18-rotor electric helicopter take its first manned flight
The Volocopter is one step closer to making personal urban flight a reality. Source: Engadget By: Jon Fingas E-Volo has been talking about the prospect of using many-rotor electric helicopters (aka multicopters) as semi-affordable personal transport for years, and it now looks like this isn’t just a far-fetched dream. The company recently completed the first manned test flight of the first certified multicopter, the Volocopter VC200, and documented the whole affair on camera. It wasn’t the most ambitious flight, as you’ll see in the clips below, but it shows exactly what the extremely stable, drone-like vehicle can do. You don’t need to constantly monitor the controls to keep the VC200 airborne, making it perfect for newcomers. The designers still have to ramp up their tests to the point where the Volocopter hits its full 60MPH top speed, but they’re now confident enough that they hope to take pre-orders later this year. It’ll likely only be limited to enthusiasts at first, but the dream is to use the aircraft’s unique properties to expand what’s possible. Since it’s easy to fly, fuel-free and relatively quiet, you could use it for personal flights over noise-sensitive areas without requiring gobs of training or exorbitant maintenance costs. While E-Volo’s grand visions of multicopters air taxis seem premature (you need more than one passenger seat for that, to begin with), they’re no longer that outlandish. Dawn of a revolution in urban mobility – first manned Volocopter VC200 flight Watch this video on YouTube....
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