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Multicopter almost hits Marcel Hirscher during slalom race

Multicopter almost hits Marcel Hirscher during slalom race

December 23, 2015 14:00 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

A hefty camera-toting multicopter crashed on the track of the mens slalom race at Madonna di Campiglio – just a few meters behind Austrian athlete Marcel Hirscher.

Rumor has it that the operator of this craft, a professional working for an AV production company hired by Italian TV, tried to steer away from the crowd and thus crashed on the slope.

Needless to say, this is not the news we need right now, and it’s water on the mills of those who want to essentially put and end to the entire hobby, except for small toys lighter than 250 grams. The sad fact is that RC models are sometimes involved in deadly accidents, for example back in 2006 when the hungarian military was suspected to have jammed the 35MHz band, causing the plane of a german pilot flying at a competition to kill two spectators, or like the Swiss accident of 2010, when a scale model of an AT-6 plummeted down on a 45-year old man, also lethally injuring him.

The thing to keep in mind here however is that life is full of risks and one cannot have perfect safety. And if it were true that we ought to do whatever is neccessary to curb any risks, then individuals would not be allowed to drive cars, and there would be no inflatable swimming pools sold in stores. We mitigate these risks by driving carefully and by watching over our kids so they don’t drown. It’s not perfect, but we do get the benefit of individual transportation, water playtime in our own garden, and the joy of RC model flight.

Perhaps flying a large and heavy quadrotor at a big sports event is not the best way to go about this though.

Full video footage of Marcel Hirscher’s run and the crash after the break.

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One Punch Man, Jeremy Clarkson have one thing in common

One Punch Man, Jeremy Clarkson have one thing in common

November 30, 2015 12:28 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

Jeremy Clarkson is now working for Amazon, creating a new show with his unique brand of humor. And when he’s not bashing electric vehicles he’s busy announcing things for his new employer. This time it’s Amazon’s new hybrid delivery drone prototype, which combines VTOL capabilities of multicopters with the long range of winged airframes.

This comes to no surprise for industry experts due to the fact that powered hover flight using a quad rotor system is 10 times less efficient than a single motor pushing a winged aircraft. Thus it makes sense to combine the two in a hybrid approach. This in itself is not new, though it’s the first time we see Amazon go for this approach. Check out the video after the break.

In other news, “One Punch Man” is a japanese anime about a superhero with the unique dilemma that he’s too powerful and thus able to kill any opponent with a single punch. The writers of this manga jumped on the bandwagon, and depict a possible scenario for delivering low-value mail like fan letters. In the anime adaptation, it looks like this:

Now that delivery drones have made it into popular culture, when do you think this or something like it will become the norm?

Minor nitpick: The cargo and main electronics appear to be located forward of the CG, which doesn’t look like an optimal design 😉

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FAA wants registration of all flying things heavier than 250 grams

November 24, 2015 14:48 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

The final report by the Aviation Rulemaking Comittee Taskforce on UAS has been released, and it doesn’t look good.

As previously reported, the ARC recommends not just the central registration of commercial UAS, but actually ALL UAS, including RC models and toys, over a take-off weight of 250 grams. This is in stark contrast to some of the “corrections” issued by non-involved persons and organisations, that registration would not apply to RC models, or only RC models weighing more than 5, 10 or 15 kilograms.

The good news is that the recommendation mentions that high compliance rates can only be achieved with no or a very low fee. Furthermore, the requirement of registration does not give the FAA a free pass on restrictions of operations. However, the minimum age requirement for the owner/pilot is 13 years. Registration is owner-based, so you don’t have to register each and every model you own. If this recommendation comes to pass, you will however be required by law to affix your registration number to the model.

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Awesome photos of the CIA’s animal UAVs from the 1970s

Awesome photos of the CIA’s animal UAVs from the 1970s

May 5, 2015 14:06 | By fpvcentral | 1 Comment

The CIA started building tiny UAVs for intelligence gathering purposes as early as the 1970s, as can be seen on the official CIA Flickr gallery. Yes, they have a Flickr. And for the time period we’re talking about, the robotic fish is already quite advanced: Allowing for remote audio recording and retransmission, this water dweller even features depth control and autonomy, presumably to make it appear like a regular, living fish instead of sitting perfectly still.

Even more astounding is the prototype for a robotic dragonfly which was powered by a tiny gas engine, and was able to carry a microphone and even a laser. However, controlled flight was made difficult by even the slightest of crosswind, and the 60 second flight time further decreased operational feasability. What remains is a peculiar entry in the CIA museum.

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Mysterious drone sightings over Paris

Mysterious drone sightings over Paris

February 25, 2015 14:32 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

For the second night in a row, a number of small UAVs have been sighted over Paris. Police are working to track down whoever is controlling the small unmanned aircraft that have been seen in the vicinity of the Elysee Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Place de Concorde as well as the American Embassy.

Reports indicate that the first drone was operating near the US Embassy, with at least four others popping up at the other mentioned locations. According to the police, it is as of yet unknown whether this was a coordinated action or not, as well as who is behind it.

Needless to say, after the recent terrorist attacks, French police and investigators are on high alert and are “treating this seriously”.

In other news, it’s dumb to fly your multicopter in areas where you simply should not be flying it, which in most countries includes big cities.

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FAA proposes new rules for small UAS

February 15, 2015 18:34 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

The FAA has posted a proposed set of rules for allowing small UAS operation within the US.

Among those rules:

Unmanned aircraft must weigh less than 55 lbs. (25 kg).
First-person view camera cannot satisfy “see-and-avoid” requirement but can be used as long as requirement is satisfied in other ways.
Maximum airspeed of 100 mph (87 knots).
Maximum altitude of 500 feet above ground level.
Minimum weather visibility of 3 miles from control station.

Under the proposed rules, small UAS will require registrations and markings, just like regular airplanes. Operators will also have to…

Obtain an unmanned aircraft operator certificate with a small UAS rating (like existing pilot airman certificates, never expires).
Pass a recurrent aeronautical knowledge test every 24 months.
Be at least 17 years old.
Make available to the FAA, upon request, the small UAS for inspection or testing, and any a ssociated documents/records required to be kept under the proposed rule.
Report an accident to the F AA within 10 days of any operation that results in injury or property damage.
Conduct a preflight inspection, to include specific aircraft and control station systems checks, to ensure the small UAS is safe for operation

These rules do not apply to RC models. However, the FAA is adamant to state that any RC model not flown purely for recreation is to be considered a small UAS.

Full PDF proposal can be found here.

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Phantom flies onto White House lawn

Phantom flies onto White House lawn

January 27, 2015 13:24 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

A quadcopter enthusiast apparently lost control over his DJI Phantom, which proceeded to fly over to the white house and crashed onto the lawn, where it was found and recovered by Secret Service agents.

Folks, there’s two lessons here:

1) Flying any RC craft, regardless of whether you do it for recreation or not, within D.C. is illegal. There’s a 10nm FRZ (Flight Restricted Zone) which prohibits, among other things: balloon operation, model rocketry, model aircraft operations, UAS, test flights, private aircraft operating from a ship or private/corporate yacht, etc.

2) If you own a Phantom or Phantom 2, and you haven’t replaced the compass mounting on your landing struts yet, you risk your quadcopter flying away uncontrollably. This means your quadcopter may start flying into a random direction once you enable position hold or return home modes, with it not obeying any no-fly-zones programmed into the firmware. It will also not obey any user-defined geofencing or range limits.

If your screws or the metal mounting mechanism is magnetizable, you run the risk of compass decalibration, even during flight. If you fail to do this, you run the risk of damaging other people’s property or lives.

In all the Phantoms we examined, the screws were magnetizable and the reason why compass calibration was lost. We recommend you replace them with non-magnetizable screws, for example, brass screws as used by Horizon on their 350QX.

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X-UAV One glider uses new build materials

X-UAV One glider uses new build materials

January 15, 2015 10:34 | By fpvcentral | 1 Comment

X-UAV has a new glider model called ONE intended for UAV/FPV use, which features a new kind of fiber-based material that’s several times stronger and yet lighter than EPO.

This model features a unique propulsion setup with a geared system driving a prop spinning around the tail boom.

It comes standard with a gimbal-ready camera nosecone setup as well as clear side windows for additional visual sensor or camera payloads.

If you’re interested, there’s preorders available for USD $440.- on Banggood as well as USD $392.- on fpvstyle.com

More pictures after the break.

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Walkera H6 actually named “Voyager 3”, only a prototype

Walkera H6 actually named “Voyager 3”, only a prototype

January 7, 2015 14:30 | By fpvcentral | 1 Comment

German IT magazine heise.de reports from CES Las Vegas that the previously teased Walkera H6 was nowhere to be seen at Walkera’s booth – and was shown to them only on their request (German, Google translate).

Photo by heise.de / nij

Photo by heise.de / nij, used with permission

According to Walkera, a communication problem with their american distributor led to the premature announcement, which was planned for end of January this year at the Toy Fare Nuernberg in Germany. Sadly, pricing and features are still secret until then, even though production is slated to begin “soon”.

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Blade 200QX Review

Blade 200QX Review

December 29, 2014 16:32 | By fpvcentral | 1 Comment

The Blade 200QX is Horizon Hobby’s answer to all the cheap chinese miniquads. Lacking GPS-driven flight modes, can it justify the price tag with its performance? Find out in our review after the break.

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X PlusOne kickstarter project – is it a Drone or a Plane?

X PlusOne kickstarter project – is it a Drone or a Plane?

December 28, 2014 12:31 | By Jazzcool | Add a Comment

Is it a drone? Is it a plane? No, it is the X PlusOne, a kickstarter project from team xcraft looking for backers to support the mass production of what seems to be a combination of multirotor agility together with a fixed wing speed and efficiency. Obviously drawing it’s inspiration of google’s project wing, this ariel machine (DronePlane? PlaneDrone?) can do VTOL, reach claimed speeds of 100 KPH and carry ariel photography cameras such as the GoPro and a gimbal. If proper funding goes right for the developers, they would add autonomous capabilities using the popular Pixhawk flight controller (offered by 3D-Robotics).

Want to support this project? Check out the kickstarter page here. Also checkout the video after the break.

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Dronecode: a drone software project by the Linux Foundation

Dronecode: a drone software project by the Linux Foundation

October 13, 2014 11:46 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

The Linux Foundation has launched a new collaborative project called Dronecode, which aims to bring together open source projects and commercial vendors for the development of new open source flight control software for all kinds of civilian UAVs.

So far, so uninteresting. But reading the list of participants shows just how much potential this new initiative has: Among APM-developer 3DRobotics, Yuneec, Baidu and Intel there’s also DroneDeploy, JDrones, Qualcomm and Walkera on board.

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Parrot Bepop is a GPS-enhanced RTF camera quadcopter

Parrot Bepop is a GPS-enhanced RTF camera quadcopter

May 14, 2014 9:18 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

French company Parrot recently announced their latest product, the Bepop Drone. It’s a lightweight quadcopter with a digitally stabilized camera, eschewing mechanical gimbals in order to save weight.

The 14 megapixel camera isn’t the only attraction though, for it boasts a dual-core embedded linux flight controller with 8GB of RAM, Wifi range of up to 300 meters or, with a range extender package, going as far as 2km. Their “SkyController” is basically a tablet dock with sticks, not exactly a brand new idea but definitely executed in an interesting fashion.

Price is said to be above the Parrot.AR, but below the Phantom 2. Watch the official product video after the break, and check out the official website.

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FAA cracks down on UAV demonstration at Kennedy Space Center

FAA cracks down on UAV demonstration at Kennedy Space Center

May 12, 2014 9:10 | By fpvcentral | Add a Comment

It was planned as a rich demonstration of civilian UAV technology, but the FAA once again stepped in and made sure as few people as possible got to see it.

Last Sunday, the Exploration Park of the Kennedy Space Center was abuzz with drones of all types and sizes, thanks to the “Aerospace Research Challenge” hosted by Space Florida. The AUVSI tries to raise awareness about the commercial use of drones and the need for more open regulations. It’s a bitter irony that the very thing they are currently fighting hindered this demonstration: The FAA cracked down on the event, imposing strict rules that basically ensured that the large crowd of interested individuals got very little to see. Observers trying to see the actual flight demonstrations were ushered out by the FAA, for “safety reasons”. And even at a respectable distance observers were asked to leave.

A few TV cameras were allowed to record the actual flights. Each drone had to be controlled by two pilots, both were required to have a full pilots license plus medical flight status certification. The FAA justified their restrictions pointing to recent incidents of careless individuals flying rc models near airports.

Tomorrow, the AUVSI will host the Unmanned Systems 2014 in Orlando, where the topic of current US regulations is going to be a hot topic.

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Blade 350QX Review

Blade 350QX Review

April 13, 2014 13:57 | By fpvcentral | 2 Comments

Finally, we got to play with the 350QX from Horizon Hobby. There’s been plenty of reviews of this little guy, but aside from the usual “flies great” statements in hobby magazines, we wanted to find out how this RTF quadcopter compares against the ilk of a Phantom, Crius, or even a KK2.x. Curious? Read on after the break.

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