“A Worldwide “Industrial Revolution in the Sky” Ushered in by Drones

The drones have been acting as the eyes and ears of army. In recent years, with various advantages such as small size, cheap price and easy operation, drones are not only used in army now, but also in traditional aerial photography, logistics, industrial exploration and agricultural management as well as some other new fields.

Photo from the Internet

Earlier in July 2016, the Britain cops used a drone in finding the escaped lynx. According to Daily Mail, Devon and Cornwall Police are set to launch the first 24-hour drone unit in the UK. They’ll be used to help officers with investigations, by searching for missing people and taking photographs of crime scenes, for instance. Have you ever been caught in a situation where you failed to find the commodity in a supermarket? A drone may solve this problem. According to Fortune, a large-scale supermarket is going to get drone patent for in-store delivery. The idea is to free customers from having to walk across its super-sized emporiums to find what they want and from having to wait while employees return from far-away storerooms. If you order a cup of coffee in the supermarket, the drone will also delivery it for you.

With drones, the office workers no longer have to worry about their pets at home. An American business machine company plans to use drone as the “nurse” and “trainer” for pets. This drone will be equipped with a microphone to detect pets’ cry or bark and a temperature sensor to detect whether the pets have a fever. The drone can also track the pets’ activity area to confirm whether the pets have entered restricted area. While playing with the pet, the drone can also give “verbal praise” or drop a piece of food as a reward. When the drone detects that the pets need to answer a call of nature, it will work cooperatively with other intelligent smart home equipment to let the pets go out.

As the application fields extend, drones’ intelligent operation capacity has been improved. It is said that the Russian drone pilots may soon get a revolutionary virtual reality helmet to pilot unmanned aircraft and get an HD view of terrain and enemy targets. In 2016, a Norwegian laboratory showed their idiodynamic drone that they have been developing. With just a blink of your eyes, the drone can turn the pilot’s brainwave into flight signals.

In rencent years, the drone industry is growing fast in the world. People’s recognition and demand for drones are increasing. With more and more powerful functions, the drones will definitely usher in a worldwide “industrial revolution in the sky”.

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GoPro Karma vs Phantom 4: Duel of drones

The GoPro Karma was recalled last year due to sudden loss of power which would cause the drone to crash mid-flight. The re-release for the Karma drones fixed the issue by adding latches to keep the battery secure during flight.

Note that since we did not have the New GoPro Karma in our hands at the moment, we can only rely on what the manufacturer says about the old version, namely the technical data sheet.

Control and functionality

Let’s start with the item that we have … the least information. Indeed, for lack of test, difficult to get an idea on what is worth the GoPro Karma in flight. However, on paper, the Phantom 4 seems to us far better provided than its competitor.

The TapFly has two very interesting functions: the TapFly, which allows it to fly to a destination marked on the smartphone and tablet, and the ActiveTrack, which is the tracking mode. Without target beacon) of the Phantom 4.

These automatic modes require the presence of an obstacle detector at the front of the drone, which it is actually equipped with.

The GoPro Karma only has an “auto path” mode, which aims to optimize the shooting and avoid the hazards of manual driving by making the flight more fluid.

As for controlling, DJI and GoPro have taken quite different paths: when the first one is displaying on a smartphone (or a tablet), GoPro proposes a dedicated controller, with a large screen rather bright on the paper (900 nits ). The counterpart is that if this controller is damaged, you have no choice but to replace it.

Finally, GoPro allows, with its Passenger App, to share video in real time with other users (available on iOS and Android). The latter can, while you are piloting the drone, take care of the capture and the shooting.

Performance and autonomy

Regarding performance and autonomy, once again, the Phantom 4 seems to be still ahead of GoPro Karma. Whether it is the top speed (20 m / s, compared to 15 for the Karma), the range (3.5 km, versus 1 km for the GoPro drone) or the maximum altitude (6,000 meters, while the Karma only “4,500 meters”), the Phantom 4 data sheet surpasses that of the Karma drone.

From the point of view of autonomy, the observation is identical; DJI announces 28 minutes of flight, against 20 minutes for GoPro. The battery onboard the Phantom 4 (81.3 Wh against 75.4 Wh for Karma) is probably not unrelated to this difference of 8 minutes.

Compactness

The GoPro Karma is considerably heavier: counting the mass of the drone, the battery, the camera and the stabilizer, we arrive at 2,144 kg. The Phantom 4 is 300 grams less. Its width and length are also larger than those of the DJI drone (411 x 305 mm, compared to 229 x 229 mm for the Phantom 4).

On the other hand, it is less than 6 cm high and above all, its articulated structure allows it to take more compact dimensions, which allow it to fit in a backpack (delivered by GoPro). A real asset for Karma.

The quality of the shot

It is certainly in this area that the difference between the two drones is the most significant. The Phantom 4 has a dedicated camera, this is not the case with Karma, where you can adapt a GoPro Hero 4 (Black or Silver), a Hero 5 Session or a Hero 5 Black.

This choice makes the GoPro Karma very scalable, and from this point of view, GoPro was rather smart, rightly focusing on the quality of its pocket cameras.

In the case of the Phantom 4, a 9-element lens overhangs a 1/2-inch sensor that shares 12 million pixels, an aperture at f / 2.8 and a sensitivity that ranges from 100 to 3,200 ISO. GoPro is less hard on the subject: just know that the GoPro Hero 5 has a 6-element aspherical glass lens, which brings light to 12 million pixels as well.

In video, performance is similar, but GoPro reaches 30 fps in 4K, where the Phantom 4 is content with 25 fps. Both drones can shoot in Full HD at 120 fps.

In Conclusion

This comparison between these two drones highlights their different orientation: when GoPro Karma relies on the simplicity and the quality of the videos, trying to attract a large audience, Phantom 4 are oriented more towards the users more demanding, which will have uses more exotic than a “simple” shot.

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Should you get the Xiaomi Mi Drone?

The Xiaomi Mi Drone is a collaboration of Xiaomi and another company, Flymi, which is also based in China. The Xiaomi Mi Drone is designed with a three-axis gimbal and comes in two models. One is capable of 4K video recording while the other version is a 1080p model with a 12-megapixel sensor and a 16-megapixel Sony sensor, respectively, mounted on motorized three-axis gimbals.

The Xiaomi Mi Drone can be folded flat to make it possible to carry on a backpack without being too bulky. It also is designed with propeller guards and the gimbal camera is also detachable. The gimbal is made of 149 grams of polycarbonate and carbon fiber material.

This flyer can record at 3,840 x 2,160-pixel resolution, 104-degree wide angle lens and has autopilot options, among others. Aside from the capability to record 4K video with the 4k version, this drone can also take RAW photos. Also, this quadcopter can hover over an object on the ground, can take off and land automatically and capable of waypoint flight path planning. Another interesting feature of the Xiaomi Mi Drone is its ability to track location in real-time which makes it easier for the user to find the device in case it crashes unexpectedly. It can also determine if the battery is already running low and once it detects this, the drone automatically returns to base, so to speak.

This Xiaomi Mi Drone is equipped with GPS and Glonass support that makes it easy to use outdoors. Other features include a visual positioning system to ensure stability when GPS is not available when hovering below 2.5 meters and flying time at a maximum of 27 minutes with the power supplied by a 5,100 mAh battery that can be removed and can perform well even at a distance of three kilometers. This device also comes with a remote control that is compatible with the Mi smartphone that also doubles as a viewfinder.

Pros
– Very modular design. Easily foldable & stowable.
– 3 Axis easy snap-in gimbal with tilt control
– Camera 1080p 60fps or 4K
– Long range (1K/2K) 2.4 Ghz control and FPV achieved via printed circuit board (PCB) antennas.
– Extra precise GPS + GLONASS + Visual Positioning
– Automatic return to home/landing on loss of signal or low battery, or manual return to landing at push of a switch.
– Automatic takeoff and landing
– Orientation Lighting
– Large Battery 17.4V 5100mah. Gives up to 27 minutes flight time

“Mi UAV” App Features
– Compass and controller calibration
– Satellite and quadcopter status monitoring
– 720p FPV
– Three automatic flight modes: Fly to Point, Waypoint Route, Circle Point
– Real time position tracking

Cons
– Excessive flight restrictions. Can not fly further than 50m altitude or 100m horizontal range until the Xiaomi Mi Drone has achieved 5 hours (300 minutes) of cumulative flight time. Additionally, the quadcopter will not proceed beyond hover if flown in restricted areas.
– Official Xiaomi “Mi UAV” app is in Chinese. It’s somewhat impossible to use unless you know Chinese. There is a non official translated version in English, however it is an older version of the app.
– The English translated version of the app kept crashing on me. First would lose FPV view, then would lose app connection with Mi drone (although I still maintained manual GPS position hold flying). However, people are not having much better luck with the official version either
– Smartphones (like mine) can be very hard to see outdoors in daylight. Might be a good idea if Xiaomi included an AV output port for goggles.

Should you get the Xiaomi Mi Drone 1080p version which sells at $400 and the 4K recording version at $456.

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