Hover Camera Passport, drone or camera that steals itself

For the drone, we know a lot of types, like drone FPV, racing drone, drone of aerial photography. But today, I will introduce a new drone that uses super-advanced technologies. It is called “Hover Camera Passport“.

It is not like aerial photography drones on the market. The Hover Camera Passport is the first drone, or one can say the first smart camera that flies itself for the majority of consumers. Super safe and super portable thanks to its enclosed and foldable enclosed design.

Super smart

After activated the auto tracking feature, it uses face and body recognition on the basis of CNN. Hover Camera can quickly find the goals and you decide the choice. After double clicking the lens on the real-time image of the application, it starts the tracking photograph.

Release on the finger and Recover in half air

With the calculation of the flight controller independent study, the original sensor data is evaluated at a frequency of 1 kHz to sense the fuselage take-off condition in order to quickly adjust the flight controller’s orders. For the drive, it uses FOC calculation which allows a fast and effective rotation motor. And its lightweight design and complete fuselage protection offers a finger-lift and super safety.

Super close flight brings a special visual angle

A super close interaction allows you to be on the spot, and the visual angle of god is focused on you. The complete protection design, the sensors whose fused technology that fits inside and outside and the super flight close to you give a super close photography experience that never exists.

Being like a drone camera, it offers three modes of photography: 720P, 1080P and 4K. And the Snapdragon 801 processor allows easy recording in 4K, 13MP photo or 720P images in real time.

And its foldable design gives it a weight that is only at 242g, lighter than iPad Mini. And its foldable size of 18 * 13cm is just a little big as a passport.

The Hover Camera Passport is also applicable to the beginner thanks to the motion-control mode. It’s easy to learn.

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Drones: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

The ‘principal of innocence’, which means that one is considered innocent until proven guilty, is quite common in many parts of the world.  However, when it comes to drone incidents and close encounters, the media seem much more interested in attention grabbing headlines than establishing the facts.  Take for example an event that occurred in the first week of January where a plane coming in to land at an airport in Mozambique was damaged after hitting an unknown object.  Despite the fact that the object was initially reported by the local aviation authority as an ‘external body’, one of the UK’s biggest national newspapers, the Daily Mail, ran with the headline, ‘Drone crashes into a packed Boeing 737 passenger jet tearing holes in the plane’s nose as it comes into land at an airport in Mozambique’.  Sadly the Daily Mail wasn’t the only publication misrepresent the incident with the Mirror and USA Today, amongst others, also citing that a drone was the cause of the damage. When it comes to drones, due diligence in fact checking and investigative journalism is not well practiced.

This is not the first time that the media have speculated about a ‘drone’ hitting a plane.  Back in April 2016 The Telegraph ran the story ‘Drone hits British Airways plane as it prepares to land at Heathrow’, however less than a week later the UK’s Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, ‘…admitted authorities had not yet confirmed whether what struck the Airbus A320 was a remote-controlled device.’  He also went on to say that “the reported drone strike on Sunday has not been confirmed it was actually a drone. It was the local police force that tweeted that they had a report of a drone striking an aircraft. And indeed the early reports of a dent in the front of the plane were not confirmed – there was no actual damage to the plane and there’s indeed some speculation that it may have even been a plastic bag or something.”

You may be asking yourself but why does this matter? And the simple answer is regulation.Yes, the drone industry needs regulation and manufacturers should work closely with aviation authorities and governments to make sure that the skies are kept safe for all but these false reports could be quite damaging to such a young, innovative industry.  An industry trying to redefine the ways in which professionals in filmmaking, agriculture, search and rescue, conservation and energy infrastructure, are all embracing drone technology to accomplish feats safer, faster and with greater efficiency than ever before.

We need to differentiate fear from facts. And like any new technology out there, regulations need to keep up with the development in order for us to embrace it and use them in safe and responsible ways.

 

 

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Top 4 Ways to Fly Your Drone Safely

Whether it’s for filmmaking, hobby use, industrial use, or public safety, drone usage continues to grow in many industries. However, publicity hasn’t been very kind to the tech. New pilots and people who are unfamiliar with the technology may be overly alarmed about safe flying procedures and restrictions. So how can an average consumer make sure they are flying legally and safely? Here are the top 4 ways to ensure your flying in the safest manner possible.

1) Use Geofencing. Consider getting a drone with built-in geofencing. Geofencing systems are designed to allow the pilot to make sure they are only flying in legal and safe areas. Airports, government facilities, prisons, stadiums, and more are restricted airspace. Invisible to the naked eye, these airspace restrictions can be found on government and drone websites and are often built in to the apps you use to control your drone. A wonderfully implemented example is DJI’s GEO Within the map in their DJI GO app, there are visual indicators of where the “no fly zones” (or NFZs) are. The aircraft itself will either give you warnings or actually stop you from flying in them. You can visit DJI.com for a map with colored NFZs for more info.

2) Join a local drone club. If you are new to drones and like a personal learning experience, a model aircraft club may be a good option for you. The Academy of Model Aeronautics, or AMA, has a tool on their site that gives you a list of clubs and allows you to find the most convenient one for you. These clubs will give you access to other more experienced members with a wide knowledgebase to help you ease into the industry. Most clubs meet at a local public space designated for model aircraft flight. One major benefit comes automatically with membership to the AMA – drone insurance.

3) Get your official drone certification. Last year the FAA developed a certification process (CFR 14 part 107, or just 107 for short) that rapidly sped up the ability for drone pilots to earn money with their aircraft. Even if you aren’t looking to make money, the whole process is a fantastic way of learning about airspace, weather patterns, drone maintenance and more. Visit gov for more info on how to get started. Speaking of the FAA, they also have a great website and app resource called Know Before You Fly.

4) Fly a drone with safety features built in and be sure to learn them. As drones get more and more powerful, with better cameras and longer lasting batteries, so too are the safety features being improved. For example, the DJI Mavic and Phantom 4 Pro both come with stereoscopic obstacle avoidance cameras (the Phantom with 5-way sensors), automatic return-to-home, ground detecting cameras so they don’t land on water accidentally, and more. You can physically make the drones safer with things like propeller guards which DJI just developed for the Mavic as well.

Once these few basics are out of the way, the only thing left to do is get flying practice. The great thing is, unlike years ago where drones needed a ton of manual input to remain stable, today’s drone like the aforementioned DJI Mavic and Phantom 4 Pro practically fly themselves. Anyone can fly safely if they follow recommended procedures and use drones with well known reputations of safety and reliability.

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The biggest problem of Hover Camera?

The Hover Camera is a unique flying cameras, focusing on a durable and portable lightweight design, and ease of use through an iPhone app. But some of the issues with the Passport you also should know before you buy it.

Range: 20 metres.

Flight time: 8 minutes.

But the biggest problem? The Hover Camera does not have a gimbal for stabilization. That means any vibrations from the high-speed rotation of four propellers and motors are going to translate directly into the video. And the results of that – well, they don’t look so great. Tested took a good look at the Hover Camera and its features – and found the video shaky and the tracking inconsistent. It’s worth watching their full review, which includes the positives as well as the downsides.

“With the face-tracking and body tracking, the results are very hit-and-miss, depending largely on your lighting conditions,” says Tested’s Norm Chan at the 6:32 mark.

He later continues: “…It would run past me and get really confused and continue flying. Or, when I tried to do like a walk-and-talk, walking toward it, it would veer off-axis and go off in one direction, then lose tracking, and then crash into a tree or something. Not very impressive.”

Not for $599. And not when you can buy a base DJI Mavic Pro for $999 US that you can control with your phone from up to 80 metres away. That machine has a three-axis gimbal, obstacle avoidance, and multiple smart tracking modes. It’s foldable design is also very compact – and DJI has packed in the cumulative knowledge the global drone leader has acquired during several previous successful generations. Its maximum flight time is 27 minutes.

Reviews of the Mavic Pro are pretty much universally positive – and no one is complaining about shaky video. (YouTube star Casey Neistat calls it “The Greatest Drone Ever.”)

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.

Spring the extra $399…and you’re not just hovering. You’re flying.

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Drone to the Rescue, the platform of choice is…

Locating lost or injured people in hazardous and threatening environments continues to be a challenge for emergency services around the world. Earthquakes, wildfires, landslides, and similar environmental disasters are difficult for ‘on-foot’ personnel to navigate. Deploying helicopters and airplanes in these circumstances can prove costly and dangerous.

A variety of initiatives are taking place worldwide using drone technology to assist in search and rescue efforts. The platform of choice, most often, hails from drone specialists DJI.

For example, the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) has undertaken a year long project using DJI aircraft with the disaster response community, focusing on how drones can be effectively deployed to save lives in emergencies.

Initial data from the project found that the work of a traditional 5-man crew on foot that took 2 hours to complete could be achieved by a drone crew within 20 minutes.

“The project has been a real window into how remotely piloted aircraft systems are being used and may be used during emergency responses,” said Tony O’Brien, of the EENA.

In a separate initiative in the United Kingdom, the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) is using the DJI Inspire 1 to support operations.

“For us, this technology is a game-changer,” said Group Manager Steve McLinden.  The MAWWFRS is a trailblazer in Wales regarding the utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s). They are one of only a few fire services in the UK to be licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority to operate drones professionally.

When the team first received their Inspire 1, Chief Fire Officer Chris Davies remarked, “the additional reconnaissance during search and rescue operations that the UAV provides could also be invaluable in being able to quickly locate any individuals or animals that may be trapped, and subsequently allow us to direct resources to them quickly.”

Although the complete range of DJI aircraft including the Mavic and Phantom 4 Pro can be useful in supporting search and rescue missions, the Inspire 1 including the X3 camera is a particularly popular option. The Inspire 1 is also compatible with the Zenmuse XT thermal camera developed by FLIR.

The XT camera provides high-sensitivity (50mK) thermal imaging at 640/30 fps or 336/30 fps depending on the camera model. This sensitivity provides accurate temperature measurements with clear imagery and 360 degrees of rotational movement. The XT can be controlled completely through the DJI GO app, providing a real-time view of what the camera is capturing and can be put into the air with the Inspire 1 in seconds.

DJI is making exceptional advances in the arena of aerial platforms and the Inspire 1 with Zenmuse XT may soon become the de facto standard for search and rescue missions across the globe as more begin to use the technology.

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Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars test

Test the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars, an agile mini-drone, lightweight, robust, efficient and of excellent quality: the best choice in terms of entry-level drones!

The drones come with the virtual reality the flagship technologies that made the cabbages of the high-tech news in 2016. Indeed, these small autonomous devices (because powered by batteries), allowing to carry out tasks not within the reach of men, with disconcerting ease. On holiday in the Maldives, how to do a close up of the island in height? If renting a helicopter or an airplane is within your reach, at a lower cost, using a drone, shooting at altitude becomes as easy as filing a letter in the mail.

The contents of the box

Once the package of your drone opened you should normally find in the box no less than 7 elements: the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars drone itself, a figurine, a rechargeable and removable 550 mAh battery, a micro-USB / USB cable, Two bulkhead hulls for pairs of propellers, a quick start guide and finally stickers.

These stickers will give a unique look to your drone, to make you stand out during drone racing competitions, if you ever intend to participate.

Parrot Airborne Cargo Mars, zoom on the design of the drone

Launched in 2015, the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars is one of the most complete entry-level drones, combining agility and simplicity of operation for basic options. No need to go to risk to film the flank of an erupting volcano with this drone, it will melt under the heat. However, given its tariff positioning, it is easy to understand what tasks it is dedicated to. Thus, the drone is built on a hard plastic framework, the fundamental base of which is the central block, which embeds the functional circuits and the camera.

Above this control center, four quadrilaterals are grafted, the ends of which carry, on the one hand, the notches for fixing to the central block and, on the other hand, the rotors and blades of the four helices of which the drone is made. Finally, each pair of propellers (right and left) is delimited by a rigid harness, in order to avoid any accident related to the rotation of the said propellers.

The characteristics of the drone

Ultra-light and compact, the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars only displays 63 grams to the scale, for contained dimensions of 180 x 185 x 40 mm. Propelled by 4 relatively powerful engines giving it a autonomy of 9 minutes at full power (18 km / h without the hulls). This is a flash memory of 1 GB, which you can extend by means of a memory card.

The connectivity of your smartphone will be via Bluetooth 4.0, whose maximum range in relation to the Parrot Airborne Cargo Mars is estimated at 20 meters. Various sensors are also included, including a 3-axis gyroscope, a barometer and a 3-axis accelerometer with accuracy of plus or minus 50 meters. All this tackle allows in a record time the drone to make turns at 90 ° and 180 ° and make loopings easily.

As for finally capture the photo or video, it will be done thanks to the mini-camera embedded, capable of filming images in 460 x 640 pixels.

How to fly the Parrot Airborne Cargo Mars?

If you’ve always dreamed of being in the cockpit of a flying aircraft, now is the opportunity for you, with this Parrot Cargo Mars, to realize this one. With the only difference that your cockpit is limited to the screen of your smartphone, and that you carry nothing heavier than 63 grams of material … it is already that.

Thus, the Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars is piloted through an application compatible with iOS and Android. The application offers an interface of the purest and simplistic, highlighting two disks used to control the drone, one for the horizontal direction and the other vertical. This interface is supplemented by two gauges showing the level of charge of the battery of the drone and the duration of the flight already carried out.

The upper part of the interface provides a variety of touch-sensitive buttons, including one for activating the camera, for photo or video capture.

Are you looking for a drone for your first experience with these miniature flying devices? The Parrot Airbone Cargo Mars is quite ready to fulfill this task.

 

 

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