UAS Platform Consulting

Introduction

            There are many different unmanned aerial systems on the market of varying cost and performance. This report will outline three separate drones of different performance levels. Their performance and cost will be discussed to make drone selection easier.

           

Low Level Commercial Drone: DJI Phantom 4

The Phantom 4 is DJI’s newest drone. DJI is a leader in quadcopter drones that are easy to fly and good for aerial photography. Their drones are perfect for beginner drone pilots. The Phantom 4 is also reasonably priced at around $1,200.

The Phantom 4 comes fully loaded with multiple features. The aircraft itself weighs less than 3 pounds and can fly 45 mph. The Phantom has a range of 3.3 miles and can operate at a max elevation of 19,000. The battery life has been improved from the earlier phantom drones and is suppose to last 28 minutes on a full charge.  The drone comes in a compact size of 13 inches across diagonally and can even be worn on a special backpack.

The Phantom has front and downward facing vision systems to help with collision avoidance.  This allows the drone to auto correct flight paths when the user is unaware of an obstacle. The vision system also is cable of actively tracking users.  The active track systems can track people or vehicles and follow them without user control.

The Phantom’s camera can shoot 4k videos at 30 fps and 1080 videos at 120 fps. This allows for superior video quality in the low-level commercial range of drones.  The camera has 12.4 M pixels and comes attached to a three-axis gimbal for steady footage.

Another great feature is the app to fly the Phantom. The app is user friendly and allows for live feed while flying. The app also works for both android and IOS.          The Phantom 4 is a great first buy drone. The drone takes superior quality video and the collision avoidance may increase the life of the drone. The drone comes at a fair price.

Mid Level Commercial Drone: xFold™ Dragon x8 RTF

            xFold makes professional drones that cater to cinematography producers. Their drones range in price from $4,000 to $27,000. The Dragon cost $25,000 with all the features included.

            The Dragon weighs 35 pounds but can carry up to 66 pounds in payload. It can carry large camera and video equipment. It can be dual operated, camera and pilot. The dual operation allows for better video production. The Dragon also has a live feed for the pilot with very little lag time. The drone is used in industrial and military applications as well.

            The dragon comes with two 22,000 mAh flight batteries increasing its range. The entire drone folds up and fits in a provided case. The drone is well balanced allowing it to fly in rough conditions. It comes with the highly compatible DJI NAZA V2 flight control system. There is also a smartphone app to assist in flight.

            The dragon has fail-safe system built in as well. If the drone flies out of range a backup system will activate, returning to home. The dragon can also fly if it loses a motor. The drone will change flight patterns and return to home.

            The dragon is relatively expensive but comes with a complete yearlong warranty. Its payload allows its uses to be very versatile. The drone also has technology that helps orientates the direction of flight, which can be hard with multirotar drones.

High Level Commercial Drone: Sensefly eBee Plus

            The eBee plus is a great high-end drone that cost around $20,000 to $30,000 dollars dependent on features. The drone it self is relatively the cheap but the software technology is where the money is.

            The eBee plus can fly for 59 minutes and can cover 15.4 mi² in one flight. The drone is hand launched and can cruise at speeds of about 60 mph. The eBee comes with eMotion 3 flight planning and control software. It also comes with a Pix4DMapper image processing system.

            The High Precision on Demand technology reduces the need for ground control points and decreases the amount of time in the field.  Th eBee plus comes with different cameras to meet different needs.

            The motion 3 allows for detailed flight plans to meet very quickly. The Sensor Optimized For Drone Applications, returns superior quality geospatial data and photography.

            Sensefly drones have been field test around the world and used on numerous projects, from agriculture to disaster relief. There website is full of countless examples of professional and successful fieldwork. Dependent on the need the eBee plus seems to be a great option.