Drone 360. Vol.2, Issue 5 (2017) PDF

THE COOLEST NEW DRONES ON EARTH P38
DJI SPARK
FIZZLE OR
TM
www.Drone360mag.com September/October 2017
FLAME? P18
239
WAYS TO
UP YOUR GAME!
> MASTER AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
> LEARN YOUR AIRSPACE ABCs
> PICK THE PERFECT DRONE
> DO A BACKWARD POWER LOOP
... AND TONS MORE TIPS & TRICKS P42
9 WOMEN
EXPLORING VOLCANOES
SHAKING UP THE
WITH DRONES P80 DRONE WORLD P32
& GOTTA-HAVE GOGGLES,

GEAR AND ACCESSORIES P18 From the publishers of Discover
Vol. 2 Issue 5
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drone’s-eye view
THE MIGHTY BLUE

RIVER
Award-winning photographer
Mike Bishop captured the
rugged beauty of this water-
fall in the Canadian Rockies.
With the right setup, you can
capture similarly stunning
colors. Find out how, starting
on Page 42.
4
drone’s-eye view
FANTASTIC VOYAGE
Though it chugs along at
a modest 2 knots, Liquid
Robotics’ Wave Glider can
navigate thousands of nautical
miles and is powered only by
solar and wave energy. Read
about other drones that break
the mold on Page 38.
LIQUID ROBOTICS
drone’s-eye view
NOW YOU SEE IT

The drone’s-eye view reveals
valuable information that
might be impossible to
see from a terrestrial vantage
point. Find out how drones
are changing the game for
mapping and surveying
industries, starting on
Page 74. KARA MURPHY
8
September/October 2017
Vol. 2 Issue 5
18
NEW RACERS,
GOGGLES, SIMULATORS
AND MORE IN REVIEWS
DEPARTMENTS
14 DRONING ON Drones in the news — here’s what you missed.
ON THE COVER
Does the DJI Spark 18 DRONE GEAR The DJI Spark, FatShark Transformer goggles,
live up to its immense Zephyr drone software, and a healthy dose of killer new products.
pre-release hype?
Find out on Page 18.
32 WOMEN TO WATCH These nine women are worth keeping an
eye on as they shape and drive the drone industry. DRONE360 Staff
38 SMARTER, STRONGER, FASTER Who’s scared of the big, bad

drone? Hopefully not you — we’ve rounded up a few. Tim Kidwell
88 UP An aerial hotdog, a spacebound orb, x-ray drones, and the

making of a Drone360 cover. Let’s get weird. Leah Froats
Drone360mag.com
FEATURES
LEVEL UP DATA CRUSH I, DRONE

DRONE360 STAFF STEVE SWEENEY JASON KRAUSE
42 Take your drone skills to the next

level, from flips to photography. 56 What’s the best way to handle
massive amounts of drone data? 62 As artificial intelligence develops,
how do we teach drones to behave?
10 Drone360mag.com
EXTREME DRONING
Will you follow me to the
ends of the Earth? The Airdog
ADII will. It’s a Kickstarter-
funded drone that’s designed
to follow and film you, no
matter where you go — or
what sort of extreme dangers
you choose to face. Check it
out on Page 28. AIRDOG
UAS IN THE UAE CHARTING A COURSE INTO THE PLUME

PATRICK SHERMAN MATT WINDSOR ELISA R. NECKAR
68 The United Arab Emirates’ super-

charged economy embraces drones. 74 Let’s get real — how do drones really
fit into mapping and surveying work? 80 UAVs are an increasingly useful tool
for contemporary volcano research.
September/October 2017 11
editor’s welcome
FLIGHT LESSONS ǰȄȱȱǯȱȃ¢Ȃȱȱ ȱ
ȱĚ ȱ¢ȱęȱȱȱȱȱ ǯȄȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱǯȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱĚǯȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ ǰȱ ȱ ȱǯȱǰȱȱȱȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱǯȱǰȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǯȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǰȱȂȱȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ
ȱȱ ȱ¢ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱ ȱǰȱ ȱ¢Ȃȱ
ǯȱȱ ȱȱȱȱřȬȱȱȯȱ ȱȦȱȱȱ Ȭȱ
ǰȱǰȱȱĴǯȱȱ ȱȱ ȱǰȱȱĚ¢ȱ ȱȱȬ
ȱȱȱȱŚȬȱȱȱ ȱǰȱǰȱȱǯȱ
ĴȱǻȱŘǯś
£ȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱěȱ
Ǽǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ řȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱ ȱȱǯȱ ȱǯȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱ ȱǰȱȱȱĚ ȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȬ
ǻȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱǯȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱ ȱǼǰȱȱȱěǯȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢ǯȱ
ȱǰȱȱȱȱęȱ ȱȱǻȱŚŘǼȱȱǯȱ ǰȱȱ ȱ£ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱǯȱȱȱ ȱȱ ¢ȱ¢ȱȱ Ȭȱ ȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱǰȱȱȂȱ
ȱȱȱȱǱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱǰȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ¢ǯȱȱ
ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ǰȱȱǯȱ¢ȱȂȱ
ǯȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱǯȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱǯȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǯȱ ȱȱǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱ ǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱ¢ȱǰȱȱȱ ¡ǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱǰȱ
ȱǯȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱǯȱȱȱ ¢ȱǯȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ ǯȱȃȱȱ ȱȱȱ£ȱǰȱ
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droning on
Applicants for Part 107 waivers now have a little more information to go off of while anticipating when they may hear back from the FAA.
FOIA REQUEST REVEALS TRENDS

IN PART 107 WAIVER DENIALS
WHEN THE FAA ANNOUNCED ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȃĴȄȱȱ the operation of drones over
its Part 107 framework for database of all approved Part 107 waivers for the average people. Understandably, this
commercial drone operation, 107 waivers. While useful, the commercial operator. is a highly coveted operational
many drone users immedi- database doesn’t include the But despite online commu- waiver for many commercial
ately embraced the changes. denied waivers — providing ¢ȱěȱȱȱ- drone operators.
One of the perks of Part 107 is an incomplete picture of the ful boilerplate application Waivers for operations over
ȱĚ¡¢ȱȱ ȱȱ current Part 107 landscape. templates for night waivers, people also have an abysmally
waiver applications. Various Here’s a breakdown of our the denials show that many low chance of being approved.
operational restrictions can ęǰȱ£ȱ¢ȱ Ȭ commercial drone users still Only four have been approved
ȱ ǰȱȱĚ¢ȱ related topics: struggle to receive a waiver for — which means, based on the
ȱȱǰȱĚ¢ȱ night operations. 510 denials, that you have a
¡ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ MOST POPULAR roughly 0.8% chance of having
of sight (EVLOS and BLVOS), ȱȱȱȱȱ MOST AND LEAST LIKELY your application approved.
ȱĚ¢ȱȱǯȱ Ȃȱȱ ȱȱ While night waivers are ȱ¡¢ȱ ȱ-
Drone360ȱęȱȱȱ for the commercial operation overwhelmingly the most proval rate for operations over
ȱȱȱȱȱ of drones after civil twilight. frequently applied for Part 107 ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
access a sampling of denied Nearly 90% of approved waiver, much of that demand quite wary to allow com-
Part 107 waiver applications. ȱȱȱȱĚǯȱ is likely driven by the fact that ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ
We received 1,656 unique Waiver applications for night waivers are approved people — which doesn’t bode
ȱǰȱĴȱȱ night operations are a major roughly half of the time. This well for the long-awaited
the span of 247 days (that’s portion of the denials as well: makes night waivers the most Notice of Proposed Rule-
roughly 7 applications a day). 63% of denied applications likely waiver application to be making on the same subject.
Now that the program is more included a request to operate ȱ¢ȱȱǯȱ Despite some promising
than a year old, there are clear at night. The second most applied ǰȱȱȱȱ ȱ
trends determining the fate of This particular operational for waiver, with 510 applica- ȱĚȱȱȱȱ
most waiver applications. requirement is considered one tions in our sampling, was too risky.
14 Drone360mag.com
REASONS FOR DENIAL DJI’s PR provided the
In our data, the FAA only same statement to both sUAS
presents two rationales for News and The Guardian: “We
Part 107 waiver denials: are surprised and disappointed
“incomplete information” to read reports of the U.S.
ȱȃĜȱ¢ȱǯȄȱ Army’s unprompted restriction
ȱȱ¢¢ȱ on DJI drones as we were not
receive more detailed denial consulted during their decision.
Ĵǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ We are happy to work directly
ȱ£ȱǯȱ with any organization, including
According to the FAA, 4.8% the U.S. Army, that has con-
of waiver applications are de- cerns about our management of
ȱȱȱȱĜȱ cyber issues.”
safety case. The other 95.2% DJI also noted it would be
are denied due to incomplete reaching out to the U.S. Army
information in the application. to confirm the contents of the
ȱǰȱȱȱȱ
that in the process of review-
U.S. ARMY DISCONTINUES memo and clarify the meaning
of the phrase “cyber vulnerabili-
ing Part 107 waivers, it had USE OF DJI DRONES ties.” The U.S. Army’s public
“found that many applications relations could not comment
have incorrect or incomplete IN AN ARMY memorandum is concerned about the “in- on the memo, but did “confirm
information.” In the months dated August 2, Lt. Gen. creased awareness of cyber that guidance was issued.”
since, it appears as though an Joseph Anderson called for the vulnerabilities associated with This is not the first time the
overwhelming amount of ap- U.S. Army to immediately cease DJI products.” U.S. military was wary about
plications still lack the requi- all use of DJI drones, as well as Indeed, the weeks before the the threat of small consumer
site information for approval. “uninstall all DJI applications, memo’s release were difficult drones. In April, the FAA
remove all batteries/storage for DJI, as increasing numbers implemented additional flight
PROCESSING TIMES media from devices, and of DJI operators were finding restrictions over 133 U.S.
Commercial drone opera- secure equipment for follow ways through backdoors in military bases. And as weapon-
tors familiar with the waiver on direction.” the company’s code. These ized consumer drones play an
process are also familiar with The memo, acquired by hacks were primarily attempts to ever-increasing role in combat,
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PIXABAY/EDAR, DREW HALVERSON, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN/HARLEY ELLIS DEVERAUX
the long wait times to hear drone news blog sUAS News, circumvent the company’s strict it’s important to ensure those
ȱȱȱǯȱ indicates that the U.S. Army geofencing restrictions. drones are secure.
Based on our sampling,
average wait times vary
ȱȱȱ ȱǰȱ
with some dramatic outliers. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PLANS DRONE COMPLEX
One night waiver request was
processed in only two weeks. ON JULY 28, the University of Michigan ȱȱ¢ȱȃȱȱ ȱ-
For more complex waivers announced plans to construct “M-Air,” ware that’s not necessarily going to work the
or applications with more than ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ęǰȱǰȱǰȱȱȱȱȱǯȄ
one waiver request, processing development of experimental autonomous According to a University of Michigan
can easily take three months or aerial vehicles. ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
more. One multiple-waiver ȱȱȱȱȱȬȱȱȱȱȱȱȬ¢ȱĴȱ ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ
application took the FAA complex — perfect for testing drones without year. The M-Air facility, which will feature
nearly nine months to deny. the FAA imposing its restrictions on opera- 50-foot ceilings and 9,600 gross square feet,
Nearly half of the denied tions in the NAS. will cost the university an estimated $800,000.
applications in our sampling “M-Air will allow us to push the edge
were multi-waiver requests. of our algorithms and equipment in a safe
This suggests that in order to way, where the worst that can happen is it
hasten the processing time falls from the sky,” said Ella Atkins, profes-
and improve chances of FAA sor of aerospace engineering, on the school’s
ǰȱȂȱȱȱȱ ǯȱȃȱȱ¢ǰȱ ȱȱȱ
waivers individually. ȱȱȱȱĚȱ
Ǳȱȱęȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱĚ¢Ȭ ¢ȱȱ
representative only of the loss-of-control—and in realistic wind, lighting
denied waivers provided and sensor conditions.”
to Drone360. A complete Atkins goes on to explain that the M-Air
sampling of Part 107 deni- ȱ ȱȱȱěȱȱȱ¢ȱ
ȱ ȱȱȱęȱ experiment with drone technologies, consid-
slightly — all statistics are ȱȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱ
meant to provide a general ¢ȱȱ ȱȱęȱȱȱ Students and faculty at the University of Michigan
sense of the waiver process. ȱ¢ǯȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ¢ȱ will soon be able to fly drones in the M-Air.
droning on
CNN RECEIVES FIRST-EVER PART 107
CLOSED-SET OPERATIONS WAIVER
ȱȱȱȱęȱȱŗŖŝȱ ȱ ȃȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȬȱȱȱ ȱǰȱ ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ ȱ
ȱȱǰȱȂȱȱȱęȱ¡Ȭ ǰȄȱ ȱǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱĚǯȱȱȱȂȱ ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱ ǰȱȱȱřřřȱ ȱǰȱȱȱȱ¢ǯȱȃȱȱȱ
ǰȱśşŖȱȱǻȱǼȱ ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȯȱ
ȱȱȬȱ¡ǯȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱ¢ǰȱȱȱ¢ȱ ǰȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȄȱ
ȱȱřřřȱ¡ȱȱ ¢ǰȱȱěȱȱȱěǯȱ
ȬȱȱȱǯȱȂȱ ȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȃęȬȄȱ
ȱȱŗŖŝȱ ȱěȱ ȱ ȱŗŖŝȱ ǰȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱȬ
ȱȱ ȱǰȱęǰȱ ȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱ¡ȱ
CNN (LEFT), PIXABAY/SKEEZE

CNN ANNOUNCEDȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱǰȱȱǰȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ ȃȱȱȱȱȱȱȬ
ȱȱęȬȱȱŗŖŝȱ ȱ ȱ ȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ ȱ ȱȂȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȬ ęȱ¢ȱȱȱŗŖŝǰȄȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ ¢Ȃȱęȱǰȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱǯȱȃȱȱȬ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱŗŖŝȱ ȱȱȱȬȬȱĚȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ ȱ ȱȱ
ǰȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȯȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ Ȭ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱȬ ȱȱęǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱǯȱ ȱȱȱȱǯȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱǯȄȱ
INSTANT AIRSPACE AUTHORIZATIONS TO HAPPEN AT 50 U.S. AIRPORTS
LAST MONTH, the FAA, AirMap, AirMap cofounder Gregory automated authorization to fly in the development of a more
and a number of other col- McNeal announced in July that in controlled airspace, rather flexible, responsive system of
laborators revealed their new 50 airports will in fact receive than enduring months-long wait airspace authorizations.
Low-Altitude Authorization and the automated LAANC ap- times,” said McNeal in a post McNeal and the FAA both
Notification Capability (LAANC) proval system by this fall. “Drone on Forbes.com. anticipate that the rest of the
that enables instant airspace operators in Cincinnati, Miami, While many of the airports are country’s airports will begin
authorizations. The anticipated and Phoenix rejoice: You will relatively small, the announce- integrating and using the system
roll-out date is slated for this fall. be among the first to receive ment is an exciting step forward in early 2018.
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drone gear
DJI
SPARK
NEW TECHNOLOGY is difficult. And
for most people, consumer drones are a
very new technology.
To go from being a difficult, new technol-
ogy to mass consumer product is a challenge
relatively affordable. The Yuneec Breeze
led the way in this arena, but competitors
quickly began to hit the market. The Spark
is DJI’s first foray into this particular class of
consumer drones.
ance, a tiny airframe, and some flashy new
color schemes.
But is it really as simple, streamlined, and
easy as it seems?
that drone makers are racing to meet. Undeni- Based on DJI’s marketing of the Spark, BEFORE YOU FLY
ably, creating a drone that anyone can fly the company wants this quad to be a drone The basic Spark drone package costs
looms large over many drone manufacturers. for pretty much everyone. And the Spark’s $499, which includes six propellers, one
Hence the recent popularity of personal unique features definitely make it seem like a battery and its charger, a micro USB cord,
or “selfie” drones — small, easy-to-use, and contender: gesture control, obstacle avoid- 16 GB microSD, and a storage box.
18 Drone360mag.com
THIS MONTH’S GEAR
DJI Spark (Page 18)
Zephyr Simulator (Page 24)
Transformer HD Goggles
(Page 25)
New gear roundup (Page 28)
For $200 more, you can get the Fly guards and battery-charging hub with three light (10.6 ounces, to be precise), yet still
More Package, which includes the Spark, included batteries. feels sturdy and durable. The fact DJI
two batteries and a charger, a controller, The Spark is available in five colors: packed so many features into such a small
eight propellers, a micro USB, storage box, Alpine White, Sky Blue, Meadow Green, Lava form factor is nothing short of amazing, re-
DREW HALVERSON
shoulder bag, propeller guards, and battery- Red, and Sunrise Yellow. We received the gardless of your thoughts on “selfie” drones.
charging hub. Lava Red Spark, which was almost precisely And while we’re on the topic of design, I
The Spark we received for review was the same shade of red as the Drone360 logo. was surprised by the design of DJI’s propeller
somewhere between these two options — How fortuitous! guards, which I have not used before. The
we didn’t receive a controller (much to my Opening up the box, I was shocked by Spark’s guards are similar to the DJI Mavic’s,
disappointment), but did receive the prop how small the Spark truly is. It’s tiny and both with a sturdy and satisfying latch mech-
drone gear
anism to attach them to the Spark is a drone focused primar- take them off on about one
arms of the drone. This design is ily on photography — it shoots for the facial out of three
much more reliable than clip-on 12 megapixel stills and 1080p recognition attempts. When
guards, which are prone to pop- video. We’ll get into that a little feature to work. the wave works,
ping off. Some Spark users have more later. Be on alert, though, the Spark flies up and
DREW HALVERSON (3), OPPOSITE:LEAH FROATS (TOP) HALVERSON (BOTTOM)

complained that the guards are a because sometimes it away to a perfect distance
little cumbersome to remove for INTO THE BLUE doesn’t successfully fly straight for tracking shots. At this point,
transporting the drone, but I just The first functions I tested up. On a couple of occasions, you can walk or run or skip and
transported it with the guards were, of course, palm takeoff the Spark lazily tumbled from the drone will follow you.
attached. and gesture control. While hold- my palm on takeoff, getting un- Other than the gesture
The main feature that sets ing the Spark flat on your palm, comfortably close to my fingers. controls, you can also use the
the Spark apart from its com- tapping its power button twice After palm takeoff, the Spark DJI Go app to control the Spark,
petitors is its gimbal — other will trigger a face-scanning func- will automatically fly in gesture using digital “sticks” on the
mid-range “selfie” consumer tion. This is a little tricky, as you mode. At this point, you can touchscreen interface. In my
drones use digital image stabi- have to tap the button with your stick out your palm and have the opinion, controlling a drone
lization, resulting in oc- index or middle finger Spark follow your hand’s move- this way is never satisfying or
casionally shaky video while the drone ments. I was pretty skeptical precise, but it allows you much
footage. Despite rests in your about how well this would work, more control than flying gesture
the Spark’s com- palm. but was pleasantly surprised that mode. You can also work more
pact airframe Once the it was fairly hard to mess up. As closely with photo settings within
and extremely drone has long as you keep your move- the app — I used the gesture
light weight, it recognized ments fluid, the Spark tracks control to impress some friends,
still captures your face, it your palm with ease. but that was pretty much it.
clear, stable will take off. Beyond palm control, though, Flying with the app is,
video. If you wear the other gesture controls were comparatively, a much better
Which is glasses, you a little spotty. Waving to send all-around experience, especially
good, since the may have to the drone up and away worked if you’ve used DJI products and
20 Drone360mag.com
Having a tiny, stable, capable camera drone at your disposal enables you to fly in places you wouldn’t normally try. I felt comfortable flying the
Spark in my urban neighborhood’s playground, in a local cemetary, and through tiny gaps in trees. And it never hurts to snap a quick selfie!
the DJI Go app before. is terrifying. The second time I

However, flying with the app lost connection with the Spark, DJI SPARK
is far from perfect. The Wi-Fi I was standing only 5 feet away
connection that binds the Spark from the drone. After that, I did SYSTEM SPECS DRAWBACKS
to your mobile device is not the not feel comfortable flying the
strongest, so you need to keep Spark more than 50 feet away. Available: dji.com/spark Wi-Fi connectivity occasionally
an eye on the signal strength A quick Google search re- disconnects
and fly the drone pretty close to vealed that I was not alone in my Camera resolution: 12 mega-
you. I had the connection flicker connectivity struggles. It’s hard pixel stills and 1080p video Awkward palm take-off and
when flying a few times, and had to admit, but I was pretty disap- landings
it fully disconnect twice — which pointed by this failure. But to be Top speed: 31 mph
PRICE COMPARISON
Estimated battery life: 10-12
minutes ZeroTech Dobby $349.00
HIGHLIGHTS Yuneec Breeze 4K $374.99
Light weight (10.6 ounces or DJI Spark: $499

300 grams)
DJI Spark Fly More Combo:
Gesture-controlled flight mode $699
Obstacle avoidance DJI Mavic Pro: $999.00
Two-axis gimbal DJI Mavic Fly More Combo:

The Spark’s palm control works well, and looks damn cool. In terms $1,299
of the function’s usefulness, though — that may be another story.
MISSED CONNECTIONS
DJI SPARK
BATTERY
A tiny drone calls for a tiny battery! It’s amazing that a battery this
small is able to provide 10 minutes of flight time.
Just because I think it’s tell- was fine, considering it only

ing of my challenges with the needed to travel a few feet to
Spark’s Wi-Fi connection and its takeoff point.
because it shows that no one’s Now, the Spark hovered a
immune to such issues, I’ll foot above the ground, but did
retell the story of my scariest not land. At this point, I felt
drone moment. as though intervention was
Drone360’s chief designer, necessary. The app had not
Drew, and I were at the shore reconnected, and it was pretty
of Lake Michigan flying the clear the Spark wasn’t going MICRO USB
Spark for the cover photo to make any more moves on AND SD CARD
shoot for this issue of the its own. SLOTS
magazine. These shoots are Drew and I went in for the
usually pretty straightforward kill. He carefully reached in This sleek little compartment is where you’ll find your SD card slot and
in terms of drone opera- and held onto the tiny space the micro USB port. Just pop it open or closed. Very neat and tidy!
tion — for the most part, you of the Spark’s body
just kind of hover and let the that his hand could grip, and
photographer snap away. I reached under to pull on the
This was precisely the drone’s battery. I would never
scene as I hovered the Spark advise this type of maneuver
about 5 or 6 feet above some to anyone, but I was more
rocks on the shore of the lake. willing to risk our fingers
Drew was snapping photos of than the hide of some
the drone as I looked down at innocent passerby.
my screen to find my FPV feed Luckily, we were able to 2-AXIS
blacked out and my drone remove the battery without GIMBAL
disconnected. incident. I restarted the
I told Drew immediately, Spark, checked through all
and we both stood there, a its settings and warnings, and
little befuddled as to our next decided it was still safe to fly The 2-axis gimbal is one of the biggest developments here — video
move. The Spark hovered — as long as we were careful from the Spark is not only beautiful, it’s also remarkably stable.
right in front of us at a totally to stay away from people.
safe height and distance, but We continued our flights and fair, DJI has covered its safety charger.
we had no way to control or killed all three batteries with bases pretty effectively — the But that’s not all, folks —
land it. Not to mention the no further incidents. Spark did automatically returned the Spark also has obstacle
fact that we were on one of Later, upon researching to its home point each time it avoidance technology, which is
Milwaukee’s most popular others’ reviews of the Spark, lost connectivity. almost unheard of for a drone of
beaches with plenty of curious I learned that if the drone is While DJI says the Spark this size. The Spark uses ultra-
bystanders passing by. rotated 90 degrees while the can fly for up to 16 minutes, it sonic and vision sensors on its
As we stood, the Spark motor is spinning, it’ll cut clocks in closer to 10 to 12 min- bottom and a forward-facing 3D
DREW HALVERSON (2)
began a slow and straight the power. utes before you should bring it in sensing system, enabling stable
trajectory back to where it This is a tip I would highly for a low-battery landing. Which, indoor and outdoor flight as well
had taken off. I was worried it recommend any Spark owner to be clear, is still really good for as reliable obstacle detection
would zoom up to its pre-set be familiar with — pulling the size of this drone. And while and avoidance. This is a wonder-
RTH altitude, but for some the battery is definitely not an the battery can be swapped out, ful feature that worked quite well
reason, it didn’t — which easy or safe task. — L.F. the Spark can also be charged around a variety of environments
with a standard micro-USB and obstacles.
22 Drone360mag.com
FINAL THOUGHTS
I was excited for the Spark.
And in many ways, the Spark
was everything I hoped for. But
for those who may not know the
limitations of drones, the Spark
may be a little disappointing —
and a little unsafe.
In my eyes, the margin of
error for a drone’s functions has
to be miniscule, if not nonexis-
tent. But with the Spark, I felt as
though many of its features were
a gamble. Will it take off from
and land in my palm properly?
Will I lose connection if I fly over
that water? And if I do lose con-
nection, will it come back?
For those reasons, I think
the Spark’s Fly More package
is the most viable option for
the average flier. I’m also of the
opinion that the Spark’s control-
ler and propeller guards are not
really optional — they’re vital
if you want to be able to fly the
drone confidently and safely.
Otherwise, you may experience
the same kind of connection
troubles that I and others
faced. And if (or when) that
drone loses connection,
you’re going to want to
guard those propellers.
At that point, you’re drop-
ping $699 on the Spark. For just
$300 more, you could purchase
the DJI Mavic, which is a far
more advanced and capable
drone. If $300 is a make-it-or-
break-it difference for you, then
the Spark is still a good option.
“IN MANY WAYS,

But as someone who has flown
both the Spark and Mavic, I’d
say spending a little more dough
is worth the splurge.
THE SPARK WAS

The Spark is just not per-
fect yet. In addition to its not
insignificant connectivity issues,
its small size makes it shaky in
moderate winds, it doesn’t have
EVERYTHING
legs to help it land in difficult
terrain, and its flight range is
severely limited.
If you’re looking for a drone
I HOPED FOR.”
that takes high quality photos
at a pretty low price point, the
Spark is, for now, impossible to
beat. But if you’re willing to drop
$700, I’d advise saving for a
little longer and treating your-
self to the slightly more reliable
Mavic Pro. — Leah Froats
drone gear
ZEPHYR DRONE SIMULATOR

MOST FLIGHT simulators let website. Individual licenses couple of basic gestures with the troubling that if I went too far off
you do almost anything you want cost $139.99 for a license and sticks to calibrate the software. course or got lost in the sce-
with a drone. Open the software, controller, or $109.99 for just Then simply push up on the left nario, it was difficult to navi-
plug in a controller, and you the software and a USB adapter, stick, and the drone will take off. gate back to the starting point.
can fly as crazily as you want, for those who have a control- You fly the drone around the However, you can always restart
without worrying about those ler already. The company offers screen while watching an FPV the scenario from a menu in the
pesky FAA regulations or basic discounts if you buy multiple view in a small window in the upper right corner, and I suppose
safety considerations. licenses for flight school training. lower right corner. I did find it that in a classroom environment,
Zephyr, a drone training If you need a controller,
simulator by Little Arms Studios, you can choose from either
is not like that. This software is the FlySky FS-i6s controller, a ZEPHYR DRONE SIMULATOR
designed to be a training tool, simpler transmitter similar to
and scores your flying depend- those used for DJI Phantoms, SYSTEM SPECS Scoring system tells you how
ing on how well you can fly while or the FlySky FS-T6, a more well you’re flying
obeying basic safety rules. You advanced, programmable option. Available: zephyr-sim.com
can buy an individual license and Both controllers are around Reports track your progress
use it as a personal training tool, a $60 value. I used the USB Operating System: Windows 7
but the software is designed first adapter provided by the com- or higher / Mac OS X 10.8 or Controls feel like the real deal
and foremost for drone schools pany and plugged a Futaba T6K higher
and commercial drone pilots. controller into my laptop, which Warnings let you know if you
The program comes standard worked with no setup required. CPU: Intel Core i5 @ 3.6 GHz are not flying safely
with more than 40 training or equivalent
scenarios, ranging from free INTO THE BLUE PRICING
flight to complex flight training Getting into the virtual blue Hard drive: 2 GB available in
exercises. The software will not is easy — pick your drone, hard disk $139.99 with FlySky
only help you get a hang of the select a training scenario, test FS-i6s – similar to DJI
basics of flying, but will also your controller, and then lift off. Graphics hardware: Direct Phantom controllers, or FlySky
test your ability to fly safely. For After downloading the soft- X 9.3 or higher compatible FS-T6 – a programmable,
example, during each scenario, a ware, I could choose from the graphics card commercial-grade controller
red warning appears if you fly too DJI Phantom 3, Inspire 1, and
high, behind an obstruction, or Mavic, as well as the 3DR Solo, HIGHLIGHTS $109.99 with USB adapter
into restricted airspace. Syma X5C, Autel X-Star, and for users who want to use
Parrot Bebop. I was able to get 40+ training scenarios to their own controller
BEFORE FLYING up in the air immediately, with choose from
To start, I downloaded the no tuning or adjusting. To start,
software from the company’s you are prompted to perform a
24 Drone360mag.com
an instructor will be available to
help you out. One nice feature is
that you can change the scenario
settings at any time.
FATSHARK
Within each scenario, you can
choose to turn wind and other
weather conditions on or off.
The objectives are displayed in
TRANSFORMER HD
advance of the mission launch,
and when you are in the middle
of a mission, the objectives are
always displayed at the top left
of the screen. The scenarios
GOGGLES
include floating targets that you
must navigate or fly through in
order to complete the training
mission, but I wasn’t always
clear how to approach the targets
in order to complete the mission.
The handling is realistic and
forces you to compensate for
wind, weather, and visibility, just
like in the real world — or just
turn them off, as we all wish we
could in real life.
The mission summary appears
at the end of each scenario,
providing a grade along with
statistics from that mission (time
duration, crashes, max altitude,
etc.). You will be graded down for
violating basic safety rules, and
can create a report card of all
your past scores as well.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While the software still has
fun, video game-like qualities,
this is a training tool. The makers
say they are developing modules
for industry verticals like infra- I’VE BEEN FLYING with not reached. For the experi- downside I’ve found with these
structure inspection, mapping, FatShark’s HD V2 goggles for enced pilot, you may find your- goggles is that they have less
or search and rescue. the better part of two years, and self “searching” with your eyes pixel fill than the micro-displays
Currently, Zephyr is focused they have been the perfect FPV while flying due to the unusually that FatShark traditionally uses,
on helping pilots build and goggles for me. Then I got large field of view. If you’re a meaning you’ll see the pixels on
maintain their core flight skills, my hands on the FatShark new pilot, you’re in for a treat as this display a bit more.
and the company says it will Transformer HD. I’ve shared you are totally immersed in your
update the training to match any them with other drone racing flying environment. BIGGER IS BETTER
changes to FAA safety rules. pilots for several months, and At half the cost of my HD The new FatShark HD
If you are a flight instructor, they all agree: You haven’t expe- V2s, I’m absolutely stunned Transformers break the mold
ZEPHYR (LEFT), ZOE STUMBAUGH (RIGHT)
Zephyr would make a useful tool rienced FPV until you’ve tried it by the high quality of the with a single modular display
for offering basic flight instruc- with a pair of FatShark Transformer’s user experience screen that can be used with or
tion and drilling students on HD Goggles. and have found myself without the headset instead of
basic drone safety. I can also The field of torn between my the usual, built-in Micro Display
see this being a useful tool for view on these love for my trusty technology. This gives you more
commercial pilots who want to goggles is old goggles display options than before, but
keep up their skills and training amazing. At (with up- means the entire setup is two
during times when they can’t 55 degrees, graded 5.8ghz to three times the size of my
spend a lot of time in the air, they reach modules and HD v2s. While larger, they are
especially if you live somewhere a range of antenna) com- actually more comfortable and
where cold temperatures will immersion pared to this balanced by virtue of having the
keep you indoors and off the that other $250 solution. battery secured on the back of
sticks. — Jason Krause goggles have Really, the only the head, which creates a nice
drone gear
counterweight and a more com- lenses, one for each eye — find an optical sweet spot that feel of these goggles. Having
fortable experience. In addition, much like traditional micro made the screen clear to view used them for a good 50-plus
the fit of these goggles is amaz- display goggles. There is also a from edge to edge — which can batteries, I’ve fallen in love with
ing, with soft foam surrounding Full Panel Viewer with a single be hard to find with some Micro them for the wider field of view,
the goggles’ facial interface, very Fresnel lens that allows both Display goggles. No longer do especially when flying with a
much like a ski mask. eyes to focus on the display. This I have to tell people to “try out wide FOV camera lens. Together,
These goggles are more like is going to be better for people other people’s goggles until you they make for quite an immersive
an Oculus Rift headset than a who wear glasses in their every- find one that your eyes like.” I experience. However, it can take
traditional set of FPV goggles, day life. On top of all of that, you can just tell them to get some getting used to such
making it extremely hard to com- can pop the display off from the a pair of FatShark a wide field of view
pare them directly to anything goggles and use it as a stand- Transformer HDs that extends out
else on the market. The hardware alone monitor, giving you display and adjust the into your periph-
actually comes in two pieces — options that other goggles don’t. screen until ery.
the Transformer headset and the they find The display
HD monitor, which you snap into DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? their sweet is a Swiss-
the headset and lock into place. One of the biggest advantages spot. army knife of
The goggles come in two of the goggles is the optics and I am features, with
variants: binocular and full adjustments. After handing these absolutely an HDMI input
panel. The binocular attachment goggles to over 20 different amazed by and 2D and 3D
divides the display into two people, each person was able to the quality and FAT SHARK TRANSFORMER splitting, meaning
720P DISPLAY
26 Drone360mag.com
FIELD OF VIEW (FOV)
25° - TELEPORTER V5
30° - DOMINATOR V3
32° - ATTITUDE V3
50° - HD2 It looks like an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, but with its super-wide field of view, the Transformer HD
immerses you in the reality of FPV racing. You see what the drone sees in high deinition.
you can also use the goggles as DVR, a built-in fan for cooling on
a monitor to watch all kinds of hot days, a higher pixel density FATSHARK TRANSFORMER HD
video, including 3D movies. screen, and a slightly wider field
of view. SYSTEM SPECS HIGHLIGHTS
COMING IN LOUD AND CLEAR I know, it already has one of
Above anything else, I have to the largest fields of view on the Available: fatshark.com Wider field of view for more
brag about the 5.8ghz receiver. market, but a pilot can dream, immersive experience
With built-in diversity, these right? While these small wish-list Field of view: 55°
goggles allow you to use up to items would be nice, the most Bigger headset, but fits
two antennas — one of them important missing feature is Adjustable interpupilary comfortably
directional for longer ranges, and DVR. I mean, even some of the distance (IPD) (55 – 76mm)
the other an omni-slot for all- cheapest goggles have a DVR Great reception
around video. The sensitivity and built in these days, so it’s a bit Access panel can also be
tuning of the receiver in these of a sacrilege that you’ll need a opened to change the video Built in diversity allows you to
goggles is great. separate device to record your display monitor use up to two antennas
Whenever another pilot flight footage while using the
complained about bad video, I Transformer. Built-in battery on the back DRAWBACKS
would lend them these goggles FatShark’s HD Transformers balances the weight
and they’d be amazed at the dif- are close to being the perfect Lacks DVR output
ference in signal quality. As the set of goggles I have found in a 720p HD LCD display
great RF technician and antenna long time. Even without a proper, PRICE
inventor C. Alex Greve, better built-in DVR output option, they High luminosity (400 cd/m2)
ZOE STUMBAUGH (4)
known as IBCrazy says, video are absolutely amazing and a Transformer Headset:
quality is 90 percent of what you great shake-up from FatShark’s Supports a variety of high- $49.99
should look for in your receiv- current goggle offerings. If definition displays
ing hardware, and these goggles you’re in the market for a new HD Diversity Monitor:
have it. pair, definitely take a look at the 5G8 32-channel antenna $199.99
I’d love to see the next ver- Transformer HD. diversity receiver
sion of these goggles offer a — Zoe Stumbaugh
drone gear
AIRDOG ADII
BATTERY
AND BLADES
(NOT ACTUAL SIZE)
AIRLEASH
TRACKER
AIRDOG, a drone-maker that began its life as a Kickstarter cam-

paign for the original AirDog, is back with its second “self-flying
action sports drone.” The ADII drone is, like its predecessor, paired
with the AirLeash, a wearable, waterproof controller that allows the
drone to follow whoever is wearing the device. The AirLeash works GOPRO CAMERA
whether the subject is walking, running, or shooting down a ski hill. REQUIRED
The onboard ground collision avoidance system will keep you and the
drone safe, no matter what sort of extreme sport you’re engaged in.
Look for a full review in the next issue of Drone360.
HIGHLIGHTS
Max speed: 40 mph
Flight time: 18 minutes
Price: $1,500 ($1,099 for Kickstarter preorders) PHANTOM X4
CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT: HITEC, AIRGDOG (4), HORIZON HOBBY (2), HOBBICO
THE HITEC PHANTOM X4 charger
is a four-channel battery charger
designed exclusively for DJI Phantom
3 and Phantom 4 batteries (although
charging Phantom 4 batteries requires
a separate adapter). This charger is
capable of charging, storing, and deep
cycling four batteries simultaneously.
The side panel also has two USB ports

to charge a phone or tablet and two DC
outputs to charge Phantom transmitters.
The batteries drop into the four charg-
ing positions, and the setup comes with
adapters for DJI flight controllers, a USB
attachment, and power cord for plugging
the whole charger into the wall.
HIGHLIGHTS
Price: $224.99
Charges phones, too!
28 Drone360mag.com
FUTABA T16SZ from Hobbico
UNLIKE MOST controllers, the new Futaba 16SZ has a 4.3” LCD
touchscreen, which means you can easily program and tune the
device with the touch of your finger.
If you have a fleet of drones, the radio system can handle any popular
protocol: FASSTest, FASST, S-FHSS, and T-FHSS. It also has a high-
voltage S.Bus2 receiver and 30-model memory so you can get almost
any drone or RC plane up in the air.
HIGHLIGHTS
2.4GHz system
4.3-inch LCD touch screen
30-model memory
Price: $699.99
SPEKTRUM FOCAL DVR FPV HEADSET

WHEN ROSS KERKER reviewed the FatShark Focal
V2 headset in the May/June issue of Drone360, his one
complaint was that it had no DVR to record your FPV racing
video. Well, the new Spektrum Focal DVR FPV, as the name
describes, features the capability to record your feed direct-
ly from the headset. The headset has 640 x 480 optics and
offers an aspect ratio from 16:9 to a 4:3 — aspect ratios
not available on any other FatShark headset. It also operates
with the new 1800mah LiPo battery, which is rechargeable
with a Micro USB connector.
HIGHLIGHTS
32-degree field of view
Wireless head tracking and channel selection
5.8GHz video receiver with integrated LED screen
Price: $369.99
BLADE UM F-27 FPV BNF

THE LIMITED EDITION Blade Stealth
Conspiracy is a freestyle- and race-ready
quadcopter with everything you need to fly out
of the box. An upgraded version of Blade’s more
standard Conspiracy model, the Stealth features a
4mm thick carbon-fiber main frame and the three
progressive flight modes for pilots of varying levels
of experience.
HIGHLIGHTS
Motors: Thrust 2206-2450Kv motors
ESCs: 30A
Controller: Spektrum 200mW Video Transmitter
Carbon fiber frame
Camera: 700 TVL
Price: $379.99
drone gear
LAPRF PERSONAL RACE TIMING SYSTEM
RACING DRONES are a little difficult to keep track of while racing,
so how do you know of who is winning and who is losing? Most races
rely on lap counter transponders, which you have to install on your
drone to track every time it passes through a gate. ImmersionRC’s
solution is to track the radio frequency signal emitted by the video
transmitter on every drone. This solution works because the current
generation of racing drones use 5.8GHz video downlinks, but
transmit on unique channels. The lapRF system simply tracks each
unique signal — no need to install a transponder to join a race.
Even better, the lapRF Personal Timing System includes a

Bluetooth module, which can link an iOS or Android device to the
timing system. Enter pilot names, start the race, and the lap times
are tracked in the app along with the pilot’s name. All lap times will
be shown in a table, along with average and best lap times.
HIGHLIGHTS
Integrated 2600mAh battery for an estimated 8 hours of race time
Price: $89.99
BLUEYE ROBOTICS BLUEYE PIONEER

BLUEYE ROBOTICS says the Blueye
Pioneer underwater drone can capture
images down to almost 500 feet below
the ocean surface. The drone has dived to
depths of almost 500 feet, which is much
deeper than the roughly 130-foot limit for
safe recreational diving. In order to take
vivid pictures at these depths, the camera
was designed to adjust for the limited light
available underwater. At depth, light is not
only dimmer, but certain wavelengths of
light are also absorbed by the water. Red
is the first wavelength to be filtered out, so
the Blueye camera is designed to automati-
BLUEYE ROBOTICS (LEFT AND INSET), IMMERSIONRC (TOP)

cally adjust the light levels below 16 feet
underwater to compensate for this effect.
The Pioneer is controlled by smartphone or
tablet, and dives can be live streamed to
various social media channels. Multiple de-
vices can connect to the Pioneer’s FPV feed
for a shared live experience.
HIGHLIGHTS
Diving depth: 500 feet
Camera: 1080p/30fps HD
Weight: 15 pounds
Max speed: 8.2 feet per second (5 knots)
Battery life: 2 hours
Price: $3,500 ($3,000 for preorders)
30 Drone360mag.com
CAPTURE
YOUR BEST
DRONE IMAGES
If you’re a multirotor hobbyist, have questions about drone 5 DRONE STARTUPS CHANGING THE WORLD P.66
regulations, want to capture jaw-dropping aerial videos, or

wonder how drones help in research, humanitarian aid, www.Drone360mag.com January/February 2017
5 QUESTIONS
WITH UAS LEADER
SHARON ROSSMARK
and our everyday lives, you’ll find it in Drone360.
In six stunning issues a year, you’ll find:

• Photo, video, and flying tips from the pros.
• Drone and equipment reviews. Reviewed
THE PERFECT
Also in this issue
THE HOLY GRAIL:
SELFIE
FLYING DRONES BEYOND
VISUAL LINE-OF-SIGHT
• The latest on rules, regulations, and licensing. P.72
DRONE
AN EXPLOSIVE MIX:
WEAPONS & DRONES
P.60
• How-to tips for getting and keeping your drones working. + CAMERA FILTERS,
HEADSETS, AND MORE P.24
• Insightful interviews with innovators and thought leaders.
START RACING HOBBYISTS GET PAID!
DRONES — NOW! VS. THE FAA Part 107 clears the
Pro Zoe Stumbaugh Governmental way for commercial
takes you to school P.20 overreach? P.56 drone operations P.48
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P30504
2017
Women
TO WATCH IN UAS
These nine trailblazing women are shaping the drone industry’s future
espite a lot of talk about the challenges women face in the technology
D industry, women in tech remain underrepresented, underpaid, and

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victories: Plenty of women are defying the odds to innovate, to lead, and
to advocate for each other in tech. The drone marketplace is no exception.
With that in mind, Drone360 has partnered with Women And Drones to launch the
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review by industry insiders, resulting in a list of nine winners from various sectors of
the drone industry.
The nine women spotlighted on these pages have made astonishing strides
in areas ranging from mapping to racing, education to entertainment. Prepare
to be inspired.
Champion
MARY WOHNRADE WHY DRONES? Wohnrade has held a
private pilot certification since she was 22 years
Wohnrade champions the use of UAS in civil old — drones were “a natural extension of my love
engineering. She’s a passionate sharer of knowl- of aviation,” she says. She invested in her first
edge who is active in a cross-discipline Colorado drone in 2015 to capture aerial shots of her
community that’s openly exchanging ideas. She company’s large engineering projects. She says,
has developed a proprietary workflow to incorporate “It wasn’t long before I realized the incredible
UAS and engineering while working on other ways potential UAS technology has to offer, and the
MIKE DANNEMAN
to expand their possibilities. many benefits it could bring to the civil engineer-
ing and surveying professions.”
WHO: Civil engineer, Part 107 operator, and
President/Owner of Wohnrade Civil Engineers QUOTE: “I have a true passion and
unending dedication to advancing UAS technology
WHERE: Broomfield, Colorado for the betterment of society.”
Entertainment & Culture
NATALIE CHEUNG
Cheung is establishing a brand-new form of
entertainment. Drone light shows are a promising
business opportunity for Intel, and she’s the one
tasked with growing them. The challenges of
creating a product that can be used commercially
are daunting — but the payoff could potentially
put fireworks out of business.
WHO: General Manager of Drone Light Shows in

the UAV Group at Intel
WHERE: Santa Clara, California

INTEL
WHY DRONES? Cheung’s first-ever UAS was

a crowdfunded drone, which she assembled herself. She QUOTE: “When people see a drone light show, they think that it’s
still remembers the feeling of flying her first drone: “That excitement lasers or projection mapping. They are blown away when they hear that
and thrill is something that I still feel each time a drone launches — it’s all drones in the sky.”
but this is just a side benefit.”
Influencer
GRETCHEN WEST
West is a high-profile, highly respected, high-impact
advocate for UAS technology, and a familiar face to anyone
who’s working on federal policy or commercial advance-
ments. Through the Commercial Drone Alliance, she helps
commercial drone end users understand the value and
realize the benefit of drones by reducing barriers through
advocacy and education.
WHO: Senior Advisor at Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP,

Co-Executive Director at the Commercial Drone Alliance,
Cofounder of Women of Commercial Drones
WHERE: Menlo Park, CA
WHY DRONES? West’s career began in nonprofit

management, eventually leading her to work at AUVSI. “At
the time, I knew very little about unmanned systems, but
came to love the potential of this technology for so many
industries.” After 10 years, West moved to California to be
closer to the heart of drone development.
QUOTE: “Drones are everywhere, but we need better

public support for commercial uses and more positive
public acceptance.”
GRETCHEN WEST
34 Drone360mag.com
Business
HOLLY KASUN
Kasun is inspiring the next generation of drone users with
Flybrix, a crash-friendly, rebuildable drone kit made from LEGO bricks.
The company’s global launch in September 2016 generated
$1.7 million in revenue in 45 days. Flybrix is being used in over
500 schools around the world — but it’s great for grown-up kids, too.
WHO: COO/CMO and Cofounder of Flybrix
WHERE: San Francisco, California
WHY DRONES? Kasun’s grandfather was an aeronautical

engineer, so a passion for flight is in her DNA. Her father also ran an
electronics business, which she helped with from a young age. When
these two fields converged in the world of drones, Kasun was ready to
embrace the new technology.
QUOTE: “What I want to accomplish is really about breaking down

barriers to allow the greatest number of people to engage with drones.”
LEXIE JANSON
Emerging
LEXIE JANSON
As a young woman breaking into the FPV community, Janson
pushed past the doubters telling her to “get back to the kitchen.”
FLYBRIX Through her tenacity and her sheer love of flying, she’s become a high-
profile racer — dubbed “The First Lady of FPV in Poland” after a TV
interview about drone technology — and is working to raise the profile
of drone racing. She travels the world to race, and actively encourages
SHARON SALLY WENDY others to explore the sport.
ROSSMARK FRENCH ERIKSON
Founder/CEO, Drone journalist FAA-certified drone WHO: FPV drone racer, software developer, drone certification
Women And Drones and founder of The pilot and Women teacher
Drone Girl And Drones Advisor
TIM WHERE: Gdynia, Poland
KIDWELL SUSAN DIANE
Editor in Chief, TALBOT BACHA WHY DRONES? As a self-proclaimed lifelong gamer and nerd,
Drone360 magazine Co-founder of Editorial Director, Janson has always enjoyed gadgets and tech. Once she was exposed
Skytango and Drone360 magazine to drones, she immediately knew she wanted to pursue the technology.
SARA Women And Drones The hope of setting a positive example for other women in the drone
DUMFORD Advisor industry informs her activism. “I love what I do, even when my first
Events Manager, steps in the industry were full of sexism and hopelessness. I tried to
Drone360 magazine be strong. Not only for me, but also for other girls who may come after
Judges
me,” she says.
QUOTE: “Every girl who says that I am the one who made her start
flying – I feel like I won a lottery.”
Global Trailblazer
CATHERINE BALL
A big thinker with big ambitions, Ball is a startup
specialist working hard to build bridges, convene the UAS
community, and advance innovative solutions in the UAS
environment. The World Drone Congress, which debuted
in Brisbane this August, is the first major drone event to
focus on the Asia-Pacific region. She Flies, which Ball
cofounded, works to bring UAS and STEM learning to girls
and women.
WHO: Cofounder at World of Drones Congress,

Cofounder and Chief Engagement Officer at She Flies,
Founder and Publisher of Gumption Trigger
KAREN JOYCE/JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY
WHERE: Queensland, Australia
WHY DRONES? Ball cofounded She Flies

Education after realizing that fewer than 0.5% of the
KAREN JOYCE members of the drone industry she was working
with were women. She also runs four other
After visiting schools to talk about drones, Joyce noticed how few startups, ranging from research areas in
girls were listening in. So she co-founded She Flies, whose mission is Australia to a book project aiming to highlight
to engage more girls and women with science and technology through empowering Australian businesswomen.
the world of drones. She Flies hopes to expand its camps and educa-
tional programs beyond Australia soon. QUOTE: “I decided to start up on my own
to make more of an impact.”
WHO: Scientist and Senior Lecturer at James Cook University,
Cofounder of She Flies
WHERE: Queensland, Australia

Humanitarian
WHY DRONES? While pursuing her Ph.D. and studying the
Great Barrier Reef, Joyce combined snorkeling observations with
HELENA SAMSIOE
satellite imagery to create maps. However, she longed for a middle As the top boss of a humanitarian drone services company, Samsioe
ground between these two methods of data acquisition. Joyce was first is leveraging drone capabilities to solve global problems, in particular
introduced to drones through her work as a geomatic engineer in the public health. She has worked on a UNICEF initiative to develop a
Australian Army. In 2013, she spent three months in the U.S., humanitarian air corridor to deliver medical supplies in Malawi, and
including time with the NASA Ames Research Center to learn collaborates with other organizations to help heal through UAS tech.
how it used drones for wildfire monitoring.
WHO: Founder and CEO of GLOBHE
QUOTE: “We truly believe that gender equality and experience in
STEM is everyone’s challenge.” WHERE: Stockholm, Sweden
SHARON ROSSMARK they would advise other women to and Women And Drones is here to
established Women And Drones as succeed in the industry. help that effort.
a way to unite women in the drone Women And Drones also offers “Our industry is in its infancy,
industry through their common a service to help drone events and and is on the edge of making major
bond for UAS technologies. conferences connect with women contributions to the global econo-
The Women And Drones website drone experts for speaking op- my,” says Rossmark.”But it won’t
features in-depth Q&As with women portunities. Drone industry events happen without including women at
from all corners of the drone world, are making strides to include more all levels, and giving them the
ending with a question about how women in their speaker lineups, opportunity to participate equally.”
36 Drone360mag.com
Women And Drones
HELENA SAMSIOE/GLOBHE
WHY DRONES? While working in Africa, Samsioe realized there WHO: Technical Founder and CEO at Astral AR
was a large potential for medical cargo delivery by drone. She strives to
continue her work in developing drones for humanitarian and environ- WHERE: Austin, Texas
mental services.
WHY DRONES? LaSalla’s father was an aviation engineer at
QUOTE: “Every life saved is a huge accomplishment.” Northrop Grumman who later started a super-precision tool-and-die job
shop where LaSalla worked during high school. She went on to study
computer-aided design in college and taught herself nine coding lan-
guages — she describes herself as a self-taught polyglot. LaSalla spent
over a decade as a software engineer while raising her
Technology daughter. “Through these experiences, I also
LEAH LASALLA discovered I have a passion for mentoring
disadvantaged females in technology,” she
LaSalla’s startup is developing drones that can be controlled with says.
the mind, “no joystick/tablet required.” Intrigued with the combination
of technologies that can deliver this experience, she started patent- QUOTE: “I really love the autonomy
ing and envisioning. She plans to apply this technology to wide-area and accountability required in program-
search-and-rescue, disaster management, environmental remediation, ming and entrepreneurialism, as well
public safety, and other drones-for-good activities. An added bonus: as the nerdery of flying neuromechanical
Five of her company’s eight executives are women. drones.”
Drones can do more than ever before
By Tim Kidwell
Y
You hear about using the right drone for the job a lot
in UAS circles. Usually, it means knowing whether
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means knowing whether the aircraft is appropriȬ
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task at hand.
But what if the drone you need isn’t an aircraft,
but rather one that can navigate a building’s interior
and turn doorknobs? How about an autonomous
vehicle that can sail 5,000 miles and gather data on
oceanic phenomena along the way?
doesn’t view it as a drone. And
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all manner of autonomous and remotely operated
Wave Glider
Manufacturer: Liquid Robotics
that’s just wrong.
The first Wave Glider was
ȱȱȱȱęȱȱ ȱȱ (a division of Boeing) commissioned by the Hawaii-based
For more: liquid-robotics.com Jupiter Research Foundation as a
drone is — and a drone’s capabilities. Here are four platform to gather and record the
drones that you may not be familiar with yet, but WITH ALL THE TALK of unmanned songs of humpback whales. But the
aerial vehicles in the last couple foundation had a caveat: The Wave
you probably will be soon. And you’ll see more like of years, it’s easy to forget about Glider had to be sustainable and
ȱȱȱ¡ȱ ȱ¢ǰȱȱȱȱ unmanned surface vehicles, or do no environmental harm. Roger
USVs. For whatever reason, if an Hine and his brother Graham, both
become more common. unmanned vehicle doesn’t fly, the semiconductor robotics engineers,
collective public consciousness took up the challenge and created a
38 Drone360mag.com
Properly maintained, the Wave
waterborne craft powered exclu- array of wings surrounds the horsepower. “While not fire and Glider’s sub, umbilical, and float
sively by solar and wave energy. sub — this is where the Wave forget, the Wave Glider is fire and system can last for 5 years or
Developer friendly, the Wave Glider does the exceptional, monitor,” says Graham, Liquid more. Depending on the mission,
Glider has undertaken many mis- converting wave energy into Robotics’ cofounder and senior operating the drone, including
sions, ranging from quantifying sea propulsion. It won’t break any vice president of global partner maintenance, can cost up to
ice to mapping ocean currents to speed records, moving along at development. It can follow a prepro- $100,000. LIQUID ROBOTICS
recording underwater geophysi- about 2 knots (a small electric grammed course, detect and avoid
cal events. It’s even been used to thruster can boost speeds up to incoming ships, or be manually op- internet or bounced up to satellites
measure cosmic rays! 3 knots), but the drone doesn’t erated if the need arises. The drone orbiting in space.
A float, an umbilical, and a sub need to move quickly. It just can also act as a communications Graham sees the Wave Glider as
comprise the Wave Glider. Its needs to know where it’s going. gateway, linking acoustic under- a way to “illuminate the ocean” and
electronics run off solar-powered The Wave Glider has plenty water transmissions to the surface. promote enviromental stewardship.
batteries housed in the float. An of autonomous navigational That information can be sent to the Definitely a drone for good!
RoboMantis
Manufacturer: Motiv Robotics
For more: motivrobotics.com
FIRST CAME
ROBOSIMIAN, which
placed 5th at the 2015
DARPA Robotics
Challenge. The next
phase in RoboSimian’s
evolution, RoboMantis,
takes the original’s
versatility to another
level. Motiv Robotics devel-
oped RoboMantis for first-responder RoboMantis is also Robot
and industrial operations. It can Operating System (more commonly
both roll and walk, enabling it to known as ROS) compatible, which
move quickly in unrestricted areas means operators can create their
but still navigate difficult terrain and own open-source applications for
debris. The modular limbs can be the drone.
replaced by operators in the field, RoboMantis features a modular
while its manipulators allow the utility deck to allow the drone to be
drone to move objects and interact reconfigured for specific missions. RoboMantis provides a versatile
with its environment. Perhaps it needs to carry a set of platform for developers to add
Chris Thayer, Motiv Robotics’ tools to perform a task, or it might more onboard computing and
CEO, envisions RoboMantis being a option for lidar capability, and be equipped with additional sensors autonomous functions. In the near
huge help in disaster recovery and waterproof limbs. RoboMantis or remote sensing system. future, we may see RoboMantis
hazardous material cleanup opera- can be powered by either a 1.2 While a price tag hasn’t been an- deployed with first responders or
tions. The drone has three pairs of or 2.4kWh battery, which can be nounced yet, Motiv Robotics plans other emergency personnel.
stereo-vision sensors up front, an charged onboard while tethered. to release RoboMantis in 2018. MOTIV ROBOTICS
UAVs in the skies. The aircraft’s

Transition
Manufacturer: ALTI
modular design means it can be
deployed from its custom-fitted
For more: altiuas.com transport case, assembled, and put
in the air in about 10 minutes. The
WITH A MORE THAN 9-FOOT WING- hybrid system — something that
SPAN and the capability to fly for we’ve come to love at Drone360
more than 6 hours, ALTI’s Transition — means the Transition doesn’t
vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) require a runway or launch platform
drone has to be one of the coolest like other fixed-wings and can be
easily recovered.
More and more, drones like Weighing in at about 35 pounds,
the Transition make sense for the Transition uses four 420Kv
companies looking for long- brushless motors spinning 18-inch
range inspection capabilities carbon-fiber props to take off verti-
but lacking space for takeoff cally. When you’re ready to transi-
and landing. ALTI tion to fixed-wing flight, kick on the
40 Drone360mag.com
LX300
Manufacturer: Laflamme Aero
For more: laflamme.aero
DELIVERY BY DRONE. You hear

about it all the time: Amazon, UPS,
Walmart, Workhorse, Alphabet,
Flirtey. Who’s going to get it done in
the U.S. first? How’s the infrastruc-
ture going to support it?
Many companies are working
on the drone delivery puzzle, and
some have found success in other
countries. Laflamme Aero, based
in Quebec, Canada, is one of these
companies. However, this one is a
bit more ambitious than the pizza-
toting drones we’re used to seeing
on our social media and news
feeds. Measuring 9.5 feet long and
weighing 400 pounds, the LX300
can carry up to nearly 200 pounds
of cargo in its three modular cargo
compartments.
Laflamme aims to make the
LX300 a versatile shipping option.
For instance, the main cargo
compartment on the aircraft’s belly
has a capacity of 4 cubic feet and
can be insulated to enable delivery sensor packages for mining and for nearly 8 hours and has a The LX300 includes autonomous
of materials that are temperature energy operations or a spraying mission radius of 93 miles. takeoff and landing capabilities
sensitive — perhaps blood samples apparatus for precision agricul- Prices for the LX300 are quoted and an obstacle-detection system.
or donated organs. ture. The drone could be part of a on a case-by-case basis. “A wide An operator flies the drone from
That same compartment can first-responder suite or fitted with a variety of options and customization a ground-control station that
be fitted for a low-velocity airdrop search-and-rescue package. to suit every customer’s needs is resembles a full-fledged cockpit,
system or a track-mounted array A 100 horsepower gas engine available,” says Enrick Laflamme, complete with optical navigation
that can be customized to carry a powers the dual-rotor aircraft, the company’s president. However, displays, autopilot capability, and
variety of payloads. which cruises at 70 mph and tops he says it’s difficult to quote a price flight programming software.
With Laflamme’s flexible cargo out at 125 mph. For those times without knowing the operational LAFLAMME AERO
space, what it calls the M-Bark that it needs to stay on-station for configuration and order quantity.
Quick Attach System, the LX300 extended periods of time, Laflamme Laflamme Aero plans to move
can be equipped with cameras and reports the LX300 can remain aloft the LX300 out of air trials this fall.
optimized 4-stroke gas engine to operate the Transition, including

propel the plane forward. maintenance — remember the
The Transition is compatible tools? — for $5,500. You even get
with many popular payload sen- an operator certificate from ALTI
sors, including electro-optical and once you’ve completed the course.
infrared cameras from NextVision, Expect to see the Transition and
the MicaSense RedEdge, and the similar aircraft performing long,
Trillium Orion HD25. linear inspections for railway and
ALTI offers the Transition in a highway infrastructure, as well as for
number of configurations, from oil and gas pipelines.
the bare-bones airframe without
avionics or hardware for $45,000 to Portability can become a concern,
a complete aircraft with all the bells especially when operations take
and whistles, including a set of tools, you to hard-to-reach locations.
at $75,000. (But keep in mind, that ALTI has thought ahead and
price doesn’t include your payload.) makes the Transition easy to
The company will also train you to assemble on site. ALTI
PUTTING A DRONE IN THE AIR is just the beginning.
There’s a whole world of knowledge, skills, and maneuvers
out there to learn, but where should you start? We’ve put
together six drone-related topics and broken them down into
three experience levels. New to the game? Start at Level 1.
UNDERSTANDING
AIRSPACE Already an expert? Level 3’s for you. Dive in, and level up.
• OPENING THE APP
• THE AIRSPACE ALPHABET
• UNFURL THE (VFR) MAPS By Drone360 Staff
USING AUTONOMOUS
FUNCTIONS
• FOLLOW ME
• ORBIT AND POINT OF INTEREST
• WAYPOINTS
FLYING A
PERSONAL DRONE
• SAY HELLO TO DRONIES
• SNAP THE SHUTTER
• TIME TO ADVENTURE
ADVANCE YOUR
PHOTO/VIDEO GAME
• GET TO KNOW YOUR GIMBAL
• LISTEN TO THE LOCATION
• DUAL OPERATORS
AERIAL ACROBATICS
• FLIPS, ROLLS, AND SPINS
• SPLIT-S
• POWER LOOP
PHOTO SETTINGS
& EDITING
• SETTINGS AND APP EDITING
• OUT OF THE PHONE/DRONE
• LAYERS AND RETOUCHING
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UNDERSTANDING AIRSPACE ǷǼȱȱȱȱ ȱȱŗŖȱȱȱȱ
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ȱǯȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱǯ
LEVEL 1
OPENING THE APP
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ȱǯȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ ȱȱȱŘǰśŖŖȱȱȱȱȱǻ Ǽǯȱ
ȱȱ ȱȱ ȱǵ ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ-
ǰȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱȱ ǰȱ ȱȱ¢ȱ
ȱǱȱȱȱǯȱ ȱĚ¢ȱǰȱȱȱǯ
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ȱȱȱȱǯȱȱ¢ȱ ¢ȱȱ ȱ ȱȱ ȱȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȃȄȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱŝŖŖȱȱ
ǰȱ ȱȱȱǵȱȂȱ ŗŘŖŖȱ ǯ
ȱȱȱȱǯȱȱ ǰȱ Ȋȱȱ ǱȱȱȱȱĴȱȱęǰȱȂȱ
ȱ ȱȱȱǰȱǰȱǰȱǰȱȱȱȱ ȱęȱȱȱȱŗŚǰśŖŖȱȱ
ȱȱǯȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǯȱȱ
ȱȱ ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ Ĝȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǰȱȱ¢ȱ
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ȱȱȱ-
ȱęǯȱȱ
ȱȱǰȱȱȱ
>> Sectional charts provide
important aviation information
to pilots of all types of aircraft.
They’re also pretty intimidating if
LEVEL 3
UNFURL THE (VFR) MAPS
¢ȱǯ you don’t know what to look for.
ȱȱȱ ȱȂȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ-
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ǰȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ-
ȱ ȱȱȱȱ
¢Ȃȱȱǯȱ
NEED ȱǰȱȱǰȱǰȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȂȱǰȱ
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TO KNOW ȱǯȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱ
ǯȱ AIRSPACE: The air available ǰȱȱȱĚȱȱǻǼǰȱǯȱ
to aircraft to fly in. ȱȱǯȱ ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ¢ǯȱȱȱ
LEVEL 2
THE AIRSPACE ALPHABET
NAS: National Airspace
System, or the airspace,
navigation facilities and
airports of the United States
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ȱȱǯȱȱȱǰȱ Ȃȱ
ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱǯȱ
along with their associated ȂȱȱȱȱȱǱ
FROM LEFT: DREW HALVERSON, AIRMAP, VFRMAP.COM
ǰȱȂȱȱȱȱǯȱ information, services, rules, ȊȱȱǱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱ

ȊȱȱǱȱȱȱȱȱŗŞǰŖŖŖȱȱ and regulations. ȱȱȱǯȱěȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱǻǼǯȱȱ ȱȱȱ¡ȱ ȱȱȱȱǰȱ ȱȱ-
ǻ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ AIRSPACE CLASSES: The ȱȱ ȱȃǯȄȱȱȱ ȱ-
¢ǰȱȱ¢ȱ Ǽȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ divisions of navigable air- ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱǯȱ
Ě¢ȱȱǯȱȱ Ȃȱȱȱȱǯ space into three-dimensional ȊȱȱǱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱ
ȊȱȱǱȱȱȂȱȱȱȱ segments. ȱȱȱǯȱǰȱȱȱǰȱȱ
ȱȱȱǰȱ ȱ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱŗŖǰŖŖŖȱȱǯȱȱ ATC: Air traffic control ȊȱȱǱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱȬ ȱ¢ȱǰȱ Ĵȱȱǯȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱĴȱȱ SECTIONAL CHART: a type of ȊȱȱǱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱśȱ aeronautical chart designed ¢ȱĴȱȱȱȱ££¢ȱȱ
ȱȱǯȱ for navigation under visual ǯȱȱ££¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȊȱȱǱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ flight rules. ȱȱŝŖŖȱȱ ǰȱȱȱȱȱ
Ȭ£ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ Ě¢ȱȱ ȱȱǯ
ȱȱ ȱȱśȱȱȱȱǻȂȱ Ȋȱȱ ǱȱȱȂȱȱǰȱȂȱȱ ǯ
USING AUTONOMOUS FUNCTIONS
>> Autonomous functions are a

powerful tool, but drones are still The DJI Phantom 3 and 4 have a minimum
LEVEL 1
FOLLOW ME
imperfect technology. Set safe
distances and watch your drone.
height of 10 meters (about 30 feet). Edward
Kostakis, senior pilot at DJI, says to use the
mode in open areas and to set a safe height of
around 100 feet.
The AirDog 2 drone uses a combination of
Follow Me mode is one of the most basic
functions available in many consumer drones. It’s easy GPS and computer vision for tracking, allow-
ing the drone to follow a fast-moving subject
Drones as diverse as DJI’s Spark, Mavic Pro, like an athlete or biker racing through a course.
Phantom 4, Inspire 2, the Yuneec Typhoon H to take a Newer drones like the DJI Spark can identify a
DREW HALVERSON, OPPOSITE: LEAH FROATS, DJI

and Breeze, and 3DR Solo all have a Follow person and follow that person at a safe dis-
Me function, with some slight variations. For
example, the DJI Mavic Follow Me mode will
fast shot. tance. While it’s simple to set up (see our re-
ȱȱȱŗŞǼǰȱĴȱȱȱȱȱ¢ǯȱ
track and follow the controller, while in the Ac- The technology behind the Follow Me
tive Track mode uses visual sensors to follow a It’s actually function is often amazing, but you can never
subject. Other drones like the AirDog ADII use assume that the drone will safely follow you
a physical tracking system, where the subject
wears a watch or other device, which the drone
hard to take wherever you may go. Keep an eye on your
drone or you may lose it. “When I start, I want
can then follow.
To use most Follow Me functions, your
a good to see entire subject in the camera, or the drone
will only half-recognize the person,” says
mobile device will need to have a positioning Kostakis. “When that happens, it’s more likely
service like GPS. Also, many drones have a
minimum height requirement for autonomous
slow shot. it will lose contact with you. You also have to
try not to let anyone pass in front of you, or it
functions so the drone stays at a safe altitude. may follow the wrong person home.”
44 Drone360mag.com
ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
While this function is useful for hobbyists and
photographers, it is probably most useful for
ȱĚǯȱ
Waypoint missions are generally planned
>> When orbiting a point or plan- ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱĚǯȱ
ning a waypoint mission, set the The pilot can plot points on a satellite image,
altitude higher than the object ȱȱȱ ȱȱĚ¢ǯȱȱ ǰȱ
LEVEL 2
ORBIT AND POINT OF INTEREST
you are going to be circling as
well as any other obstacles.
ȱȱĚȱȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱ¢ȱȱ ȱĚ¢ȱȱ ¢ȱ
mission, planning is easy, but maintaining
ȱ ȱȱĚȱȱȱȱ
ǯȱȱȱȱĚȱǰȱǰȱ
Want to easily capture those perfect shots Ĵǰȱȱǯȱȱȱ ȱȱ
taken from a drone circling overhead? To orbit
ȱǰȱǰȱȱȱǰȱȱěǰȱȱ
NEED ȱȱ¢ȱȱǰȱȱȱ¢ȱ ¢ǯȱ
ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ
Ě¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱǯȱȱȱȱ
Interest or Orbit function in your drone’s menu
TO KNOW ȱǯȱȃȱȱę¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱĴȱ
ěȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱęȱȱȱęǰȄȱ
ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱęȱ¢ȱǯȱ WAYPOINT: Is a set of coordi- ȱ¢ǯȱȃȱȱȂȱȱǰȱ
To start, ensure that the altitude is set higher nates that identify a specific ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱǯȄȱ
than the object you’re going to be circling as point. Drones use the Global ȱȱ¢ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱȱǯȱȱ ȱȱ- Positioning System (GPS) or ĚȱȱȂȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱĴȂȱȱȱȱ Global Navigation Satellite ȱ¢ȱȱȂȱȱȱ¢ȱĚǯȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ System (GLONASS) satellites ȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
TIP: You’ll be able to adjust the radius, speed, to create waypoints which ȱȱ¢ȱȱĚȱǯȱȱ
ȱȱȱ¢ȱĚȱȱǯȱȂȱ ȱȱ identify precise, three- ȱ¢ȱȱȱĜȱȱȱ
¢ȱȱȱȱȱǯ dimensional coordinates. businesses or owners of private property that
Once the drone is above the point you’d like A drone pilot can map a ¢ȱȱĚ¢ȱǯȱȃȱ¢ȱȱȱ
to circle, you can pull back on the right stick to desired flight path with a job at a construction site, but the neighbors
ȱ ¢ȱȱȱȱ¢Ȃȱȱǯȱ waypoints. around the site most likely are not expecting to
ȱȱȱȱřȱȱŚǰȱ¢ȱȱȱȃȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǰȄȱ¢ȱ ǯȱ
ȱȄȱĴǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ ORBIT AND POINT OF INTER- SAFETY TIP: ȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱ-
ȱȱȱȱȱǯȱȱ EST: Lets a drone fix the sons, the pilot-in-command or visual observer
¢ǰȱĴȱȱȱȱȱȱęȱ camera on a subject and ȱ ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱȱĴȱȱȱǯȱȃȱȱȱ fly a circular path around a Identify the location of operations and check
run into with points of interest is that the thing point of interest. ȱȱǯ
¢ȱ ȱȱęȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ǰȄȱ¢ȱ ǯȱȱȃ¢ȱȂȱȱȱ PILOT IN COMMAND: A
ȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱęǯȄȱ person acting in command
of a flying operation in which BONUS TIP
LEVEL 3
there might be more than
one individual involved in
SLOW IT DOWN
the safe execution of the
mission. DJI’s Tripod mode or the Turtle mode on
WAYPOINTS a Yuneec Typhoon H make your shots slow
BVLOS: Beyond visual line ȱǯȱȃȂȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱǯȱȂȱ
¢ȱȱȱĚȱȱ of sight. ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱǰȄȱ¢ȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ ǯȱȃȱȱȱ¢ȱĚ¢ȱ
of pre-selected points and carry out pre-pro- ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ ǯȄȱȱ
FLYING A PERSONAL DRONE
>> Your first flight over water

will be daunting — but aerial that is interesting — a cool landmark, beautiful
LEVEL 1
SAY HELLO TO DRONIES
photos of water make for some
of the most stunning shots!
architecture, or natural backdrop.
ȱȱĚȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ
Ǳȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǰȱĚ¢ȱȱȱ-
fortable distance up and away from yourself,
then use its yaw (that’ll be your left stick) to
Once you’ve read the manual and are rotate the drone so it’s facing you.
familiar with your drone, you can do what
everyone does with a new camera drone: take
NEED You’ll probably need to adjust your camera
or gimbal so that it’s facing down toward you
a bad dronie.
ȱ¢Ȃȱȱęȱǰȱȱȱȱ
TO KNOW — some drones, like the Dobby, require that
¢ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱĚǰȱ ȱȱȱ
background in other types of photography, SELFIE: A photograph that ȱĴȱȱǯȱȂȱę¢ȱ ȱȱ
you’ll know that you want the light source one has taken of oneself, facing down to a certain degree.
to be facing you. Orient yourself so that you typically one taken with a Use your drone’s FPV feed on your mobile
ȱȱȱǯȱ¢ǰȱ¢Ȃȱęȱȱȱ smartphone and shared via device to line up your picture. A lot of dronie
where you’re standing in front of something social media. newbies tend to center themselves in the shot.
ȱȱęǰȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱęȱ ȱǰȱ
DRONIE: A selfie video or pic- ȱ¢ȱěȱ ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱǯȱ
AMATEUR DRONIE WAVE
ture captured with a drone. While a dronie is obviously a picture of you,
other cool elements can play into the photo.
SD CARD: A small memory Experiment with color, texture, shadow, and
card used in digital cameras form in your dronie. Renee Lusano is probably
and other portable devices. ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱęȱ
— check out her work for some inspiration!
SPORT MODE: Flight setting Most personal drones come with some kind
LEAH FROATS (4)
that enables faster, more of social media sharing option built in, so be
responsive drone flights. A sure to share your dronie. Because let’s be hon-
bad mode for dronies. est with ourselves — if you took a dronie and
didn’t share it with friends, did you really ever
take a dronie at all?
46 Drone360mag.com
LEVEL 2
SNAP THE SHUTTER
Now that you’re comfortable with dronies,
it’s time to turn the camera toward the world.
When you take a dronie, you’re limited in
terms of camera angles and distance from your
photographic subject — you’re going to be
Ě¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ ȱȱ
roughly 45-degree angle from you to the drone.
Not so, once you turn your personal drone
ȱ ȱȱ ǯȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱ ¢ȱȱ ǯȱȱĴȱ
ǻȱśŘǼǰȱȱǰȱĚȱȱ
(page 48), and photographic subject are all
much more important now.
A key part of this process is taking bad pho-
tos. A lot of them. In fact, the more bad photos Wi-Fi connection (Read more about WI-Fi is-
you take, the more likely you are to take a good
ǯȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ- As painful sues on page 22). Put your drone in a mode that
is stable and predictable — that means no Sport
ing experience for future photos. ǰȱȱĴȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ
as it is to ǯȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ
through a tight spot can quickly end in disaster.
LEVEL 3
TIME TO ADVENTURE
look at your
bad drone
ȱ¢Ȃȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
cool structure, take as many pictures as you
ǯȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
to snap shots when you’re focusing on your
Ě¢ǯȱ
ȱȂȱǱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ǯȱ¢ȱ
ǯȱ ȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱ¢ȱ
footage, If you really can’t get yourself to remember
ȱȱȱĴǰȱȱȱȱȱȯȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱǯȱ
ǰȱ¢ȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ ǯȱȱ
it’s an ¢ȱȱȱĴ¢ǰȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱ
get some good stills after the fact.
world is your drone oyster. And as painful as it is to look at your bad
ȱȱ¢ǰȱȱȱ¢ȱȂȱȱȱ¢ǰȱ
pushing the limits of your drone is legitimately
important drone footage, it’s an important learning
experience to help you identify your strong
Ȭ ǯȱȱ¢ȱȱȂȱȱȱ
¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱȂȱȱȱĴǰȱ
learning ȱ ȱȱȱȱĚǯȱ
You may be tempted to bring a few friends
you’re probably not pushing yourself
far enough. experience. ȱ¢ȱȱǰȱȱ ȱ-
ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱĴ¢ȱǯȱ
ȱ¢Ȃȱȱȱ¢ȱĚ¢ȱǰȱ¢Ȃȱ ȱ ȂȱĴȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȂȱ¢ȱ¡¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ who can help you keep an eye on the drone —
¢ȱȱ¢ȱǯȱ
ȱ¡ȱȱȱǰȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ
a while. Odds are, you’ll both take completely
ěȱǯȱȂȱȱ¢ȱȱ¡ȱ
your artistic horizons!
BONUS TIP
SD CARD CHECK
It’s annoying to check for your SD card each
time, but there’s no feeling as soul-crushing
ȱĴȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ£ȱ¢ȱ
forgot the card at home. Before you head out to
take some photos, quickly check that your SD
card is safe and sound inside your drone. You’ll
be glad you did.
ADVANCE YOUR PHOTO/VIDEO GAME
>> Research locations before

shooting to avoid wasting battery
LEVEL 1
GET TO KNOW YOUR GIMBAL
life. Though, lovely surprises (like
those flowers!) may still arise.
A
ȱ¢ȁȱęȱȱ¢ȱĚ¢ǰȱ¢ȱ
ȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ -
ȱȱȱȯȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ
NEED Keep camera
facing you
ȱȱ¢ȱ ǰȱȬ ȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ¢ǯ
TO KNOW
ȱ¢ȱ¢¢ȱȱŘȬ¡ȱȱřȬ¡ǯȱ GIMBAL: The mount upon
ȱŘȬ¡ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ which a drone’s camera sits.
ȱȱ¡ǰȱ ȱȱřȬ¡ȱȱ¢ȱ It helps stabilize the camera
STACY GARLINGTON, ILLUSTRATIONS: RICK JOHNSON (4)

ȱȱ¢ ǰȱǰȱȱȱ¡ȱǻȱśŖȱȱ- and allows it to move up,
ȱȱȱǼǯȱȱȂȱĴǵȱǰȱ down, right, and left.
ȱřȬ¡ȱȱ ȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ B
¢ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȂȱȱȱȬȱ TILT WHEEL: Controls the
ěȱ ȱĚ¢ǯ angle of the drone’s camera.
ȱȱǰȱȱȱȱȱ
Śǰȱȱǰȱȱȱ¢ȱ
ǰȱȱ B-ROLL: Supplemental video
ȱȱ ǰȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ footage inserted as a cutaway
ǯȱȱȱ¢ȱ ¢ȱȱ£ȱ¢ȱ to help tell a story. Be sure to
ǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ capture lots of B-roll!
¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱĚǯ NATURAL FRAMING: When
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ an object (natural or man- Slowly move
ȱĚ¢ǯ made) at a location can be away from you
ȃȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ- used to frame your subject.
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱǻ¢ȱȱ
¢ȱǼȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ
48 Drone360mag.com
yourself while keeping yourself inside the cam-
C
era frame,” Garlington says.
That practice can be adjusted to accommo-
date any subject like a tree or a visual observer.
ȱȱȱĚȱȱȱȱ
Dronie or Orbit (see Pages 46 and 44 for de-
tails). And once you think you’ve got the hang Visual
of controlling the gimbal, keep practicing! observer
Drone
The Founder of Flying Robot International operator
Film Festival Eddie Codel says, “You want to
learn muscle memory with the controller sticks
and tilt wheel. The less you are thinking about
ȱ ȱ¢Ȃȱ¡ǰȱȱĴȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ Once you’ve
at executing, which just comes with practice.”
This is key: slow down. You don’t want to
make your audience sick with fast, jerky gimbal
tried dual
ȱĚȱǯ
“Try to complete one or two minute cin-
operator, D
ematic shots with precise slow movements. Try

ȱ ȱȱę¡ȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȄȱ you’ll think
Codel says. “Also, try the same in reverse shots.
Slow and steady wins the cinematic race.” of your
shots in
LEVEL 2
LISTEN TO THE LOCATION
much more
Camera
operator
Drone
operator
Let your location and subject help create

dynamic
your footage. This is when more traditional
photography methods like the rule of thirds, ways.
natural framing, and symmetry come into play. ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱĚ¢ǰȱ ȱ
When scouting the location, think back to says take turns. “This helps eliminate hazard-
ȱȱȱĚȱȱ¢Ȃȱȱ ȱĴȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
practicing. Consider what will work best at that ȱĚȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ
ęȱǯȱȱȱȱȱǵȱȱ- nail the shot,” she says.
ing your subject probably isn’t the best maneu- But you can step up your game even further
ǯȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱǵȱȱ with Dual Operator Mode. Not all drones have
try using that tree to frame your shot. this feature, but some more advanced photog-
Garlington stresses the importance of scout- raphy drones, like the DJI Inspire 2 and Yuneec
ing locations and planning shoots ahead of Typhoon H, do. If you’re one of the lucky ones
time. Knowing the lay of the land will help you with the dual operator function, do not waste it.
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱĴ¢ȱǯȱȱȱ While DJI and Yuneec call this feature by
easy way to do plan your shoots is with Google ěȱǰȱȱ ȱȱȱ ¢Ǳȱȱ
Maps’ street view. Even though it doesn’t show person pilots the drone with their controller,
all the details, it’s a good place to start. while the other person controls the camera
“[Planning your shoots] will allow you to functions with another controller. To do this,
¡£ȱ¢ȱȱĚȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱĴȱȱȱ-
you get the shot that you’re looking for. Once ȱĴǯȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
you’ve got the shot, then explore from above many online tutorials for directions on set-up.
to be sure you aren’t missing some great B-roll “Once you’ve tried dual operator, you’ll
footage,” she says. think of your shots in much more dynamic
ways,” Codel says.
ȱȱ¢ȱȂȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ
LEVEL 3
DUAL OPERATORS
together before going out on locations, espe-
cially if you’re working a commercial gig. And
remember: communication and a shared vision
are important.
>> Your flight altitude in relation “The more you’re comfortable understand-
Bring a friend with you next time you shoot. to your subject will determine ing and working with each other, the less likely
They can help you scout and alert you of any appropriate gimbal angles. ¢Ȃȱ ȱǰȱĴ¢ȱǰȱȱȱ
ȱ£ȱ ȱĚ¢ǯȱ Above your subject? Point down! light while on location,” Codel says.
AERIAL ACROBATICS
>> Watch videos of auto-flip
LEVEL 1
FLIPS, ROLLS, SPINS
features and other tricks online to
help you understand the physics
of a drone flip. Watching others
fly will help you begin practicing
Roll
your own tricks.

ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȬĚȱ
ȱȱ¢Ȃȱęȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱ¢ȬȬĚ¢ȱȱȯȱȱ¢ǰȱȂȱȱ Quick throttle boost
ȱȱȱȱǯȱȱȱȱǰȱ¢ȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱĴȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱĚǯ
NEED
¢ȱ ǰȱ ȱȱDrone360ȱȱ
ȱǰȱ¡ȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱ¢ȱ
TO KNOW
ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯȱȃȱȱȱȱ PITCH: Is the movement up
¢ȱȱȱǰȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ and down along the vertical Roll right
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ axis from the front to the
¢ȱȱȱȱȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱ back of the drone
ȃȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǰȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱĴǯȄ ROLL: Is the rotation of the ȱȱȱǯȱȱȱ
ǰȱĚǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱęȱ aircraft. ȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱǰȱȱĚȦȦȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱ ȱęȱȱ- ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǻȱȱ
YAW: If you are looking down ȱȱĚǼǰȱȱęȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ
on a drone from above, yaw ȱ¢ȱ¡ǯȱ
ILLUSTRATIONS: RICK JOHNSON (5)
Flip refers to the movement of the ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ-

drone clockwise or counter- ǰȱȱȱĴȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
clockwise. ȱĴȱȱȱ¢ȱȱǻȱȱȦ
ȱȱȱŘǼǰȱȱǻȱȱȦ ȱȱ
FIRST PERSON VIEW (FPV): ȱŘǼǰȱȱ¢ ȱǻȱȱȦȱȱȱ
A method used to control a ŘǼȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱĚǰȱȱ
Pitch forward
radio-controlled vehicle from ǯ
the pilot’s viewpoint. ȱĴȱȱĴȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ ȱĴȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ
50 Drone360mag.com
Spin Matty Flip Cut throttle,
pitch forward
Yaw right
To set up
ȱȂȱȱĴȱǰȱȱȱȱ
for any
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱĚȱȱȱ
ǯȱȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȱȱ¢ȱȱ
of these
ȱȱȱĴȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱĴȱȱ¢ȱĚȱǯ tricks, fly Full throttle,
pitch forward
ȃȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱ¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ¡ǰȄȱ
straight INVERTED YAW SPIN:ȱȱȱŗŞŖȬȱ
¢ȱ ǯȱ
ȱ¡ȱȱ¢ȱ-
ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ ȱ ȱ¢ȱǰȱȱ
and steady ȱĚȱȱȱǻȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ ǰȱ
ȱȱ ȱȱ Ǽǰȱ ȱ
ȱ ȱ¢ȱ¢ ǰȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱȱęȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ in a direc- ¢ȱȱřŜŖȬȱ¢ ȱǰȱȱę¢ȱ-
ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯ
ȱǯ
tion where
LEVEL 2 you can see BONUS TIP
BACKWARDS POWER LOOP
SPLIT-S clearly that A.K.A. MATTY FLIP
ȱȱȬȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǰȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ
there are no ȱ¡¢ȱȱȱ ȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱȱĴ¢ĵǯȱȱȱȱ-
ȱȱȱ ¢ǯȱȱ ȱ ȱ ȱ
ǰȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ ȱ
obstacles. ȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱĚȱ ȱ-
ȱĴȱȱȱ£ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱęǯȱ ȱȬȱǯȱ
ȱȱȱȱȬǰȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱĴȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǰȱ ȱǰȱȱȱ¢ȱĴȱȱȱȱ
ȱĴǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ- ȱȱĴȱȱǯȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ ¢ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱęȱȱ ȱ
ȱȱĴȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱĚ¢ȱǯ ȱȱǯ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
¢ ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ ǯȱ
ȃȱ ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
Split S
¢ȱĚǰȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱ
ȱȱȬǰȄȱ ȱ¢ǯ
LEVEL 3
POWER LOOP
ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱĚȱȱȱ
¢ȱȱȱǯȱȱ¡ǰȱ¢ȱ¢ȱ Roll right Cut throttle Pitch backward
Ě¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ-
ȱ ȱ¢ȱǯ
Other Variations
SLIDING ROLL:ȱȱȱŗŞŖȬȱȱȱȱ
¢ȱȱȱ ǰȱ ȱ¢ȱȱ Full throttle
ȱȱȱĚǯ
PHOTO SETTINGS AND EDITING
>> To edit this photo, Green

strengthened the shadows,
LEVEL 1
SETTINGS AND APP EDITING
adjusted the hue and luminance
on the foliage, manually brushed
in clarity and contrast effects,
and made exposure adjustments.
BEFORE EDITS
ȱȂȱ ¢ȱę¡ȱȱȱȱǯȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱĴȱȱ¢ȱȱȱĴǯȱ Ĵȱǰȱȃȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ-
¢ȱȱȱǯȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȂȱ
NEED ¡ȱǰȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ-
ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱȱ
¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȂȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱǯȱ
ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ
TO KNOW ¢ȱ¡ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱǯȄ
ȱȱǯȱȱ¢ȱȱĴȱȱȱ RAW: An image file with no ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱǰȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ compression. ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ
ȱ¢ǯȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ ȱǯȱȱȱȱ ȱȱĴ¢ȱ
ȱǰȱǰȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ JPEG: An image file type that ¢ȱȯȱȱǰȱȱęǰȱ
ȱěǯ compresses data. Not ideal ȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱĴȱ ȱěȱȱ for high-resolution editing. ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ- ȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ǯȱȱȱȱȱ HISTOGRAM: A visual repre- ȱěȱ¢ȱęȱȱȯȱȱ ȱě-
ȱęȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱǰȱȱȱ sentation of the tonal values ȱȱȱěȱȱǯ
ȱȱȱ¢ȱȬȱǻȃȄȱ of your image.
Ǽǯȱ ȱȬȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱǻǼǰȱ ȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱǯȱ
Ĵȱȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱȱȱ
ASPECT RATIO: The relation-
ship between the width and
height of an image.
LEVEL 2
OUT OF THE PHONE/DRONE
GEOFFREY GREEN (3)
ǰȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
¡ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ COLOR CAST - A tint of a
ȱȱǯȱĴȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ particular (usually unwanted) ȱ¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ color. ǰȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱ ȱęȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱ
ǯȱ ě¢ȱ ǰȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱǰȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱ
¢ȱȱǰȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
52 Drone360mag.com
And you don’t have to spend more than $6
(some software is even free!) to step up your
editing game.
Green suggests that you scale your editing
software to your skill and comfort level. “If
you own an Apple desktop, laptop, tablet, or
phone, the free app Photos will allow you to
start adjusting and learning basic editing,” he
says. Green highly recommends PhotoScape
when editing on a desktop computer. “It boasts
similar tools to the Photos app and is upgrad-
able for a one-time fee when you’re ready to
advance,” he explains.
However, there’s no reason to invest in an
expensive editing platform until you’re com-
fortable with the basic editing functions. These
Ĵȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ
good editing software.
EXPOSURE is the amount of time the light is
exposed to the camera sensor while taking the
photos and its digital adjustment will move the
light values of the entire image higher or lower >> Geoff Green of VSI Aerial
making all values of the image proportionally
LEVEL 3
knows that having your photo
darker or brighter. settings adjusted before taking
CONTRASTȱȱȱȱȱȱěȱ off (make sure you’re in RAW!)
in light values of all of the subjects in your im- is vital to capturing beautiful
ǰȱ ȱȱęǯȱȱȱȱ aerial drone shots. That being
LAYERS, COMPOSITING, AND RETOUCHING
ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ¢ȱę- said, having a drone like the
tion from the entire photo bringing values up DJI Inspire certainly doesn’t Before we get into the editing process, let’s
and down proportionally. hurt, either. ȱȱĴȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
SATURATION is how colorful your image is White Balance (WB) is the adjustment of the
— think of it as boldness of color. The digital color cast that is introduced to photos by the
adjustment will allow you to uniformly in- lighting conditions in which the photo is taken.
crease or decrease the boldness of colors across
the entire image. Think about For instance, a day with full sun imparts
ȱěȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱǯȱ
VIBRANCE helps correct portions of the image White balance is adjusted in temperature color
that are under-saturated, and will increase the
colors that are under-saturated while leaving
not only a — cool (blue) and warm (orange).
ȃȱȱ ¢ȱȱȱȱĴȱȱ
the saturated colors where they are as to not
oversaturate already saturated portions of
properly auto white balance (AWB),” Green says, “but
you will most likely run into inconsistent WB
the image. throughout your shoot if the light changes at
LEVELING will rotate the image to adjust ho- exposed all.” Your ability to edit your WB after the fact
rizons. Often, drone photos will have a slightly is dependent on what format you shoot in.
tilted horizon — no worries, since it’s an easy
ę¡ȱ ȱȱȱǯȱ
image, but ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱęȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱǯȱȱęȱȱȱȱȱȱ
CROPPING allows you to adjust the aspect
ratio and frame the image. Shoot in the aspect
also about ȱȱǯȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱĴȱ
correct WB in post-production, because the
ratio that gives you the most image to use — camera has not removed the color cast data
some aspect ratios pre-crop the image as it is
processed in the camera, and the extra image
what is before processing the image.
Of course, RAW images use more space,
that could have been captured is lost. This
ȱĴȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
happening and you will need to verify they are compatible
with your editing program. “Utilizing your his-
SHARPENING is an extension of contrast, but
for edges. It will make edges darker or brighter, in that togram and manually adjusting your WB is just
Ĵȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
providing additional contrast to the image. consistently creating good images,” Green says.
DIGITAL FILTERS are preset adjustments for
photos to give a certain look without manu-
image like In terms of what editing programs to use,
Adobe Lightroom sets the standard for ad-
¢ȱȱȱȱĴǯȱȱ¢ȱęȱȱ
ęȱ¢ȱǰȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ
moving vanced editing. It includes the capabilities to
mass import/export, watermark, and all of the
ȱęȱěȱ¢ȱǯȱȱ ¢ǰȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱęȬȱ subjects. advanced editing features that an editor needs
($9.99 a month or $150 purchase). PhotoScape X
your preferences and develop your own style. Pro is a similar program ($29.99 purchase).
54
BONUS TIP
>> For this shot, Green boosted
saturation and clarity in the sky,
tweaked WB on the barns, and
adjusted saturation and clarity
across sections of corn and fields.
RETOUCH AND REMIX
Now that you have a versatile editing

program, let’s discuss some of the features you
should be familiar with:
LIGHT:
• White Sliders adjust the brightness or
darkness of all white in an image.
• Highlight Sliders adjust the brightest area
of white in an image.
• Black Sliders adjust the darkness or
brightness of all blacks in an image.
• Shadow Sliders adjust the gray areas and
shadows in an image.
COLOR:
• Temperature Sliders adjust the WB by
making the image warmer or cooler.
• Tint Slidersȱȱȱęȱȱȱ¢ȱ
WB by introducing green or magenta.
• Hue Slidersȱȱȱȱȱȱęȱ
color (changing all blues to purples).
• Luminance Sliders adjust the brightness
ȱȱęȱǯ
EFFECTS:
• Gradient Maskȱȱěȱ¢ȱȱ
and out of a photo with a straight line.
• Circular Maskȱȱěȱȱȱȱ
or outside of the circle with adjustable fade.
• Brushesȱȱȱȱȱȱęȱ-
justments to an area brushed onto the photo.
• Cloning will replace a portion of the photo
with another selected portion of the photo
and has adjustable blending properties.
• Healing will replace colors with another
selected portion of the photo and has adjust-
able blending properties.
Green believes there’s no one “right” way to

edit. “Editing images is relatively subjective —
you can be as abstract and creative as you want
ȱęȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱȱ
Learning the methods and tools available to
¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱĴȱ
your work out there — through social channels,
forums, or a website — and opening yourself
up to critique will help you develop your skills.
As Green puts it, your process and edits
ȱĚǰȱȃ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ
whoever will be viewing the image, and intro-
GEOFFREY GREEN (2)
ducing them to what’s in your mind’s eye.”
>> ISO, shutter speed, and aperature all affect

one another — which is why they’re known as the
BEFORE EDITS
photographic triad. Go to drone360mag.com/triad
for Geoffrey Green’s explanation of how the triad
applies to drone photography.
Using PixElement, drone images
can be processed into virtual 3D
models. And guess what? That
makes managing data a whole lot
easier. PIXELEMENT
DATA
56
CR
By Steve Sweeney
Drone360mag.com
H
Here’s a thought: If you insert a 64 gigabyte SD card into
your drone and start shooting 4K video until your bat-
tery runs low, chances are you didn’t even come close to
ęȱȱǯ
ȱȱȱǯȱ
But many businesses using drones today are under-
equipped to understand how to use the massive amounts
ȱȱȱȱǯȱȱȱȱ
probably don‘t need the entire video, so they’ll likely
¢ȱ Ȃȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱĴȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱȱȱ
ȱȱŗŖŖȱǰȱȱ¢ȱȱęȱȱȱȬȬȬ
ȱŗȬ¢ȱȱǯȱȱǰȱǵȱ
But what if instead of a standard video pod, the busi-
ȱȱȱȬȱȬȱȱȱęȱȱ
ȱřŘȬ¢ȱȱȱȱǯȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱŚŖȱ
ȱȱȱĚǯȱȱȱȱŗŖŖȱǰȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ
¢ȱęȱŚȱ¢ǯ
ȱ ȱǵȱ ǰȱǯ
ǰȱȂȱ¢ȱ¢ȱȬ¢ȱ¢ȱȱ
¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱĴȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱ
drone’s onboard sensors and begin recording GPS
coordinates, altitude, time, airspeed, humidity, pitch,
ȱ¢ ȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱǯȱȱȱȱ
ȱęȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱǯ
¢Ȃȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱĚȱ
plan, lands itself, allows users to geotag images, and
enables an operator to easily swap between near infrared,
ǰȱǰȱȱȬęȱ-
ȱǯȱȱȱȱȱȱĚȱȱȱ
temperature, humidity, and air pressure data that users
ȱȬ¢ȱȱȱȱǯ
PROCESSING TIME OF 1 COMPUTER VS. 10 COMPUTERS DATA SIZE
Computer COMPARISON
Processing time x 10
Computer
x 10
Processing time 1 GB 32 GB 64 GB 1 TB 4 TB
ILLUSTRATIONS: RICK JOHNSON
software PixElement allows you to pro-

cess aerial images into virtual 3D models.
ȱǰȱǰȱȱ¢ȱ
takes a minimum of 10 aerial images at
10 to 12 megabytes each and renders
ȱȃĚȄȱȱȱřȱȱǰȱ
ȱȱǰȱǰȱȱȱ
2D CAD drawings. PixElement’s largest
ȱȱȱȱȱŗǰŖŖŖȬȱ¢ȱ
with photos weighing in at a whopping
200 megabytes apiece.
ȱȱǰȱ¡ȱ-
ȱȱǰȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱ
£ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǰȱ
especially since there are a wide array of
options for processing said data.
ȃ¢ȱ ȱĴȱ ¢ȱȱȱ
with that information and they want to be
ȱȱȱȱȱȱĚ¢ǰȄȱȱ¢ǯ
The days of a company sharing data
ȱȱȱȱȱęǯȱǰȱ
Ben Vander Jagt (front), PixElement, and Aaron Hoffman, R.A. Duthler Land Surveyor, conduct clients want to share data from a cloud
research and development to ensure customers get quality data. R.A. DUTHLER LAND SURVEYOR ǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ
This data helps vendors correct images ȱǰȄȱ¡ȱȱǰȱ ǯȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
distorted by layers of atmosphere and geospatial scientist for senseFly. part of this process is transparency.
accurately turn them into 3D models. He says many commercial customers ȱȃȱ¢ȱȂȱȱǰȱ¢ȱȱȱ
It also helps operators understand how mostly want drones to be an aerial imag- in and independently validate what we
ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱęȱȱȱ ǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱȱǰȱȱ ȱȱ
or extremely hot conditions reduce the ¡ȱ Ě ǯ ȱȱ¡ǯȱȃ ǰȱ ȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ “Managing the data is always a hard ȱǰȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱĴ¢ȱ ȱ thing. A lot of people do get drowned in ȱȱȱ ǯȄ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱĚȱ- ǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱ ȱĴǰȱȱȱȱ ȱ
tion. The same data can also be used as a While the software on the back end is years later.
performance metric for human and digi- ĴȱĴȱȱȱȱǰȱȂȱ ȱǰȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ
ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ not yet fully automated. “You still need all the information a drone can deliver.
ȱȱȱȱĜ¢ǰȱȱȱ an analyst of some sort to interpret what “I don’t see a need for 7 million data
adverse conditions. ¢ȂȱĴȱȱȱȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯ ǰȄȱ¢ȱȱǰȱȱȱ¢-
But not everyone needs — or wants — ȱȱ¢ȱ¢ǰȱǯȱȃȱ
all that extra information. Baby steps ȱȱǽ¢ȱǾȱȱȱȱǯȄȱ
“You come up on a lot of people who ¢ǰȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȯȱȱȱȱ£ȱȱȱ
don’t really understand what [drones] make sifting through data bearable. The ǰȱȱǰȱȱ¡ǯȱ
58 Drone360mag.com
SenseFly’s eBee drone is built for commercial operations, which means it can deliver loads of data. That’s great, of course, but that data needs to
be processed, stored, and understood — which is no small task. SENSEFLY
PixElement processes all of Duthler’s “Doing this sort of balancing act can ȱȱȱȱȱ
drone work — a process he describes ȱȱěȱ ȱȱȬ ȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱ
as “seamless.” The typical PixElement fast solution and one that’s stuck in the ȱ¢ȱȱȃȄȱȱĚǯȱ
ȱȱȱęȱ£ȱȂȱęȱȱ mud, and unfortunately there doesn’t The operator only wants images of the
ȱȱȱȱ£ȱȱȱȱ seem to be any general rule that can be ǰȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
come in, Vander Jagt says. PixElement ǰȄȱ
ȱ¡ǯȱȃȱȱ of incidental data along the way. Visual
ȱȱȱ£ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȬ¢Ȭ data of houses, cars, pedestrians, and
ǻǼǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ- case basis.” yards will all be stored for as long as the
mation at any time. Microsoft and Google Remember PixElement’s largest ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ ǰȱȱŗǰŖŖŖȬȱ¢ǵȱȱ ȱǯ
hard storage is also an option, but they’re company’s leaders began working on it ȱȱȱȱȱȱ-
¢ȱȱ ȱ£ǯǯ in April, and while their software has ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱęȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ learn the ins and outs of homes. Drones
ǰȱȱȱȱǱȱFortune ȱȱȱȱǻ¢ȱȱȱ Ě¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
£ȱȱȱŘŖŗŜȱȱȱ ȱȱȃȱȄȱ Ǽǰȱ ȱȱȱĴȱȱȂȱ
ȱ ȱȱ ȱ£Ȃȱ ¢Ȃȱęȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱ ǯȱ ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱ
řǰȱȱȱȱǰȱȱŗǯŜȱ ȱȱȂȱȱ
ȂȱȱȰȱ school and with whom, when they’re
times the data stored of all other storage competition is. ȱ¢ȱǰȱȱȱǯ
ȱǰȱȱǰȱ “My biggest fear, in this business, is One piece of security is to only gather
Google and other familiar names such ĴȱǰȄȱ
ȱ¢ǯȱȃȂȱ ȱ¢ȱǰȱ ȱȱ¡ǰȱȱ
ȱǰȱǭǰȱȱǯȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ¢ȱȱěȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȬȬȬȱȱ ¡ȱȱ ȱǰȱ¢ȱȱĜǯ
ȃ¢Ȅȱ ȱěȱȱȱ photogrammetry, but there’s always the ȃȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱ-
ȱȱȱȱ- chance that some other startup will come ress,” says Marx. He’s speaking of drone
ages for customers. ȱȱȱȱȱěȱȱȱ operators deciphering when and how to
The hardest thing PixElement deals ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱěǯȄ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȯȱ
ǰȱ¢ȱȱ¡ȱ
ǰȱȱ£ȱ ¢ȱȱǯȱȄȱȱȱ-
how its computers chew through data. Guarding the vault Ǳȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȂȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱȱŗŖȱȱ The ability to acquire and store this what image they are looking for. I’m not
ȱŗŖȱǰȱȱŗŖȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ- ȱȱȂȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱŗŖŖȱȱȱȱǯȱȱȱ non. And because of that rapid growth in today’s technologies.”
ŗŖȱȱȱȱȱȱ data capture technology, safe and secure ȱ¢ȱȱȬȂȱ
networking and contributing their own storage mechanisms are playing a game ȱȱȱȱȱ-
extracted information to an output than it ȱȬǯȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ erations manual for these types of ethical
would take for one computer to work on but if it’s not secure, you’re going to run questions in regard to journalism, which
the entire data set alone. into problems. ȱ ȱǱȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱ
Don’t want all the data that drones like the
only with permission and point your 3D Robotics X8 (left) can provide? You don’t
camera only where you have a purpose have to keep it! If you just want volumetrics
and a need to do so. of a gravel site (above), just get what you
But once you have the data, you have need processed and delete the rest. TOP: TIM
to keep it out of the wrong hands. KIDWELL, BOTTOM: R.A. DULUTH LAND SURVEYOR
“The harm here is straightforward,”
Marx says. “When you put a lot of data Getting to the good stuff
together, it makes it into something that is Marx says capturing good imaging
ĴȱȱȱȱȱǯȄ ȱȱȱǰȱȬȱ
ȱȱȱȂȱŘŖŗŝȱȱ video, and raw data feeds from most
Predictions Report write that software modern devices is still dependent on
¢ȱȱȱȱȬĚȱ human input.
drones from “dronejacking,” where crimi- ȃĴ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȄȱ¡ȱ
ȱĴȱȱȱȱȱȂȱȱ even deleting special access codes, called ǯȱ
to destroy it or capture it for resale. “keys,” and replacing them frequently. Through estimation and interpola-
But McAfee writers spend much And then there is also security in tion, humans clean up the data samples
more ink on threats to cloud storage and ȱȱȱȱȱȱȂȱ they receive and work with that result.
ȱȱȱ¢ǰȱę¢ȱ get lost. ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
on how they expect security vendors to ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ ȱ ǰȱ¢Ȃȱȱȱ ȱȱ
introduce more rigorous authentication. ǻ ǼȱȯȱȱĜȱȱȱ- Ĵȱȱȱȱ¡ȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱȬěȱȱȱȱ ȱȱǯǯȱȯȱȱȱ¡¢ǯȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȬ
on their cell phones to use in addition ȱȱȱȱȱȱĜȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱęǯ
ȱ ǰȱȱȱǻȱ a manual for employees that explains Marx, the former City of Los Angeles
ęǰȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ ǰȱ ǰȱȱ ¢ȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
monitors) and tests that help separate handle data from drones. ȱȱǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱǻȱ ȱĜȱȱ ȱ ȱ ȱȱȱǯȱȱ£ȱ
CAPTCHA codes). ȱȱ£ȱȱ ¢ȱ¢ȱȱ his train of thought, Marx says to con-
ȱȱǰȱ£ȱȱȂȱ and store data, what permissions are sider the millions of search results for any
¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ needed to move or retrieve it, and even an ȱȱȱ ǯ
these extra security measures, known as overview of the whole process from data ȃȂȱȱȱȂȱȱǯȱȂȱ-
multi-factor authentication, in addition collection to end-user viewing. When it ȱȱ¢ȱȂȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱ
ȱȱȱ ǰȱȱ comes to taking good and useful images, ¡ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
a group of trusted coworkers to access they have a separate drone school to train that, with time, drones and other devices
administrator codes in an emergency, and in. Few are so fortunate. will continue collecting ever-greater data
60 Drone360mag.com
amounts. Rather than simply saving it or
giving up on ever using it, the solution he
¢ǰȱȱ Ǳȱ
ȱ ȱȱĴȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱĚ¢ȱ
only where needed, and they’ll begin us-
ing software tools to extract insights.
“What we’re trying to do on the in-
dustrial side [is create] the tools by which
they can go and reduce the data to a set
of insights. When is my machine going
to break, what is my issue on the railroad
tracks, power lines?” Marx says. “It’s all
about taking the image data or data com-
ȱěȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ
actionable thing that somebody can go do
something about.”
In part, that’s what Predix is for. The
service is a platform or base for others
to build their own applications on top
of. Those applications could monitor or
control railroad locomotives, windmills,
and, you guessed it, drones.
Earlier this year, GE Digital’s cousin,
GE Ventures, launched Avitas Systems, That credit-card sized chip (right) is inside
which a GE representative says will Aerialtronics’ Zenith X8 drones. Don’t let its
crunch data in the cloud that comes from small size fool you: It’s packed full of tech
oil and gas pipeline and infrastructure that could one day pilot the drone! Yeah, we’re
inspections performed by inspections excited, too. TOP: AERIALTRONICS, RIGHT: NVIDIA
from “ground-based and aerial autono-
mous and semi-autonomous robots.” AI, and the Internet of Things to provide vice president and general manager of the
“Avitas Systems fuses the inspection augments and actionable insights, is Tegra business at Nvidia.
ęȂȱǰȱȱȱȱȱ using edge computing. The processor can identify passing
autonomous inspection, with regulatory Aerialtronics’ Altura Zenith ATX8 automobiles, bicycles, and people. It can
and external data sources (like weather) drones have an on-board, credit card- classify and track them in real-time, while
and new inputs from subsequent inspec- sized TX1 supercomputer made by Silicon driving at legal highway speeds. Auto-
tions,” says a GE representative. Valley’s Nvidia. The company hopes that ȱȱȱěȱȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ǰȱ ȱĜȱ¡ȱȱ tiny chip might one day pilot the drone. regain their original tag — scary good.
system to recommend inspections based “We can use [it] to smooth the opera- Nvidia is partnered with several drone
on computer-calculated risk using prior tion and only get the data you need so companies and programs, including
data. Customers can access the data as you can focus the camera on rust spots or ǰȱȱĴȱȱȱ
drones collect it through a web portal that [the] thermal signature you want to track Technology, and Teal Drones.
ěȱȱȱȱ¢ǯ down,” Barth Vrijling, an Aerialtronics There are other comparable systems
design engineer said in a YouTube video. out there: Qualcomm has its Snapdragon
Let’s get it on … the vehicle “When it sees that signature, it recognizes Flight Drone Platform that debuted at
In GE’s universe, computing can that from the data bank and you can send CES 2017. In May, Intel announced a part-
happen from the middle of the cloud that image to the service engineer.” nership with DJI to install its Movidius
— vast, nebulous connected computer In March, Nvidia released a new Myriad 2 processor in DJI’s Spark drones
networks — all the way to the edge. embedded processor called Jetson TX2, (read our Spark review on page 18).
This is known as edge computing. which is the successor to the TX1 used Compared to Nvidia ‘s TX2, the units
Edge computing is data processing by Aerialtronics. ȱȱǰȱȱȱěȱ
and information creation that happens Nvidia says the new credit card-sized ways. And each company highlights
close to the data source. It is the technol- supercomputer can dynamically process their own distinctive selling points —
ogy based on graphics processing units two 4K video streams simultaneously 4K stereo cameras, GNSS global position-
(and video processing units) that will with virtually no latency — the time being, and built-in image enhancement for
one day be the on-board brain power tween when the unit receives data and Snapdragon. (But no mention of size or
for autonomous vehicles, including it becomes available for use. Which is ¢ȱĜ¢ǯǼȱȱȱȬȱ
cars and drones. Ĵ¢ȱǯ ȱȱĴȱȱȱȱ
For UAS, edge computing would “These devices will enable intelli- other, end users can expect only one
ȱęȱȱȱęȱ gent video analytics that keep our cities thing: more data.
intelligence could happen on the vehicle smarter and safer, new kinds of robots “Once upon a time, you had to
instead of pinging back to computers in that optimize manufacturing, and new make sure not to store too many text
the cloud. Aerialtronics, an end-to-end collaboration that makes long-distance ęȱȱ¢ȱǰȄȱ
ȱ¢ǯȱ
solution developer that utilizes drones, ȱȱĜǰȄȱ¢ȱȱǰȱ “Nowadays, that seems laughable.”
I, DRONE
Autonomous drones lex Harmsen got his pilot’s When he tries to picture the dangers
A
license before he could of drones, it’s easy for him to imagine —
legally drive a car. By 17, he it looks a lot like his younger self.
are coming. Can we ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ He knows humans are
rural Canada, often for crop ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ
teach them to make dusting and sometimes buzz- aircraft to inspect infra-
ing the neighbor’s farm for fun. structure, airlift sick and
good choices? After studying engineering in college, injured people, crop-dust,
ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱǯȱ
ȱ or maybe just buzz the
helped NASA design a drone that might neighbor’s farm.
By Jason Krause ¢ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ “That airspace over
co-founder of a company that makes those farms where I started Alexander
software for autonomous drones. Ě¢ȱȱ¡¢ȱ ȱ Harmsen
62 Drone360mag.com
ILLUSTRATIONS: KELLIE JAEGER
autonomous drones are going to be,” of Interactive Computing. “But once more than 90% of all automobile
he says. “I don’t want to think about drones are in close contact or interact accidents. It’s no surprise that extends
what would happen if a younger me intimately with humans, there is potential to controlling other machines.
had come face to face with a drone in for chaos.” “Humans aren’t just
the same airspace.” ȱȱĚ¢ȱǰȱ
ȱęȱȱǻǼȱ ON A COLLISION COURSE ¢ȂȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ
researchers, humans are the real obstacle Humans cause terrible accidents and manned planes and driv-
in creating autonomous drones. “You disasters. They are easily distracted, ing cars,” says Harmsen,
can minimize human-drone interactions prone to mistakes, and can react slowly. co-founder and CEO of Iris
with things like drone-only driving lanes, ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ ǯȱȱȱ
regulated airspace, and sense-and-avoid people are especially erratic. The National Valley-based startup is
technology,” says Mark Riedl, associate
¢ȱĜȱ¢ȱȱ testing a fully autonomous Andreas
professor in the Georgia Tech School says human drivers are responsible for collision avoidance system Raptopoulos
IRIS Automation is blending computer vision
with artificial intelligence to give robot pilots ASIMOV’S LAWS OF DRONES Riedl. “Drones have to be able to meet
situational awareness. Drones will be expected ȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ the expectations of humans, or they
to identify and track static objects and moving ȱęǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ appear psychopathic.”
objects, then plot the safest course. been a hot topic of theoretical discussion.
IRIS AUTOMATION ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǰȱȱ DO DRONES DREAM OF
Ȃȱȱ ȱ ELECTRIC SHEEP?
for commercial drones, which it hopes to of Robotics are a core ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱęȱ
launch next year. ǯȱȂȱ intelligence that can make it possible
Cisco Systems, the leading maker of ǰȱęȱȱȱ for drones to interpret images and other
networking hardware, estimates there a short story from 1942, sensor data in order to make appropriate
will be 12 billion connected devices in are: decisions in critical situations. This is the
the world by 2021 — and that as much as • A robot may not in- ęȱȱ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱ
ŘśƖȱ ȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱǰȱ jure a human being or, without being explicitly programmed or
industrial robots, and autonomous cars. through inaction, allow told how to carry out a task.
“We have drones right now that are a human being to come Researchers believe that autonomous
Ě¢ȱ¢ǰȱ ȱ ȱ Do Asimov’s to harm. drones and vehicles can be trained to
waypoints,” says Andreas Raptopoulos, three laws • A robot must obey observe objects in the world, predict
founder and CEO of commercial manu- apply to drones? the orders given it by behavior, and make course corrections
ȱĴǯȱȃ
ǰȱȱ Ȃȱ human beings except accordingly. For instance: What kind of
call this true autonomy. True autonomy ȱȱȱ ȱĚȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǵȱȱȱ
happens when drones are responding to ȱȱ ǯ another vehicle, a pedestrian, a bicycle,
their environment in real-time.” • A robot must protect its own existence ȱȱǵȱ¢ǰȱǰȱȱȱ
Eventually, autonomous drones will as long as such protection does not con- the guesses will be wrong.
ȱȱȱ ȱĴȱȱȱȱ Ěȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ ǯ ȃęȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
supervision. That means computer These laws have provided a at things like looking at captions on cat
algorithms will make life-or-death ȱȱȱȱȱ videos and tagging images
choices. Researchers are just beginning Ȃȱȱǯȱȱ with 98% accuracy on
to grapple with the moral and ethical catch, however, is that a human Facebook,” says
questions about how machines can make can give machines bad, irresponsi-
ǯȱȃȱ¢ȱ
judgments, especially when dealing with ble, or evil commands. Through- Ȃȱ¢ȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ- ȱȂȱȱȱ- that might fail two out of
ing around the world. ǰȱȱȱȱĜȱȱ 10 times in the national
When an accident cannot be avoided, aligning with human values. airspace. That is
the algorithms controlling a drone must “The short answer is that there needs not an acceptable
ȱ ȱȱęȱȱȱ to be a value alignment around human- failure rate for a
itself — and any potential passenger or drone interactions, a complex reward machine in the
cargo — or risk harming lives. mechanism that captures the subtlety ȱ ȱĚ¢ȱ
and nuances of human behavior,” says overhead.”
64 Drone360mag.com
WHO DO WE KNOW THIS MIGHT SOUND like a good
hypothetical for stoned law students to ponder
YOU SUE in a late-night bull session. But the first time
WHEN AN AUTONOMOUS an autonomous drone crashes and hurts a
DRONE CRASHES? person, there will almost certainly be civil
lawsuits — and possibly criminal actions.
Engineers creating the systems that automate drones on the ground and in the air must
consider the legal and ethical questions in addition to the practical ones. Who is legally respon-
sible for the actions of a drone? The drone’s owner? Whoever was monitoring the drone at the
Matthias Scheutz says the real AI challenge time? The software developer who programmed the drone? The drone itself?
is teaching robots of all kinds to meet our In the U.S., when someone puts a device in the air over private property and the device falls
standards for normal behavior. Otherwise, and causes someone harm, that action creates a legally actionable event. But when an autono-
they’ll appear psychotic and untrustworthy. mous drone or other vehicle crashes, what caused the crash? Is it a defect in the software? Was
(The giant head and eyes doesn’t really help it an unavoidable incident?
either.) KELVIN MA Unfortunately, the algorithms that steer these machines are closely guarded secrets. The
only way we may ever understand how drones make decisions might be in a lawsuit in which
Machine learning is an important subpoenas force engineering documents into the open.
tool for autonomous vehicle makers as Ultimately, manufacturers may have to install an event-recording device, like an airliner’s
they develop the systems that pilot their black box or a solid-state storage device. These instruments would retain a tamper-resistant
machines. Tesla’s controversial autopilot record of events in case of an incident.
feature available in its cars uses machine Researchers have begun to investigate algorithmic transparency, or systems that allow a
learning to train its software to recognize machine to explain why it made certain actions. For consumers, it means they can ask Netflix to
threats and avoid collisions on highways. explain why it keeps recommending Friends even though you’re more interested in horror flicks.
“We believe machines can have moral In the courtroom, it means an autonomous machine could “explain,” in plain language, why it
ǰȄȱ¢ȱĴȱĵǰȱ crashed into your roof.
professor of computer science at Tufts However, having a machine testify in a courtroom could be just as unreliable as a human
¢ȱȱȱȱȱ- witness. “Humans can come up with all kinds of post hoc rationalizations to explain why they do
rector of Tuft’s Human-Robot Interaction terrible things in adversarial legal settings,” says Riedl. “If you teach agents to behave like hu-
Lab. “This isn’t about philosophy or what mans, those agents will misbehave just like we do. I don’t want machines to learn to lie like us.”
is good and evil, but training machines to
make competent choices that meet
human expectations.”
However, researchers have found
the things that we think of as making us
human — like intelligence tests or play-
ing games — are relatively easy for robots
to recreate. It’s the things we do without
thinking, like recognizing a face, navigat-
ȱĜǰȱȱȱȂȱ-
tions that take comparatively high levels
of mental processing. The name for this
ȱȱȂȱ¡ǰȱęȱ
articulated in the 1980s.
“The hardest parts of replicating
human intelligence may actually be the
sensorimotor responses, the basic walk-
ing, or picking up a pen — actions that
any 4-year-old could perform,” says
Harmsen. “These basic problems that “Human children learn conven- learn human values by learning the out-
we’re working on seem extremely easy tions by watching and listening to their comes we expect from social interactions.
ȱǰȱȱȱ¢ȱ¢ȱĜȱ parents,” he says. “A machine doesn’t “If the program can follow the protag-
to get right in software.” have that experience, but it can begin to onist, machines learn things like how to
Making a decision can be simple — the understand human behavior the more overcome challenges, or avoid violence,”
ȱȱęȱȱ ¢ȱȱȱȱ data it has to work with.” he says.
ȱȱȱȱȱĴȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ Riedl explains that if you feed AI
ǰȱęȱȱȱ
taken evolution millions of years to hard- programs information from as many cannot be expected to learn simply by
wire into human brains. Riedl says AI is sources as possible, they can begin to an- watching. In order to behave, they need
good at picking out the most prevalent ticipate the correct outcome. His experi- to be given boundaries and rules. “It is
signals and learning through repetition. ments with AI include feeding children’s not possible to learn to behave by observ-
The more raw information that machine stories and fables through machine learn- ȱǰȄȱ¢ȱĵǯȱȃ¢ȱ ȱȱ
learning is given, the more it knows about ing programs. Human values are hard to because they are forbidden from doing
the way the world works. program, but he believes machines can something that harms humans.”
DRONES WHAT IS THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT), and why
should drone pilots care? In the most basic sense, the
IN THE I T O
IoT is made up of devices that have sensors to collect
data and share it with other devices through a network.
A number of big name companies like Amazon.com
and Google, as well as tiny startups, are all competing to put intelligent, autonomous, networked
drones in the sky, under the sea, and on our roads.
Because drones are flying computers that can connect to the internet, other drones, air
traffic control, or directly with their operator, they ought to be a perfect fit for integration into the
IoT. However, there are still a lot of big holes in that theory.
Colin Snow, an industry analyst and CEO of Skylogic Research points out that the idea of
autonomous drones is simply impossible until a communications network lets them actually
communicate with each other — and with everything else.
For example, various Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) projects, such as the NASA-
FAA UTM project, all aim to allow drones to navigate the national airspace. And while there are
a number of planned traffic alert and collision avoidance systems, these only work as long as
manned and unmanned aircraft are able to communicate and respond to threats.
In the future, 5G networks will help drones communicate with other aircraft, but adoption
has been slow — and most of that extra bandwidth is being used by cellular users. Drones are
likely to be one of the most visible pieces of the IoT: transporting people and goods, monitoring
the Earth, and transmitting data. But not yet. “I just don’t see this happening any time soon,”
says Snow. “There are too many pieces that need to be in place before we can even think about
autonomous drones patrolling the skies.” -J.K.
I’M SORRY, DAVE, I CAN’T ȱȱĚ¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǰȱ

LET YOU DO THAT they need to have something humans can
Human pilots will rely on instincts never achieve — total situational aware-
when facing a morally charged deci- ǯȱęȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱęȱȱ ȱȱȱ learning can allow drones to do dynamic
make lightning-quick ethical checks. ǰȱęǰȱĴȱ-
ȱ¡ǰȱȱĴęȱȱȱȱ tion, and trajectory propagation. They
near future may be ordered to urgently need to be able to identify birds, planes,
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱęȱ drones, and other targets and then pre- maneuvering through another.
hospital, but encounters a wounded dict the course for each and maneuver ȃȱȂȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ
soldier. Should the drone abort the mis- around them. Ě¢ǰȄȱ¢ȱ ȱǰȱȱȱ
sion to assist the injured? If the machine At the Vijay Kumar Lab at the scientist at the University of Pennsylva-
stops, is the soldier safe to move? In some University of Pennsylvania, researchers nia. “They need to be trained for the types
circumstances, drones must know when ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ of obstacles they will face before they
to override commands, or even say no to robots that are able to navigate in com- Ě¢ǯȄ
their human controllers. plex, three-dimensional environments. While academic researchers are mak-
ĵȂȱȱȱȱȱȱ The lab has been able to program tiny ȱȱȱȱęȱȱ
think critically about commands, rather drones that navigate through buildings, that can navigate ethically compromising
than simply following orders. In one forests, and other obstacle courses. ǰȱȱȱȂȱ
experiment, robots were given com- However, they have found that drones wait for the system to fully mature.
mands like “walk forward,” even though that are good at moving through one type ȱȱĴȱȱȱ
ȱȱ ȱȱěȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ of environment — like a building — may Automation are using AI programming,
The robots were able to tell their human ȱĜ¢ȱ but only with more rudimentary sense
master no, and only moved after and avoid systems. “In the world of avi-
the researcher assured the robot onics, government, and insurance, people
he would catch it. are still skeptical of new technologies,”
Drone makers such ¢ȱ
ǯȱȃȱȂȱ ȱȱȱ
as DJI and Intel have rely on deep learning or new advanced
introduced rudimen- algorithms; there has to be some geomet-
tary sense-and-avoid ric base that you can rely on as well.”
systems, which help Ĵȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ
drones avoid a col- ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱ
lision with objects cities. They plan to use drones to deliver
in its immediate blood samples and humanitarian supplies
surroundings. But in poor or underserved countries, but the
in order for drones company is also working with Mercedes-
to replace human Benz to develop autonomous or nearly-
66 Drone360mag.com
AI WILL HELP THE
DRONES CRASH
FAR AWAY FROM
HUMANS IN THE
EVENT OF AN
EMERGENCY. IF AI DOES FAIL,
IN ADDITION, THE PAYLOAD OF
THE DRONES WILL BLOOD SMAPLES
HAVE A BUILT-IN AND MEDICAL
PARACHUTE TO TEST MATERIALS
ENSURE THEY FALL WILL BE HARDENED
SAFELY TO THE AND PROTECTED
GROUND. SO THAT IT WILL
SURVIVE A CRASH
INTACT.
Matternet has been testing drones to

autonomous delivery trucks and vans. ȬȱȬǯȱȱǰȱ
ȱ fly lab samples in the Swiss city of Lugano.
ĴȱȱȱȱȬ ȱȱ ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ MATTERNET
bed to train drones for more fully autonoȬ ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱĚǯȱ ǰȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ ¢ȱ¡ȱȱęǯȄ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȂȱȱȬ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ ǰȱȱȱȱǯȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱǰȱȱȱ¡ȱȱ ¢ȬȱĴȱȱȱȱ ȱǯȱȱȱȬ
ȱȱǯȱ ȱ ĵȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȬ ȱȱȱȱȱȬ ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȬ lated areas. ȃȱŝŚŝȱȱĚ¢ȱĴ¢ȱȱ¢ǰȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȃȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȬ ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ
ȱǯȱ ȱȱȱ¡ȱȱ¢ȱȱ ȱ¢ȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱ
ȱȱśŖŖȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱǰȄȱ¢ȱǯȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ¡ȱ¢ǯȱ ȃȱȱ¢ǰȱ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱȬĚ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱ¡ȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ ǯȱȱǰȱȱȱǰȱ

ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱĴȱěȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȃȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱǯȄ ȱȱȱǰȱȱ
ǰȄȱȱȱĴǰȱȂȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǯȱ

ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǰȱȱȱȱȬ ȃȱȱȱ¢ȱěȱȬ
ȱęǯȱȃȱȱȂǰȱȱ ȱȂȱ ǰȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ£ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ¢ȱ
ȱǯȄ ȱȱȱ¢ȱǯȱ ȂȱȱȱȱȱǱȱǰȱ
ȃȱ¢ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱ ǰȱȱȱȱ ǰȱǰȱȱǰȱ
SELF-DESTRUCTION Ȭȱȱȱȱȱ ǰȱȱǰȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȬ ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȄȱ ęȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǰȄȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱǯȱȱ¢ȱ ȱǰȱȱ ¢ȱǯȱȃȱȱ ǰȱȱ
ǯȱȃȱȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱęȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȬ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ǯȄȱ
The United Arab Emirates wants to embrace
drone technology — but its complex culture
creates complex challenges
Story and Photos by Patrick Sherman
68 Drone360mag.com
Home to the world’s tallest building, the world’s most expensive
hotel, and a ski resort located in a desert that never gets below
freezing, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has earned its place
in the popular imagination as a real-life Tomorrowland: a place
where the future is happening right now.
So, when the desert nation announced plans to begin an
autonomous aerial taxi service using the Ehang 184, it seemed
ȱȱȱęǯȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
further evidence of its global leadership.
However, the truth is much more nuanced: a product of local
¢ǰȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
An international hub for civil aviation, the UAE has been
forced to shut down operations at two of its major airports,
in 2015 and again in 2016, when unauthorized drones were
detected in the airspace.
ȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱęȱȱśśȱ
minutes and the second for more than an hour, at $1 million per
ǯȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱ ǰȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯȱȱȱ
ȱĴǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȂȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱȱǯ
Touchdowns and take-offs

At noon on the west coast of the U.S. — where the Roswell
Flight Test Crew is based — clocks in the UAE strike midnight.
Having become accustomed to the local time with the assis-
ȱȱ¢ȱȱǰȱǰȱȱȱȱȱ
in the views from the world’s highest observation deck, atop
At 2,722 feet, the Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building. Standing
more than half a mile high, it is perhaps best known in the U.S. from
the movie Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.
the towering Burj Khalifa mega-skyscraper. Instead, I set out to
ȱȱȱ¡ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
perspective of individual pilots.
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ
has clamped down on civil drone operations — implementing
strict rules without banning drones outright. To understand
ȱȱȱȱěȱȱǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ǯȱ£ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ǰȱȱȱȂȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱǰȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱĴȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱǯ
ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱǰȱȱȱȱ
ęȱȱȱȱȦȱĚ¢ȱęȱȱȱǯǯǱȱȱȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱȱȬȱȱǰȱ ȱĴȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱĚȱĚĴȱȱȱ£ǯȱ
The most impressive features were the two full-service hobby
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱęǰȱȱ ȱȱȱ- The Sanad Academy is located on the grounds of the Al Lisaili RC Field.
ȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱĜǯ
The price of the sky

ȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱǰȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱ
£ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱĚ¢ǯȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȱ
£ȱǰȱȱ ȱ¡ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
services.
ȱ ǰȱȱȱȱ ȱ£ȱǰȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯ
ȃȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱĜǰȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱǰȄȱȱ¡ǯȱȃȂȱȱȱ
ȱ ȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ¢ǯȱȱȱǰȱ¢ȱ ȱ
very stupid.”
ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱ
£ȱȱȱȱǯǯǰȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ
process relatively unscathed.
ȃȱ¢ȱȱęȱȱǰȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ
approval from three separate government agencies before you
ȱ¢ȱȱȱĚǰȄȱȱ¡ǯȱȃȱ ȱȱ Sanad Academy instructor Abdel Rahman El Hijazi teaches employees
takes about three weeks.” of Blaze DXB, a media company located in Dubai, the intricacies of
ȱȱȂȱǰȱǱȱȱȱȱȱŞǰŖŖŖȱǰȱ ȱ operating a drone in compliance with the UAE’s strict standards.
ȱȱȱǞŘǰŖŖŖǯȱȱȱȱǰȱȂȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
government representative will be present during commercial
Ěȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȂȱ
ȱȂȱȱ¢ȱȱǯ
Badawi and her colleagues, as well as their instructor,
ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱŗŖŝȱęȱȱȱȱǯǯȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱ ǰȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȬȬȱ
card, handing it to them for a closer inspection.
ȃȱŗŖŝȱȱȱ¢ȱȱǰȄȱȱ
£ȱǯȱȃȱ ȱ ȱ
had that here.”
ȱȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȯȱ
ȱȱȬȱȱȱȱ£ȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱȱȯȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱ
£ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯ
ȱȱȱȱǱȱǰȱǰȱȱ-
ǯȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱǰȱěȱ¢ȱ
of drones, the main components of drones — such as motors,
ǰȱǰȱȱĚȱȱȯȱȱȱȱǰȱ
regulations, and safety precautions they have to take in
ȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱǯȱ Walaa Badawi is a project manager at Blaze DXB who trained at the
ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȬ¢ȱȱȱ Sanad Academy in order to earn her commercial operator’s license —
řǰŝśŖȱȱǻȱǞŗǰŖŖŖǼǯȱȱȱȱȱȰȱĚ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱ a time-consuming and expensive process in the UAE.
in the U.S. sure seems a lot more conve- ȃȱȱȱȱ ȱ
nient now, huh? ȱȱŘŖŗśǰȱę¢ȱȱ¡ȱ
El Hijazi explains that the advanced and exploit the use of drones to sup-
and commercial courses teach drone ȱȱ¢Ȃȱ¢ǰȱǰȱ ȱ
operators how to upgrade and trouble- ǰȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
shoot their aircraft, more about aviation ȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱȃȱȱ
ȱȱǰȱȱ ȱȱĚ¢ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢Ȃȱȱ
ȱȱęȱȱ ȱȱǯ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȃȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱ ǯȄ
ȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ ȱȱ ȱĚ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȄȱȱ¢ǯ ȱȱȱ¢ǰȱȱȱ ȱ
I saw Badawi and her team struggling ȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱǯ
to maneuver the Inspire 1 in the wind ȃ¢ǰȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱĚ¢ȱȱĴȱǰȱȱȱ mission as a drone, using the same sen-
El Hijazi if that was a standard he expect- sors — except that we had people on
ed all of his students to meet. A DJI Inspire 1 maneuvers at the Al Lisaili ǰȄȱȱ¡ǯ
ȃȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȄȱ RC Flying Field. Students looking to earn a ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱ
he said with a smile. commercial operator’s license must fly without ȱȱȱǯȱȱȱ¢ȱǰȱ
GPS stabilization. Easy enough, right? he went to work in the U.K. in the emerg-
A nation of kingdoms ȱęȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȱ
ȱȱǯǯǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ- ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱǯ
dividual states — seven, instead of 50. Each is a kingdom that’s ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱȱǰȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱǻȱȱǼȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱşǯŘȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȱŝǯŞȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱǯ are expatriates.
ȱ ȱȬ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱǰȱȱȱȱȂȱ
Dhabi and Dubai, which also happen to be the names of the mission also includes the implementation of counter-drone
ȱȱȱǯȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ ǰȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱǯȱ
ȱ¢ȱ
manicured archipelagos, the world’s most expensive hotel — ȱȱȬȱ¢ǰȱȱ ȱ¡ȱȱę¢ȱȱ
ȱȱȱǰȱ ȱȱȱȱǰȱ ȱȱ how it works.
the wind — and Tom Cruise free-climbing the world’s tallest
ǰȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǯ The drone hunters
ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ
ŗŘȬȱ ¢ǰȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǯȱȱ¢ȱȂȱ drawn to the DroneShield. Using the stock and receiver of
ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ ȱȬŗŜȱĚȱȱȱǰȱȱȱȱ
Ȃȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȱ three antennas, each in its own angular black housing,
¢ǯȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ǰȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ ǯ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȬȱ ȱȱ
ȱȱǰȱȱȱȱ ȱ¡ȱȱȱȱ¡ȱ and signal generator.
ǰȱȱȱ¡ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱ¡ȱȱȬ¢ǰȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȂȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ¢ȱ- ȱȱȱ¢ǰȱȱȱȱȯȱ
ȱǱȱȱȱȱǯ besides a lifetime boost to the owner’s cool-nerd cred.
“Out to a range of up to 2 kilometers [about 1.2 miles], it can
ȱ ȱȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱȃȱȱǰȱ Ȃȱȱ-
¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǯǯȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱǯȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȯȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱȱȱĚ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ǯȄ
Seeing the DroneShield in action, there was no doubt it
ȱȯȱȱȱȂȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱřǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ-
¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱ ȱ
then able to take control, bringing it down for a soft landing, all
using the DroneShield.
ȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱǰȱ ȱȱȱ
far removed from the sleek, futuristic appearance of the Drone-
ȱȱ¢ȱȱ¢ȱǯȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ¡ȱ ȱȱĴ¢ȱ
Ĵǯȱ
ǰȱȂȱȱȱěȱȱȱǯ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ŗŞŖȬȱǯȱȂȱȱȱ¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱ
Warrant Officer Jabr Ateeq Obaid Al Marar of the Air Support Depart- ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱĴȱ ȱȱȬȬ
ment demonstrates the DroneShield, which can disable a drone’s flight ǯȱȃȱȱȱȱȱęǰȱȱȱ ȱȱ-
at a range of up to 1.2 miles. ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȯȱȂȱȱȱȱǰȄȱȱ¢ǯ
72 Drone360mag.com
Dubai is literally a city on the rise, with more than half a million
While I was taking photos and video of the demos, Sell construction workers laboring daily on projects like this pair of towers,
pointed out a structure on the far side of an adjacent channel — rising in the shadow of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
almost completely hidden behind mangrove trees.
“It’s very important that you don’t get any pictures of that fa- charged with the important duty of developing the rules and
cility,” he says. Later, he warned me again when I inadvertently regulations that will guide the use of drones by government
let my lens stray in that direction. agencies across the country.
ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱŘŖŗśǰȱ
ȱ¢ǰȱ
The view from above ěȱȱ Ȃȱ ȱ ȱǯȱ
ȱȱĴȱȱȱȱȱȱȂȱ “When we start with a new agency, there isn’t always a lot
ȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱ ȱǯȱ
ǰȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱȯȱȱ
ȱ¢Ȃȱ¢ȱǯȱȱȱȱȱĜǰȱȱ everything is transparent and nothing is hidden — that fosters
ȱȱ ȱȱǯȱ
ȱ¡ȱȱȱ trust,” he says. “We have to be cleaner than clean, because not
ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱŗśȱǰȱ ȱȱ only are other agencies looking at us as a reference point for
ȱǰȱȱȱǰȱȱĜȱȱȱ how to implement this technology, other nations around the
departments within the ministry, as well as specialists with region are, as well.”
ȱȱěȱǯȱ ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
Those missions include providing security for VIPs and visit- ȱȱȱȱȱȱĚǱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱǰȱ
ing foreign dignitaries, convoy overwatch, security for major staying aloft for longer, and carrying more sophisticated sensors
ȱȱȱȱȱȱǰȱęęǰȱȱȱ than the multirotors it has used so far.
Ĝȱǯ “We have several national infrastructure projects coming
“We coordinate with the police to help when there are local online soon, including a nuclear power plant and a new rail
ĜȱǰȄȱ
ȱ¡ǯȱȃ¢ȱ¢ȱȱǰȱ ȱ ǰȄȱ
ȱ¢ǯȱȃǰȱȱȱȱȱȱ-
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ¢ǰȱȱ¡ǰȱ rent drones are not well suited for, such as border security and
and we dispatch a drone to keep watch. We can see the license maritime patrol.
plates, so the police are able to issue citations.” But what about a timeline?

ȱȱȱ¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȯȱȱ ȃȱęȱ¢ǰȱ ȱ ȱȱȱ¢ǰȱȱŗśŖȱȱ
ȱȱȯȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ working in this department — inshallah.”
few custom-built systems. ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ
ǰȱȱȱǱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ “‘Inshallah’ — what does that mean?”
ȱȱǰȱȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ “God willing,” he says.
The power and pitfalls
of drone mapping and
surveying
By Matt Windsor
A COURSE
JOSEPH HUPY STUDIES DIRT. More specifically, he
studies soil geomorphology — the study of dirt and the Earth’s
surface features. His dissertation focused on how battlefields
respond to explosives and other impacts of war. In 2010, he was
in Vietnam, conducting a microtopology survey of bomb craters.
“Every time we left the field, my body was bleeding all over
from the leeches, and there were unexploded munitions all
over,” he recalls. “I said, ‘There’s got to be a better way.’ ” Hupy and three other professional drone mappers to explain how
Hupy soon found that better way: drones. He started to use the business works, and what to watch out for.
them in his own fieldwork, and then got a grant to build a fleet
of drones for research. WHY DRONES?
Now he’s CTO of Menet Aero, a drone services provider based Satellite imagery is fairly cheap these days. But it may be
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hupy and Menet Aero Founder Peter weeks or months old, and the image resolution is often too low
Menet work with a wide range of clients around the world, from for detailed analysis of a specific site. And when it comes to
a gold mining company in Honduras and railway giant BNSF the other alternative of capturing images from manned aircraft,
Railway to real estate developers and the roadbuilders at the drones often come out on top.
Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Mapping work “is “Drones have a lot of advantages over manned aviation for
about 80% of our business,” Hupy estimates. mapping,” says Ian Smith, business development manager at
Aerial surveys and mapping are appealing to an array of DroneDeploy, a cloud-based service that offers image process-
users, including developers, builders, mining firms, insurance ing and analysis by subscription. “[Drones] are cheaper, quieter,
companies, and local governments. But it’s not as simple as better for the environment, and they can fly lower, which means
passing the Part 107 test and starting a business. We asked you can get better end-quality on images.”
74 Drone360mag.com
HOW IT WORKS
Using images to create accurate ground measurements, a
process known as photogrammetry, is a little more complicated
than capturing a video with whatever camera you have on hand.
“The problem is, the world is round,” says Smith. A UAS-
mounted camera lens pointing straight down captures the
perfect view of the ground directly beneath it. But the angles
change the farther it gets from the center of the image, warping
measurements of the distances seen below. What you need is
something like Google Earth. No matter where you are looking
on a Google Earth image, it’s presented so you are always look-
ing straight down. That’s because it is orthorectified — it has a
constant scale, without changes in image perspective.
To do this, aerial photographers (manned or unmanned) fly
back and forth over the terrain, taking hundreds or thousands
of overlapping photos. These are stitched together into a single
image, known as an orthomosaic, which flattens the Earth and
represents the true distances between ground points.
Software by companies such as DroneDeploy and Pix4D
takes a series of photos as inputs, looks for points of overlap to
align, and outputs a single orthomosaic image. This process can
take hours. Mapping software can also generate 2- and 3D
models, as well as a “point cloud,” a series of 3D coordinates
that allows for accurate measurements of distance and height.
PIX4D
For surveyors and many other clients interested in aerial Advanced software systems, combined with drone technology, enable
imagery, location really matters. To make sure images are as ac- a safer, easier, and quicker method of creating remarkably detailed
curate as possible, most practitioners use ground control points. and accurate maps for an array of industries. DRONEDEPLOY
Mapping can sound like a somewhat dreary job, but check out all these beautiful colors! These maps of the Eau Claire Golf and Country Club help
the club make landscaping and maintenance decisions to keep the greens in prime putting condition. JOE HUPY/ETHAN HAUMAN
3DR IRIS+ DRONE
GROUND CONTROL
Surveyors use ground control points,

GROUND CONTROL as seen here, to orient the process-
ing of aerial drone imagery. This
results in a more precisely measured
final product — which is of great
importance to surveyors. JOE HUPY
76 Drone360mag.com
5 TIPS ON STARTING A SUCCESSFUL “a UAV will be a standard piece of equipment in our trucks, just
DRONE MAPPING BUSINESS like a GPS unit and a shovel.”
Educate yourself: talking to companies, It’s all about the WHERE’S YOUR LICENSE?
1 “You may be a
great pilot, but
you have to un-
interviewing project
managers, and find-
ing out their needs,”
4 overlap: “Getting
proper image
overlap is crucial,”
Burch and Sumner bring up an important caveat: use of
the term survey is legally restricted across the U.S. All states
require that a licensed surveyor must perform any official survey,
derstand the basic Cowell says. says Smith. “The such as the ones required for land sales or subdividing property.
concepts of geodesy Hupy adds, more points the soft- Calling your work a survey without the appropriate licensing in
(the mathematical “Customers need ware can tie together, place could open you up to fines or other repercussions, but
measurement of the to know how aerial the better your final that’s heavily dependent on your geographic location.
earth) and geospa- data can be used, result will be. I al- “Unfortunately, we’re not uniform across the country in
tial technology as and understand the ways recommend an regard to our statutes,” Burch says. “In some states, anything
well,” Hupy says. potential of drones. absolute minimum of that relates to measurement on the surface of the Earth must be
Academic training They aren’t a novelty 75% overlap, and I done under the supervision of a land surveyor.” But he says in
isn’t essential, but a — they are a way to usually go with 80%. Illinois, “statutes say that as long as you don’t say that the work
several-day workshop lower their overhead That makes the mis- is in relation to a property line, it is OK.”
would be helpful. costs.” sion longer, but the Oregon recently produced a brochure aimed at UAS opera-
“Pix4D will spit out end result is usually tors that notes several “potential areas of infraction,” includ-
a product regard- Abide by the law: worth it.” ing photogrammetric mapping, volume computation, and 3D
less of the quality
of what you put in. 3 “All this data that
you are collect- Make sure your
mapping. Operators providing these services “without the proper
licensure, knowingly or unknowingly, could potentially receive
And when you hand
that to someone and
they say, ‘This is 30
ing is time- and date
stamped,” Cowell
notes. “If the FAA
5 camera is dialed
in: “There is a
process for calibrat-
fines or face further legal action,” the brochure states.
“This has become an increasing point of contention with the
non-licensed competition,” notes Burch. “We are seeing this
meters above what it comes in in a few ing your camera for in Chicago and nationwide: A company will say on its website,
should be,’ that’s not years and asks to see surveying,” Cowell ‘Eliminate costly land surveys.’ And we’ve had to let them
a good feeling.” your flight logs and says. “Learn the know that that’s illegal. Can somebody go do it? Sure. Home
waivers, you could specifics for your Depot will sell me a pipe wrench, too, but that doesn’t make
Learn your be facing some fines camera and software, me a plumber.”
2 market: “I spend
a lot of time
or more if you offer
services illegally.”
and that will make a
big difference.”
A special committee of the NSPS has begun a comprehen-
sive study of laws in all 50 states to bring clarity to the issue.
While that work is ongoing, the safest route is to communicate
directly with the survey board in your state. Contact informa-
These are large, flat markers, placed prior to flight, whose tion is available through the National Council of Examiners for
positions are recorded with highly accurate survey-grade GPS Engineering and Surveying at ncees.org.
systems. That information is used to build the orthomosaic
image, which can be accurate down to a few centimeters
with high-end equipment and a well-designed flight pattern
(read more on autonomous flight patterns on page 44).
SURVEYORS SAY
“Surveyors are certainly embracing this technology,”
says Curtis Sumner, executive director of the National
Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS), which has more
than 17,000 members. “Historically, when surveyors have
sought to get larger scale maps, they’ve turned to manned
aviation. Now, there is an enhanced ability to do this on
their own.”
Timothy Burch, national secretary for NSPS and direc-
tor of surveying at SPACECO, Inc., a large engineering
firm based in Chicago, says, “Basically, every medium
to large survey firm is getting into this. [Flying UAVs] is
much quicker and more efficient than doing a survey on
foot. We’re cutting our field time by 75–80% and turning
out a better product for the client.”
Drones can also do things that manned aircraft
can’t. Burch’s company recently finished a survey of a
lakefront site in Chicago. “We flew 600 acres over the course
of two and a half days with our DJI Inspire 2,” he says. “I don’t
think we could have ever gotten clearance to fly a plane over Not only do drones for mapping and surveying provide valuable data,
downtown Chicago — and it certainly wouldn’t have been cost- but they make for some wonderful imagery to present construction
effective.” Within the next 18 to 36 months, Burch adds, plans to those interested in the project. SPACECO
WHAT DO THEY WANT? DATA.
WHEN DO THEY WANT IT? NOW.
MANY INDUSTRIES grading on a new » Mining compa-
ARE WILLING to pay site, for example) nies calculating
for high-quality aerial or a project’s the volume of
data, especially when progress over time materials
it can be turned
around quickly: » Landscapers seek- » Departments of
ing topographical transportation
» Real estate devel- maps to plan the wanting to survey
opers planning new best positioning of pavement condi-
projects foliage tions and vegeta-
tion encroachment
» Construction com- » Utility compa-
panies tracking nies looking to log » Insurers examining
the work of equipment condi- the extent of hail
subcontractors tions or check on damage on
(the accuracy of substations customers’ roofs
have surveyors on staff who can certify the results. Developers,

such as the major building firm Toll Brothers, along with
engineering and architecture firms, are Soaring Sky’s main
mapping clients, Cowell says.
“The ‘predevelopment’ process for developers is very
important,” he notes. “They’ll find a piece of land that they’re
interested in, and before they go any farther, if they can get
an accurate overview of the site, that can help them know
This “hydro” map identifies and emphasizes bodies of water within a whether it’s worth proceeding. We make it more efficient
given area. Hydrography is just one of many mapping and surveying and cost-effective.”
fields where drones can make a major difference. JOE HUPY Partnerships between UAS companies and surveying firms
offer new business opportunities for both, Hupy and Cowell say.
“I definitely think surveyors see where the technology is going
PARTNER UP and they’re not against it,” Cowell notes. “Once we show them
A handful of drone companies will continue to attach the what we can do, the wheels start turning and they get excited
word survey to their aerial work, but operators who know better about it.”
are finding other ways to market their work. “I know enough
about surveying to know that I’m not a surveyor,” says Hupy. WHAT IT TAKES: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
“We can honestly say that we are delivering survey-quality The right equipment for a mapping job is not one-size-fits-all
materials, but that’s not enough. We collect those materials — it depends on client requirements.
for a survey company to verify and put their credentials “That’s one of the things I tell my students from day one
behind them.” in my UAS class: There’s not one platform out there that’s ‘the
Ryan Cowell, cofounder of Florida-based commercial drone greatest,’ ” says Hupy, who is also an associate professor of
company Soaring Sky, says his company partners with survey geography and anthropology at the University of Wisconsin –
firms when clients need certified surveys; many of their clients Eau Claire.
These images show the difference between an RGB map with marked ground control points (red dots on the first and third images), and a
processed digital surface model to portray the measured surface elevation — as seen in the second photo. JOE HUPY
78 Drone360mag.com
HERE, WE SEE A
COMPLETED MESH
RENDERING OF A
MINING SITE. BELOW
IS ITS POINT CLOUD.
POINT CLOUDS HELP

GENERATE A MESH
NETWORK. EMPTY
AREAS ARE FILLED
WITH PIXELS.
PIX4D (2)
Smith says the most important thing for photogrammetry is service, such as Pix4D or DroneDeploy. Such services can cost
the camera. “You want as many megapixels as you can get, and from $99 to $300 a month. DroneDeploy’s app market now
not a fisheye lens — that can be corrected by software, but not includes a host of custom mapping software, and much of it
reliably.” In his opinion, DJI’s Phantom 4 Pro is a strong option: is free.
“The camera is great and it’s $1,400. You can’t beat it.” This includes specialized mission planning apps that can
Soaring Sky uses the senseFly eBee for fixed-wing flights and generate flight plans that automatically follow a road or pipe-
DJI products for multirotors. Menet Aero’s fleet is currently con- line, for example, and image analysis apps that can scan a
centrated on the DJI Matrice 600 hexacopter and the Trimble farmer’s field and note crop damage for insurance purposes.
UX5 and C-Astral Bramor ppX fixed-wing systems.
C-Astral’s Bramor is one of several newer models equipped THE FUTURE IS SPECIALIZED
with post-processing kinematics (PPK) or real- While the world of drone use for mapping and
time kinematics (RTK) devices surveying is abuzz right now,
onboard. there’s a lot of potential for
RTK devices can generate growth and specialization
sub-meter accuracy within the future. There are so
out the time and effort many prospective markets
required when setting — along with the sensors
ground control points. and software necessary to
They are still fairly rare, successfully tap into them —
making ground control points that Hupy predicts the drone
a necessity for most operators. mapping industry will only become
Smith has been impressed with Aero- DJI’s Matrice more specialized. “There’s going to be
Points, from Propellor Aero, which have built-in 600 is a a drone company with thermographers that just
PPK sensors and wireless connectivity to speed commercial concentrates on power stations, for example. There
up the process of setting ground control points. drone will be drone companies that just do evidence for
For software, the primary expense is a powerhouse. lawsuits. You will have the flight people and the
subscription to a photogrammetry processing DJI experts teaming up.”
Volcanologists turn to
UAVs to gather data in
dangerous environments
By Elisa R. Neckar
80 Drone360mag.com
ctive volcanoes in “hostile environments” —
are rife with danger ȱȱǯȱ
— like rivers of “We forget what a violent
molten rock planet we actually live on,”
ranging from 1300 ȱȱȱȱŘŖŖŞȱ
to 2300 degrees ȱȱȱ¡ȱ ȱ
Fahrenheit that for Enterprise, an award for
stream from people who undertake proj-
vents, spew in ects that expand knowledge
fountains, and ȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱęǯȱ ȱȱȱȱ
Or pyroclastic ȱ ȱ¢ȱ
Ě ȱȱȱȱ ǻ Ǽǰȱȱȱ¢ȱ
rock fragments, gases, and ȱŗǰśŖŖȱȱȱ
ash out at 50 mph or more, ǰȱǰȱ ȱ
destroying everything in their ¢ǰȱȃȱĜȱȱȱ
ȱȱǯȱ that around 600 million peo-
ȱĚ ȱ ¢ȱ ȱ ple on the planet are viewed
natural and human-made ȱȱȱȱȱ-
structures away, asphyxiating ǯȄȱ¢ȱȱȱ-
humans and wildlife with ash stand how volcanoes work, he
and volcanic gases, and sear- ǰȱ ȱ¢ȱ¢ȱȱ
ing everything in tempera- ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱŗřŖŖȱǯȱȱ ȱȱ ǯ
in landslides, mudslides, and Scientists have long sought
earthquakes — as research ways to remotely measure
environments go, it’s not Ě¡ȱȱȱǰȱ
¡¢ȱ ǯ ę¢ȱȱ¡ȱ
Now, volcanologists are ǻŘǼȱȱȱ¡ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ ǻŘǼǯȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ these gases and in their ratio
ȱ¢ȱ¢ǯ to each other can help predict
ǯȱȱȱȱ
UP CLOSE AND of collecting gas samples
IMPERSONAL involves scientists placing
ȱ¢ȱǰȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ-
ȱȱȱȱǯȱ ȱȱĴȱĚȱȱ
Helens in Washington state ȬęȱĴǯȱȱ
is a shared touchstone for means that scientists must
ȱǯȱȱ walk into potentially unsafe
the 57 deaths on May 18, ǯȱȱȱ
1980, were tragic — it remains ȱ ǰȱȱȱ-
the most deadly eruption in ¢ȱȱȱȱǯ
ǯǯȱ¢ȱȯȱȱȱȱ ȱ ¢ȱ ȱ ȱ¢ȱ
in comparison to eruptions ȱĚ¢ǵȱȱŘŖŖŝǰȱ Ȃȱ
ȱȱ ǯȱ¢ȱ ȱȱĚ ȱȱȱ
Ě ȱȱřŖǰŖŖŖȱȱ Tiger Raptor 90 helicopter-
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
when Martinique’s Mont ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ

·ȱȱȱŗşŖŘǯȱȱ the volcanic plume at La
recently, 25,000 died in the Fossa crater in the aptly
ȱȱȂȱ ȱǰȱ¢ǯȱȱ
ȱȱ£ȱȱŗşŞśǯ drone carried an ultraviolet
ȃȱȱȱǽǾȱ and electrochemical spec-
technology are set to revo- trometer and an infrared sen-
lutionize the geosciences in ȱȱȱȱǯȱ
the coming decades,” wrote ȃȱ ȱȱ¢ȱ ȱǰȱ
¢ȱȱĜȱ- ȱȱȱȱȱ-
¢ȱ ȱ ȱ es was really in its infancy at
and his coauthors in 2008, ȱǰȄȱ ȱ¢ǯȱ
in a paper for the journal ȃȱȱȱȱȱȱ
¢ȱȱĴǯȱ research groups in volcanol-
ǰȱ¢ȱǰȱȱ ȱ ¢ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
suited to take measurements ȱǰȱȱ¢ȱĴȱ¢ȱ
Volcanology is a challenging
and dangerous field of study — way of actual work and ȱȱęȱȱȱ Ě¢ȱę¡Ȭ ȱȱȱ
volcanoes are far from hospitable published output. … There UAVs to survey volcanoes ul- ¡ȱ ȱȱȱ
environments. Researchers like ȱȱȱ ȱȱĚȱ ¢ȱ ȱȱǯȱ ȱȱęǯȱ
Andrew McGonigle are now on volcanoes prior to our ȱȱȂȱ “At the moment, we are work-
using unmanned aerial vehicles to deployment, but ours was ability to provide an interme- ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ
improve their research and ensure ȱęȱȱȱȱ diate method of observation. ultra-compact volcano-moni-
safety of those involved. from volcanoes.” ¢ȱȱęȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ROLEX/MARC LATZEL, The idea came to him Ȭȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢ǰȄȱȱ
GIANCARLO TAMBURELLO
ȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȬǰȱ says. These tools are smaller
ȱȱȱȱǯȱ coarse satellite data. And the ȱȱȱȱ-
“That work was part of the ¢ȱȱȱǰȱȱ sions have been, potentially
inspiration to me, that this adds, is their ability to make ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱěȱ remote measurements, dis- them on compact consumer
¡ȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ multirotors.
ȱȱ¢ǰȱ active volcano sites. ¢ǰȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ ȂȱŘŖŖŝȱȬȬ ¢ǰȱȃ¢ȱ ȱȱ¢ȱ
ǰȄȱ ȱ¢ǯȱ ȱĚȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱ-
Such research is not with- this ability were a success. ȱȱȱȱ
out its own risks. “There is of ȃȱ¢ȱęȱȱ ȱȱȱ-
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ excellent potential of heli- ȱǯȱȱ
ǰȱȬ¢ǰȱ¢ȱĚ¢ȱ ȱȱȱ¢ǰȱ ¢ȱǳȱ ȱȱęȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱǰȄȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱǰȱ ȱȱȱ ȱęȱ ȱęǯȄȱȱȱȱ
ȱęȱȱ ȱǰȱȱ his team were early adapters
ȂȱŘŖŗŚȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱǰȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ
slow speeds,” the researchers “we can see the realization of
concluded in their paper. They this now in that UAV use has
also noted that the UAV had ¢ȱȱěǰȄȱȱ¢ǯ
ȱȱ¡ȱěȬȬ
around 600 million people on shelf model, yet didn’t seem NASA UNMANNED
ȱ ȱȱȱ
the planet are viewed as being ¢ȱěȱ¢ȱĚȱ
ȱȱȱȱ in his realization that UAVs
provide new opportunities for
at risk from volcanoes.” ǯȱȱŘŖŖŞǰȱ ȱ
was named a Rolex Award ȱǯȱȱŘŖŖŞǰȱ
for Enterprise laureate for the David Pieri of NASA’s Jet
ȱȱȱȱȱ ǰȱȱȱȱ Propulsion Laboratory,
ęȱȱȱǯȱ ȱȱȱ Ĵ ȱȱȱȱ
Crossman’s team returned the project. ȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱǰȱ Ȃȱ at NASA’s Ames Research
3D model of the lava lake — team has expanded their UAV ǰȱ ě¢ȱȱȱ
and lost several drones. ȱ¢ȱȬȱǰȱ Ȃȱ ȱȱȱ
82 Drone360mag.com
Center, and Jorge Andres Diaz the Navy for use on arctic an ash cloud across much
of the University of Costa Rica missions. The team originally ȱǯȱȱĜȱ ȱ
School of Physics met at an ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱǰȱ extensively delayed across the
international workshop on laden with a mass spectrom- continent, costing the airline
remote sensing in Italy. eter, into the plume. But they industry $1.7 billion.
Bland and Fladeland were were concerned about how its The NASA research team
pioneers in UAV use at NASA, internal combustion engine decided to start with an
Pieri says, while Diaz was a ȱȱ ȱĚ¢ȱ electric aircraft instead. Three
world expert in building mass through ash. ȱ¢ȱę¡Ȭ ȱȱ
spectrometers. Pieri, a plan- Similar uncertainties and came to them from the Marine
etary geologist, was working concerns have grounded air Corps via the Department
with the Advanced Space- Ĝȱȱȱǯȱȱ of the Interior — and at
borne Thermal Emission and ¢Ħãȱȱȱ 6 pounds, there was far less
Ěȱȱ Iceland in 2010, it dispersed risk from one of the Dragon
(ASTER), an imaging instru-
ment on the Terra satellite,
part of NASA’s Earth Observ- VOLCANIC
ing System program. ASTER VOCABULARY
collects full-res infrared imag-
es for 1,542 active volcanoes. PYROCLASTIC FLOWS - fast-moving masses of after volcanic eruptions. It is considered a major air
ȱęǰȱȱ- dense, destructive ash, gases, and lava ejected pollutant and can cause respiratory disease.
ing of volcanoes via satellite from volcanoes. These currents typically flow down
and instruments like ASTER the slopes of volcanoes at high speeds, sometimes CO2 - the chemical formula for carbon dioxide,
seemed promising. But resolu- moving as quickly as 450 mph. a naturally occurring colorless gas produced by
tion, calibration, and cloud volcanoes, hot springs, and geysers. Earth’s land and
ȱěȱǰȱ MAGMA - a molten or semi-molten rock material undersea volcanoes produce roughly 200 million tons
and there was no good way originating under the Earth’s surface. It frequently of CO2 annually.
to validate remote sensing collects in underground chambers that may feed into
data. Researchers needed an volcanoes. When magma is extruded onto the Earth’s DEBRIS FLOW - a geological event where destructive
ȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ surface, it becomes lava. Temperatures of magma masses of soil and rock flow quickly downhill, trap-
much lower than a satellite, can reach 1300 to 2400 degrees Fahrenheit. ping objects in their path.
build a chemical map of a
volcanic plume, and provide FUMAROLE - an opening in the Earth’s crust that LAHAR - a mudflow directly resulting from volcanic
validation for satellites’ data. releases hot steam and gases from beneath the activity.
“That’s why UAVs started surface. Typical gases include carbon dioxide, sulfur
ȱȱĴǰȄȱȱ¢ǯȱ dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen sulfide. VOLCANIC ASH - fragments of rock, minerals, and
According to Fladeland, glass created during eruptions. The term refers to
Airborne Sciences acquired SO2 - the chemical formula of sulfur dioxide, a toxic fragments of less than 2mm in diameter, but more
a Sensor Integrated Envi- gas with a pungent odor. Sulfur dioxide is a traceable loosely can refer to all fragments produced by
ronmental Remote Research component of the Earth’s atmosphere, especially an eruption. — Leah Froats
Aircraft (SIERRA) drone from
It’s still not a routine activity,
A DRONE WALKS but it’s not as exceptional as it
INTO A VOLCANO… ȱȱȱęǰȱȱǯȱ
The NASA team’s work has
TO UNDERSTAND WHAT A VOLCANO MIGHT DO, designed a small, mobile robot called VolcanoBot continued, with several more
scientists need to know what’s happening beneath its to map the 3D structure of volcanic fissures, linear visits to Costa Rica, and in
surface. Sometimes, that means flying a UAV over the cracks in the ground out of which magma erupts, February 2017, a trip to
volcano crater or through its plume. And sometimes, from the inside. The measurements are accurate to Hawaii to collect data at
it means designing a robot that will walk on the vol- the centimeter. “This happens, of course, after the Kilauea in Hawaii Volcanoes
cano’s surface — or even crawl inside it. eruption ends and cools off,” Parcheta notes. National Park.
At Tohoku University in Japan, Keiji Nagatani has The robot hangs from a tether and descends, The Kilauea volcanoes
been working such a system for nearly a decade. much like a rock climber rappelling down a cliff, Par- hold much natural and
His work uses a multirotor UAV called Zion to drop a cheta says. When the wheels are in contact with the ȱęǰȱȱȱ
four-wheeled unmanned surface vehicle (USV) called wall, they pull the robot down. With the right tension team worked closely with the
Clover near a research site. Clover is operated via a and slope, the robot can even climb back up the wall. National Park Service (NPS) to
3G signal relay, and is outfitted with sensors to take Researchers intentionally started the rover out ensure visitors weren’t nega-
readings — recent payloads included a navigation at a long-dormant site to get a feel for VolcanoBot’s ¢ȱěȱ¢ȱȱȱ
camera, a rain gauge, and a thunder detection sen- abilities. Parcheta now plans to upgrade VolcanoBot gathering data.
sor, Nagatani says. Zion can retract Clover when the for use in more recently active volcanoes, adding new “It’s so important,”
samples are taken and can carry a claw-like device environmental monitors to measure gases, humidity, Fladeland says, “to preserve
called Strawberry to take and return surface samples. and spectral chemistry. She also hopes to upgrade the resources we’re trying
Nagatani tested his system on Japan’s Mount the bot’s heat tolerance levels and improve its naviga- to measure.”
Asama in 2014; the project is scheduled to continue bility with an ultimate goal of making it autonomous. While some might have
through 2017. The objective is to improve the accu- Parcheta has a science background, with a bach- feared huge helicopters
racy of estimation and simulations of volcanic debris elor’s in geology and geophysics and a Ph.D. in volca- buzzing overhead, Pieri says,
flow, ultimately allowing for the evacuation of those nology, but knew little about robotics before starting ȃȱȱȱĴȱȱ¢ȱ
in the path of danger. Currently, Clover, Strawberry, her postdoctorate at JPL. But she always thought whisper … The impact was
a debris-flow simulator, and other devices are being robots were cool. “I’m always amazed at what they startlingly low.” The NASA
tested. “After the project, we would like to continue can do, and the range of situations they can be built team even used soccer-style
to develop other robotic devices,” Nagatani says. He for and used in,” she notes, adding, “The thought of nets to catch the drones on
hopes to use UAVs to carry USVs in systems like the applying robotics to volcanology is fascinating to me. landing so that they wouldn’t
Zion/Clover pairing to survey natural disasters. I knew of Dante growing up, but always wondered if disturb the park ground —
Carolyn Parcheta, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab robots could ultimately go inside volcanoes. As life which, Pieri says, was easier
(JPL), has been at work on a similar project. Parcheta would have it, I got to help pioneer that!” — E.N. on the aircraft than landing on
basalt would’ve been, anyway.
Eyes than if the 500-pound ȱȱĴȱȱ DISRUPTING ERUPTIONS

SIERRA were to fall from the the utility of satellites in Fladeland and Pieri catalog
sky. The drones were demili- volcano observations. There ȱęȱȱȱ
tarized, leaving the GPS intact, are several motivating fac- UAV use they’ve pioneered at
and an instrument was added tors behind improving such NASA, but improving safety
to measure SO2. use: First, SO2 is dangerous for researchers is, of course,
to breathe, so understanding key. UAVs provide minimal
THE EYE OF THE DRAGON its location, concentration, human risk, especially in com-
ȱȱȱȱȱĚ¢ȱ and dispersal is important ȱȱĴȱȱȱ
the Dragon Eyes at Turrialba for public safety. The satellite ȱȱȱȱĚ ǯ
Volcano, near San José, Costa data can help scientists track Improved public safety is
Rica. Though experienced ash clouds as well, eventually ȱęȱęǯȱ
UAV pilots, Fladeland and ȱȱĴȱ- NASA’s program has the
ȱȱȱĚȱ ȱ ing of what ash levels are safe potential to not only provide
separate from the science and ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ support and tech, but also to
payload team. Fladeland ex- — and avoiding another situ- get UAV operators working
ȱȱȱȱĚȱ ation like the 2010 Icelandic with scientists and engineers
ȱȱ ȱĴȱȱ volcano. The remote sensing to design what they really
research results and maintain- data can also help scientists need for hazard mitigation.
ȱ¢ǯȱȱȱĚ ȱȱ understand and track changes Eventually, with the informa-
Turrialba’s plume and along in climate as a result of eruption gathered, scientists may
ȱȱȱȱęȱȱȱ¢ȱ tions, as the dispersal of gases be able to improve detections
2013, taking measurements and ash into the atmosphere and predictions of eruptions
to compare with the satellite can cause global cooling. ȯȱȱȃȂȱ ¢ȱěȱȱ
images from ASTER. ȱȱŘŖŗřȱĚǰȱȱ the future,” says Fladeland.
These comparisons of UAV of UAV technology in scien- In addition, UAVs are
data and satellite images will ęȱȱȱǯȱ providing test beds for
84 Drone360mag.com
Volcán de Fuego, an active
planetary mission technology so only measuring them only ǻ
ǼȱĚ ȱȱ ȱ Guatemalen stratovolcano, is
and further space explora- periodically doesn’t build a project, soaring through the famous for its nearly constant,
tion — something designed Ĝȱ¢ȱȱǯȱ- ash plume and over the crater low-level activity. It billows smoke
for a volcano might later be fortunately, safety, time, and at Volcán de Fuego. daily, making for both dynamic
adapted to use on Io, Venus, expense all limit what can cur- “The volcanologists on the drone shots and plentiful research
Encedalus, Europa or any rently be gathered. Fladeland team, myself included, have opportunities.
number of other bodies in the hopes one day a UAV system worked in Guatemala for UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE,
solar system. can be automated so measure- many years, studying the vol- UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
In the future, the NASA ments can be routinely and canoes and working together
team plans to work with new, systematically collected. with [INSIVUMEH],” Emma
miniature mass spectrometers Even without automa- Lui, a volcanologist from the
that can be carried on smaller tion, Pieri is optimistic about University of Cambridge,
UAVs, or put a larger mass what continued integration of says. But like McGonigle and
spec on the bigger SIERRA. ȱȱȱȱęȱ the NASA team, she notes that
NASA also plans to take the research and the ability to the researchers were aware of
UAV technology itself to the collect large volumes of data. “large gaps in our understand-
next level. Its current UAVs While research was previously ing,” stemming from the risks
“are quite good, but their something that could only be in taking measurements close
capabilities are limited,” Pieri done by teams of people with to vents or plumes.
says. NASA recently con- access to large, expensive tech, Volcán de Fuego in particu-
tracted with Colorado-based today drones are available to lar has its own challenges:
Black Swift Technologies for anyone — people in any level It erupts daily. This made
ȱęȱȱȬȱ can contribute to our body Ĵȱȱȱȱȱ
for volcanology. Among other of knowledge with drones, impossible before UAVs.
developments, the SuperSwift Pieri says. “The use of UAVs Lui and her team hope to use
XT will be able to perform democratizes science.” drones to close those gaps.
¡ȱȱȱĚ¢ȱȱ Like McGonigle and the
higher altitudes. MEANWHILE, IN NASA team, Lui’s group seeks
Fladeland notes that ulti- GUATEMALA …
mately, researchers far beyond This spring, researchers
just NASA need routine, wide-
spread, and low-cost measure-
from University of Cambridge,
University of Bristol, and the
“It’s so important to
ments of CO2 and SO2 — the
ratios of those gases are not
Guatemalan National Institute
for Seismology, Volcanology,
preserve the resources
consistent across an eruption, Meteorology, and Hydrology we’re trying to measure.”
When it comes to volcanology,
there’s no one “right” drone for to quantify the amount and ǰȱĚȱǰȱȱ ȱȱȱǯȱ
the job. DJI Phantoms are useful composition of gases being ¢ȱ¢ǯ The team has tested the
for visual mapping, the Zephyr released from volcanoes to Lui’s group currently ȱȱ ȱȱȱ
delta wing is used for atmospheric Ĵȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ ¢ȱȱěȱȱ can handle, Lui says: Its long-
measurements, and the Thermik relate to the behavior of the ȱȱǯȱȱęȱȱ range telemetry has reached
XXXL glider can carry SO2 and ȱ ȱȱǯȱ a DJI Phantom that is used up to a 9-mile range, and the
CO2 sensors. They are also studying the for short-range thermal and ȱȱȱĚȱ
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, dispersal of the volcanic ash visual mapping of the summit ȱȱ¡£ȱĜ¢ȱ
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
into the atmosphere — again, ȱȱȱĚ ǯȱ ȱȱǯȱ
ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ The quad has been modi- The group is also in the
¢ǯȱȃȱȱȱȱ ęȱȱȬȱ¢ȱ process of developing a third
that has strong support from and uses high-altitude rotor ȱȱȱǯȱȱ
the civil aviation authority in ǯȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱ
ǰȄȱȱǯ
ȱȱęȱȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱ ȱȱ- “Even with every precaution
ǰȱȱ¢ǯȱȃȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ possible, the potential for the
to the multi-disciplinary na-
ȱȱȱȱȯȱ ȱȱȱ aircraft to be hit by a ballistic
ěȱęȱȱ¡ǰȱ
ȱȱȱ ȱȱ- projectile remains a real threat.”
ȱȱȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱǯȄ payload of a thermal camera ¢ȱęȱǰȱ
For instance, not only are ȱȱ ǯ including a multi-gas sensor
the volcanologists able to The second drone is a for real-time SO2 and CO2
ȱȱ ȱ ¢ȱę¡ȱȬ ǯȱȱ ǰȱȱęȱȱ
ȃȄȱǰȱȱ Zephyr is used for long-range sampling volcanic ash par-
ȱ ȱȱȱ Ěȱȱȱ- ticles, a thermal camera, and a
ȱȱ ȱ ǯȱȱȱȱȬ Ȭȱǯ
closely as the drones push res camera, temperature and ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ-
the boundaries of range, humidity sensors, and tools ǲȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ
86 Drone360mag.com
primarily to prove the system
ȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ŗŖǰŖŖŖȱȱȱȱǰȱ
śȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ
real-time. “Most importantly,”
ȱ¡ǰȱȃ ȱȱ
ȱȱȱĚȱ ȱ
ȱȱȱ
ȱĴȱ¢ȱ-
ȱĚǯȄȱ
ȱȂȱȱȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ
ǯȱȱǰȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱǰȱȬȱ
ǯȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱ ȱȱȱ
¢ȱȱĚ¢ȱȱȱȱ Measuring in at 12,198 feet tall,
ȱȱȱĚȱȱ the summit of Mount Teide is is
ȱȱȬ ǯ the highest point in Spain —
ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱ and it makes for some stunning
ǰȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ drone photos.
ȱ¢ȱ¢ȱěǯȱȃȱ YOUTUBE/ANDREW KADACKY (2)
Ȭȱ-
¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
¢ȱȱ ȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȂȱ£ȱȱ
ȯȱȱȱȱȱȱ
¢ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȬȱȱȱȱ
ǰȄȱȱ¢ǯ
ȱȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȬȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ ȱǰȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱǯȱ
ǰȱ ǯȱȃȱȱȱ-
ȱǯȱȱȱ ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱ ȱ¡ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ
ȱǰȱȱ¢ǰȱȃȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱ ȱȱȱǰȱȱ¢ȱȂȱ
ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȬȱ- ȱ ȱȱȱȱǰȄȱ
ȱ ȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱǯȱȱȱȱ ȱȂȱǯȱ in March.
ȱ£ȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱ ȱ¢ǰȱ
ȱǰȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ-
ȱ¢ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱǯȱ ȱȱǰȱ ȱ
¢ȱǯȄȱ
ǰȱȱȱȱ ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱ- ȱȱȱǯȱ
ȱǰȱȱǰȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ǰȱǰȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ- ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǰȱȱȱȱ¡ȱ
¢ȱǯȱȃȱ ȱ ǯȱȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ Ǳȱ
¢ȱȱǰȱȱ ȱ¡ȱ¢ǰȱ ȱȱ¢- ȱĴȱȱȱ-
ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱĚ ȱȱȱǯȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ-
Ȃȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱ-
mains a real threat,” she says. ȱȱȱ ȱ ȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
ǰȱȱǰȱȃȱȂȱ ȱ ȱǰȱęȱȱ ȱǰȱȱ-
lost one yet.” ȱȱǯ ȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ
ȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
KEEPING SAFE ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱǯ
On May 17, 1980, volca- ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱǰȱ
ȱȱǰȱȱ ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
ȱȱȱȱȱ ¢£ȱǰȱȱ reality.
Cool. Curious. Bizarre. By Leah Froats
AERIAL X-RAYS THIS DRONE IS AD-ORB-ABLE ȱȱǰȱȱ¡ȱ

You may remember ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȯȱȱ ȱǯȱ
a time where you were Ȃȱȱ¡ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱǰȱȱȬ
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PIXABAY/COM329329, LIQUID ROBOTICS, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/WELBERGEN, OLYMPIC.ORG, JAXA/NASA. OPPOSITE: TWITTER/VPS_DXB (LEFT), THE DRL
able to order X-ray ¢ȱǻǼȱȱȱ- ȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱ
specs through comic ȱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ¢ȱ¢ȱȱǯȱȱ
book advertisements. ȱȱȱǻǼǰȱ Ȃȱ ȱȱ ȱȱ
Of course, those ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ ǵȱ
weren’t quite func- ȱǯȱȱǰȱȱȱ ȱȬȱȂȱȱȱ
tional (unless we all Ȭǰȱȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ
just happened to order ȱȱĚ¢ȱ¢ǯȱ ȯȱȱǯǯȱȱȱ
duds), but drones are Ȭȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ
making it possible to ȱĚȱȱȱ ¡ȱȱȱȱǯȱ
look through objects. ȱȱȱǯȱȱ ȱȱȂȱǰȱȱȱĚȱ
Researchers in ȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱĚ¢ȱ ȱȂȱǯȱ
Professor Yasamin ȱȱŗŖƖȱȱȱ ȱ ¢ǰȱȱȬȱȂȱȱ
Mostofi’s lab at UC ȱȱǰȱȱ ȱǰȱȱȱ Ȃȱȱȱȱȱ
Santa Barbara de- ȱȬȱ ȱ ȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱȂȱǰȱǯȱ
veloped a system by
which two octocopters
use Wi-Fi signals to
identify objects behind
brick walls. One drone
consistently transmits
a signal to the other
drone while autono- THE PILOT WHO CRIED DRONE
mously flying around a ¢ȱ¢ȱĴȱȱ
brick house. The other ȱ ȱ ȱȱȱȱ
drone uses the signals’ ȱĴȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱ
strength to determine ȱȱȱǯȱ
the shape of objects ȱȱȱ
within the house. ¢ȱȱȱȱ
Cool, but it might ȱȱȱȱȱȱǯȱ
be a little more difficult ȱȱȱȱ
to sell gullible kids on ȱęǯȱǯȱ
the concept of two INTEL GOES FOR THE GOLD ȱ¢ȱ¢ǰȱȱȱȱ
huge drones to see the A 3,000-year-old sporting event occasionally requires some contemporary up- ǰȱǰȱȱȱ
bones in their hand. dates to keep spectators interested. Luckily, the modern iterations of the Olympics ȱȱȱ ȱȱȱȱ
don’t entail the rule-less wrestling of pankration any more, and the games are ȱȱǯȱȱ
definitely getting a distinctly modern twist. ǰȱȱ ȱȱȃȱ
Intel recently announced a new partnership with the International Olympic ȱȱȱĴǰȄȱȱȱ
Committee that will last through 2024. The company also announced its drones ȱȱǯȱ
will fly at the Olympic Games — though it didn’t specify exactly at which games ȱȱȱ
the drones will perform. (Fingers crossed for 2018.) ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ
According to an Intel news release, the drones will “create never-seen-before ȱȱěȱǰȱȱ
images in the sky.” Maybe Intel’s Shooting Star drones will fly in the formation of Ȃȱȱ¢ȱǯȱ
the Olympic rings or recreate each participating country’s flag? ¢ȱ ȱȱȂȱ ȱ
In addition to drones, Intel will also bring ȱǰȱȱȱȱȱę-
its 5G platforms, virtual reality, 3D and ǰȱȱęȱȱȱ
360-degree content platforms, and artificial ȱȱȱȱȱȂȱ
intelligence platforms to the Olympics. So ǯȱȱǰȱȱ ȱ¢Ȭ
while we may not have chariot races, at ȱĚ¢ȱ¡ȱǻȱ ȱȱ
least we’ll have some cool VR to satisfy our ȱȬȱǼȱǯȱȱȂȱ
Olympic appetites. ȱǯȱȱǯ
88 Drone360mag.com
NOW THAT’S FAST SOHO DRONES
Tech is dominated by a strong sense of competition — Inevitably, there
everyone wants to be the fastest, newest, coolest, or flashi- are always going to
est. Recently, the Drone Racing League (DRL) managed to be reports of drones
pull off pretty much every superlative in the book with its behaving badly.
new racing drone. In July, the
The DRL, arguably the world’s premier drone racing misbehavior du jour
association, built the world’s fastest drone, the RacerX. The was a drone that
racing drone now holds the Guinness World Record for crashed through the
the “fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote- window of a Kate
controlled quadcopter.” Spade store in the
The RacerX flew the 100-meter Guinness test course at SoHo neighborhood of
an average speed of 163.5 mph, which is the official record Manhattan, New York.
speed. However, the RacerX is capable of 179.6 mph — For those who are
more than double a cheetah’s top running speed. Not bad. unaware, Kate Spade
DRONES TAKE THE CAKE DRL’s engineering team and Director of Product Ryan is a designer of wildly
While we all have our preferences for what kind Gury hand-built the RacerX. The record-breaking flight took popular (and very
of delicious, delectable desserts are our favorite, it’s place “after months of trial and error, hundreds of broken expensive) handbags,
probable that most of the readers of this magazine motors and fiery shoes, and clothes.
would be pleased with this particular cake. crashes,” according We all know that
The precise origins of the photo are unclear, but to the DRL’s site. flying drones in NYC
ȱȱ¢ȱȱ Ĵȱȱȱȱȱ You know a is already a pretty
(yes, that was a pun). Who among us would not be drone is good when irresponsible drone
delighted to receive a fondant drone nestled atop a it bursts into flames activity, but if you
cake to celebrate a special occasion? while being used. absolutely must do it,
And by the looks of this photo, the cake was That’s totally why it’s best to do every-
the cherry on top of a wonderfully wine-imbued everyone loved the thing in your power to
evening with friends. Galaxy Note 7 so not crash through any
Just don’t drink and drone, dear readers! much ... right? boutique windows.
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balanced multi-copter propellers. online dealer or local hobby shop.
THE MAKING OF
WIENERS TAKE WING The Wienerdrone looks almost “target,” dropping a delicious red
If there’s anything that exactly like the classic, beloved hot down to earth below.
Americans love more than a hot Wienermobile, but features four And believe it or not, there
dog, it’s a humorous marketing arms with propellers and legs in are actually additional hot dog-
gimmick. Hot dog manufacturer place of wheels. themed vehicles in the new “Wie-
Oscar Meyer is fully aware of Oh, and it has a handy com-
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: DRONE360 (4), YOUTUBE/OSCAR MEYER, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/PER-OLA NORMAN
ĚǰȄȱȱǰȱ
these facts — hence the wild partment for its payload capacity Wiener Rover, and Wienercycle.
popularity of the hot dog-shaped of precisely one hot dog. Oscar Meyer is clearly making
Wienermobile. But to bring the In a promotional video, Oscar it a priority to get its delicious
meat vehicles into 2017, Oscar Meyer shows a drone operator franks to hungry customers as
Meyer released the Wienerdrone. Ě¢ȱȱȱȱȱ quickly as possible.
RADIOACTIVE ROVS
Ever wanted to take a look around
inside a damaged nuclear reactor? I
didn’t think so — but there are some
severely contaminated areas at Japan’s
Fukushima nuclear power plant, and
Ever wondered how someone’s got to clean it up.
the cover of Drone360 Toshiba, along with a team of
gets made? Here’s a researchers, developed a remotely
little peek behind the operated drone to explore the flooded
design curtain. areas of the plant. The drone, called
We knew we the “Little Sunfish,” has an inordinately
wanted to use the cheery name for such an eerie task.
Spark for this issue’s (Sunfish are pretty ugly, though.)
cover, but it took (more The Little Sunfish was not the first
than) a few tries to get drone to traverse the difficult waters
it just right. of the flooded reactors — others mal-
We wish it took four functioned due to the extremely high
drafts, but we couldn’t levels of radiation, but the Little Sunfish
fit the 27 revisions it performed admirably, capturing useful
took to get to the final imagery without breaking down. A huge
product. Hopefully you thanks to this drone for doing the work
get the gist. that humans would literally die doing.
Drone360 (ISSN 2470-4687) is published bi-monthly by Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, Wisconsin, 53187-1612.
Application to Mail at Periodical Postage Prices is pending at Waukesha, Wisconsin, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Drone360, PO Box 62320, Tampa, FL 33662-2320.
90 Drone360mag.com
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UAVs in the skies. The aircraft’s

ǰȱȂȱȱȱȱǯȱ information, services, rules, ȊȱȱǱȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱ

Flip refers to the movement of the ¢ȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ-

I’M SORRY, DAVE, I CAN’T ȱȱĚ¢ȱ¢ȱȱȱȱǰȱ

ǰȱȱȬĚ¢ȱȱ ȱȱȱ ȱȱ¡ȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ ǯȱȱǰȱȱȱǰȱ

ǰȄȱȱȱĴǰȱȂȱȱ ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ǯȱ

when Martinique’s Mont ¢ȱȱȱȱȱ

Eyes than if the 500-pound ȱȱĴȱȱ DISRUPTING ERUPTIONS

AERIAL X-RAYS THIS DRONE IS AD-ORB-ABLE ȱȱǰȱȱ¡ȱ