Drone News & Articles

Drone fans are likely to give DJI’s latest offering a close look when it hits stores next month.

The $800 Mavic Air 2 is, as its name suggests, the successor to the original Air, with the foldable flying machine packing plenty of new features to keep pilots happy.

One of these features is showing up for the very first time on a consumer drone. AirSense, as it’s known, enables the Mavic Air 2 to detect nearby aircraft such as planes and helicopters, alerting the drone pilot so they can take evasive action.

AirSense uses well-established aviation technology known as ADS-B to receive signals from aircraft in the vicinity, and even shows their location on the drone pilot’s control screen.

If the aircraft is flying toward the drone, AirSense will warn the drone pilot with messages, sounds, and vibrations through the remote controller, giving the pilot ample time to guide the remotely controlled quadcopter safely out of harm’s way. It’s fair to say that the feature is likely to be rarely used, but it should nevertheless give drone pilots more peace of mind when their machine is in the sky.

Last year, DJI promised to incorporate the AirSense system into all of its new consumer drones weighing more than 250 grams, and the Mavic Air 2 is the company’s first release to fit the bill. The technology is already part of its pro lineup that includes the Matrice 200 series and the Mavic 2 Enterprise.

“DJI’s decision to equip the majority of its drones with ADS-B is a very positive development and an important safety improvement in the use of drones in the national airspace system,” Michael Huerta, former administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said last year.

It should be pointed out, however, that at launch, only Mavic Air 2 drones sold in North America will include AirSense. Supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic mean that customers in other regions will have to wait until the summer to get the feature.

Trevor Mogg | April 28, 2020

San Francisco looks a little lonely from the skies. A month ago, as residents were getting used to the new normal of life in shutdown, drone footage emerged showing the empty streets. As we now roll into the sixth week of sheltering in place, filmmakers are continuing to get creative, shooting a barren city from above. This new video, released this week, brings a film noir-like majesty to this strange time.

The bird's eye view provides some cinematic vistas. Rarely have the sunrise over the East Bay and City Hall been seen in the same shot. The car-free twists and turns of Lombard Street have never looked so geometrically satisfying. In the final Hitchcockian shot, pigeons land on the top of the Castro Theater, as the camera pans down to the lonely street below.

The stirring Italian 60s song Io Di Notte by Milva soundtracks the footage. Filmmaker Greg Lofrano, of Loaf Productions, who made the short film told us, "the song, alongside the footage, symbolizes the community we seek and miss in everyday life. We've been doing a great job with social distancing in the city."

 Andrew Chamings | April 26, 2020

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, can play an important and useful role in a farmer’s daily life. The greatest advantage comes from the time that can be saved in scouting fields or animals without all of the driving around or footwork.

In crop production, drones can pinpoint trouble areas in the field that wouldn’t be found by the normal observer while in animal production, they can be used to check on animals and water sources or fencerows.

Fixed-wing drone and multi-rotor drone

These aircraft come in two main varieties, the fixed-wing and the multi-rotor drone. Fixed-wing drones can usually cover more area in less time because they fly faster and have a longer battery life while multi-rotor drones are usually cheaper and can be easier to manoeuvre.

A typical fixed-wing drone can fly for about one hour and cover around 500 to 900 acres while a multi-rotor drone has a flight time of 30 to 40 minutes and may only cover 100 to 200 acres.

Some examples of companies that produce fixed-wing drones include SenseFly and PrecisionHawk while those that sell multi-rotor drones include DJI and Parrot. A drone that can be used in professional farming applications can cost anywhere around $ 400 to $ 7,500. There are definitely ways to spend more than this but most of these other drones or add-ons aren’t needed in an agricultural setting.

Sensors

Sensors can be paired with drones to provide additional information but are usually expensive and can range around $ 2,000 to $ 10,000 depending upon the number of sensors incorporated and the type of sensors purchased. In general, however, the information you get from the camera that comes with the drone can be just as useful.

Software subscriptions

There are third party software subscriptions that can be purchased which use the images captured from the camera and create maps that can provide crop information like plant health and plant population. These kinds of subscriptions can range from $ 30 to $ 250 per month and some examples of these include DroneDeploy, FieldAgent, PrecisionAnalytics, and Pix4DFields.

Each one comes with a free trial period so a producer can identify which software works best for them. Some of this software can even create zone maps which, when paired with farm equipment that uses GPS technology, can help apply variable rates of pesticides or fertiliser across a field.

Drone research

Drones have multiple uses on the farm from checking crops and animals to assessing damage. There is much research currently being done to identify ways to use drones in other applications such as weed and disease identification, water and nutrient deficiencies, yield determinations, and pesticide application.

As technology continues to improve and these aircraft become more widely used and available, they are likely to become an important addition to any farmer’s toolkit.

Dr. Jason de Koff | 14 April, 2020

Police have confiscated the drones of at least two photojournalists attempting to take aerial photos of a mass grave being built in New York City.

The city is burying unclaimed and anonymous victims of COVID-19 on Hart Island, a stretch of land off the shore of the Bronx. Hart Island has been historically used for such anonymous burials, but new graves on the island are being dug at almost five times the usual rate as COVID-19 overwhelms city morgues. The NYC Department of Corrections is now keeping Hart Island completely closed to press. The NYPD said in a statement that it was enforcing city laws preventing unauthorized drone use.

The NYPD has seized the drones of at least two photographers who were trying to take shots of a mass grave being built on Hart Island, a New York City potter's field off the shore of the Bronx.

Hart Island has been used by the city government for anonymous burials dating back to the 18th Century. But as the death toll from COVID-19 nears 10,000 in New York City and morgues across the city become overwhelmed, the number of burials on Hart Island has jumped to five times higher than usual.

The New York City Department of Corrections, which runs Hart Island, has kept it completely closed to press amid the coronavirus outbreak. The only photos of the site to become public were taken by photojournalists using aerial drones or helicopters.

But on at least two occasions, the NYPD has cracked down on such drone photography. Gothamist reported that George Steinmetz, a photojournalist with a 35-year career shooting for National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine, was confronted by police Wednesday while photographing the island. The National Press Photographers Association told the outlet it's aware of one other drone confiscation at Hart Island since the pandemic began.

NYPD officers reportedly took Steinmetz's $1,500 drone and charged him with violating a city law that prohibits drones from taking off from locations other than an airport. Before they did, he was able to take this shot:

The NYPD said in a statement to Business Insider that it was enforcing city laws preventing unauthorized drone use.

"Drones are illegal to fly in New York City except for authorized areas. The areas approved for flying drones are very limited and set by the FAA," an NYPD spokesperson said.

A Department of Corrections spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the decision to keep Hart Island closed to press. A spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio previously said the city is exploring ways to "safely" open the island to journalists.

Earlier this month, Associated Press photographer John Minchillo was able to take several aerial photographs of the mass grave being dug on Hart Island. Here's what it looks like.

The graves are being dug on Hart Island, a strip of land near The Bronx that has been the city's potter's field since the 1700s.

By early April, the number of burials on Hart Island had risen from the typical 25 burials a week to roughly 25 burials a day — a fivefold increase — as the death toll from COVID-19 spiked.

Burials on Hart Island have historically been carried out by city detainees, but are now being done by contracted workers to comply with social distancing rules.

Aaron Holmes | Apr 21, 2020

According to Chinese drone maker DJI, Spain is the first European country to use agricultural drones to try to contain the coronavirus.

Spain has been one of the most deeply affected countries in the world by the coronavirus. As of today at 1:30 EDT, it’s had 102,136 cases and 9,053 deaths.

So the Spanish Military Emergency Unit is deploying agricultural drones to spray disinfectant around large outdoor areas as well as inside large vehicles.

The Spanish military is using both DJI’s AGRAS MG-1 and the DRONEHEXA XL by Spanish drone maker DroneTools. DJI’s drones make up 75% of the global drone market.

As DJI explains:

The MG-1 ‘s powerful propulsion system allows the aircraft to carry up to 10 kg liquid payloads, including pesticides and fertilizers. The combination of speed and power means that an area of 4,000-6,000 square meters can be covered in just 10 minutes, or 40 to 60 times faster than manual spraying operations.

And Seville-headquartered DroneTools describes the DRONEHEXA XL as their most versatile tool for loads of up to 3 kilograms with a range of up to 25 minutes. It says DRONEHEXA is ideal for industrial inspections, surveying, and agriculture. Here are its specs:

• Extension to 3 – axis mount Brushless
• Autopilot Option with telemetry modem, 50 waypoints, and Click and Go
• RTK Option
• Option video link
• Option Full-HD video link
• Option Transport
• Option Power-Pack for two flights

As the World Economic Forum (WEF) wrote on March 16, drones were used in China as a key tool for responding to COVID-19 for aerial disinfection, medical sample transport, and delivery of consumer items. Here’s what the WEF had to say about drone disinfection:

"Depending on the application, drone spray can be 50 times more efficient than people spraying."

To ensure the safety of aerial disinfection operations, XAG Technology, DJI Agriculture, China Agricultural Machinery Distribution Association, China Agricultural University Research Centre for Medical Equipment and Application Technology, and other relevant agencies jointly published a series of operational guidance and technical specifications to communicate with local authorities and make sure that all efforts were conducted in a safe and scientific manner.

The WEF asserts that “drones need to be integrated into planned health responses.” 

Alphabet’s drone delivery company Wing has seen a “significant” increase in demand in recent weeks as people adhere to social distancing rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. Business Insider reports that in the last two weeks the company’s drones have made over 1,000 deliveries, while Bloomberg reports a doubling of deliveries in the US and Australia.

Wing currently offers its drone deliveries in a limited number of places worldwide. These include locations in Virginia, Finland, and Australia, where the company has partnered with local shops for deliveries. Customers use Wing’s app to make an order, and their deliveries can arrive within minutes thanks to drones that can travel at around 65 mph.

”NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED CORONAVIRUS, BUT EVEN WE WERE SURPRISED AT THE UPTAKE OF CUSTOMERS”

Although Wing’s drones are limited by the amount of weight they’re able to carry, their deliveries can happen without people needing to travel or to interact with one another. It’s great news for communities trying to practice good social distancing during the pandemic. In contrast, it’s much more difficult for human delivery drivers to keep their distance.

Wing has expanded its delivery options in light of the pandemic by offering items like pasta and baby food due to the demands of people staying at home, Bloomberg reports, while in Australia it’s added another grocery store to fulfill requests for milk and bread.

”No one could have predicted coronavirus, but even we were surprised at the uptake of customers when ‘shelter in place’ came into Virginia,” Wing’s head of marketing and communications, Alexa Dennett, told Business Insider, “It’s really early days so it’s hard to know how coronavirus will shape our business’s strategy... Ultimately we would love many more households around the US and the world to have access to our technology.” Dennett declined to comment further on the company’s expansion plans.

Wing is currently the only service offering drone deliveries to the general public in North America, although Amazon is also working to launch its own Prime Air service.

Drone company Draganfly announced it will work with the Australian Department of Defense and the University of South Australia on "pandemic drones."

Canadian drone company Draganfly announced a collaboration on "pandemic drones" with the Australian Department of Defense and the University of South Australia 

Robots and drones are being used around the world to fight COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, from taking temperature to preparing meals and sanitizing surfaces where the virus may live.

In video demonstrations sent to Business Insider, the drones use computer vision systems to monitor temperatures and heart and respiratory rates of people from above and single out people sneezing or coughing. 

The drones are equipped with cameras and sensors with special health monitoring capabilities and can narrow in on a person to collect information about heart rate, temperature, and respiratory conditions. It can also detect when someone is coughing, a symptom of COVID-19.

In a statement, Draganfly said that these drones would likely be used for crowds like at convention centres or cruise ships. Developers also see possible security use around borders or critical infrastructure, which also means that it could also be used with vulnerable populations, like nursing home facilities and aged communities

The project has an initial budget of $1.5 million.

"We had imagined the technology being used in a future relief expedition to some far-away place. Now, shockingly, we see a need for its use in our everyday lives immediately" Dr. Javaan Chahl, defense science and technology chair at the University of South Australia said.

Draganfly says it is working on distribution and securing a supply chain for commercialization as soon as possible.

Not too long ago, we got our hands on images of what looks like to be DJI’s replacement for the DJI Mavic Air, the new DJI Mavic. The new Mavic looks like it will closely follow the design of its bigger brother, the Mavic 2 series, with almost identical positioning of certain features. While a few are different, it’s likely they will closely resemble the unreleased DJI Mavic 3.

More than Mavic Mini

DJI released its Mavic Mini drone a few months ago. The smaller drone is aimed at beginner flyers and those wanting something they can travel with easily. While DJI did make good on its promise, a few features we were all hoping for didn’t make it to the drone.

It’s clear that many of us were hoping for features the Mavic Mini just wasn’t made to meet, so here’s to hoping the new Mavic will.

A big missing feature is the max resolution of 2.7K and the lack of manual control over the video being produced by the drone. The Mavic Mini also lacked RAW photos, USB-C charging, and object tracking.

Since the drone was deliberately made to weigh 249g, this was acceptable, but the Mavic Mini was no longer the drone we were hoping it would be.

The new DJI Mavic

This is where the upcoming DJI “Mavic” comes into play. It seems to be the perfect middle ground between the Mavic Mini and the prosumer focused Mavic 2 series.

Many of the downfalls us and other reviews noticed on the Mavic Mini should hopefully be addressed in the new DJI Mavic.

It’s practically guaranteed that the Mavic will have the ability to shoot in 4K and take RAW photos. It also looks like the Mavic will likely have side, rear, forward-facing sensors.

The new Mavic looks like it will bring in the design of the bigger Mavic 2 and the bottom landing light as well.

DJI’s new Mavic could be the best camera drone for beginners

Hopefully, the Mavic is a combination of the Mavic Mini and the Mavic 2 series, creating the perfect mix between portability and power.

We would love to see these key drone features in the new DJI Mavic:

• improved battery tech found in the Mavic Mini
• an improved version of the DJI Fly app to allow more control
• a 4K 60 fps camera

The new Mavic will likely come in at under $1000. Combined with its large feature set for its small size, that would make it the perfect drone for beginner drone pilots and photographers looking to step into drone photography.

Below is an opinion piece by Ben Marcus, co-founder and chairman of AirMap, a solutions provider for unmanned airspace and fleet management.

The drone industry has come a long way in the last five years. Numerous innovative drone manufacturers and applications have emerged around the globe, and according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there are now over 1.5 million drones registered in the U.S. alone. The industry has designed, tested and launched the fundamental technologies for UAS Traffic Management (UTM).

The FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification (LAANC) program, which offers automated digital airspace authorization for access to fly in controlled U.S. airspace, has enabled over one hundred thousand missions, reduced flight authorization time from up to 90 days to just a few seconds, and is now available to recreational operators. Switzerland became the first nation to implement a national UTM system called U-space, and aviation authorities around the globe are working hard to safely integrate drones into their national airspace. 

We’ve put the building blocks in place, and the drone industry is now ready to scale in a big way. So get excited about drones becoming part of your daily life, and be on the lookout for these five major developments I predict we’ll see in the 2020s. 

Welcome to the decade of the drone.

Prediction #1: Advanced Capabilities  

We won’t be able to reap the societal benefits of drones until they’re able to fly safely over people, beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) and at night. These advanced capabilities will enable complex drone operations and unlock a broader drone economy—but only if proper rules and regulations are in place. Authorities around the globe are creating those regulations now. On December 26, 2019, the FAA released a proposed Remote ID rule allowing authorities to identify nearly all drones operating in U.S. low-altitude airspace. The rule lays the groundwork for other advanced operations, including BVLOS. 

BVLOS capabilities are key to further drone enablement and have been the subject of government-sponsored research projects by NASA and the FAA in the United States, and SESAR Joint Undertaking in the European Union. I anticipate that we’ll see the culmination of those studies in the coming year. 

Prediction #2: Enterprise Enablement

PwC estimates that the total addressable market for commercial drones is $127.3 billion. That includes $45.2 billion in infrastructure, $32.4 billion in agriculture, $13 billion in transport and $10.5 billion in security. As more corporations look to capitalize on these commercial opportunities, investment continues to grow.  According to Drone Industry Insights’ Drone Market Report 2019, energy is the largest industry participating drone market, but transportation and warehousing use of drones is growing fast.  When it comes to applications, inspection remains the leading use for drones, although drone deliveries will accelerate as we move into the second half of the decade.     

The business case for drones is strong. As the World Economic Forum (WEF) notes, drones have the potential to transform business models and revolutionize how people and goods are transported. That’s why I predict that in the 2020s, enterprise use of drones will skyrocket and major corporations will invest in drones in a big way. 

Prediction #3: Increased Automation

Automation is already revolutionizing the drone economy. Just look at the FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification (LAANC) program: by automating airspace authorization, it has enabled over 100,000 drone flights. 

Enterprises are also using automation, taking advantage of automated data capture and processing workflows to support their activities. Drones are fantastic flying sensors that capture high-precision data, spot defects, and track changes over time—and using drones is much cheaper and safer than conducting manual inspections. According to Goldman Sachs Research, pipeline inspections that used to require a $2,500 per hour helicopter crew can now be done by drone. According to CB Insights, following the destruction of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, telecommunication companies like AT&T and Verizon used drones to inspect towers—a process that would have been too dangerous and time-consuming to do manually. 

As drone automation continues to increase, enterprises will start creating and updating comprehensive digital twins of their assets. We’ll see automation play a big role in the drone industry in the coming decade: it will make high-volume, complex operations possible, increase safety, and enable the drone economy to scale to greater heights. 

Prediction #4: Urban Air Mobility 

Whether for last mile delivery, public transportation or air taxis, electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLS) hold enormous promise. By ferrying people through the low-altitude sky, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) will likely serve as an airborne alternative to crowded freeways. 

According to the Vertical Flight Society’s World eVTOL Aircraft Directory, there are already over 200 aircraft concepts currently in development. Industry powerhouses Volocopter, Boeing, Airbus, Bell, Lilium, Beta Technologies and Joby are all working on their own eVTOL concepts. Uber plans to run initial test flights in 2020 and debut commercial aerial services in Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne in 2023.

By the end of the decade, NASA estimates that there will be approximately 23,000 air taxis transporting around 740 million passengers worldwide. With UAM, we can reduce fossil fuel emissions and open the door to using airspace to provide emergency services to people in crisis.

The only way to unlock these benefits at scale is with a robust, safety-first and automated air traffic management system designed for autonomous aerial vehicles. The UTM system we’re building today will serve as the bedrock for Urban Air Mobility. By creating a new air traffic management paradigm that allows drones to fly safely, autonomously and at scale, we pave the way for a future where Jetsons-style flying taxis will be the new normal.  

Prediction #5: A New Era of Aviation

For a long time, we’ve thought of aviation as just one thing: planes flying into airports. But in the coming decade, the skies will be different. We’ll see drone missions increase in scope and scale: there will be delivery drones, recreational drones, enterprise drones, public safety drones, and more. Urban air mobility will become a reality. We’ll expand what aviation means, usher in a new era of flight and reap the societal benefits drones provide (think lower carbon emissions, better information about our assets, and increased access to global markets). 

Exciting developments are in store—and the Decade of the Drone is just getting started. 

Over the past decade, DJI and the commercial drone industry have grown at a rapid pace. In creating products that show the extent of our innovation, we have also increased the diversity and number of people who use our products. In celebration of International Women’s Day, we are sharing stories of female pilots around the world who have contributed to pushing the boundaries of innovation.

For the first interview of this series, we sat down with Yuhuan Li, a mother of two who became an agricultural drone pilot. The 40-year-old runs her own business in Xinjiang Province, using the DJI Agras T16 to spray pesticides and defoliant over thousands of acres every day.

Q: When did you become a drone pilot? Why did you choose to fly agricultural drones?

A: After giving birth to my second child, I began wondering what else I could do for the rest of my life. Opening a store or running a business would just be a way to make ends meet. As a farmer, I cannot live without the land; I needed to do something related to our land. A tractor is a viable option, but it is physically tiring to operate alone. I once saw pilots in the field, flying drones with a controller. That was something I thought I could manage. So, I became a drone pilot at the age of 38.

Q: What are the benefits of using drones for farming? Can you share some tips for using agricultural drones?

A: Using drones to spray pesticides is more efficient than using tractors. First of all, tractors harm the cotton when passing through, while drones prevent the cotton from being crushed. At first, farmers had doubts about the reliability of drones. However, they witnessed the aircraft’s efficiency as well as the lack of damage done to the cotton. They acknowledged this was a reliable solution for plant protection. To better maximize the benefits of agricultural drones, I use drones for most of my work, such as spraying pesticides and defoliants. I still use the tractor for certain things, such as sowing seeds.

Q: What are the best practices for using agricultural drones?

A: The first valuable thing I learned: learn to use your drone fully. A  friend of mine is also a drone pilot. She doesn’t operate her drone regularly, making it difficult for her to take advantage of its potential. What you spray also matters. No matter what tools you use, it is essential to use an appropriate pesticide. Although I don’t have the highest output, drones have let me achieve the best results in my community. This is why other farmers trust me and ask about my experience with drones. Since 2019, many farmers in my community became aware of the benefits of drones and preferred to use it for spraying.

Q: What has your experience been as a woman in the drone industry?

A: I care less about what others say and more about doing a good job. Operating a drone requires skill rather than brute strength. As long as you master the skills, anyone can do it, including women. There may be doubt, but there are a lot of people who are curious to see if women can do it too. Once you work it out, respect will follow. I have several female friends operating agricultural drones now. Each of us drives a truck, carrying a DJI Agras T16 that can spray thousands of acres each day. Last fall, we used more drones to spray defoliant for the farmers, and they recognized and appreciated the benefits of drones. It was tiring but incredibly fulfilling. When I leave early in the morning, the kids are still asleep. When I come home late at night, they are sleeping already. But I believe that all my efforts are building us a brighter future.

Q: What would you like to tell other women who are trying to become drone pilots? 

A: As long as you are passionate, you can do it. Women should be strong and independent. Believe in yourself and your abilities, and just go for it!