Drone News & Articles

SkyeBrowse, a reality capture platform that can convert your DJI or Autel drone video into a 3D model at the speed of coffee, was launched only in 2020, but it has already saved law enforcement departments in the US over 50,000 hours of manpower and $5 million in accident reconstruction. As the startup celebrates its recent $2.3 million seed round with a spate of hirings, let’s retrace its backstory to see how “the fastest and easiest drone reality capture platform in the world” came into being.

The year was 2016 and Bobby Ouyang was a junior at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He had just begun research on what he called “The Drone Project” with Dr. Peter Jin, a tenured professor at the Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation.

That project stopped being a side gig when Bobby found himself in a motorcycle accident a few months later. Hours after the accident, he saw first responders were still performing accident reconstruction, which also caused additional traffic on the scene. At that point, Bobby realized the inefficiencies of traditional accident reconstruction and decided to build SkyeBrowse full-time as cofounder and CEO.

The platform, whose customers today include LA Port Police, Utah State Fire Marshal’s Office, Houston Forensics Science Center, and New Zealand Police Department, uses a patented process called videogrammetry. This technology layers thousands of high-resolution video frames to create a clearer, more accurate reconstruction of the scene than traditional photogrammetry which uses only still images.

Since SkyeBrowse’s innovative video capture technique doesn’t force a drone to slow down (as it would while taking photos), the data capture time is reduced dramatically – think 50 acres in just 5 minutes! In addition, SkyeBrowse models take only 10 minutes to process, compared to hours of processing via traditional photogrammetry. These 3D models are accurate to the centimeter and essentially reduce the time spent on paperwork by over 99%.

SkyeBrowse’s recent $2.3 million seed round has allowed the company to expand its team to 24 people. But as Bobby puts it:

Just 2 years ago, up until recently, SkyeBrowse was just four people. With our team of four engineers (myself included), we managed to build core technologies that no competitor could replicate: one-tap 3D modeling with the world’s fastest processing time, the best nighttime 3D modeling AI, and real-time thermal reality capture. Our laser focus on listening to customers and building the best tech in the industry has allowed us to grow SkyeBrowse across 200 agencies.

Written by Ishveena Singh | 1 March 2022

The brand new Agras T30 by DJI has just launched in Australia, boosting itself to the role of next-generation aircraft with its 30L spray capacity, 9m spray range, and 40 acre per hour coverage. However, there are a few other spray drones in the market that are better for different niches in the agricultural market, some of which you may be tempted to consider as well.

The Agras T30 and Agras T10 were built to service different areas in the agricultural industry, and we can help you figure out which drone suits your needs the most. Do you have a family-owned regular-sized farmstead with a few acres of crops and livestock that you would like to keep away from chemicals? Are you a commercial farmer with hundreds of acres of farmland? Are you an orchard or vineyard farmer looking for a better method of spraying your taller crops? Read on to find out which drone is best for you. 

Note: we sell the T30, and T10, but no longer sell the T20. The T20 is only included for comparison.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing about spray drones, other than the fact that they help you spray crops, is how much they spray, per hour, or per flight. You want to know how much you can get out of one battery charge or one tank of liquid before you have to recharge and refill. Whether you run a small, simple orchard or have sprawling fields of crops, you want to know how much you can get out of a fully juiced spray drone.

Spraying capabilities

The T30 has the largest tank capacity out of the three, which also leads to the biggest acre/hr spray capability, assuming constant power. The T30 boasts a carrying capacity of 30 litres of whichever herbicide or pesticide you’d like, which can be sprayed at a horizontal range of 9m wide. This allows the T30 to theoretically spray up to 40 acres an hour, which is 33% more than the previous generation Agras T20 spray drone. The T30 can also carry 40L of granules/seeds in place of the 30L of liquid, for seeding and granule spreading purposes. 

Furthermore, it can be coupled with 2 other T30s to create a swarm of spray drones that will allow you to spray 27m wide swaths, and up to 120 acres an hour. The swarming capabilities of the T30 allow farmers and farmstead owners to adopt a more modular approach to spraying crops. Are you looking to spray only around your seasonal fruits? Use just 1 of the T30s. What about a farm-wide spraying job? Get all 3 into the air and get the job done in 45 minutes. 

In comparison, the T20 is smaller and lighter (21.1 kg) than the T30 (26.4 kg), carries up to 20 L of liquid, and sprays up to 27 acres an hour. Although the T20 has the advantage of a smaller and lighter frame, it does not stand up to the T30 in terms of spraying rate or width.

Battery Life and Rechargeability

The other vital parameter of any spray drone is its battery. Specifically: how long one lasts and how many are required for continuous use. The basic details are listed below, and we can use them to go into more detail about each drone’s battery capabilities.

Each drone has its own dedicated charging station and smart battery with different voltages (except the T20, which shares batteries and charging station with the older T16 model, and the T10, which can use the T20 and T16 batteries).

Since each charging station has more than one charging slot, you can choose to either charge 1 battery at a time then quickly replacing the batteries on your drone, or get more than 2 batteries for continuous flight and to lessen the risk of running out of power between flights. Our personal recommendation is to always get 3 batteries, which is our tested minimal amount of batteries to maintain continuous flight throughout the day. 

Each drone’s battery also has a battery life, which the manufacturers supply, but it’s not worth it to cover here since you’ll have to get their specific batteries anyway. 

Spreading systems

In addition to spraying liquid, some of these drones, specifically the T30, T20, and T10, have spraying systems, which you can use to spray seeds, grains, granular fertilizer, and even solids like animal feed over fishponds. 

The rate of distribution above is according to continuous use, and with respect to the rate of manual operation. The tank capacity, spreading width, and tank opening of the drones all contribute to a significant increase in spreading capabilities for your farmstead. If you have been physically spreading granules by hand, the T10 can decrease your workload by 36x, and the T30 can do it by a whopping 105x.

If you have been using a large vehicle or anything that takes up more space and resources, consider getting a drone to do the work for you: it’s smaller, less intrusive into your crop growth, and allows you better control over your work. 

Spray Method

One of our most popular questions is “how do I start spraying with this drone? Will I have to fly it manually?”

Short answer: “Nope!” 

(Well, sort of no.) 

To spray an automatic path through your crops, you will have to create a set plan, either by:

1. Manually inputting waypoints as you fly a drone through your farm

2. Manually inputting waypoints as you walk through your farm with a remote controller

3. Or! Setting them through first or third-party software like DJI Terra, Pix4D, or Drone Deploy

How do you do this? For the first and second methods, all you need is your drone, your remote controller, and a good understanding of your farm and where you would like to spray. Spray drones will only spray where you manually set them to spray and does not make any intelligent decisions on their own other than to avoid trees and other obstacles. Even then, you should be careful to ensure that the flight path you’ve planned is as accurate as possible, and around as few obstacles as possible. As much as sensing technology has improved, your drone is NOT sentient.

However, you can use DJI Terra, Pix4D, or Drone Deploy to enhance your field mapping and planning and specify flight missions so that you save time, resources, and overall effort. These software packages allow you to set waypoints on a visual map of your farm and depending on the type of software, you may also be able to get thermal and multispectral information about your farmland to assist in targeting areas.

The DJI Terra is compatible with all Agras Spray drones, namely the T10, T20, and T30, and for the drones currently in stock (T10, T30) a 1-year subscription to DJI Terra is included in the price. DJI Terra allows you to plan flight missions, capture image data, process images into maps and models, and analyze data all in one. Both Pix4D and Drone Deploy use different images across many sources to produce ultra-high res, high-accuracy 3D maps and models, while DJI Terra is much more limited in image source compatibility, even if it is comparatively much more convenient to use than Pix4D and Drone Deploy

Tl;dr DJI Terra allows you to immediately create a flight plan with 2D images, though it does so less accurately and with a lower resolution of maps than Pix4D or Drone Deploy, which are incompatible with the T10 and T30. 

So how would you use Pix4D or Drone Deploy? Well, you’ll need the Phantom 4 Multispectral or Phantom 4 RTK. Why another drone? These 3rd party software require compatible cameras and sensors which spray drones generally do not support, which leads to the 2nd drone requirement if you’re looking for advanced mapping capabilities. 

Drone Deploy is also compatible with the Mavic Enterprise and Mavic Pro models.

Pix4D is also compatible with the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual (RGB only) and Mavic 2 Advanced, and the Matrice 300 series drones. The following sensors from DJI are compatible with Pix4D software: Zenmuse X3, Zenmuse X4S, and Zenmuse X5S. Multispectral and thermal sensors such as the Zenmuse XT are not compatible. A full list is available here.

The Conclusive Evidence Suggests…

If you’re a farmer (orchard or crops) with a huge farm, get the Agras T30, with an accompanying Phantom 4 Multispectral or RTK.

If you’re a farmer (orchard or crops) with a slightly less huge farm (say, up to 16 acres), you’ll be able to get by with an Agras T10.

If you think you’ll want to use your drones to spray seeds and solid fertilizer, get the DJI spreading system, you’ll need it. 

Always confirm that your bundle comes with at least 3 batteries to maintain continuous flight. 

And finally, if you’re planning on getting a T30 or three, consider getting the RTK mobile station. It will bring your accuracy from a 1-2 metre range (error owing to satellite uncertainty) to 20 cm, significantly improving your drone’s spray capabilities. You can read more about it here.

Hopefully, this was informative for you, and remember to check out all the drone pages before you make a calculated decision. Feel free to call us at 1300 029 829 if you want to chat about obtaining the best spray drone for your needs!

We all know how camera drones can be a useful tool to take professional aerial photography and cinematics that can really change the look and feel of your images or your next film however, have you ever thought of shooting a whole shoot entirely on drones?

In the Northern Hemisphere, winter is synonymous with snow and skiing, and every year, skiers cannot wait to get onto the slopes, enjoy the fresh air and take pleasure in looking at the beautiful vistas around them. The COVID-19 pandemic changed all this. In the winter of 2020/21, many ski resorts were closed to the general public, and the slopes remained untouched.

However, challenges can also turn into opportunities. Here is an example of a creative team that produced a unique film shot in immaculate new snow during lockdown with the help of DJI drones and accessories

The team:

Sam Favret is possibly one of the best freeride skiers on the international scene. Sam has his own style and way of approaching lines,. He is a skier who reflects his action as much through performance as through the images that show what he is doing.  

Maxime Moulin has been fascinated by extreme sports movies for a long time, and he works with amazing athletes and technicians who have become essential in making his films. “Ski films are my specialty, my laboratory,” says Maxime. “I like the raw side of the action, the fact that we don't cheat, we have to tell the truth, we see athletes who cannot pretend but simply have to perform.” 

Hensli Sage fell in love with drones when DJI Phantoms became mainstream. He trained in extremely challenging situations and takes pride in shooting the environment around him to maximum cinematic effect. “I got into drones in 2014 without any prior experience of making videos,” says Hensli. “I was blown away by the opportunities offered by drones; aerial photography became accessible to everyone. We were starting to see aerial images from everywhere, the revolution was on.”

Logistics:

Flow is made from 100% drone footage, and the team alternated between FPV drones, DJI Inspire 2 with Zenmuse X7 camera, and a DJI Mavic 2 Pro to get the best possible results. Hensli’s FPV drones also integrated the DJI Digital FPV System. “This digital HD system provides unparalleled quality feedback,” says Hensli. “Being able to see the environment in which you are operating is essential to feeling confident and to being able to fly at high speed close to the ground.”

Maxime Moulin describes it: “Filming with a ground camera, we can communicate directly and visually. When filming with a drone, the distance requires having a detailed discussion before the shoot and to liaise with a radio or phone during the action to adjust the shots.” First, Hensli did a reconnaissance flight, and then the team planned the shot. Once up and ready to ski, Sam called Maxime and Hensli on the radio, they checked again and agreed on the best ways to ski and fly together.

In the end, the team's resilient spirit, skills, inspiration, and effort paid off as Flow was awarded the best international short ski film of the 2021 High Five Ski Film Festival in Annecy, France. 

It really is astonishing how good technology and drones in particular have developed over the years and how would you think that you would shoot an entire extreme action sports feature purely on drones, without making it feel that you're always “in the air”. 

Written by Sebastian Oakley | 13 Feb 2022

Lithuania is looking to drones to improve the quality of its road infrastructure. AB Kelių priežiūra, a state-owned company that ensures the maintenance of almost 13,050 miles (21,000 km) of national roads, is teaming up with drone manufacturer Thrust and tech company Agmis to automate road inspections with flying machines and artificial intelligence.

The joint project has been aptly titled GreenBee since it will help the inspection company to reduce its carbon footprint dramatically.

At present, road inspections in Lithuania are performed by specialist vehicles driving slowly and visually inspecting the road infrastructure. Depending on the type of road, these inspections are performed monthly, weekly, or sometimes daily. This means road inspection vehicles travel thousands of miles each year, emitting tons of carbon dioxide.

Project GreenBee will replace ground vehicles with drones carrying high-definition cameras and sensors. These drones will fly along the inspection routes gathering video and sensor data, which will then be analyzed by AI and computer vision technologies to identify potholes, cracks, and other road damage.

Jolita Mackiene, head of Quality and Technology at AB Keliu prieziura, stresses that the introduction of drones will help to reduce the CO2 emission footprint of inspections by almost 90%. It will also help to divert maintenance resources from initial surveying to more critical tasks. Here’s Mackiene:

"By rapidly covering large areas and pinpointing areas of potential defects, drones and AI analysis will act as a reconnaissance service. This will allow us to efficiently plan manned inspection routes and to dispatch teams to the areas requiring prompt action."

The companies have applied to receive funding from European Union’s Horizon2020 initiative under the Robotics for Infrastructure and Maintenance (RIMA) acceleration program.

Written by Ishveena Singh | 18 Feb 2022

Military-grade drones will soon be at the disposal of North Queensland police, but they will not be used to pursue stolen cars.

At the same time, in the state's south-east, three new Bell 429 helicopters will replace two POLAIR aircraft which are soon to be decommissioned.

At a press conference in Archerfield today, Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick and Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the trial could assist police in monitoring stolen cars when it rolled out in three to four months.

But Queensland Police Service chief remote pilot Sergeant Mark Gamber said the capabilities of the drones were limited.

"We don't use drones for car chases," he said.

"These [fly] to about five kilometres — however, we are only permitted to fly in visual line of sight.

"We must keep the drone in sight at all times."

Sergeant Gamber said the technology would help police during "static-type" jobs such as sieges, searches for missing people, intelligence operations and disaster management.

"That's where the benefit of drones lies," he said.

"We can provide situational awareness to troops on the ground about direction of travel."

Commissioner Carroll said she expected the trial would help police to gather evidence.

"The technology is quite extraordinary, it has infrared, it has excellent distance, it has excellent imagery," she said.

"It can be used for evidence, and we've already seen that through the helicopters at the moment that we use the imagery for evidence."

Helicopter 'not effective'

Despite the limited capabilities of the drone trial, Commissioner Carroll maintained that the technology was more suitable for North Queensland than a dedicated helicopter.

There has been a lengthy debate, fuelled by the Opposition, on whether a dedicated police helicopter is needed to service Cairns and Townsville amid the region's long-standing problem with vehicle thefts and youth crime.

In Townsville police have access to a helicopter to assist with operations.

But Commissioner Carroll said it would be "quite frankly dangerous" to be using that aircraft or a dedicated helicopter for police operations.

"We gave operational advice about helicopters in Townsville," she said.

"We have a very busy Air Force base there and a very close commercial airport.

"In fact, we had a helicopter up once and we shut down the entire area for several periods of time.

"We can't afford to keep doing that.

"It's not effective, using helicopters in that type of environment."

A police helicopter on tarmac.

The state government has announced its two POLAIR helicopters will be replaced in 2024. (Supplied: Jack Simmons)

Maiden flights imminent

A spokesperson for the Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Mark Ryan said the best-case scenarios would see the drones being operational in the next three to four months.

"We need to get a special export licence from the US government as these are military-grade and are not the sort or drones that just anybody can buy," they said.

"There will be one unit in Cairns and Townsville, respectively, with a third unit to be used for backup.

"QPS are currently looking at five different versions, so we are still not sure of the individual cost, but we are looking at spending nearly $1m.

"QPS will make the final decision about the make and the model in due course."

Mr Dick said the three new Bell 429 helicopters would join the POLAIR fleet in July 2024 on a 10-year contract with a purpose-built simulator to be established in Queensland for training.

The contract will be funded out of the Queensland Police Air Wing, which has been allocated $53m annually.

Written by Chloe Chomicki | 21 Feb 2022

Everyone loves aerial light performances, but few people ever get a backstage peek at what goes into staging the spectacles. 

SKYMAGIC is fresh off its spectacular drone show that was central to London’s New Year’s Eve extravaganza. Over the past month, meanwhile, it conducted three UAV choreographies twice each night for the Dubai Shopping Festival completing a run of 55 shows. Those performances were scheduled to continue through January but were grounded amid the United Arab Emirate’s ban on all aircraft operations last week following deadly aerial bombings launched by Houthi militia. 

Though its planners have a full slate of clients eager to have their own sky-painted events readied, SKYMAGIC arranged for its associate creative Ollie Howitt to take time out and outline the general contours of what goes into the company’s work.

Launched in 2015, SKYMAGIC produces double-digit drone shows annually – an evolving figure difficult to nail down amid the skyrocketing popularity of the genre over the past couple of years. Howitt says time required to prepare a performance usually averages from two to three months, though the company has turned a few around in just weeks when necessary. 

The degree to which themes and imagery involved are set in the client’s mind varies, she says. But no matter the margin of maneuver, SKYMAGIC’s focus is always ensuring UAV formations evoke the show’s story and core themes in the most vivid and compelling manner.

“Whilst we provide guidance from [a] technical point of view, we place [a]ahuge emphasis on the creative,” Howitt explains. “Telling those stories in the sky and guiding clients on what will visually work best is something we love doing, and do really well.”

Once conceptual details are set, she says, the main steps include working up a storyboard, revising those with continual input from clients, and ultimately creating an animated file showing how it will look in the air. Once that’s approved, SKYMAGIC uses the computerized video as the basis for navigation files that will command each drone’s flight.

“The animation is what gets uploaded on the drones, so what you see on the final (video) is exactly what you’ll see when the drones are flying in the sky,” she says.

The next phase is where SKYMAGIC stands apart from most, if not all competitors staging drone shows. 

Though it prides itself as a creative specialist, the company also develops and manufactures all its UAVs, as well as tech and software used to navigate the performing swarms. Those in-house 3D-printed production and coding assets give SKYMAGIC full control of the hardware it works with, greater freedom and range of how that’s used, and virtually unlimited capacity when it needs to ramp up its equipment reserves.

Limitations can be imposed, by contrast, by venues chosen to stage the events. Howitt says a minimum 500-square-meter takeoff and landing area is required to facilitate 500 drones in a show. Meanwhile, at least 100 meters of distance must be maintained from buildings, infrastructure, roads, or people not involved with the production – not an easy squeeze to make in London’s Greenwich borough for New Year’s event. In other cases, shapes created have spread over 250 meters wide, occasionally obliging choreography ambitions to be adapted to available spaces involved.

The confounding realities of current battery capacity are another limiting factor. LiPo cells SKYMAGIC uses have 20-minute maximum charges. Those must cover the time swarms lift off, reach their aerial stage, perform, and return – with some just-in-case juice remaining to boot. Because of that, shows are typically kept from 6 to 8 minutes in duration, allowing for the creation of 8 to 10 shapes.

“We find that’s the natural length for a show,” Howitt says, offering a diplomatic description of the modern human’s dwindling attention span as one factor. “Any longer than that and you feel like you’ve seen enough.”

Finally, it’s showtime. With performance plans set, flyable files loaded on to UAVs, and SKYMAGIC staff having checked vehicle placement, condition, and battery charges, the swam is ready to dance. Yet in contrast to the many hours of work put in by more than a dozen people to prepare the performance, oversight of the show itself is assured by just one person, accompanied by a single backup colleague. 

Unleashing that burst of celestial activity, meanwhile, requires a similarly whittled-down number of commands: arm drones (propellers spinning); hover and move into grid formation; assume show position; and lights on. From there the pilot largely sits back and watches incoming data flows as the drones put on their show, and return and land themselves when it’s over.

“Essentially, each drone is pre-programmed to fly its own, individual pathway (using) waypoints from the animated file,” says Howitt of the fully automated performance. “As they’re in the air they aren’t speaking to each other – they don’t know where one another is – but fly along their prescribed path. If they deviate from that, that’s where the geo-fencing and the safety protocols come into play.”

She says the use of RTK technology, and the precision that provides, makes any kind of wandering a rarity. That stability in turn assures more vivid images are created in the sky. Safety protocols also ensure that in case any major disruptions occur, the UAVs automatically return to a safe landing area. Were a piloted aircraft to violate the drone show’s authorized space, the SKYMAGIC monitor is equipped with an e-stop command to bring the swarm down immediately.

“We’ve never had to do that,” Howitt notes, “and touch wood we never will.”

She says that no matter how long a drone show takes to prepare, or how many times it’s viewed from the ground, it’s capacity to raise goosebumps among SKYMAGIC staffers never fails. 

Yet despite their quickly rising popularity, and reputation for using modern, safe, emissions-free tech, Howitt doesn’t agree with a broadly held assumption that UAVs will inevitably and definitively replace fireworks as the celebratory champion of the skies.

“People seems to view drones and fireworks as an either-or question, but we see it very differently,” she says. “Drones have the ability to tell stories, whereas if you want the huge, climatic, explosive moment, that’s what fireworks do, and we don’t think that will ever go away. With shows like New Year’s Eve… we were working closely on (how) the pyro could really uplift and amplify moments where drones were telling the story.”

And as anyone who has seen that performance knows, the drones, fireworks, and SKYMAGIC pulled that interaction off with the fullest and most pleasing effects.

Written by Bruce Crumley | 1 Feb 2022

Your favorite colonel is teaming up with Google’s sister company Wing to satiate those fried chicken hankerings. In about the same amount of time it takes for chicken to crisp up and get its golden hue, people in some parts of Australia will now be able to get their KFC favorites delivered by a drone.

The trial run for this initiative is being conducted in Logan, Queensland – a place Wing calls the “drone delivery capital of the world.” Wing customers in the area can get a range of hot and fresh KFC menu items delivered directly to their homes and workplaces via a drone that travels at speeds approaching 110 kph (70 mph).

The Alphabet-owned company explains that its software performs and analyses 15 million simulations each day to detect changes in weather and terrain, stress test the delivery systems, and continually improve the routing to create a custom, optimal path for the aircraft to follow to the very spot the customer selects for delivery.

It’s worth highlighting that, with a population of 300,000, Logan helped Wing to reach the coveted milestone of 50,000 deliveries in just eight months after the on-demand residential drone delivery company started its services there.

This also explains why KFC Australia is thrilled to see drones drop off their Zinger burgers. As Kristi Woolrych, the QSR’s chief marketing officer, tells trade publication CMO:

We’re looking to target customers that want convenience and the capabilities of this service truly showcase the future of delivery. We’ve seen customers receive their food at their homes in mere minutes from placing their order via the Wing app, which is amazing. Getting up off the couch to whip up a snack could take longer. Significantly less than traditional delivery.

Written by Ishveena Singh | 4 Feb 2022

With the world’s second-largest forest area, Brazil is among one of the countries that has pledged to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. But since humans planting trees is a slow process that cannot meet our urgent climate goals, the South American nation is now experimenting with drones to spawn native tree species.

A forest restoration project using XAG agricultural drones has been initiated in Brazil to help demonstrate the effectiveness of drones in boosting forest growth. It is hoped that the Arboreto Project, which is being carried out by Brazil’s oldest university, the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), will pave the way for autonomous technology being leveraged in large-scale tree-planting efforts.

During field experiments, different amounts of seeds were weighed and sorted into a smart container onboard the drone. Once the pilot entered all the operation parameters – such as waypoints, flight speed, and spray volume – into a mobile app, XAG agricultural drones with spreading attachments ran along the target lines, evenly distributing seeds from different forest species native to the region.

Compared to planting trees by manual labor, fully autonomous drones can improve the productivity of the restoration work significantly – especially in terrains that are difficult to access. With deforestation becoming a global crisis that can undermine the climate target and threaten food security, drone seeding applications can be explored to make forest replanting easier, faster, and more cost-effective than ever.

Now that the first seeds of hope have been planted, the project managers will keep a tight check on the germination rate and tree growth per row, in addition to understanding the most suitable seed mixture for drone application.

In the meantime, UFPR is also conducting another experiment with XAG drones, focusing on fertilization and pest control for plantations of commercial tree species.

As professor Alessandro Camargo Angelo sums up:

We know how difficult it is to carry out work like this one to plant native trees. So, when we can count on a technology that has control and that we can manage to define rigor, this is welcomed.

Written by Ishveena Singh | 1 Feb 2022

DJI has dropped a major firmware update for its new Action 2 camera today. The firmware, v01.02.10.10, comes with a bunch of new features including the all-new HorizonBalancing stabilization mode, a low-power mode for time-lapse videography, and much more.

Here’s everything that’s coming to DJI Action 2 with firmware v01.02.10.10…

1. HorizonBalancing 4K video leveling

This newly added built-in stabilization algorithm allows you to shoot up to 4K/60fps videos with horizon stability. The new feature keeps 4K footage level even when the roll axis is tilted by up to 45 degrees.

It’s worth highlighting here that the existing HorizonSteady feature in the Action 2 supports virtually 180-degree tilts without affecting the image orientation, but it works at only 1080p and 2.7K.

2. New stabilization mode: Steady

A new real-time stabilization mode called Steady reduces edge stretching during distortion correction to provide a wide FOV with less image distortion. In addition, the new firmware update also optimizes power consumption when Steady is enabled or Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) is disabled.

3. Time-lapse low-power mode

One of the most important factors in successfully recording a time-lapse video is battery life. And to allow you to get more juice out of your Action 2 camera, DJI is introducing a new low power mode for Timelapse. The mode can be enabled from the Timelapse Settings page by tapping the crescent moon icon in the top left corner. When this mode is enabled, the screen will automatically turn off after recording for 10 seconds.

4. DJI Mic remote control

If you’re a content creator who’s planning to use the new DJI Mic with Action 2 camera, after this firmware update, you will be able to connect the DJI Mic receiver to the Action 2 Front Touchscreen Module or the Power Module to start/stop recording by pressing the linking button on the transmitter.

5. Horizon Calibration

Action 2 will automatically check the IMU sensor and prompt you to set Horizon Calibration if needed. You can also manually set Horizon Calibration on the Settings page.

Other optimizations

The latest firmware update for DJI Action 2 camera also comes with some other much-needed improvements and bug fixes. These include:

Optimized method of adjusting camera zoom: Tapping and holding the zoom icon to reduce the chance of accidental operation.

Optimized UI for exporting internal storage files: The camera screen will automatically lock exporting internal storage files to a microSD card. In the meantime, you can also expect improvements in microSD card compatibility.

Optimized UI for formatting a microSD card: With firmware v01.02.10.10, a double confirmation will be needed for formatting a microSD card. You will now be required to swipe the screen to reduce the chance of accidental operation.

Optimized power efficiency: Expect better power efficiency of the Front Touchscreen Module and Power Module when charging the camera unit.

How to update DJI Action 2 camera firmware

First, you need to make sure that both your camera and your smartphone have plenty of power available. Also, ensure that you have the latest version of the DJI Mimo app installed. In this case, you’d need Mimo v1.7.12 for iOS and Android devices alike.

Once the camera is successfully connected to the Mimo app, an alert showing the availability of new firmware should pop up automatically on the app screen. Follow the prompts in the app to download the firmware. The status LED on the camera unit will blink alternatively red and green during the firmware update. Do not power off the device or exit the app once an upgrade is in progress.

Written by Ishveena Singh | 21 Jan 2022 

Drones look set to become a big part of the booming food delivery business, with Vietnamese delectables now taking to Australian skies.

Roll’d Vietnamese announced on Thursday it had teamed up with Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, to deliver its banh mi (baguettes), bao (steamed buns), rice paper rolls and the like via drones in Logan, Queensland and Gungahlin, Canberra.

“With efficient delivery within minutes, Roll’d orders can be placed via the Wing app and will be delivered by a remotely piloted custom drone to customers within a 10km radius of the delivery site,” the chain said in a statement.

In a world first, Wing launched in Canberra in 2019 and is now delivering coffee, curries, burgers, ice cream, groceries, office supplies, pharmacy items and even pet treats to homes and commercial businesses across Crace, Franklin, Harrison, Palmerston, Mitchell and Gungahlin.

In another world first in August last year, Wing began operating a drone delivery “nest” on the rooftop of Grand Plaza in Logan, sending out goods on-demand from a range of businesses at the shopping centre to surrounding suburbs.

Wing says the business took off last year as the pandemic raged on, with deliveries rocketing more than 600 per cent compared to 2020.

“Wing made more than 100,000 drone deliveries in Australia in 2021, and we’re looking forward to continuing this growth, by expanding our service to more customers and businesses in 2022,” spokesman Jesse Suskin said.

Earlier this month, Singapore-based strategy and economic advisory company AlphaBeta estimated drone delivery had the potential to boost retail sales in Australia by $2.2bn by 2030.

AlphaBeta also says the technology is expected to slash delivery costs for businesses by up to $800m per year by the end of this decade, with delivery costs for takeaway food to fall in the long term by up to 80-90 per cent.

It also said drone deliveries could play a big role in reducing traffic congestion, reducing annual carbon emissions by 500,000-550,000 tonnes, “equivalent to the carbon storage of 16-18 million trees”.

But it’s clearly not an easy business, with Wing saying last year’s success came after a decade of development, testing and trials.

In 2013, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos announced with great fanfare that the Amazon Prime Air drone delivery service could be ready in “four or five years” but so far, that hasn’t eventuated.

Food delivery giant Uber Eats in 2016 held a “VIP BBQ” publicity stunt in Dallas whereby hundreds of people were meant to be delivered brisket sandwiches, mac and cheese and the like via drone, but it was deemed a disaster and even an “epic fail” by the restaurant involved.

Things started to look better in 2019 when it unveiled a new delivery drone design and started testing them with a view to launch the service in San Diego in 2020.

Written by Rebecca Le May | 27 January 2022