In which case do you hand launch/catch the DJI Mavic Pro?

Many people are curious how many people are hand launching and catching with the DJI Mavic Pro. Below are the cases from DJI Mavic Pro forums.

# “I was hesitant to hand launch and catch but since I fly from mountain locations where this is the only option, I have now done this many times with no issue. I do not have time to fiddle with settings like disabling OA or VPS. I just catch the Mavic Pro from the front (camera side). It’s easy to grab a good firm hold there with no chance of slipping and you can avoid the bottom sensors. If it does try to lift off, that’s not a problem either, it’s easy to hang on. ”

# “Generally no hand launches; when the terrain makes it necessary I use one of those foldable landing pads. The only exception is when I (occasionally) find myself in a (rebar-heavy) concrete jungle that my compass doesn’t like: then I’ll hand launch. And personally haven’t yet found a reason to hand catch, but I understand that some people (e.g., in boats) have a reason to or just prefer it.”

# “I almost strictly hand launch and hand catch. Too much snow right now and since I travel light, I don’t carry any kind of pad. I find it super easy and I do not turn off anything. I have added a removable neck strap to the controller to make it easier to use with one hand while launching and landing.”

# “I do both hand launch and hand catch and I literally have never tried landing my DJI Mavic Pro on ground. I find my fingers are impossible to touch the props if you catch it from the belly (just like everyone else does)”

# “I hand launch and catch whenever I need to. These days, snow would simply not let me take-off and land normally from the ground. I tried several things, but what works best for me is to make sure the DJI Mavic Pro hovers steadily on my right-hand side, 1 foot above my head. I set the automatic landing with two hands on the RC, then I hold the RC with my left hand only and raise my right hand in the air just underneath the quad. The Mavic Pro starts going down and stops when it reaches my hand and feels what it thinks is the ground.

The other thing I do as often is just lowering the quad manually with my left hand on the RC, while my right hand is grabbing the quad. Usually there is a second or two where the drone tries to escape due to the sensors but it does not resist for long. You just have to stay full throttle down until props stop. The worst that can happen if you miss your shot and don’t have a good grip is the quad lifting off by a couple of feet. You just have to start again with a firmer grip.

I find both techniques safe enough for this kind of conditions (snow, water, rocks on the ground), but I’d rather take-off and land from a flat and clean surface when I can.”

# “I have hand launched and caught a couple of times – when there is no suitable site for auto takeoff. I turn the Mavic Pro facing away from me so it doesn’t detect any objects. Then put my hand up under it quickly and grab, then throttle down quickly. It struggles briefly, but then is ok. Launching is no problem. I set the controller on auto takeoff – hold the Mavic with other hand (facing away from me), and hit the take off button. Sometimes I have my wife hit the button. It just lifts out of my hand and stays there until I’m ready with the controls.”

It seems that most of the pilots launched/caught the DJI Mavic Pro manually if necessary in some special conditions like landing/catching from the snow,water, rocks, jungle and boat etc..

The video below may show this technique and offer some good tips for Mavic Pro hand launching or catching.

( Video via Tech We Want )

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Does the Hover Camera Passport worth its price？

The Hover Camera Passport is a delightful little gadget: It’s a foldable, portable drone that has a built-in camera and auto-follow features. It comes with all kinds of bits and pieces, including an extra battery, The Hover Camera Passport price is $599 and it’s significantly cheaper than other auto-follow enabled drones like the DJI Phantom 4 or Mavic Pro.

Best of all, it’s easier to carry than most drones with similar features. Drones like the Phantom are big, bulky and hard to carry, especially if you’re hoping to bring them on a plane. If you’re looking to bring a drone with you everywhere, the Passport might just be the answer to your prayers. But does it live up to the hype? Let’s find out.

If you do want to fly it higher (it can hover as high as 164 feet or 50 meters), you can use its companion iOS or Android app to position the drone with simple onscreen taps and swipes. The app will have automatic options for shooting panorama videos and 90- and 360-degree orbits as well. You’ll also be able to transfer photos and videos to your device for immediate sharing.

Its 13-megapixel camera is on a tiny gimbal that helps stabilize the camera and can tilt it up and down. Electronic stabilization is also used to smooth video, which can be captured at resolutions up to 4K.

As with most small drones, battery life appears to be the biggest downside at just up to 7 minutes per charge. The batteries are easily swapped out by simply sliding off the top.

This isn’t unusual for small drones, but you’ll routinely find that drones with battery lives in the 8-10 minute range cost significantly less than the Passport. Drones that are in the same price range as the Passport, like the DJI Phantom 3, have 25 minutes of flight time… a marked improvement. However, it’s worth noting that older cameras like the Phantom 3 don’t have 4K video or well-developed apps.

Unless you’re a professional videographer, the occasional shaky-cam shouldn’t be much of an issue. Overall, if you’re willing to part with $599, the Hover Camera Passport is a good choice. If you want something cheaper or with a better battery life, you may have to compromise on things like camera quality and auto-follow modes.

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GoPro Karma vs DJI Mavic Pro:Which one is for you?

Now the GoPro Karma drone is back. It is once again listed on the GoPro website but disappointingly with no accompanying editorial to provide explanation for the recall and relaunch story, nor detail of any enhancements. What we know is that GoPro has improved the battery latch of the device to avoid it from slipping out of place which leads to a loss of power. This design reportedly keeps the battery intact and in place even when there are strong vibrations of the drone. And it maintains its portability compared to other drones available to the public. It was reported that the drone also has the removable gimbal stabilizer.

If the re-released GoPro Karma remains the same as on its initial launch except the improvements mentioned above, then we could make a comparison between the relaunched GoPro Karma and the Mavic Pro.

Design

The Mavic Pro is about the size of a water bottle when folded, and if you’ve had any one-liter beverages lately, that’s not far off. Folded up, the Mavic Pro has dimensions of 83x83x198mm. By comparison, the folded up Karma measures 89.9×224.3×356.2mm. It’s not that small when folded up. The Karma is still a drone that you would need a specially made case for when transporting it. The Mavic is a completely different story. You can fit the Mavic into almost any backpack or bag.

The Mavic Pro weighs in 734g while the Karma weighs 1006g.

Remote Control and Operating Range 

The Mavic Pro remote controller features an LCD screen with essential flight info and can be paired with your smartphone for powerful auto-flight features and a live 1080p video feed from the drone.  It’s small—smaller than an Xbox controller when folded—and flying a drone with joysticks offers more control. Since you can use various phones, the specs of your touch display are up to you. The Karma controller has a built-in 5-inch, 720p touch-screen display, making for a flying experience that feels a bit like a video game.

The Mavic Pro can be flown at a distance of 4.3 miles (7 km) away from its controller, flight time is 27 minutes (in best conditions), max speed is 40mph while in Sport mode.As for the GoPro Karma,the max controlling range is 1.86 miles (3 km), flight time is 20 minutes (in best conditions), max speed is 35mph.

Flight Modes

Just like the Phantom 4 the Mavic Pro has front facing obstacle avoidance, and it has all of the same flight modes like tap fly and active track. It also uses the DJI Go app, which means that it should work with third party apps for additional functionality in the future. On the other hand, GoPro says you should be able to fly the Karma with little to no experience with drones, and capture amazing shots with some of it’s preprogramed flight modes. Unfortunately there’s no follow features on the Karma. You get a 2 point cable cam mode, dronie mode, reveal mode, and orbit mode. These are the same features that other drone manufacture has had for the past year. Upon its initial launch, the Karma was criticized for a lack of functionality, even the basic ‘Follow Me’ was missing.

There are no sensors on the bottom of the GoPro Karma. Sensors like cameras and ultrasonics are what make drones more stable when hovering or when GPS isn’t available and the Karma doesn’t have any of these things. This means that the Karma is not going to be a good choice if you ever want to fly it indoors.As for the Mavic, it has two cameras for 3D vision positioning and ultrasonic sensors for accurate hight holding. Not only that, it also has dual gyros, accelerometers and compasses for more accurate data and redundancy. all of these features work together in the background, so you don’t have to worry about setting any of this up.

Video Quality 

Mavic Pro comes with a built-in camera that can shoot footage in 4K at up to 30fps and 1080p resolution at 96fps. It’s also capable of snapping 12-megapixel stills. The minimum focusing distance is 0.5m and the sensor itself is a 1/2.3-inch unit. Those are some pretty impressive specs that match DJI’s Phantom 4 drone.

When it comes to GoPro Karma, it has opted to make its drone compatible with its latest action cam, the Hero 5 Black. But the Karma’s Stabiliser, which holds the camera, will also work with the more affordable Hero 5 Session and even the 5’s predecessor – the Hero 4 Black and Silver.

If you’re using the latest Hero 5 Black, you can expect to get similar specs to the Mavic Pro. That’s 4K footage at 30fps, 1080p footage at 120fps – a higher frame rate than the Mavic’s 96 – and 12-megapixel stills.

Making the camera detachable in this way has several benefits, and chief among these is the attachment mechanism itself, which comes in the form of the Karma Grip.

The grip comes with the drone, and features a professional-quality stabiliser that should make for fluid footage. But most impressive is the fact that the grip can be removed from the drone and used as a grip to shoot freehand – with the added stabilisation feature – or mounted on other gear such as the Karma Case or Seeker sportpack. It’s also got built-in controls so you can operate the attached camera without having to touch it.

Price

The DJI Mavic Pro costs $999 for the drone or $1299 for the bundle. As for the GoPro Karma, it is basically available in the two options. One is Karma without a GoPro camera which costs $799.99 and the other is Karma bundled with GoPro Hero5 Black which will cost $1099.99.

So which drone should you really buy?You must have an answer now.

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Could the Hover Camera crush DJI?

Unfamiliar to most costumers, the Zero Zero Robotics company has stirred the drone industry with the Hover Camera, a drone with a compact and unusual design. At launch, it was widely covered in traditional media and went viral on social media for a number of reasons: being the first selfie drone on the market, a charismatic CEO, exposure on talk shows, etc.

Could the Hover Camera crush DJI? Let’s take a closer look at the drone.

Zero Zero Robotics’s original idea was a selfie drone but what it actually came out with it more like a “tracking drone.” It’s a rather abrupt shift from one concept to another and possibly dangers as consumers prefer to stick with what they know.

Launched with first-class advertising and web design, the company even advertised on TV, which is an even more powerful platform. Yet, the moments following the launch weren’t in as high of a spirit.

DJI’s impressive Mavic Pro may not have had the impactful launch of the Hover Camera. But while Zero Zero Robotics has $25M in venture capital from investor, it seemingly has little more than this following their lackluster launch.

1. Market

This year has seen a number of portable drones being launched, including Dobby, Yuneec’s Breeze, GoPro’s Karma, DJI’s Mavic Pro, Tencent’s Ying, etc. Looking at how it’s positioned in its market, the Hover Camera competes directly with Dobby and not so much with DJI.

2. Timing

A successful launch needs more than a good concept; marketing, distribution, manufacturing capacity, and especially timing is crucial for success.

Based on this, the Hover Camera looks weak as a competitor. Dobby beat it to their launch, while the Mavic Pro performs significantly better for serious aerial photography.

3. Product

The Hover Camera has a unique design and unique functionality. But uniqueness doesn’t guarantee the survival of Zero Zero Robotics, and it doesn’t mean they can challenge their giant competitors.

4. Pricing

The Hover Camera’s pricepoint is seemingly far too high. Its launch price of $599 meant competing with the Mavic Pro and Phantom 3. It’s also significantly more expensive than the Dobby at $399. This is something that could have and should have been controlled during the design process.

Mavic Pro	$999	Yuneec Breeze	$599	Dobby	$399
Mavic w/o RC	$749	Phantom 3 Standard	$499	AR Drone	$299

5. Performance

While DJI’s Phantom and Inspire series set standards for aerial photography, but we’re yet to see a clear standard setting product in the selfie drone market. Hover Camera has traded performance for “100% safety” as they call it and that’s possibly something they regret. Like DJI did with the Mavic Pro, both performance and safety needs to be taken into consideration.

Conclusion

Unlike other companies in the selfie drone market, Zero Zero Robotics did not crowd fund the launch of the Hover Camera. Still, it faces intense competition from players like DJI and Xiaomi and the company has a tough road ahead. To say the least.

( Source )

 

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Will you get hover camera?

The Hover Camera Passport is finally here. Safe, portable, foldable, and easy-to-use. Everything you need in a flying camera. What we really want to know is will you get a Hover Camera?

Once unfolded, users can see an adjustable camera —complete with flash —on the front of the device. It’s capable of capturing 4K ultra-high-definition video, as well as 13-megapixel images, putting it about on par with Apple’s iPhone 6s lens.

Impressively, the Passport includes sensors on the bottom, including sonar, to measure the distance from air to ground. This allows for safe indoor use, giving the drone some idea of how far it is off the ground, and helping it to maintain a set altitude.

Once it’s in the air, it can capture 13MP photos and 4K video, which you control from a smartphone app. And thanks to facial recognition technology, it’ll follow you around, trying to stay perfectly level as it does.

Here’s where the fun begins. Once airborne, the Hover Camera will follow a subject autonomously as he or she moves and record all the action with its 13-megapixel camera. The camera records video at resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD. The device can also rotate in place to take 360-degree panoramic photos, and it has plenty more tricks up its sleeve.

The team at Zero Zero claims anybody should be able to use the Hover right out of the box, because its AI and advanced flight algorithms will do all of the work of keeping Hover airborne for you.

There’s no getting around it. The Hover Camera Passport looks like it could be the tech product to buy. Sure, the DJI Mavic Pro offers an unparalleled high-spec experience, but for your standard flying selfie machine, the Hover Camera has been built with simplicity in mind and comes in at half the price – not that the two can really be compared of course. The Hover Camera is directed at a totally different clientele – we’re thinking younger people with no previous experience of flying, but that are still comfortable using an app to control a device. So pretty much all millennials then.

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Hover Camera Review: Just a flying camera?

My first drone flight experience was with the DJI Phantom 3 Professional, and as much as I appreciated its advanced capabilities at the time, I longed for something more compact — a device so small that I wouldn’t need to carry a separate bag or case for it. Eventually, a Chinese startup called Zero Zero Robotics released the $599 Hover Camera Passport, which comes in the unique form of a foldable cage while packing cool features like body tracking, face tracking and orbiting. I got to spend some time with the Passport over the past few weeks, I find time to take it for a quick spin and the Hover Camera review.

The Hover is Zero Zero Robotics’ first product and is designed to be safe, portable and savvy solution to allow let anyone to “effortlessly capture exciting moments indoors and out, from creative new perspectives.” Using Embedded AI to intelligently navigate its environment and the Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight drone platform, Hover Camera captures personal moments, but is not viable for tracking sports beyond the family Thanksgiving football game.

As the Hover Camera review, we should first focus on the camera specs, the core function of drones. Equipped with 13-megapixel camera, it’s capable of shooting 4K video at 30fps and at the same time offers live 720p HD video. Furthermore, it uses electronic image stabilization (EIS) for anti-shake. But EIS and No-GPS means shaky video in strong wind and outdoors.

Some of the issues with the Passport might get fixed in the future, since the drone gets software updates fairly regularly. My first gripe, and one that may be fixed, is with the auto-follow modes. It’s actually a little difficult to get the camera to follow you if you aren’t moving extremely slowly and staying in its field of vision at all times. So, it’ll follow you on a run in a straight line, but it tends to cut out or “lose” you if you turn — even if you go slowly. That’s just for the body-based follow mode. The face-based mode should follow you based on facial recognition, and I only got that one to work once.

Keep in mind that the auto-follow modes are one of the Passport’s biggest selling points, so this is kind of a big con. However, like I said, the drone gets software updates, so this issue could be resolved. The company even said they might add auto-follow for animals or objects (which isn’t available yet).

Compared to Mavic Pro 7KM controlling distance, Hover Camera’s 20M Wi-Fi distance may be not that satisfied. So does the 10mins flight time, if you want to shoot something great, you need to prepare more batteries.

That’s the simple review of Hover Camera, that’s not to say the Hover Camera doesn’t have some cool features. It does. And if you’re looking for a simple way to snap a selfie and video quality isn’t that important to you – go for it.

But $599 puts you very close to the Mavic Pro. Spend the extra $150…and you’re not just hovering. You’re flying.

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DJI Technology- Video Transmission

Multi-rotor aircrafts use wireless technology to transmit the images captured to ground devices, pilots can view the video in real time. To provide environment information and camera views in time, video transmission requires low latency, long transmission range and excellent anti-interference ability.

Video transmission is realized by either digital signal or analog signal. Usually drones without gimbal cameras apply analog signal. Despite that video rarely gets stuck or loses frame with analog signal, it is highly power-consuming. With transmission range being 2km, the transmitted power goes far beyond what is allowed by authority. Moreover, video streamed back is in standard definition, which is unsatisfying.

Three major video transmission technologies using digital signal are: DJI Lightbridge, OcuSync and Wi-Fi. DJI Lightbridge and OcuSync are DJI’s patent communication link technologies. With transmission range of 7km and ability to stream video as clear as 1080P, DJI Lightbridge and OcuSync outpace Wi-Fi video transmission greatly.

DJI Lightbridge

Fast Communication Link

Wi-Fi uses traditional protocol stack, so a handshake mechanism must be established between transmit end and receive end first. It takes several seconds to ten seconds to establish or re-establish the communication link (when step-out happens), leading to latency in communication. The communication in DJI Lightbridge is directly linked between physical layers, so the communication link is fast and prompt without protocols.

Long Transmission Range and Ultra-clear Image

Lightbridge is able to transmit 1080P video. With optimized compression algorithm, video can be streamed fluently on complex channels. Advanced codec algorithm and improved frame structure ensures demodulation process even with weak signals. Meanwhile, the RF circuit is optimized to receive weak signals without being greatly interfered by noises.

High Reliability

DJI Lightbridge 2 applies a wireless HD image transmission technology, which dynamically weighs transmission distance, electrical environment and image quality for best effect. In addition, Lightbridge 2 would automatically choose the best channel, switch to a better channel or adjust the band width of video when necessary. In this way, the occasion of losing frames and video stuck could be avoided as possible, increasing the reliability of wireless video transmission.

Multiple devices

Lightbridge supports multiple controllers to control one aircraft at one time. In a typical scenario, pilot would use master controller to command the flight, while gimbal operator uses the slave controller to adjust gimbal to finish complex shooting task. With multiple controllers connected, each of them could send order to aircraft via master controller, or receive video and flight data from aircraft via master controller.

2.4/5.8GHz Control Frequencies

Selectable 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz frequencies are supported by the Inspire 2. Generally speaking, a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi video transmission system is used with a 5.8GHz remote control link providing aircraft control. This is because if the video transmission and the remote control links use the same frequency, interference between the two may cause signal loss. This same rationale is why interference may be caused by other users of radio frequencies in surrounding areas. The Inspire 2’s new Lightbridge HD video transmission system uses a Time-division multiplexing mechanism to transmit both video feed and remote control signals on the same frequency. In urban areas, the 2.4GHz frequency band may suffer from high levels of signal interference from sources such as Wi-Fi routers and 4G base stations. As an option, the 5.8GHz frequency provides a broader communication bandwidth and has more available channels for transmission, making it more suitable for stable signal transmission in these types of environments. After powering on, the Inspire 2 automatically scans the environment and selects the band with the least amount of interference, ensuring optimum video feed quality and remote control reliability.

 

OcuSync

The Mavic uses DJI’s newly developed OcuSync transmission system. Part of the Lightbridge family, OcuSync performs far better than Wi-Fi transmission at all transmission speeds. OcuSync also uses more effective digital compression and channel transmission technologies, allowing it to transmit HD video reliably even in environments with strong radio interference.

Excellent Video Quality

Compared to traditional analog transmission, OcuSync can transmit video at 720p and 1080p – equivalent to a 4-10 times better quality, without a color cast, static interference, flickering or other problems associated with analog transmission. Even when using the same amount of radio transmission power, OcuSync transmits further than analog at 4.1mi (7km)*.

Stable Communication

OcuSync goes even further than optimizing the communication mechanism and parameters of aerial imaging. There are several video transmission systems on the market claiming to offer video transmission with zero latency. However, it should be noted that the physical layer of those transmission systems is too simple to adapt to changes in the environment. When affected by signal interference, the image quality of the video being transmitted will fall sharply. This means these systems are not suitable for far field transmissions and transmissions in interference-heavy environments.

Also, because these video transmission systems are not integrated into the whole system, latency will immediately start to rise up from 0 when working with devices including cameras and displays. OcuSync is able to strike a perfect balance between latency and receptivity, reducing latency to 5ms for remote controller transmission commands, 10ms for video data and 130ms for videos. More than low enough to ensure that Mavic is able to fly reliably despite interference. OcuSync’s integration with video processing, coding, and signal transmission systems also make it more cost effective. Before taking off, OcuSync will automatically scan the environment and choose the frequency band with the lowest interference, ensuring more stable video transmission.

Fast Communication Link

As Wi-Fi was primarily designed to connect electronic devices locally, it works best when connecting to nearby devices. As it was designed for short range, Wi-Fi systems use low cost transmitters that suffer from weak data links. This means that a Wi-Fi cannot detect weak signals or signals with interference. OcuSync however, uses many cutting-edge communication industry technologies to outperform Wi-Fi in terms of sensitivity, anti-interference, and anti-fading, as well as when flying at high speed. It also supports simultaneous connection to multiple devices.

Multiple Devices

As well as point-to-point video transmission, OcuSync also supports wireless connections to multiple devices. For example, you can connect the DJI Goggles, remote controller, and Mavic wirelessly to OcuSync all at the same time. You can also add an additional remote so that you can control the Mavic with two remotes or share First Person View (FPV) videos.

* Unobstructed, free of interference, when FCC compliant.

 

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DJI Tech-Flight Controller

In recent years, multi-rotor aircraft has become the main form for drones. Compared to the helicopters, multi-rotor aircrafts feature simpler structure and cheaper cost; compared to fixed-wing aircrafts, multi-rotor aircrafts are easier to operate and ready to hover with less requirements for the flying fields. This helps explain why a wide range of drones from aircraft toys to industrial drones are made into multi-rotor ones.

All multi-rotor aircrafts are similar in mechanical structure where you only have to mount the propellers on the motor, yet their flight performance varies due to different flight controllers. The flight controller can ensure precise operation and stable hovering by controlling the motor speed, making it possible for beginners to quickly get the hang of drones through simple learning. So to speak, a drone’s performance is mainly decided by its flight controller.

Flight Status

Before attitude control and navigation, the flight controller needs to check the aircraft’s flight status first, which includes 15 parameters such as the three-dimensional location, three-dimensional speed, three-dimensional acceleration, three-axis angle and angular speed. As the multi-rotor aircraft itself is not stable, the motor power has to be constantly tuned for stable hovering and flying. Therefore, even for the simplest action of releasing the joysticks to keep the aircraft hovering, the flight controller has to consistently monitor the 15 parameters and conduct a series of “cascade control” in order to achieve stable hovering.

The first technical difficulty for the flight controller is to precisely perceive the flight status. At present, drones normally use GPS, IMU, barometer and magnetic compass to measure these parameters. The GPS can track the location, sometimes even the altitude and speed; IMU can measure the drone’s three-axis acceleration and three-axis angular speed, and obtain the speed and location through calculation; the barometer is used to measure the height above sea level; the magnetic compass is used for orientation and navigation.

Due to limited sensor design level at present, the data collected by these sensors will generate certain errors and might be disturbed by the environment, consequently reducing the precision of flight status. In order to guarantee normal flight performance, the data collected from different sensors should be fully integrated to conclude 15 high-credibility parameters. We call it as integrated navigation technology which makes the most of the advantages of the GPS, IMU, barometer and magnetic compass and integrates various sensors’ values through electronic signal processing technologies to acquire more precise status measurement.

Integrated Navigation

In order to improve the drones’ sensory ability and flight performance, apart from adopting basic sensors mentioned above, DJI also equips its popular drones with advanced vision sensors, ultrasonic sensors, and redundant IMU and Compass navigation system. For example, DJI Inspire 2, Phantom 4 series and Mavic Pro are equipped with these sensors and intelligent navigation solutions. The dual vision sensors can calculate the object’s three-dimensional location based on continuous images. In addition to obstacle avoidance, it also supports positioning and speed measurement. The ultrasonic sensor can help monitor the flight height. Thanks to the redundant IMU and Compass, when the system detects an inconsistency in one sensor, it switches to the other one, keeping your flight steady and reliable.

The intelligent navigation system in addition to these sensors can increase the drone’s accessibility to more environments and improve its reliability. The drones using traditional navigation system cannot fly stably in environment without GPS while the intelligent navigation system can improve the precision of speed and location measurement through visual sensing system with good GPS signal. With weak GPS signal, the visual sensing system can replace the GPS to provide positioning and speed measurement so that the drone can fly stably indoors and outdoors.

These sensors have significantly improved the intelligent navigation system’s data volume and complexity. Regarding the vision and sensors, DJI conducts several system reconfigurations for the navigation and flight control algorithm and adds new software modules and architectures, comprehensively improving the flight performance and reliability.

 Control Performance

Advanced control algorithm empowers DJI’s flight controller with remarkable control quality, featuring high control precision at normal flight state and ensuring stable and high-speed flight. The Inspire 2 can reach a maximum horizontal speed of 94 km/h, the Phantom 4 can reach 72km/h and the compact Mavic can reach 65 km/h, while other similar drones can only reach 30 to 50 km/h. High-speed flight requires high control quality and response speed in addition to powerful propulsion system. Apart from high-speed flight, DJI drones also support high-precision hovering and idling control, making for flexible flying and image composition.

While designing the flight controller, DJI not only pays attention to the control precision at normal flight state, such as hovering position and attitude control precision, but also particularly enhances the control quality for unusual flight status. In case of broken propellers, sudden clash, added weight or external force interference, DJI drones feature strong recovery ability and robustness and can survive various extreme situations, keeping your flight safe and reliable.

Fault Diagnosis

Before or during the flight, any tiny fault may result in flight accidents. If the flight controller can monitor and diagnose faults in real time, the probability of accidents can be dramatically lowered. The flight controller can monitor various flight status parameters such as vibration, voltage, current, temperature and motor speed and diagnose potential fault through these characteristic signals. Yet these signals are generally complex and irregular. Based on massive data mining and Deep Learning technology, DJI builds a fault diagnosis system to tell the fault probability through pattern recognition. The fault diagnosis system enables early forecast or emergency treatment of various faults such as broken propellers or IMU failure, helping you fly without worry.

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DJI Phantom 4 Pro vs DJI Mavic Pro: Who is more Pro?

The king of drones has unleashed its latest release in the DJI Phantom 4 Pro. Yup, it’s done so right after the unveiling of its new Mavic Pro drone. So surely they’re very different.

Indeed there are differences but when it comes to specs they’re actually quite similar – and that’s a good thing. Many advances in the Mavic Pro that made the Phantom 3 look less appealing now appear in the new Phantom 4 Pro.

 

So which is the drone for you? Here are the key features and differences you need to know between the DJI Phantom 4 Pro and the Mavic Pro.

Obstacle avoiding system of Phantom 4 Pro is on an entirely different level compared to the Phantom 4 and Mavic Pro. It has cameras in the back and infrared sensors on the sides to give it 360-degree obstacle avoidance. With all of these new sensors, you can now fly backward, forwards and even sideways with more confidence that you won’t crash. It can also travel 10 MPH faster in than the other two drones with obstacle avoidance turned on.

Besides the safety benefits, the Phantom 4 Pro also has a new intelligent flight mode called Draw. In this mode, you literally draw a line on the screen, and the go app will generate a flight path which it then overlays on the screen. Using the draw mode, the drone will fly on a set path, and you’re free to pan and tilt the camera.

The Phantom 4 Pro takes the lead with a top speed of 45 mph, which lasts for 30 minutes on a charge and can hit a height of 6,000 metres. Comparatively, the Mavic Pro hits 40 mph top speed, which lasts for a decent 27 minutes on a single charge and tops out at 5,000 metres.

Both feature Gesture Mode that lets you wave to activate the camera so you can take a selfie without the need to actually use the controller. Ascent and descent speeds are a little faster on the Phantom 4 Pro.

But the Mavic Pro folds down into a handheld compact unit that fits in its own safety case and weighs just 734 g. While, the Phantom 4 Pro, owing to its fixed size and shape, is less portable. It’s also heavier at 1,388 g.

Without a shadow of a doubt the Phantom 4 Pro produces far superior images to the Mavic Pro. I was impressed by the footage you could capture and it’s amazing to think just how good it is considering it’s essentially a consumer product (despite having the word Pro at the end of it). With an improved camera, higher bit rate codec, as well as a host of safety features and flight modes, the Phantom 4 Pro sets a new standard for drones at this price point. But if you want to travel freely I think Mavic Pro is no doubt the best choice for you.

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$15 000 000 USD was not enough to make Lily drone fly?

The Lily drone is so striking when the video was put online. After 60,000 pre-orders and $ 34 million raised, the company just announced that it would never go out. Just for the comparison, Hover Camera only raised $25M and delivered the final product to the customers. -Is it a good product? Not at all! But they made something real without complaining that they have no money.

The idea of Lily drone was good: a fully autonomous drone requiring no control to operate. The design was successful and had contributed to the total success of the crowdfunding campaign.

But it is at the financial level that the startup has not transformed, by failing to find enough funding from investors or banks to achieve production start-up. Seriously? $15 000 000 USD was not enough to make Lily drone fly? But Lily started to sell not existent product and got $ 34M on top of $15M. And now their excuse is that there was not enough money to manufacture the autonomous drone.

“We have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds,” they said. “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. As a result, we are deeply saddened to say that we are planning to wind down the company and offer refunds to customers.”

The founders announced that all backers would be reimbursed within 60 days. If your credit card has expired since then, you will need to fill out a form to receive the $ 500 you advanced.

The drones of the market now offer automatic tracking functionality of the remote control or a point of interest. The DJI Mavic Pro is doing very well for example. You can browse our guide of the five pocket sized drones.

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