Drone News & Articles

Researchers at Swedish company Inkonova are developing a drone that can autonomously map underground mines. 

This is a fairly big advancement, as drones traditionally require GPS signals to navigate—signals that don’t reach that far below the surface. We recently reported on a mining drone that can assist companies in more safely and efficiently analyze blast data and guarantee that no person is in an area of danger. Ahmed AlNomany and his team of researchers, however, are focused on a different aspect of the mining industry.

According to New Scientist, the unmanned aerial vehicle can transition from flying and rolling, to most efficiently navigate underground terrain. It’s not easy finding a new way of having a drone autonomously maneuver without the use of traditional satellite signals. 

“It’s complicated because we are trying to invent another way of positioning using bits and pieces of technologies,” AlNomany tells New Scientist. 

Fortunately, the team spearheading this new technology is already solving bits and pieces of its conundrum using an entirely new approach they call ‘SLAM’.

Laser scanners calculate the distance between the drone and objects around it, which allow the UAV to continuously create a map of the environment, according to New Scientist. Recently, Inkonova manually piloted their TILT Ranger drone and used the SLAM method to completely digitally map a section of an underground mine in Mali in a mere 10 minutes. The mapped area had a volume of about 30,000 cubic meters, the size of a large lecture hall. AlNomany is already accustomed to this impressive ability, claiming that “it’s not a big challenge to capture such zones quickly.”

Besides digitally mapping its surroundings, the drone simultaneously uses accelerometers, sensors that help it position and move itself without the currently-required GPS signals. 

According to the BBC, the drone has already proven itself to autonomously stabilize itself in underground areas. 

The rolling abilities of this UAV come in handy once it encounters an irregularly-shaped area, like a narrow pathway. Using its wheels, the drone switches from flying to rolling, and moves on. 

“If it is near a wall, the drone will adapt to it and climb it instead of flying,” AlNomany says. 

We recently reported on an "event-based" camera being developed at the University of Zurich, which would rid our current requirement of having enough light to effectively use a drone in near-dark conditions. We also learned about Rocketmine and how its drones help mining operations. 

Agriculture drone can be used in soil and field analysis, planting, crop spraying, crop monitoring, irrigation and others. Data generated by drones can help farmers to gain a more accurate & detailed view that how their crops are responding to their management strategies which may lead to the most effective use of limited resources. Different types of drones help to elevate agricultural efficiency.

Increasing applications of drone in agriculture sectors have influenced the industry to invest significantly in funding UAV-based startups. Also, increasing funding from venture-based firms for agricultural drones is fueling the market growth. However, lack of trained pilots and stringent regulations may restrain the growth of agricultural drones market over the forecast period.

Nonetheless, adoption of new technology is expected to offer new growth prospects to the agriculture drone market. Several benefits offered by the drone are strongly escalating growth of agriculture drone market. Many vendors such as Google Inc. and facebook are planning to use solar power drone that hovers around the atmosphere of the earth with internet access from remote places acting as flying internet or hotspot.

Agriculture drone market is segmented by type, component, application and region. On the basis of type, agriculture drone market classified into fixed wing, rotary blade, hybrid, data management, imaging software, data analysis others. Component wise agriculture drone market is bifurcated into controller system, propulsion systems, camera systems, the navigation system, batteries and others. Based on application, global agriculture drone market is classified into field mapping, variable rate application (VRA), livestock, crop spraying, crop scouting, agriculture photography and others.

Rapidly increasing adoption of drones for crop spraying application will increase the yield and reduce the wastage of crops, fertilizers, and pesticides. These key factors are responsible for the growth of the agriculture drone market for crop spraying application. Need for technological advancements in agriculture equipment and enhancement of the quality of farming techniques have led increased usage of agriculture drones in the market. Innovations in the GPS mapping field coupled with the advancements and solar power drone in agriculture are expected to drive the industry growth over the forecast period. Drones have the potential to implement better plantation with crop rotation strategies and give crucial inputs related to the daily progress of crops which is further contributing to the market growth.

North America dominated the global agriculture drone market due to high production and increasing applications in the agriculture sectors. Europe commercial drone market is expected to grow considerably in the forecast years owing to the relaxations in regulations and increasing applications in law enforcement and agricultural applications.

Favorable government initiatives towards agriculture sector are expected to be the key growth factors for the European market. Moreover, the demand for the drone is expected to gain traction in Asia-Pacific region. Australia and Asian countries such as Japan are increasingly focusing on the use of drones for agricultural purposes.

DJI just introduced a new camera designed to work with drones, and in particular its Inspire 2 flyer. The camera is a “world first” in that it’s a super 35 digital film camera tailored for aerial cinematography — in other words, if you’re a filmmaker, documentarian or professional cinematographer, you are probably going to want one of these.

The Zenmuse X7 camera has a large, Super 35 format digital sensor, and supports interchangeable lenses for a range of potential focal lengths. It shoots up to 6K in CinemaDNG RAW format, or can capture in 5.2K Apple ProRes at frame rates of up to 30 FPS. It also can capture 3.9K Cinema DNG RAW or 2.7K ProRes at 59.94 FPS, which should meet the needs of most post-production work from Hollywood on down (or up I guess, depending on your perspective).

The new DJI camera uses DJI’s DL-Mount system, and works with prime lenses with fixed focal lengths of 16mm, 24mm, 35mm and 50mm, each with a max aperture of F/2.8, and all with carbon fiber bodies to optimize light weighting. The 16mm lens has a built-in ND filter that can provide up to 4 extra stops of light control. All together, the array weighs only 631 grams with the 16mm lens attached.

High-quality cinema video doesn’t come cheap, of course — but at $2,699 US for the camera, it’s not a bank-breaker for production professionals either. The 16mm, 24mm and 35mm lenses weight in at $1,299 each, and the 50mm will cost $1,199. 

Drones are regularly used in infrastructure inspections, agricultural monitoring, and safety and rescue operations. And not just in America; this is also the case in the Chinese city of Dongguan, revealingly known as the world’s factory for the amount of manufacturing that happens there. According to the Xinhua news agency, the amount of market entities (read: factories) registered in this city surpassed 900,000 earlier this year. Naturally, this makes it extremely difficult for environmental inspectors to observe all the factories in regards to safety standards and unlawful disposing of chemicals. So, the city began using unmanned aerial vehicles last year to combat this overwhelming issue.

On Tuesday, a local townsman reported a strange smell to environmental inspectors, who immediately deployed a drone fitted with high-end gas sensors to the area in question. According to Xinhua, the sensors in question can differentiate between eight pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide or volatile organic chemicals. The UAV hovered about 33 feet from the ground for around 30 minutes, garnering data and producing a useful map displaying the various VOC levels in that area. According to Xinhua, it was clear as soon as inspectors noticed three red dots on that map, which signal a dangerous level of gas in the area. 

Now, Dongguan’s nickname really isn’t a joke. This city reportedly produces a fifth of this planet’s smart phones, as well as a fifth of all sweaters. That there are almost a million registered factories is astounding, and only makes the potential for pollution there more astounding. This is why drone use to mitigate those levels is a good way to go—having local inspectors walk around town to do their jobs simply isn’t as efficient.

In the beginning, drones were simply used for aerial photography as a means of inspection. That way, boots on the ground would know exactly which areas looked suspicious, and which factories were a waste of time to inspect. “For example, the walls of work sheds of polluting factories showed signs of corrosion,” explained the deputy director of the environment monitoring branch of Dongguan’s Environmental Protection Bureau, Chen Baihui. This seemed to be their modus operandi, until a pollution-detecting drone was presented to them by Shenzhen’s Scifly Tech and Guangdong’s IntelFlight UAV Ltd.

Baihui says that out of every three tips from the public regarding suspicious odors in the area, two of them went undetected prior to the use of drones. Reportedly, he also claims that one of these pollution-detecting drones can do as much—if not more—work than 60 environmental inspectors. If that math is actually correct, Baihui would be wise to continue implementing drones into his anti-pollution strategy. 

They have been responsible for innumerable deaths in the Middle East during the last decade and, if Amazon has its way, will deliver millions of toasters, gift sets and novels in the future. But recently drones have begun to fulfil a less utilitarian kind of role: competition in the nascent world of futuristic motorsports. A confluence of technological advances has made drone racing possible. A minuscule camera, mounted on the drone’s nose, allows the pilot, as competitors are luxuriously titled, to control the vehicle through virtual reality-style goggles, as if perched in its tiny cockpit.

With powerful lithium batteries, the size of which dictates the speed class of the drone, these machines, which are typically the size of a box of tissues, can reach speeds in excess of 120mph. Studded with coloured LEDs, they fly like hyper-evolved, fluorescent mosquitoes and, thanks to their size and manoeuvrability, can make use of those areas of a sports stadium that are usually out of bounds: streaking over the pitch, for example, before grazing through a window, along a corridor and out again into the night sky. Impromptu courses can be set up anywhere. In September, during an event timed to coincide with the Paris Drone festival, pilots raced along the Champs-Élysées, watched by 150,000 spectators.

Zealous entrepreneurs closely follow on the tail of any emerging sport. Each invariably hopes to corner the market by establishing the definitive league. “When I first started the Drone Racing League, once a week I had someone telling me they were launching their own league,” Nicholas Horbaczewski, co-founder of the DRL, told me. Horbaczewski watched his first drone race in a car park outside a Home Depot in New York City. “I thought: how do we elevate this to a level where we can put it on TV?” Since its founding in 2015, the DRL has attracted serious investment – $12 million to date, with high-profile investors ranging from New York’s Lux Capital to media partners such as MGM, ESPN and Sky Sports.

Last week, Horbaczewski announced that the German insurer Allianz would sponsor the DRL’s 2017 championship, the final event of which will be staged at London’s Alexandra Palace in the summer. It’s a legitimising deal. Allianz is a major investor in Formula 1 racing, football (the company has bought the naming rights to six stadia around the world, some of which will be used in the forthcoming DRL championship) and a sponsor of tennis, golf and swimming tournaments. “What Red Bull has done with extreme sports is what we want to do with digital sports,” explained Allianz’s Jean-Marc Pailhol. “We want to make drone racing one of the main sports in the world.”

There are major obstacles standing in the way. Filming high-speed drones, zipping through courses as tall as they are wide, is an enormous broadcasting challenge (one tough enough to prevent the DRL championship from being broadcast live on Sky this year). Then there are significant technical concerns. The ultimate aim is to allow spectators to pull on their own headset in order to watch the action from the perspective of their favourite drone. Finally, there’s the need for sufficient money in the ecosystem to support young pilots so that they can afford the time off work to compete. “Executing successfully is extraordinarily difficult,” said Horbaczewski. “You have to be a tech firm, a media company and a sports league all rolled into one.”

Then there’s the issue of competition. Horbaczewski claims that with the emergence of the DRL, drone racing is a “professional sport now”. Rival leagues, he said, have faded away and, in the DRL, there is “finally a well-organised sports league”. These claims are vigorously disputed by Richard de Aragüés, director of the 2011 documentary film TT3D: Closer to the Edge and founder of the British drone racing team Tornado XBlades Racing. “This is far from a one-horse race and many of us close to the sport feel the DRL press claims are somewhat misleading,” he told me.

Danny McMahon from the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre turns to drones for 3D modelling of wind turbines. He spoke with PE's Joseph Flaig.

My research is three-fold: ultrasonics, high-temperature optical measurement in forming and forging, and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) large-volume photogrammetry for asset inspection.

We’re working on a really interesting project in UAV large-scale photogrammetry, which involves using drones to inspect wind-turbine blades. It cuts out the need for working at height or taking the blades off the turbine, which can make the task safer and less costly.

The project we have just completed was the laboratory-based initial feasibility study. We carried out trials of tracking the drone position and continually updating the control system to ensure the flight path kept to a prescribed route. This allows us to cover the surface of the wind-turbine blade efficiently and to keep the drone at a constant distance from it.

We then capture images throughout this flight path and transfer them to a photogrammetry software package. The images are stitched together based on feature extraction to create a 3D model of the wind turbine. This has allowed us to achieve accuracies of the blade under 0.5mm, which would be impossible to pick up with the human eye.

This model can then be compared to an ‘as-built’ geometry, or a previous scan, to identify quickly areas that have changed and potential defects. The end goal of this work is to get to a point where the defects can be well-understood. Another type of drone could then be deployed to carry out a remote repair – a crawler drone might go up the turbine and fix a problem on one of the blades, without the need to remove the blade or for humans to work at height.

Another area we are looking to address is applying this in an automated solution to offshore wind turbines where the environmental factors will have a much greater effect – it’ll save having to send engineers out to sea to inspect and then fix the blades.

Drone with the wind

Large-scale photogrammetry is very useful for any large asset that is normally difficult to inspect – as well as wind turbines, we’re looking at using it on oil rigs, buildings and ships. There are other technologies that will inspect these assets, but they normally require people to work at height and, in some instances, only a visual inspection is carried out. The equipment required and the time taken to carry out these techniques makes them very costly, whereas large-scale photogrammetry can be done with a consumer camera and some software – the costs are comparably very low and the time needed to capture data is reduced. Cameras can also be drone-mounted, which eliminates the risk of a person working at height.

As an alternative to a visual inspection, photogrammetry will capture much more detail than the human eye can detect. A lot of these assets are quite monotonous so humans are likely to suffer from fatigue and become less effective at the inspection. The data can be transferred anywhere in the world, which cuts out the need for engineers to work on site.

Drone photography has really taken flight of late, and rightly so.

This form of technology uses remote or software-controlled aircraft, which can be utilised for a number of purposes. Originally developed for warfare, drones are increasingly used for domestic and hobby purposes.

One of those uses is to capture aerial photographs and videos, making them ideal for real estate photographers. Rural properties in particular can benefit from drone technology, which can fly over acreage and homesteads at a relatively low cost.

The use of drones in real estate marketing has been a game-changer for those who are embracing these flying photography robots.

It isn’t just professional real estate photographers who are driving them. Though professional photographers often offer inclusions of drone shots in their packages, some agents have taken it upon themselves to invest in drones. This adds value to their vendor’s campaigns.

Just ask Matthew Horne, Real Estate Manager and Water Broker, of Elders Deniliquin. Horne has his own drone that he utilises for marketing.

“At the moment, it’s a point of difference. Drones gives a different perspective of a property from the air. You get to provide purchasers with a better understanding.”

In fact, drone photography a win-win, with advantages over older technologies that delight both vendors and buyers. 

Vendors get a wider selection of photographs and footage that showcase desirable aspects of their asset. Buyers are better able to gauge features and the scope of a property from angles they wouldn’t ordinarily be able to see.

“It is a great part of our service”, says Horne. “It demonstrates our underlying professionalism as agents, and it gives a vendor confidence that they are dealing with a company that is embracing technology.”

And then there’s the novelty of a flying camera:

“When I get the drone out to take photos and videos of a vendor’s property, it certainly gives them a lot of excitement. For example, it’s great to see a farmer’s son, who is up-to-date with technology, running out to have a look.”

So just how easy are they to operate?

“Once you’ve driven one once or twice, they aren’t that hard to use… You may only need to hover the drone three or four metres in the air to get a better selection of angles… You don’t need to be a hundred metres in the air to get a great shot”, assures Horne.

Drones have also allowed for photography during wetter weather conditions. A year or so ago, some shots wouldn’t have been possible.

“If we have a wet season, we can’t drive around some properties without getting bogged. But now we can still fly a drone over the back paddock, for example, from the hard surface of the driveway and still get shots.”

In addition to drones providing a better perspective, by way of the aerial views that they provide, they can also save time: “If it’s calm, you can send a drone up to two kilometres away, meaning you don’t have to drive all over to take stills.”

Mining is a major industry in Africa – and drone companies have established themselves there to grow with the industry. Service provider Rocketmine, a division of French company Delta Drone,  was the first licensed commercial drone operator in South Africa and Ghana and flies the largest fleet of drones on the continent.  That’s because, explains Rocketmine Africa Sales Executive Eric Delabrousse. “Drones are a game changer for the mining industry.”

Rocketmine does not call themselves drone operators, they’re data acquisition specialists: taking care of all of the elements of the drone program for their clients and delivering the data within 24 hours.  “All the customer cares about is the data,” says Delabrousse. “We take care of everything else.”

“What’s the most important thing for mine operators?” asks Delabrousse.  “It’s safety.  And what’s the next most important thing?  Profit.”

After flying thousands of flights over mining operations, Rocketmine has established a process to address the primary needs of mining operators during blasting:  Safety, efficiency, and accountability. Their four-step procedure is designed to ensure safety and provide the entire organization with valuable data:

1) Pre-blast safety inspection.  With a required safety area of 1 km, being able to have an eye in the sky to determine that nobody remains in the blasting safety radius  is critical.

2) Blast monitoring – take live video feed of the blast.  The blast video can be played back in slow motion, allowing engineers to determine that everything has gone correctly.  If something goes wrong, they have the data they need to diagnose the problem.

3) Post-blast safety inspection – flying after the blast can ensure that no explosives remain live and that the area is clear.

4) Fragmentation analysis – Drones can provide precise information on the output of the blast using mining-vertical specific data analysis to measure output.  This allows blasting engineers better planning and predictability.

Delabrousse explains that drones not only cost significantly less than manned aircraft,  they can be more precise.  For the required annual aerial survey of the mine, for example, drones are vastly more cost effective: and  provide more accurate information.  But he doesn’t claim that drones can do everything.

Drones have an “economic sweet spot,” in mining, he says.  UAV Photogrammetry fits between laser scanning and satellite imagery – not as accurate as laser scanning, but more accurate than satellite.  For stockpile measurement, surveying, and other mining requirements orthomosaics, 3D point clouds and 3D modeling is accurate enough.

Using drones to illuminate scenes and subjects using flashes and powerful LED lights is a new trend made possible by the emergence of affordable and intelligent consumer drones. If you’d like to see what the latest experimentation is producing, check out the 2.5-minute short film above, titled “mémoires”. It was lit entirely with drone lights.

“I think its this is an absolutely revolutionary way of film lighting — both in a creative and technical sense — allowing for both very traditional (big crew) setup with a very tiny crew and also creating some surreal, nearly painterly lighting effects that I haven’t seen before” cinematographer Tim Sessler of BROOKLYN AERIALS tells PetaPixel.

Last year, Sessler and his crew shot the world’s first drone video to use the dolly zoom (AKA the “Vertigo effect”) to create a mind-bending video.

For this latest project, there was one major challenge the team had to overcome.

“Because the light was hard mounted, all drone movements would translate into the light,” Sessler writes. “While flying, this usually isn’t a huge issue (it is less noticeable), in a stationary shot every little movement of the drone (compensation for wind) would result in a shift of the light beam and become very noticeable.”

To overcome this, the crew mounted multiple 100W LED chips onto MoVI stabilization systems to keep the light beams stable while the drones moved around in the air.

They ended up building three lights: a 900W floodlight supported on a MoVI M15, a 400W spotlight with parabolic reflectors on a MoVI M15, and a Maxa Beam Xenon light (with a spot as narrow as 1 degree) on a MoVI M10.

“The big question was: how could we use a drone light in a new way?” says Sessler. “How could it replace traditional film lighting – both in a very subtle way (that wouldn’t immediately give away that it was lit by a drone) and in a creative way?”

The team came up with a number of ideas for the project, including using the drone light as a (1) stationary key light, (2) overhead stationary spotlight, (3) orbiting or moving key light, (4) stationary panning spotlight, and (5) painterly light for creative effects.

To drone, or not to drone—apparently, that's the question! Drone photography is rising in popularity, which is no surprise if you've seen the breathtaking shots these flying machines can capture. But if you're still puzzled or skeptical about aerial photography, and the pros and cons of having one shoot your wedding photos, read on. Here's everything you should know about hiring a drone to fly at your wedding.

Safety First

We'll start with the less glamorous info, then get to the fun stuff. Safety is the most important thing to keep in mind if you plan to hire a drone. Drones are essentially mini-helicopters with cameras, so if the drone operator isn't a properly trained professional, you risk having any number of accidents on your hands (none of which you would ever want, but especially not on your wedding day).

Planning and Professionalism Required

Parker Gyokeres, owner of Propellerheads Aerial Photography and award-winning US Air Force photojournalist, says, "If the drone pilot doesn't have an established safety plan, insurance, extensive knowledge of how to operate the vehicle or close coordination with the venue managers, wedding photographers and the couple, he can be a risk to the wedding party." Make sure your ground photographer collaborates with the drone flyer, then sit down with them and go over their plans. Everyone should be on the same page.

Get Drone Insurance

Gyokeres says every drone operator needs personal property and liability insurance for commercial UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). That way, if something or someone gets hit (which is extremely rare, but still), the operator is covered and the damaged object will be repaired. Don't take the easy way out on this. Double-check that your drone pro's taken the maximum safety precautions. Better safe than sorry.

The New Way to Capture Memories

Josh Rogers of Atmosphere Aerial says hiring a pro drone pilot to shoot your wedding is a no-brainer. “You hire a professional drone operator for the same reasons you hire a photographer: You want to make sure that the photos come out the best they can. After all, weddings only happen once; there are no reshoots." But unlike a ground-based photographer, drones provide a whole new way to document your nuptials. "It elevates your normal, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to a memory that will never ever be forgotten," Gyokeres says.

Take Advantage of Your Venue

Drone shots can capture dynamic, illustrative videos and images that display the scope and scenic context of your event. "Drones offer unique and grand perspectives of the beautiful locations where people choose to wed," Rogers says. Are you tying the knot on a mountainside, vast valley or other stunning location? Imagine looking through your wedding album on your 20th anniversary and having a sweeping aerial snapshot of your venue. So cool! It's an amazing way to take full advantage of the gorgeous space you chose.

Impossible Made Possible

Since drones are so versatile, you'll be able to get creative with your wedding shots. Gather your guests on the lawn to spell out words or organize them in other fun ways. Gyokeres says he's caught several incredible, emotional moments that wouldn't have been possible to get from the ground, like the bride and her father hiding on one side of the house while the groom waits to see her at the altar—all in one shot. (We get choked up just thinking about it!) Rogers tells us some of the best photos end up being a couple's ceremony exit, surrounded by the sprawling landscape or cityscape. The contrast between the intimacy of those moments and the epic grandeur of the vista makes these shots so spectacular.

Minding the Elements

Drones are pretty tough, but they're still electronic devices, so that means no flying in heavy rain or crazy winds (over 25 miles per hour). The good news is that cold weather won't deter them. Gyokeres says his drones have insulated batteries, and his crew keeps everything in the car with a battery warmer, right up until they're ready to fly. Plus, once the drone starts discharging, it'll generate its own heat. "The drone likes cold air because it's denser so you get more lift. You can actually get a couple more minutes of flight time in winter because the aircraft flies more efficiently," Gyokeres says. Who knew? Plus, if your nuptials are taking place in a chilly climate, you might not get many shots of your guests outdoors anyway.

Outside Is Best

Drone pilots can fly vehicles inside, but it's much more risky, so proceed with caution. "We can do aerial shots inside as long as the ceiling is high enough to ensure the drone isn't in danger of hitting anything," Rogers tells us. Having enough space isn't the only issue, though: Rogers suggests avoiding drone use at an indoor ceremony because of the noise. Overall, outside will probably be your best bet. "If you're having an outdoor wedding and you're not thinking about using a drone, you should. Especially if it's on a piece of family property where it's timeless, beautiful and special. Or if you're doing a wedding on a boat, for example, how else are you going to get a shot unless you have a drone?" says Gyokeres, who's flown everywhere from inside factories to above cathedrals and rolling farmlands.