Showing posts with label DJI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DJI. Show all posts

Monday, May 22, 2017

5 Mistakes Most New Pilots Make

Push the left stick gently when turning the Mavic

What’s the first thing to do when you finally have your DJI Mavic at hand?

No, not fly. It’s studying user manual.

User manual serves as the best teacher of all new pilots. Every question about the drone can be answered. For example, what should you do with these two little sticks?

Mavic Pro

But when you finally finish reading the user manual and hope for a thrilling flight, you probably are frustrated by the result of what you took.

You search the Internet and watch amazing aerial videos shot by well-known aerial photographer, but still can’t understand why such an easy move doesn’t work well in your videos.

drone photo

Except those are not easy moves.

Mavic Pro

Below are the top 5 mistakes that beginners mostly make:

TOP5

Fail to fly consistently

Fail to fly consistently

Fail to fly consistently

Mostly happen when: following moving objects

ConsequenceLose the target or make the entire video go waste

Reason Don’t have a sense of how much force should be made to control the sticks

Solution:

1 Use your thumbs along with your pointing fingers to control the sticks, instead of using thumbs alone

2 Use ActiveTrack to follow your target

Mavic Pro

Using thumbs alone to control sticks can be difficult for beginners

Mavic Pro

Use two fingers for accurate control

DJI ActiveTrack display

With DJI ActiveTrack, why bother manual control?

TOP4

Fail to know the limit of gimbal pitch

Fail to know the limit of gimbal pitch

Fail to know the limit of gimbal pitch

Mostly happens when Flying over a target and adjust the camera from forwards to downwards

ConsequenceShaking footages

Reason:Not familiar enough to simultaneously control the flight and camera pitch

Solutions

1 Use your thumbs and index fingers to control the joysticks, the middle fingers roll the dials gently.

2 Please pay attention to the roll instruction line on the left side of the video feedback or the shutter button, gradually stop rolling the dial when the movement of the roll axis is closed to the limit.

Mavic Pro

DJI Go display

When camera pitch is about to reach the ceiling, the white dot above turns red.

TOP3

Fail to make a decent circling

Fail to make a decent circling

Mostly happens whenmanually circles around a target

Consequencefootage is ruined by bumpy flight

ReasonCannot coordinate the left stick with the right one

Solutions

1 Practice makes perfect. And remember, never push the sticks too hard.

2 Use Circle mode in DJI Go.

Mavic Pro control

That’s how bumpy videos are recorded

Push the left stick gently when turning the Mavic

Push the left stick gently when turning the drone

DJI GO Circle Mode

DJI GO Circle Mode

TOP2

No entering & exiting frame

No entering & exiting frame

Mostly happens whenShooting moving target

ConsequenceNo entering and exiting frames in the video

ReasonLack of awareness

A good video should have a beginning and ending to let viewers know where it begins and ends

SolutionsBe aware

Entering & exiting frame

Entering & exiting frame

TOP1

This is the TOP 1 mistake that almost every beginners will make, which is:

A sudden turning during flight

A sudden turning during flight

Mostly happens whenAnytime could happen

Consequenceruins the perfect long shot

Reasonunknown

Solutionskeep your hand away from the left stick during flight

keep your hand away from the left stick during flight

Just flight forward. It doesn’t hurt.

The post 5 Mistakes Most New Pilots Make appeared first on Drone Inner.

Will China Dominate UAV Technology?

drone photo

Chinese consumer drone companies have been pace-setters in recent years, taking up more than 70% of global market share. Chinese military UAVs are also making significant progress. Swarm intelligence is the key to military artificial intelligence. In a recent flight experiment, the quantity of swarm fixed-wing UAV has reached 67, while the record was kept by US Navy at 50. This marks a significant breakthrough of China. It also means China has entered the first tier of UAV technology.

China has developed leading UAV technology, which is more advanced than that of US in a few fields. However, if China is to remain its juicy market share in consumer drones, the transition from functional drones to intelligent drones is necessary.

Portable drone Mavic is designed and produced by Chinese drone company DJI. When folded, it is the size of a water bottle. While the flight time of Mavic reached 27 minutes. GoPro released its Karma drone around the same time, which soon was recalled due to quality issues. Without intelligent features like obstacle sensing and automatic tracking, it is hardly a smart drone. Yang Jincai, President of Shenzhen UAV Industry Association said: “Everyday there is a new drone here in Shenzhen, the capital of drone.”

Shenzhen produces 70% consumer drones in the world. Giant like DJI and ZeroTech, or UAV start-ups, all rely on the mature electronic industry chain and government’s “Made in China 2025” strategy. The strategy is also beneficial to military drones. CH-5, China’s military UAV, has longer flight time and bigger bomb load than US Predator UAV.

Just in Aviation Industry Corporation of China, there are five crucial UAV lines including Long, Ying, Yiing, Bing and unmanned helicopter. In the 2016 Zhuhai Airshow, this company displayed their latest MagLev aircraft, which took an appearance of UFO in Sci-fi movies.

President Yang JIncai commented: “The manufacture of hardware and other industries are faced with the fourth industrial revolution.” Chinese corporations should make best of their advantages in software engineering and manufacture of intelligent hardware.

UAVs are the phosphor of “Made in China 2025”, requiring integration of more technologies including AI, VR and AR. Multiple cooperation is also needed to further the industry development.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2017

DJI Offers Rewards to Informants Reporting Trouble-makers Disturbing Normal Flights in Chengdu

DJI Phantom

Recently, drones have been detected in the No-fly Zone near Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport for several times, disturbing normal take-off and landing of civil aviation flights. On April 14th, 17th, 18th and 21st 2017, over 100 flights were forced to land or return to the airport and over 10,000 passengers were stranded at the airport. The Chengdu Police has placed this case on file and started and will investigate and carry out punishments on relevant people involved in the case.

The malignant behaviors mentioned above not only threatened aviation safety and public safety, but also greatly deteriorated people’s impression on civil drones. As the leader of consumer drones, DJI denounced this kind of behavior and will work together with relevant supervision departments and the public to punish them.

Thus, DJI decided to offer rewards to informants who can provide useful clues to help find out the trouble-makers.

See the details as below:

Reward Period: April 25th 2017-December 31st 2017

Reward Target: During the reward period, those informants who can provide crucial clues and help track down the criminals and those who have direct contributions to solving the case.

Reward Amount: Maximum amount up to 1 million CNY

Report Approach: Contact Chengdu Police

DJI is obligatory to safeguard airspace safety and guarantee healthy development of drone industry. DJI expects to popularize and advocate drone safety awareness in society in order to lay foundation for civil drones’ healthy development in China.

DJI

April 25th 2017

0755-36356042

xiansuo@dji.com

【Appendix】

According to news report, the details are as follows:

On April 14th (2:05pm), drones were detected in the No-fly Zone, 30 kilometers away in the north of the Airstrip West of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. Three passenger planes were forced to detour and the flights on the ground was delayed for 5 minutes;

On April 17th, drones were detected in the No-fly Zone, 18 kilometers (Pidu District) away in the north of the Airstrip West of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. Several flights within this area were forced to hover in the air and 12 flights inbound for Chengdu were forced to land at other airports;

On April 18th (6:26pm and 6:38pm), drones were detected in the No-fly Zones 3.7 kilometers (Shuangliu District) and 14.8 kilometers (Chongzhou District) away successively in the north of the Airstrip West of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. 22 flights were forced to land at other airports and 23 outbound flights were delayed.

Sichuan Provincial Public Security Bureau reported again on April 21st that 4 private drones were detected in Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. 58 flights were forced to land at other airports, 4 flights were forced to return to home and over 10,000 passengers were stranded in the airport.

The post DJI Offers Rewards to Informants Reporting Trouble-makers Disturbing Normal Flights in Chengdu appeared first on Drone Inner.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

DJI Phantom 4 Advanced Compromises Obstacle Avoidance for…

Phantom 4 Advanced

From Netease Drone

While the DJI Phantom 4’s production is to be dropped from the production line by the end of this month, DJI released the Phantom 4 Advanced with similar configuration but much cheaper price. Well, is the Phantom 4 Advanced an update or simplified version of Phantom 4?
Phantom 4 Advanced

Twin Brother of Phantom 4

Phantom 4 Advanced continues the appearance of Phantom 4 series. It is hard to tell the specific model when looking at it in the front. But when you look at it from the side, it is similar to Phantom 4 without the left and right infrared sensors. It is said that the remote controller of Phantom 4 Advanced only supports 2.4GHz instead of the 2.4GHz & 5.8GHz dual bands in Phantom 4 Pro. The Phantom 4 Advanced is like a “twin brother” of Phantom 4.

Similar Configuration to Phantom 4 Pro

Yet, Phantom 4 Advanced also feature similar configuration to Phantom 4 Pro: equipped with the same camera of Phantom 4 Pro, it can record professional 4K video. A mechanical shutter is used to eliminate rolling shutter distortion which can occur when taking images of fast moving subjects or when flying at high speed. And the remote controller is simplified without compromise in image transmission and control range.

Besides, Phantom 4 Advanced also feature a wide range of intelligent flight options: Draw, TapFly, ActiveTrack, Gesture Mode, etc. allowing the users more freedom in aerial photography.
 Phantom 4 Advanced CR dispaly

Draw

Many customers think that the Phantom 4 Pro is remarkable but the price is too high compared to the Phantom 4. The Obstacle Avoidance can only be used in Beginner Mode and Tripod Mode. Without the right, left and rearward vision sensors, and with a simplified remote controller, the Phantom 4 Advanced is 1000 CNY cheaper than the Phantom 4 Pro. This must be DJI’s response to the market feedback. According to Mr. Paul Xu, Director of DJI Enterprise Solutions, General Manager of Unmanned Aerial System Training Center, the Phantom 4 Advanced features the best aerial camera, which indicates that DJI will focus on this function to cut down the cost. Undoubtedly, the Phantom 4 Advanced will affect the sales of Phantom 4 Pro.

 

The post DJI Phantom 4 Advanced Compromises Obstacle Avoidance for… appeared first on Drone Inner.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

DJI Merge Power and Smart Features to Give the Gift of Flight to All

DJI Phantom 4

If you’ve never experienced flying a drone then taking the first steps to selecting which drone to purchase and flying for the very first time may seem a little daunting.  There are several different manufacturers out there offering different types of drones for different uses. These uses include racing, video and photography or simply for the fun of flying and it’s important to select the drone that best matches your needs.

One of the world’s largest drone manufacturers, with seven out of every ten consumer drones in the sky, is DJI.  DJI have a range of drones in their line-up ranging from the easy-to-fly straight of the box Phantom range to the more prosumer interchangeable lens Inspire series and onto the professional Matrice series used for films and industrial inspections.
Phantom 4 Advanced
The latest addition to the Phantom series, the Phantom 4 Advanced Credit:DJI

 Inspire 2
The latest addition to the Inspire series, the Inspire 2 Credit: DJI

DJI M210
The latest addition to the Matrice series, the M210 Credit:DJI

DJI also shook up the market with the Mavic Pro, a drone that folds up to just the size of a small water bottle and weighs less than 750g.  You may think that in order to achieve a drone of this size some of the smart features included in other DJI drones needed to be discarded but this is not the case.  The DJI Mavic Pro not only includes the same intelligent features as other DJI drones but goes even further and enhances them. Its compact size hides a high degree of complexity that makes it one of DJI’s most sophisticated flying cameras ever.

“We merged power and smart features making it easy for everyone to fly and create beautiful images,” explained a DJI spokesperson.  “The toughest challenge for us was finding the sweet spots between form and function.”

With 24 high-performance computing cores, five vision sensors to help avoid bumps and scrapes, and a 4K camera stabilized by a 3-axis mechanical gimbal, the Mavic Pro helps to turn the sky into your very own canvas ready for you to create your own masterpiece easily and without worry.

 Mavic Pro
The DJI Mavic Pro fits in the palm of your hand Credit: The Verge

The DJI Mavic Pro is the perfect example of what the DJI CEO Frank Wang strived for when first setting up the company just over ten years ago. His aim was to make it easy for anyone to pick-up a radio control and fly without the frustrations and difficulty associated with keeping radio controlled helicopters in the air.

They say that a picture tells a thousand words and thanks to DJI innovations simplifying flight and aerial imaging for all, there are an almost infinite number of words to be told.

 

 

 

 

 

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Drones: An Evolving New Tool for Realtors

DJI drone

Drones are transforming a variety of industries, from delivery services through to inspecting solar panels and everything in between. One pioneering sector that long ago embraced drone technology is real estate. Back in 2012, when drones were still in their infancy, realty commentators like Anita Cooper broadened the industry for the new breed of airborne robots by writing educational articles in trade magazines and websites. With the passage of time, drones have now become a crutial part of the realty business landscape.

Ernie Miller of Cecil County, for example, has been an avid cinematographer since childhood. He has integrated that passion into his realty day job by capturing shots of properties with a drone. To do so legally in the USA, realtors must have an appropriate exemption or pass the Part 107 exam from the FAA.

Ernie uses a Phantom 4 aircraft manufactured by the drone industry leader, DJI. The Phantom 4 has a 4K camera, can travel up to 4.3 miles from the operator and has a front-facing obstacle sensing system. The camera can capture butter-smooth, fluid shots which is a crucial feature for real estate footage.

Miller explains the virtues of using drones, particularly in rural areas, “it is ideal when you have a large property or a farm,” he explains. “It’s also great for waterfront properties. Shooting from the air gives you a good angle of the property from the water. You are able to get the dock and the home in the background. Getting a shot from a boat, you don’t get the scope of the property like you do shooting from a drone.”

Hud Benson, is another local realtor who utilizes drones. He began his drone journey using the DJI Phantom 2 Vision in 2014.

The legacy drone models used by both Miller and Benson have been superseded by far more capable aircraft, recently launched by DJI. Notably, the Phantom 4 Professional has a 1-inch 20MP CMOS sensor able to capture 4K-resolution at 60fps. The aircraft boasts a network of forward, rear, side and downward sensors for obstacle avoidance.

The brand new Phantom 4 Advanced released by DJI in April 2017 features an identical camera sensor to the Phantom 4 Professional, but does not have the rear and side obstacle avoidance sensors.
Phantom 4 Advanced

With both models you get the option to have DJI’s remote controller with an integrated high-brightness display.

The advantage of using a drone for real estate is that the full overview of a property can be captured – cheaply. The only alternative would be using an expensive helicopter or airplane. Luxury properties, in particular, benefit from the characteristic cinematic long sweeping shot that can be achieved with a drone.

“I have used my drone to shoot farms that are for sale,” Benson comments, “it is also a nice tool for doing an elevation photo of a home in a case where the neighborhood is an asset and you want to show where that home is in relationship to the other homes and the surroundings.”

Very generously, Benson also frames an aerial shot of a property and gifts that to the realty customer after they transition into their new home.

As evidenced by both Miller and Benson, realtors have much to gain from incorporating drones into their workflow. Utilizing drones in the realty sector will only become more popular as this astounding technology continues to evolve.

 

 

 

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Monday, May 1, 2017

NAB 2017 – Must See Attractions

NAB show

This year at NAB Show in the Las Vegas convention center, the 1 million square feet of floor space will have specialized segments called pavilions or attractions, each focused on a specific industry or location. There are 27 different pavilions announced and with such a large floor plan it may be difficult to know where to concentrate your efforts. Here are what we consider the top most exciting attractions.
screenshot from NABSHOW website
(screenshot from NABSHOW website)

Aerial Robotics and Drone Pavilion

“Find the industry’s leading experts ready to take you through all the aspects of employing aerial technology and couple that with dynamic exhibitor demonstrations built to give you an up-close and personal look at the latest technologies in action.”

Here we’ll see the latest in drone tech and a number of really exciting sessions like the Aerial Cinematography Techniques Field Workshop. This is a hands-on training course in which new pilots will be flying with professionals to learn standard practices and more. Drones: The Future is up in the Air focuses on regulations, rules, and the volatile nature of public and governmental perception of drones.

Undoubtedly there will be announcements of new drone tech. Recently DJI has been releasing announcements of new products left and right, so we’re excited to see what they have to show us at their booth in the Central Hall of the convention center.

Virtual and Augmented Reality Pavilion

“Get your hands on the latest augmented and virtual reality equipment and software. The AR VR Pavilion features the leading content producers and tech companies building the future and changing the way we consume information.”

This pavilion has too many sessions to count with topics ranging from the technology that is driving it to the content that is being created for it. NAB will be a great opportunity for us to see how the industry chooses to progress.
Nab show survival guide
(photo from http://ift.tt/2qyfddq)

Facebook Live Video Solutions Pavilion

“Facebook has identified a set of tools and platforms that help publishers optimize their Facebook Live broadcasts. At the 2017 NAB Show, a selection of vendors will be on-hand to demo these tools and platforms, which can help take your Facebook Live productions to the next level.”

Such interesting sessions will be A New Era of Live Entertainment Streaming and The Future of Live Streaming will tackle ideas addressing the future of live streaming. The session Broadcasting Live on the Go: How to Livecast from Mobile Devices will also include a lesson on live streaming from DJI GO, the app used in conjunction with their smartphone stabilizer. The technology has finally caught up to consumer needs. Content creators are jumping on this medium and this pavilion will tackle what the future will look like.

 

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Tuesday, April 25, 2017

News from DJI: Drones Save Lives

DJI M200

Unmanned aerial vehicles have become increasingly popular in the last several years amongst hobbyists. Taking photographs of beautiful sunsets, capturing cinematic videos of sweeping landscapes or racing aircraft competitively against friends have all become aerial shot staples.

However, drones have far more capabilities than just capturing artistic shots and racing.

One unsung, less publicized aspect of drones is their contribution to humanitarian endeavors; the simple ability of drones to save lives. This phenomenon has piqued little significant public interest until now.

The global leader in the manufacturing of drones, DJI, has released verified data concerning incidents where drones have come to the rescue.

The company has compiled cases where DJI aircraft and the aircraft of competing manufacturers have played a significant role in saving lives. Inevitably, far more cases have occurred on a daily basis across the globe but have gone largely unreported.

In one incident in China, a DJI Phantom lowered supplies to distressed people who were standing aloft a mountain of flood-water debris.

Admittedly, with recent advances in technology, there are now more elaborately engineered drones that can be customized for such tasks.

For example, the recently released M200 from DJI is a multi-purpose platform that could be potentially customized for humanitarian purposes.

The M200 models are water resistant with an IP43 rating. The aircraft also has a hot-swappable dual battery system and a 35-minute flight time which helps in conducting longer flights. The aircraft’s safety features include obstacle avoidance sensors facing forward, up and down, as well as an ADS-B receiver for receiving advisory information from manned aircraft close by. Compatible cameras are the DJI XT, X4S, X5S and Z30.

With the Z30 camera the operator can zoom in for a closer inspection of a disaster area. The infrared XT camera can see heat signatures of people in search and rescue scenarios. The M210 RTK is identical to the M210 but has an additional RTK unit which ensures centimeter precision navigation.

A variety of other examples of drones playing a crucial role in saving lives include rescuers in Turkey who deployed a drone to locate a lost film crew – some members of which began to suffer from hypothermia. A pair of kayakers in South Carolina were located during nightfall by first responders using a drone equipped with thermal imaging. In Canada, a drone with an infrared camera helped first responders find people lost in snow.

It is evident with these and other examples, that drones can play a significant role in helping first responders save lives in perilous situations. As more drone aircraft are deployed in these scenarios, more impressive heroic stories like those detailed above will arise.

 

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Monday, April 24, 2017

DJI Leads the Way in New Report About Lifesaving Drones

Midway Fire Rescue

DJI reported Lives Saved: A Survey of Drones in Action, DJI compiled a number of reported cases of lives being saved by drones. DJI, the largest consumer drone manufacturer, has maintained a consistent record of working against needless and complicated restrictions over airspace and flight regulations. Recently we’ve seen them up against a recent threat level classification by the FAA which would place many toys and consumer drones in a higher threat category than necessary. As part of the Drone Manufacturer’s Alliance, they are also up against a recent change to Canada’s drone airspace regulations that makes flying more restrictive for hobbyists.

After even a cursory glance at DJI’s report, it’s apparent that DJI aircrafts are the stars in over half of the cases (at least 10/18, though in some cases the drone used was not mentioned). So why are DJI aircrafts featured in the majority? Of course one can say DJI is keen on focusing on their own aircraft, but as described above, their motivation isn’t entirely selfish as any case where a drone was essential to someone’s safety was included in this report.

Here are a few practical reasons why DJI aircrafts across the board are used for public safety:

1) Presumably main reason of course is availability. DJI has captured so much of the market (about 70%) with their aircrafts that nearly anywhere a disaster or emergency occurs there is a DJI aircraft within a few miles.

2) DJI drones are also almost always immediately ready to fly. The batteries charge in about an hour and most pilots have charged batteries on hand. It takes most DJI aircraft less than 2 minutes to get up in the air whereas some others have significantly longer setup times.
Joshua (TX) Fire Department
Joshua (TX) Fire Department.

3) Range and flight time. DJI aircrafts like the Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 Pro have the longest range and flight times of any consumer or enterprise drone on the market, by far. With and off the shelf range of 5 miles and flight times pushing 30 minutes per battery, even amateur pilots can survey huge areas for maximum coverage.

4) The quality of the video feeds coming from DJI aircrafts is high enough quality for previously invisible details to be seen from afar. 1080p video is pretty much necessary when you are flying up to 400 feet in the air. The videos themselves when grabbed from the onboard SD cards are full 4k, so even tiny details can be seen.
Midway Fire Rescue
Photo: Midway Fire Rescue

5) Thermal and zoom cameras. DJI crafts like the Matrice and Inspire lines can carry an array of cameras. The 2 most commonly featured in Search and Rescue and public safety cases are the Zenmuse XT (thermal) and Z30 (zoom). The XT offers stabilized and glitch free video whereas other aircrafts with thermal cameras send a jerky and static ridden video back to the pilot – making the already low resolution thermal image even harder to view. The Z30 is one of the only affordable high-zoom cameras available for commercial drones and can only be mounted to DJI drones.

Overall, it’s fantastic to see a company as large as DJI working for pilots. If it were left up to regulatory agencies, restrictions may be even tougher on using drones for safety. We need a major manufacturer to be a voice of reason and show how powerful a tool for public health drones can be.

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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Top 3 Features of the M200 You Should Know

DJI M200

The new enterprise drone solution from DJI, the M200, has loads of new features for industrial users. Let’s dig into the top 3.

1.) 38-minute flight time (no payload) / 24-minute flight time (full payload)

To support the variety of payloads including carrying up to 2 cameras, the M200 comes with more powerful motors and a new battery system. Similar to the Inspire 2, the M200 features dual batteries for redundancy, ease-of-transport, and more power. There are two options for batteries, TB50 and TB55. TB55 batteries are wider and hold 7660mAh instead of the 4280mAh that the TB50s have. While the TB55’s allow for nearly double the flight time with full payload, they are above the watt-hour limit for transportation on airplanes, which can be important for many drone-flying travelers. Both batteries also have a self-heating encasing so they can handle sub-zero temperatures.

2.) IP43 Ingress Protection

Until now, most drones were at the complete mercy of the weather. They historically cannot handle heavy wine, high levels of moisture, and rain. The M200 changes that. It has an Ingress Protection rating of 43. Ingress Protection ratings are an international standard for measuring the sealing effectiveness of electrical enclosures against foreign bodies (dirt, dust, objects) and moisture. The first digit is the rating for solids and the second digit is the rating for liquids. The “4” for solids means that the enclosure can keep out objects greater than 1mm and the “3” means the enclosure can keep out spraying water less than 60 degrees from the vertical, in other words, rain. This is very important for jobs that must be done in the elements, such as for search and rescue or rain-or-shine inspections.

3.) DJI Airsense

The M200 also has a built-in ADS-B receiver. ADS-B stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast. ADS-B allows for “real-time precision and shared situational awareness.” It takes ground radar and navigational aids to a whole other level. With this system, pilots can see where other aircraft are in the sky, pinpoint weather and terrain hazards, and even get flight information such as temporary flight restrictions. By 2020, all aircraft operating in controlled airspace will be required to have ADS-B. Incorporating this in drone technology now will keep operators one step ahead and make flight in various environments even safer.

These new features combined with the various other benefits make the M200 platform an excellent choice for safe, intelligent drone flying for everything from industrial inspections to search and rescue.

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Monday, April 17, 2017

Drone Technology Descends on the Agriculture Industry

drone on the farm

At this year’s SIMA in Paris, one of the most important international agricultural business trade shows in the world, farmers and agricultural industry executives were introduced to a number of drones specifically designed to help farmers around the world work smarter and more efficiently in areas such as crop inspection, irrigation management, crop consulting and spraying.  By utilising innovative drone technology coupled with the very latest software farmers are able to reduce the time it takes to complete routine tasks, maximise crop yields and ultimately increase their profits.

 SIMA 2017
SIMA 2017 Credit: DJI

One of the stars of the show was DJI’s AGRAS MG-1S, an upgrade of the DJI AGRAS MG-1 which was launched back in 2015.The AGRAS MG-1S integrates a number of cutting-edge DJI technologies, including the new A3 Flight Controller which has an algorithm optimised for agricultural use ensuring stable flight even with sloshing liquids disrupting the balance of the aerial platform. The radar system is made up of three high-precision, millimetre wave radars that are placed on the front slope, rear slope and the bottom of the spray tank. Radars on the front and the rear slopes of the spray tank detect the terrain allowing the aircraft to adjust its height. The downward radar then provides high-precision height. As the radars scan, the MG-1S is able to perceive the change of terrain, adjust its altitude and maintain its altitude above the crops providing additional reliability during flight. When paired with the MG Intelligent Operation Planning System and the DJI Agriculture Management Platform, farmers are able to work with a powerful tool to plan operations, manage flights in real-time, and closely monitor the aircraft operating status.

DJI AGRAS-MG-1S
DJI AGRAS-MG-1S Credit:DJI

Farmers increase profits with dedicated software

To get the most from drone technology farmers should choose a software package that allows them to fully exploit using an aerial platform like the AGRAS MG-1S or DJI Matrice platforms.

The DJI Smarter Farming package is an end to end solution for precision agriculture. The package enables complete crop analysis management  thanks to DJI’s aerial mapping technology and the use of PrecisionHawk software. Farmers are not only able to complete tasks much quicker but they are also able to get a more precise picture of the health of their fields.

A healthy future for technology in the agriculture industry

Traditionally farmers have had to spend many hours in their fields to carry out their day-to-day work but with over 230,000 visitors from five continents to SIMA, it’s clear that farmers are ready and willing to embrace the very latest innovative technology to save time and grow both their fields and businesses.

 

 

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