Drone News & Articles

Real-estate developers in New York City are hoping officials will amend a 71-year-old law which they say is preventing them from keeping up with the likes of Chicago and LA when it comes to building processes.

The law, signed off in 1948, requires that all aircraft take off and land in a location designated for flight by the Port Authority, mainly airports, meaning that drones are effectively prohibited from flying within the city’s boundaries, despite a 2016 FAA ruling that legalised commercial drone use.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, a New York City website directs anyone who spots the unmanned aerial vehicles in flight to report it to the police immediately.

This, according to people in the industry, puts local developers at a competitive disadvantage.

The WSJ went on to detail how two NYC council members, Justin Brannan and Paul Vallone, proposed legislation last year that would allow for legal drone use, though the bills have been stuck in committee for 18 months.

However, despite what seems to be a step in the right direction, an NYPD spokeswoman said that in order to legalise drones, the legislation would need to prioritise safety.

Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the of the New York City council of cooperatives and condominiums, said: “It’s long been our feeling that it would enable buildings to save a tremendous amount of money if inspection of facades could be done with drones with cameras.”

ST Engineering’s DroScan system is being used to inspect Air NZ Boeing 777s during heavy maintenance checks at Singapore Changi airport.

Air NZ is the first airline to trial DroScan, says ST Engineering, and is helping to cut down external inspection times from six to two hours.

The drone takes a planned route around the aircraft's exterior, taking a series of high-definition pictures that are then processed by specialist software to detect and classify defects.

“We’ve trialed using DroScan on a number of our aircraft undergoing maintenance inspections in Singapore now and believe using a drone will also help improve inspection quality. In future, there may be an opportunity to use the device in New Zealand, for example to conduct ad hoc inspections after lightning strikes,” says Air NZ chief ground operations officer Carrie Hurihanganui.

ST Engineering is also currently working with various regulators to get DroScan approved for use with Singapore-registered aircraft.

Air New Zealand and ST Engineering are also collaborating on manufacturing 3D printed replacement interior parts, and using data analytics to optimise maintenance activities.

Tellus4D Geoimaging is an Australian company that uses survey UAVs to collect land and shallow water imagery.

Waypoint recently sat down with Tellus4D’s CEO, Dr. Geoffrey Gearheart, to learn more about his company, how he uses survey UAVs, such as senseFly’s eBee Plus fixed-wing drone, to capture all this data and much more.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with Waypoint today, Geoff. Can you give us some background on Tellus4D?

Absolutely. At Tellus4D, we work with governments, private industry and individuals to provide scientific-grade aerial imagery and data interpretation, with a focus on answering questions related to coastal processes, such as geology, ecology and oceanography.  To do all that, we use unmanned aerial systems (UAVs) to collect data, such as RGB, multispectral and LiDAR, and process it all using a suite of specialised software such as Fledermaus, Agisoft and ArcGIS. Our clients, so far, have been government and private sector companies whom we team up with to generate comprehensive datasets, combining acoustic and optical imaging products.

What would you say differentiates Tellus4D from other companies in your space?

We see ourselves more as a data company than just a drone operator. Here in Australia, there are lots and lots of drone service operators, and they all do very similar work. They’ll do videography and map mining pits, even do some agricultural mapping. We are different in that we are scientists that try to do more challenging work where we map the coastline. Our data is acquired using survey-grade georeferencing, and our ultimate goal is to map below the shallow water surface using drones.

The fact that we know what’s behind the data we generate is important; we’re not just making pretty images. Because of our background, we hold PhDs in oceanography, we provide more than just plain imagery, as we understand the processes that underlie the data. We’re able to explain what processes cause the features that we’re seeing, and so by understanding that, we’re also able to give advice regarding certain processes.

Draping high-resolution orthomosaics (Top) on DEMs (Bottom) provides valuable insight and makes visual and quantifiable linkages between onshore and offshore surveys. Great method to survey habitat recolonisation, macroalgae habitats and suspended sediment transport patterns!

What are some of the main projects you work on?

Our main work right now is a partnership that we have with a multinational company called iXblue, which is a large, vertically structured engineering company that has a survey branch with different offices around the world. So, we work with the Australian survey branch—and what they do is seafloor mapping, mainly for nautical charting.

We also advise our clients on mitigation and management measures, such as the location of breakwaters and beach nourishment, provide government clients with updated nautical charts and create “seamless datasets” that connect bathymetry—measured by sonar—and topography, which is measured using drone-based sensors. All our products are certified by SSSI, Australia’s surveying institute.

How do you use the drones?

iXBlue, for example, uses acoustic sonars to make high-resolution maps of the seafloor. They actually go out in a boat and map. But there are areas that they just can’t reach with a boat, either because it’s too shallow or too dangerous. That’s where we come in with the drones.

The drones we use can fly safely over obstacles and exposed rocks, where the hydrographic vessels can’t go; and we can image through shallow water—down to two meters in clear waters. We plan on using additional sensors in the future, to measure water depths even further down.

To map the near-shore zone, Tellus4D used an “Ebee Plus” Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). The coastal area, covered in grassland, was well suited for take-off and landing.

How was this work accomplished before using drones?

The coastal mapping work was done using ship-based LiDAR, which isn’t ideal for complex coastlines and only provides a profile view of the landscape above the waterline.

And why did you choose to go with a senseFly drone?

Honestly, it was the cost/benefit and flight efficiency of the eBee Plus that convinced us. We were interested in other platforms, but they were too expensive. We also really like the eMotion 3 flight-planning software and the user-friendliness of the eBee.

We’ve heard of professionals using senseFly drones to map things like coastal erosion, but you seem to be using drones in a very unique way.

Exactly! We see this as a pretty novel application of the eBee. I’ve visited the senseFly website and the YouTube page and it’s all agricultural, mining, inspections and stuff like that, and I thought maybe it would be interesting to share how we’re using the eBee. I’m not sure if mapping the ocean was ever an intended use when the eBee was being developed.

Flight path of one example flight over coastal zone.  Note the change in altitude based on flight-planning with elevation set as “Above Elevation Data” (AED) allowing T4D to maintain uniform ground-sampling distance.

You mentioned bathymetry earlier—why is it so important to get frequent and accurate bathymetry data? Is there a public safety element to the work your company is doing?

The main reason we need good bathymetry data is to update nautical charts for maritime safety. Nautical charts are used by many industries from large commercial ships and small fisherman ships to tour operators and whale-watching vessels. They’re very important for navigational safety. So essentially, we need to have good nautical charts to know where dangerous obstructions are located and how deep [the water] is to keep people and ships safe.

It’s also worth noting that accurate nautical charts are becoming increasingly important due to changing geostrategic and economic shifts, which are occurring now in Asia. Drones can map the very narrow band of coastal areas that are inaccessible by survey boats. This is very relevant because that’s where most of the people are concentrated—over 80 percent of Australia’s population lives within 50 km from the coast—so there’s a lot of people using these shallow waters and a lot of the nautical charts are extremely outdated! So, there is a demand for good, updated bathymetry data.

Can you give our readers a real-world example of the work Tellus4D has done with a client?

Yes. The video [top] shows how we teamed up with iXBlue in New Zealand because in Kaikoura, on New Zealand’ South Island, there was a massive earthquake in 2016 which drastically altered the coastline. After the earthquake, the coastline uplifted, so large rocks that were at depths for boating shifted upward, becoming hazards for mariners in an area that vitally depends on marine industries. Accurate marine charts are a must for economic success in this region.

You mentioned how rocky shorelines create potential hazards for ships. What other hazards did you face before using drones?

The weather, well, a combination of weather, waves and the rocks would make it even more dangerous. Small survey vessels face dangerous conditions when mapping rocky coastlines. By using drones, we are able to remove the risk of having humans operate in these dangerous conditions.

Digital elevation model (DEM) created from photogrammetry mosaic using structure from motion (SfM) techniques.  Note:  some seafloor structure is imaged in areas where water was clear.

It seems like you’re enjoying several benefits from flying the eBee. What’s your favourite feature and how has it helped you accomplish your goals?

Well, I use the eBee Plus with eMotion, and so far, I’ve never had one glitch with eMotion 3. For me, that’s a really big deal because I also use less specialised drones like the DJI Matrice 210, which is a good drone, but it’s not designed specifically for surveying.

For that drone, you have to source an app—it’s a third-party app—that does the mission planning and the flight planning that eMotion 3 does so well, and that the eBee includes out-of-the-box. Those [third-party] apps are very glitchy and I’ve heard of peoples’ drones coming out of the sky. So, I’m very happy that eMotion 3 works so well.

I also think a key feature that is difficult to find in third-party mission-planning apps is a reliable “terrain hugging” feature such as the one eMotion has. What it does, basically, is that it allows you to fly AED—which is Above Elevation Data—meaning you download a map of the area which will serve as the base of your survey. Based on that data, the elevation data in that Google Earth image, the flight planning software will adjust the flight elevation of the drone based on the terrain. That’s very important because it lets you get a pretty stable ground sampling distance (GSD), which is the resolution of your imagery. Resolution is a function of the characteristics of your sensor (which you can’t change) and the distance from the object you are measuring. So, the higher you fly your eBee, the lesser your resolution, and you want to try to keep that resolution stable throughout your survey.

Most of the third-party apps don’t have that fancy feature like the eBee. I don’t know about other fixed-wing specialised survey drones, but I really appreciate the fact that it’s so stable. It just doesn’t disappoint.

What has your ROI been since using UAVs?

I haven’t made the calculations for the ROI yet, but we’ve been using a rental from a local company here, so we want to buy our own platform. I think once we have our own platform, we’ll be able to have a better idea on the ROI. But so far, we’ve been able to pay off our rental fees, the lease fees we have… at least each project several times over.

Thanks for talking with us today, Geoff.

My pleasure.

How do remotely-operated drones benefit the most important aspect of any mining operation: safety? Dan Ward, director of technical engagement at Airobotics, sat down with Umar Ali to shed some light on this exciting new technology.

The popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across the mining industry has grown substantially in recent years, with over 60% of mines in Europe and Australia investing in drone technology. The technology has applications across the sector including safety operations, as drones are able to reach areas humans cannot.

Founded in 2014, Airobotics boasts a pilotless drone solution, the first of its kind in the global market. Dan Ward, director of technical engagement at Airobotics, tells us about developing digitalisation and automation strategies using drones.

Umar Ali (UA): Could you tell me a little about your drones and what makes them special?

Dan Ward (DW): Our automated drone system comprises of Optimus, an industrial-sized multi-tool drone, a completely automated base station from which the Optimus drone launches and lands on its own without any physical human intervention and the Airobotics Software, which enables users to visualise, process and analyse aerial data.

Airobotics’ robotic airbase, multi-sensor drone, and AI-driven analytics automate the digitisation of sites and cities through high-frequency data collection, processing, visualisation and analysis to reveal critical business insights.

The drone system has the unique capability of swapping its own batteries and payloads using a robotic arm, allowing for a diversity of payloads and mission types. No other drone company can purport to do this without human intervention.

UA: How does Airobotics’ automated platform help with mining safety?

DW: The Airobotics automated drone system eliminates the need for drone pilots to be available and manage flights on site. As a result, the major safety benefit is the ability for continuous inspection, survey and mapping, and compliance management in industrial settings, without exposing personnel to potential hazards in the work environment.

We recently made Australian aviation history by obtaining the nation’s first and only Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approval to operate automated multi-rotor drones from its Remote Operations Centre beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) with no aircrew needed at the client site.

Standard VLOS operations requires a remote pilot on site, who often needs to enter dangerous areas to maintain a direct line of sight with the drone. By removing the need for VLOS operations, BVLOS drone flights greatly improve the safety of the site operations.

Automation not only facilitates safety, but it also replaces mundane tasks.

When personnel are freed up from mundane tasks that can be completed through automation, not only can they perform more valuable roles such as data analysis, but they will have new opportunities to re-channel their expertise into other tasks and strategies that have a greater impact on the operation.

UA: How can you see drone technology progressing?

DW: Initially, drone technology was largely developed for recreational use, and whilst it has matured over the last few years, there are still some ways to go in terms of development for industrial usage and certainly, automation.

We believe drones will be widely used across many industries in the coming years and adopted in three phases. First, which we are already in, is deploying systems in safer, unpopulated environments, such as mines, refineries, sea ports and fabrication facilities.

Take the mining industry for example, we believe that mining operations are increasingly looking to deploy automated drones, the most compelling arguments driving them are not the tactical or economic ones, as persuasive as those are. Rather, automated drones are poised to become an essential strategic part of mining’s future, providing an integrated, holistic solution that bridges the gap between decision-makers and the critical data they rely on, quickly and accurately.

Secondly, after accumulating hundreds of thousands of flight-hours with increasing reliability and safety, would be to use these systems in urban environments. Applications would initially be around emergency response.

The third step of this vision is full commercial everyday use. Drone systems will be situated in various locations around the city serving multiple customers in applications like infrastructure and property inspection, real estate, construction, disaster recovery and more.

The greatest and most important hurdle we had to overcome is regulation. If drone operators and drone companies can prove their safety case and show regulators that they are not a risk for people and for businesses, regulators will progress and enable the wider adoption of this tool.

UA: How have mining companies responded to drone technology so?

DW: Mining companies have been utilising drones as part of their daily survey operations for several years now so drone technology is not inherently unfamiliar.

Drones are becoming an integral tool on site, replacing manual inspections in the most hazardous areas and collecting critical information, while drastically reducing the time and manpower required. With added automation capabilities, the operational advantages brought on by drones are further augmented with consistent and reliable data capture, download, processing and collaboration.

The concern with the use of drones on mine sites is not so much the lack of belief in the technology to deliver value but rather, the safety and regulatory aspects of operating drones on site.

It is not unusual for surveyors or other mining professionals to double-up as drone operators on site and unfortunately, drone incidents involving other mining equipment and/or personnel are not uncommon either.

This is a training and resource issue, which can be mitigated with an automated drone system managed offsite by regulatory-approved, professional drone pilots. This move is definitely welcomed by the industry that holds safety in the highest regard.

UA: Were there any challenges in developing drone solutions for mine safety?

DW: When Airobotics first started, we certainly faced some challenges in terms of how we could realise our drone capabilities. The first was the availability of specific drone components that could stand up to industrial standards – they were not where we needed them to be. As a result, we decided on the path of in-house product design and manufacturing, which led us to where we are today.

The other challenge was regulations. Being the leader in this space always placed Airobotics at the forefront with regulators when it comes to accepting and approving that drones can indeed fly safely from a remote operations centre. It took the team years and hundreds of thousands of hours of test flights and detailed supporting documentation to prove our systems’ capabilities.

As drones continue the trajectory from ‘recreational toy’ to ‘indispensable industrial tool’, we expect to see further enhancements in related technologies. For example, improving battery life to fly longer and cover larger areas and new, lighter payloads with higher-accuracy data-capture, and increased diversity in applications.

Drone pilots will demonstrate the application of drone technology in weed control in Emerald on Friday, as part of a series of field days in Ag-Tech in Weed Control Innovation.

Peak industry body for horticulture, Growcom, has partnered with Natural Resource Management (NRM) body, Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) to run the field days that feature in-field demonstrations of ag-technology for improved and targeted weed control. 

A highlight of these events have been the practical demonstrations of cutting edge tech - like drones and a robot.

Presenters at the field day on Friday will include, CQUniversity's Associate Professor Dr Simon White from Bundaberg, who will talk on herbicide resistance in weeds and advances in chemical efficacy, and SwarmFarm. 

SwarmFarm engineers will demonstrate a SwarmBot in action, out in the field, and discuss opportunities for selective weed control.

Growcom Hort360 Facilitator, Michelle Haase - who is assisting in the coordination of the field days - is hoping that horticulture growers in the region will attend this final field day in Emerald. 

"Feedback from growers that have already participated in a field day has been extremely positive," Ms Haase said. 

"This is a great opportunity to learn about ag-tech solutions for weeds, best management practice related to biosecurity and use of herbicides, and to meet other industry stakeholders.

"Horticulture growers attending an event will receive an information kit on Hort360, the best management practice (BMP) program designed for the horticulture industry."

The field day will be relevant to all primary producers (not just horticulture growers), local government stakeholders, commercial weed control operators, and Landcare groups.

It’s Friday, so why not watch some good old-fashioned drone-powered graffiti? A design firm in Italy has put together a lovely little show that collected sketches from the art community and put them all together in a giant mural, painted over 12 hours by a team of drones.

We’ve seen spray-painting drones before, of course, but this is far better than the crude vandalism of a fashion billboard or even Disney’s more structured wall drawings. These drones actually put together something worth looking at!

The Urban Flying Opera project was curated by Carlo Ratti Associati, which collected some 1,200 small illustrations via an app, selecting 100 to assemble into a single mural. The line drawings were then loaded into a central control computer and painting instructions relayed to a set of four drones equipped with paint cans, which worked over a 12-hour period to put the whole thing together.

Each drone, provided by Tsuru Robotics (it’s partly a promotion for the company) was operating as part of a whole, with multiple position monitoring systems making sure they didn’t accidentally bump into one another. No second chances when you’re spray painting a white wall.

The mural is 46 feet wide and 39 feet tall, and each color layer, laid on separately, represents a different aspect of the community the project is trying to highlight.

“The city is an open canvas, where people can inscribe their stories in many ways. Such processes have always been happening; however, with UFO we tried to accelerate them, using drone technology to allow for a new use of painting as a means of expression,” CRA founder Carlo Ratti told New Atlas.

It’s still nowhere near the level of fidelity you see in serious graffiti and street art, but it’s clear that drone-based spray painting is becoming a viable method rather than a lark. Perhaps even future drone-based vandalism will be of higher quality!

During a drone demonstration by local fire and police departments in Ohio, a demo flight turned into a real search and rescue operation when a father asked Fire Chief Brian Miller and Police Cpl. Justin Alloway to help locate his nine-year-old daughter. It all happened during the Fourth Friday event last week in Westerville when thousands of people crowd the streets of the Ohio town. Hannah, the missing girl, had walked ahead of her family and the father couldn’t find her anymore. Luckily, the DJI M210 drone located the girl within minutes and reunited the family. Drones for good!

“Bit of concern, you know about where his daughter was at,” said Miller according to ABC6. “There’s typically a few thousand people at our Fourth Friday event, so we were dealing with a pretty large crowd.”

Normally the search for a missing person would be done on the ground. However, in this situation, the Westerville Fire and Police decided to use their brand new drone. Within minutes they located the girl.

“We were able to find her in an approximately 5 to 10 minute timeframe,” said Cpl. Alloway. A search, he said, could have taken at least half an hour on foot.

The father, Tim, said that the first responders offered to help right away.

“Sure enough there she was just sitting by the car,” said Tim.

He added that it was “awesome” to see his daughter pop up on the screen of the remote controller. While the father walked to meet up with his daughter the drone kept an eye overhead. Westerville Fire and Police had been working on adding a drone to their arsenal of tools for the last two years. They have had the DJI M210 operational only for about the last month or so, as reported WBNS.

“This is just another tool in our toolbox to help in those types of scenarios, keeping our community safe and bringing families back together,” said Chief Miller.

The Westerville drone program which included not only the purchase of the drone but also the training of the drone pilots ran about $34,000 and was funded by both the police and fire budgets.

Cpl. Alloway said: “I can tell you on Friday night when we saw dad with his daughter again, it was worth every penny we spent on this.”

According to the father, the best moment of the night was when he was able to hug his daughter again and the family was reunited. He said that the family does have a safety plan in place for situations like these. The nine-year-old girl did the right thing according to the police by going to a place she knew the family would gather. The father who had two more children with him, did not want to move far from where he had last seen his daughter. Instead of looking around for her, he asked the local police for help.

Paris-based Meero said today it has raised $230 million in venture capital for its AI-driven photography platform, pushing the company past a valuation of $1 billion.

Founded in 2016, Meero wants to reinvent the market for professional photography by using artificial intelligence to process large batches of images for businesses like ecommerce or travel. Its platform connects professional photographers with clients and then uses AI to handle most of the post-production.

In a business world increasingly reliant on images to promote services and products around the globe, Meero seems to have hit on a need that is driving rapid growth. The massive size of the round, one of Europe’s largest this year, will catapult the company into the small ranks of French unicorns, which the country is hoping to grow significantly in the coming years.

CEO and founder Thomas Rebaud said the size of the round was a testament not just to the company’s growth, but to its global ambitions.

“If you want to make it happen quickly, we need to invest in many different things at the same time,” he said.

The latest round was led by Eurazeo, Prime Ventures, and Avenir Growth, but also included participation from past investors Global Founders Capital, Aglaé Ventures, Alven, White Star Capital, and Idinvest. It follows a previous fundraising of $45 million last year, and brings the company’s total to $300 million.

Meero says it now has 31,000 clients in about 100 countries. Customers include Just Eat, Expedia, Trivago, and Uber.

Rebaud said that historically, when big brands needed large numbers of photos taken around the world, they faced a huge task of finding local photographers and then ensuring consistency of look and style in the editing process. A single photographer retouching hundreds of photos via Photoshop, for instance, would take ages and still not achieve the desired degree of consistency, he said.

Meero automates much of that through its AI production process, which also includes identifying and creating the metadata for objects in the photo.

By the same measure, the company seeks to help photographers attract more clients by essentially operating as a customer relationship management service for them. The platform helps manage their jobs, while also offering workshops and meetups to help build their skills and professional networks.

Rebaud said the latest round will help Meero expand all of these products and services, while also pushing more deeply into the U.S. market. The company has about 600 employees, including 400 it hired in just the past six months, with a target of 1,200 by the end of this year.

Drone regulation changes everywhere are impacting on the choices for best real estate drones.  Licensing changes in the USA and Canada are impacting not just on who can fly, but what drone is going to be the best choice for take photos and videos for real estate.

I recently had the opportunity to obtain an Advanced Pilot Certificate (Canada’s equivalent to the US FAA part 107) and that experience now shapes the advice we give our readers, like real estate professionals, in the process of chosing a drone.

Last year our top choice was the DJI Phantom 4 Pro.  A beefy quadcopter that handles extremely well in wind with an awesome 1″ CMOS sensor producing 20 megapixel stills.  Months after we wrote the article, however, we learned that the Phantom 4 Series was transitioning to ‘end of life’ status which means very limited support going forward and the drone is no longer available for purchase on the DJI Store.

Since then, DJI has released the Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom it’s new flagship pro-sumer drones that seem to have all the features realtors would be interest in: compact, folding arms, 20 megapixel stills (Mavic 2 Pro), camera zoom (Mavic 2 Zoom) and 31 minutes of battery life.

Best of all, perhaps, is that the Mavic 2 Series can be purchased with an optional Smart Controller with a built in display that connects instantly to the aircraft.  No more fumbling to connect a tablet or smartphone and be bothered by phone crashes.

These features alone make the Mavic 2 Series our #1 drone for real estate in 2019.  Choosing between the two models isn’t the easiest to do though, and it all comes down to the zoom feature and how much effort you want to put into editing your photos.

If you have some basic photo editing skills, you can just crop the 20 megapixel stills produced by the Mavic 2 Pro to pretty much equal the stills you would have zooming in with the Mavic 2 Zoom.

Another regulatory change that’s happened lately is the requirement that drones be declared compliant by the manufacturer to be eligible for specific actions like proximity to bystanders, use in controlled airspace and flights over people.

Canada’s new drone regulations that took effect last month are among the first in the world to list which drones are acceptable for these task.  And if you’ve been paying attention to drone law changes in other countries these changes seem to be happening everywhere at the same time.  So be prepared for something similar to arrive in the USA in the future.

It’s because of these changes that the Mavic 2 Series gets another checkmark as the best drone for real estate.  Already declared compliant in Canada for flying in controlled airspace and within 15 feet of bystanders, it makes sense to assume it would also fit similarly into any classification system the FAA could institute.

Avoid Wifi

Our 2nd choice drone from last year, the Mavic Air, has been dropped from the list for the simple fact that it’s controller connects to the aircraft with a wifi connection.  The Mavic 2 Series uses a system called Occusync 2.0 that is much stronger than wifi and much more resistant to interference that could affect your flight or even cause a flyaway.

We experienced this recently while completing a flight review for our Canadian drone pilot license.  Our test flight was very close to a residence with a 10kW solar panel and the amount of electro-magnetic interfence we encountered significantly affected our flight with the Mavic Air.

It struggled to respond to controls, and the visual feed from the aircraft kept getting jumbled.  Not an ideal situation if you’re trying to capture photos of a new listing; and even worse if the clients are peeking over your shoulder.

We still like the Mavic Air, but it’s new place is as our ‘backup’ drone when we want to pack light. We love the 4K video it records, and it’s so small we can pack it anywhere.

For now, we’re sold on the Mavic 2 Series.  Regardless of whether you chose the Pro or Zoom models, you’re going to be extremely happy with the results.

They’re easy to fly with automated flight modes that are ideal for a variety of shots you can use for real estate.

Fly More Kit With Extra Batteries

We recommend purchasing either of the Mavic 2 Series with the optional Fly More Kit, which gives you a discounted bundle that includes a car charger, extra batteries and more.  It’s a great value.

Lastly, make sure you purchase DJI Care with your Mavic 2.  It’s like ‘Apple Care’ for your drone, and gives you up to two replacement units in the first year (for a small additional charge) and protects you from all kinds of accidents such as water damage and collisions.  DJI Care is only $139 and it’s incredibly cheap protection.

Roof inspectors in the United States are increasingly purchasing UAVs to survey roofs, according to a new case study.

The study, carried out by FLIR Systems, says that drones equipped with thermal and visible cameras are being used to track down moisture and inspect for signs of insulation that is damaged or missing.

Although inspectors may still be required to get up on the roof to establish the extent of an issue, the drones are able to give a thorough view of a roof and establish which parts will not need further inspection.

This has ensured that roof inspections can be safer, faster and more efficient, according to the study.

The report also claims that specialised courses in drone thermography and roof inspection are offered at the Infrared Training Center which allow operators to fully understand how to use the technology.

Furthermore it argues that the cost of investing in a drone can be recouped by commercial operators quickly given the time saved.

The report, written by FLIR’s John Anderson, concludes: “While drones can face regulatory challenges concerning where and when they can fly, the combination of drones with thermal and visual cameras is a must-have for roof inspectors who want to stay ahead of the curve.

“These systems can make inspections faster and more efficient, while also reducing safety concerns.”

FLIR Systems is a world-leading industrial technology company focused on intelligent sensing solutions for defense, industrial, and commercial applications.