Drone News

A successor of the excellent JJRC X1 is here: http://www.lightake.com/p/JJRC-X2-With-Brushless-Motor-4CH-6-Axis-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-2.4GHz_2134735.html It seems they reinforce the plastic structure but except that … no real real novolties. It remains one of the great & cheap first brushless quadcopter for mid-beginners. A 5.8G variant will be also introduced. Q101 already grabbed one (probably a pre-release model) What’s a pity there is no way to select the flight mode, for example to have a pure acro mode. Features: -The first generation of RC Quadcopter with brushless motor -4 Channel which can do ascend, descend, forward, backward, left sideward fly, right sideward fly -It has 6-axis gyro which can have more stable flying and be easy to control -Ldle speed adjustment / stop expansion, rudder volume switch -Lightweight airframe with nice durability -Function: Up/down/left/right/side flight/ fine-tuning/ Idle speed adjustment / stop expansion/rudder volume switch Specification: Frequency: 2.4G Gyro: 6 axis Material: ABS Size: 35.5*35.5*12cm Flight time: about 15-20 minutes Charging time: 150 minutes Control distance: about 350-500M Battery for quadcopter: 7.4V1200mah Includes: 1*Aircraft 1*remote control 1*manual 1*accessory package Cet article NEWS: JJRC X2 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

INTRODUCTION The Eachine V-tail 210 is the first cheap “chinese” quadcopter adopting the V-tail design. In theory, the V-tail architecture offers a much better yaw authority especially at full speed. In fact the EV210 is not a simple quadcopter adpopting this original design, but you have also included a 1080p@60 camera broadcasting the FPV signal, a buitin GPS and OSD for a complete displayed information and a 10DOF SPF3 board. Is the EV210 a racer or with such equipement more a super cruizer ? …. Let’s check that. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine V-tail 210 (with a 4S 1500mAh LiPo with XT60) + 1 x Transmitter (using 4xAA batteries not included) + 1 x Charger (2S, 3S, 4S) + 1 x Power unit + 1 x Wrench prop tool + 1 x Bluetooth module + 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 1 x Velcro bands + 1 x Screwdriver + 1 x Instruction manual (English) A small originality, the charger is also able to display total and individual cell’s voltages Can charge from a 2S up to 4S battery OVERVIEW A class 210 mm brushless machine. Let’s look to the main official caracteristics Here we have a 10DOF SPF3 board including a barometer and magnetometer. In complement of the GPS installed on top, it means in theory you can program altitulde/GPS hold, RTH and even use a mission planner to pre-program a tour. In term of carbon structure, the front carbon element is 2mm while each arms are 3mm -FRONT VIEW -SIDE VIEW On the left side, the unique FlySky receiver antenna connected via PPM connexion to the UART2 -REAR VIEW On the rear side, the Vtail system based on two tilted carbon arms (around 25 degrees) but attached to the main lower carbon structure by a simple piece of plastic It’s a real disaster in term of design… for sure, this plastic element will break from any minor rear shock !!!! At least you can find a rear LEDs’s bar indicating throttle current value and turns direction as well. -UPPER VIEW The two ESC associated with rear arms -BOTTOM VIEW On front, two plastic legs are installed They will break super fast … The third rear leg won’t be much more resistant -WEIGHT 598.5g !!!!! so heavy !!! for a 210mm class machine Motors & Props Motors are 2205 announced 2300KV. They are known to be strong. The for example installed on the JJRC P175 and the RealAcc GX220. 5045 Bull noze props are given. Unfortunatly, it’s not possible to install some 6″ model and more. Even with the given wrench tool, it’s hard to completly lock each nuts. Start to pre-tight them without the prop installed than with. Below each motors, 4 leds configurable in Cleanflight/betaflight By default, they indicate turns ESC 20A lightning Emax ESC with a peak up to 30A. If onshot125 and Damping light are supported, no Dshot available. At least you can update the firmware easily via BLheli suite software for example Each ESC is connected via mini-banana plugs For the front arm, you can directly change a full arm (arm + ESC + motors) by removing 6 hexscrews. LiPo s Camera & VTX modules The HD/FPV camera is sumply install beneath with a light camera support without any specific protection to frontal shocks. With close 600g, you can guess any front accident will be fatal…. Just so disapointing camera location design… The lens thread is in M12 format the ribbon cable is also absoluptly not protected from a frontal crash or battery front shift. At least a spare one is given in the bundle… They know it’s a weak point. The microSD card slot is located front below the rubbon cable. You will the lift gently the ribbon cable to insert/remobe a miroSD card. A class 10 is recommended to enjoy perfect and smooth recordings at 60fps. The camera is able to film in 1080p@60 fps…. while broadcasting the signal in PAL or NTSC format 1080p recordings are just great, IMHO as good as a mobius 1 camera Good news, the processing is fast 60ms with or without recording turned on Something amazing with the VTX a) The 5.8G linear antenna is installed parallel of the main axis It means first of all that propagation in the hozizon plan and more particulary when TX and the quad are aligned will be bad. More part of the signal will be blocked by the carbon structure below b) to set the Vband and Vfreq, you will need to remove first the six hexscrews locking the upper canopy structure Then both the GPS and the VTX module are avialable The VTX is a 200mW supporting 5 bands so 40CH in total In practice, the table given in the manual is wrong or at least partially. If the Band selection is currect, the choice of the Vfreq is not correspondling with the diagram By default the the camera and OSD are set to NTSC format. If you plan to fly more in PAL system, you will need i) to press the trigger button while powering the system to turn in into PAL ii) to set the PAL option in MWOSD R1.6 GUI Disassembling The SPF3 board with 10DF is installed front while LDO/voltage regulator/PCB just behind. By default, you have cleanfight 1.13 installed. You can connect the FC via the left USB. The right one is more to tune OSD via the MWOSD GUI but you will need to turn on power first. A microSD car is here to save logs At least a buzzer is installed By default, the buzzer is activated when the LiPo is below a first threshold, then buzzing faster with you reach less 3.5v per cell For an easy maintenance at least for front arms, you change directly an arm section thanks to this specific connexion Transmitter The classic FlySky i6 transmitter with three 2-way and one 3-way switches. Only 6 channels are available Be default the switch A arms/disarms the machine while the switch B select between angle and acro mode. The three way switch is not used by default. The two way protocol AFHDS-2A (deviated in the last built of deviationTX) is used in coordination with the FlySky receiver in PPM connexion. UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT What a noisy machine !!!!! Amazing…. motor are yelling. For sure no discrete flights with this model :). You start to hover from 50%… it’s a lot despite the 4S setup. The 600g weight is real handicap. With the default rate settings, only the yaw rate is too slow. Be aware if you increase too much the pich and roll rates, the machine become relatively instable. The FPV signal is just amazing !!!!! so nice color and light transitions are superbly handled. Probably the best CMOS camera I was able to fly with. Be sure to use a class 10 microSD card. If not, I noticed some little slow down in the FPV live signal. The machine is fast but punchouts are not super impressive. If the yaw authority is great, I noticed a big inertia when practicing banking at great speed. For example, the crash in the tree was linked with that. Impossible to turn to the right with my current fast speed. Definitively, betaflight will be a great improvement. Another major disapointement is the flight time 5min maximum 5min30 … before to see the machine falling slowly. Voltage went down to 3.3V !!!! so be aware to not damage your LiPo and listen correctly emitted beeps. Another drawback, I found in the OSD the main battery voltage is not updated. To fix this, change the corresponding setting in MWOSD R1.6. CONCLUSIONS Despite the great quality of the HD/FPV camera (offering videos as good as a Mobius 1) and the presence of GPS, barometer, etc…. I can’t really recommand this machine due to two important weak points in the design: a) not protected camera and b) fragile plastic support holding the rear arms. We can also add the fragility of the landing gear system.. More with close to 600g, the machine can’t be seen as super fast racer: It need space to perform large turns even if at low speed, the yaw authority is great (you don’t loose or gain altitude for example). Too many things have been introduced simultaneously here with the V-tail 210. Probably a version without GPS, DVR, and by trimming weight can be a very interesting model. PROS + Strong yaw authority + Great HD/FPV camera + 1080p@60fps + 60ms of latency w/ or w/o recording + Builtin OSD (MWOSD based) with velocity & GPS informations + SPF3 board with 10DOF + Bluetooth module + Complete instruction manual color printed CONS – Short flight time (5min30) – Super noisy – Heavy (~600g) – A lot of inertia while banking at full speed – Exposed front camera – Plastic holder for rear arms – Fragile landing skid – VTX dip switches hidden by the top cover – Bad 5.8G antenna location/orientation – Frequency list table not correct – Prop nuts hard to lock This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude. You can find it actually for 310USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-V-tail-210-FPV-Drone-1080P-HD-DVR-SP-Racing-F3-5_8G-40CH-200mW-VTX-OSD-w-Eachine-I6-RTF-p-1100100.html Cet article TEST: Eachine V-tail 210 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. 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MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE and happy flying for 2017 ….. Cet article MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!! est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

We’ve recently been blown away by the videos Luke Bell of South Africa has been sharing with us, and specifically by the way Luke is using the Tilt-Shift Effect to make things seem smaller than they actually are. If you’ve been following us on Facebook, you might have seen some of Luke’s videos. One we recently shared was called Mini South Africa, and followed a similar approach as the video featured below in today’s blog post, called Cape Town Mini Town. Scroll down if you’d like to learn more about the Tilt-Shift Effect Luke used to get this unique miniature look in his videos. The Tilt-Shift Effect As we mentioned above, in order to create the miniature effect you see in the video, Luke used an approach called the Tilt-Shift Effect. According to to photographer RL Miller (who we were lucky enough to interview a little while back!), the Tilt Shift Effect “is a method that makes an image appear as though it is a miniature version of the subject.” The Tilt-Shift Effect can be done by shooting subjects from a high angle (especially from the air), which creates the illusion of looking down at a miniature model. A camera equipped with a tilt-shift lens, which simulates a shallow depth of field, is essentially all you need to do this. You can also create the Tilt-Shift Effect in post-production using Photoshop. Tilt-Shift Photo Example (see link below for photo credit): Image Source Luke’s Words on His Video and the Tilt-Shift Effect Living in Cape Town, we are continually awed by the beauty our city has to offer. As content creators and consumers ourselves we have seen our city captured from every angle there is. From FPV trail runs, to sweeping vistas captured from up high, it has been hard to share the majesty of our city in a way that we felt would be original. Thus, instead of thinking epic, we thought small. Living in Cape Town is just fun and as a result, what better way to depict our city than as the playground it is. We have admired tilt-shift videos for a while, but given that we had only 24 hours to capture our video, we were daunted by the proposition of finding and gaining access to the buildings and look-outs tilt-shift videos are normally captured from. To solve this we turned to probably the greatest filmic problem solver to come out in my short career as a video creator: the drone. Using our DJI Phantom we were able to capture angles and scenes we would have been unable to shoot using even the longest telescopic lenses. More than that, we were able to cover exponentially more locations in just one day. All of this came together in the short video you have here, which showcases the beauty of Cape Town in a way never shown before. There is something humbling about seeing the big city we live in as something small. Video Specs Location(s): The video was shot at 20 different locations in South Africa. 3 were just outside of Cape Town. Camera(s) used: The Phantom 3 Professional was used. Editing software used: Final Cut Pro X was used for post with the FCP Tilt Shift Plugin from the App Store. Looking for the best camera drones on the market? Check out our recently updated guide, The Best Camera Drones for Aerial Photography. Happy flying! The post Filming with the Tilt-Shift Effect in South Africa appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

If you’re looking to upgrade your drone or perhaps contemplating a custom build, check out these high-frequency brushless ESCs from RISE. They come in three flavors – 12A, 20A and 30A – and feature ONESHOT programming for superior high-speed communication with your flight controller. RISE8012 – 12A Mini High Frequency Brushless ESC Firmware: BLHELI Voltage … View the full article

Hubsan delivers a new update of their Hubsan H502S with their new H507A: http://www.banggood.com/Hubsan-X4-STAR-H507A-App-Compatible-Wifi-FPV-With-1080P-HD-Camera-GPS-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1115752.html. Here bye bye the 5.8G solution but now it’s a pure 2.4G WiFi solution who have been prefered…. It means in practice latency versus distance. Other ingredients are: 720P camera, 10min of flight time (less than the H502E/S but probably they saved a bit of weight to unstress coreless motors), large 7″.2 props. Good news, like the H502S, the follow me feature as well as a new path planner thanks to the new WiFi interface. For me the main open question is about durability of motors. For the H502E/S version, it was the weakest point since they installed these huge props to extend flight time. With the H507A, we have the same props … so this question is fundamental. If they saved some extra weight and/or installed more durable motors, the announced price is very interesting for a full complete solution. I hope also they changed the wide FOV lens of the H502E/S blurring partially videos. Description: Brand Name: Hubsan Item NO.: H507A Item Name: Hubsan X4 H507A RC quadcopter Frequency: 2.4G Channel: 4CH Gyro: 6 Axis Flying time: About 10mins Quadcopter battery:550mAh Lipo. Color:Black Features: * Built in 1920x1080P HD 720p camera are tuned amazingly to capture stunning pictures and videos from the sky. * With App Waypoint Function,easy to control and more relaxtion and time to enjoy the flight experience. * Built-in GPS(Universal version) positioning system, the accurate positioning location, perfect advanced follower. * With Follow me function,turns you into a mobile photographer with a personal cameraman. * With headless mode function,no need to adjust the position of aircraft before flying. * The 550mAh capacity battery provides 20 10 minutes of satisfying flight on a sigle charge. Package Included: 1x H507A RC Quadcopter 1x Transmitter 1x Battery 1x Charger 4x Blade Cet article NEWS: Hubsan X4 Star H507A, the cheapest follow-me/path-planning quadcopter est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Check out today’s post on drone safety during the holidays from James Mackler of the Frost Brown Todd law group. James holds a commercial pilot certificate, and advises businesses on the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in various industries. Read James Mackler’s bio here. Here is James’ post on holiday safety: It’s almost impossible to scan a holiday gift guide without coming across a list of drones suggested as the perfect present for the techie or photographer in your life. This season, you’ll be able to spend anywhere from $35 for a “nano” drone to $3,500 or more for a professional quality flying videography/photography platform. One thing that every drone has in common is that they’re subject to some degree of state and federal regulation. In order to avoid getting yourself or a loved one in trouble, make sure you’re familiar with these legal instructions before buying or giving a drone. Hobby vs. Commercial Use Different rules apply to commercial flight as opposed to hobby use. The first thing to determine, therefore, is how the drone will be used. Examples of commercial use are wedding photography and real-estate marketing, even if no additional fee is charged for the use of the drone. In other words, if there is any way that the operator will make money from flying or from selling photos or data taken by the drone, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will likely view this as a commercial use. Commercial Use Rules The FAA rules governing commercial users have changed dramatically since the last holiday season. Commercial users need to obtain a special pilot’s certificate, get permission to fly in certain airspace, and comply with a variety of restrictions regarding airspeed, altitude, aircraft weight, and more. If the drone is going to be used commercially, it is best to consult with an attorney. At the very least, you should take the time to carefully read, understand, and follow the applicable FAA regulations. Hobby Use Rules Hobby users have fewer restrictions. Most importantly, all users, whether hobby or commercial, must fly in a safe manner. Any flights seen as careless or reckless will violate FAA rules and likely state laws against reckless endangerment. Examples of careless flying include buzzing directly over a person’s head, near airports, or interfering with manned airplanes or helicopters. Weight-Related Regulations: Knowing When to Register Your Drone Another important law to know is that hobby users and commercial users flying any drone that weighs over 0.55 pounds must register with the FAA. As a general rule, most drones that cost over $150 will weigh more than 0.55 pounds. Registration can be accomplished online and costs $5. Flying an unregistered drone is federal felony that could result in hefty fines or jail time. It is also very important to respect your neighbor’s privacy and property rights. A number of state laws protect property owners from drones conducting surveillance or committing trespass. In addition to avoiding criminal penalties, respectful flying is just the right thing to do. Line of Sight Requirements In addition to registering your drone and flying in a respectful manner, the FAA requires hobby pilots to always maintain sight of their aircraft. If you cannot see your drone you are doing something wrong. Also, although hobby users do not need permission to fly, if you are flying within five miles of an airport you must notify the airport and the air traffic control tower before flying. Drone flying can be a great way to spend an afternoon, to earn some extra money, or can be the foundation for a new business. Just keep in mind that you will have to become a student of both flight and of the law. Looking for some gift ideas for the drone lover in your life? Check out our 2016 Drone Holiday Gift Guide! The post Important Information about U.S. Drone Laws this Holiday Season appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

A new selfie drone enters into the arena: http://www.banggood.com/Geniusidea-Follow-Drone-Wifi-FPV-With-4K-HD-Camera-GPS-Pocket-Selfie-RC-Quadcopter-p-1115171.html. Like the dobby, you have a GPS module of course, but for indoors application optical flow stabilization. The camera is 13mpx 4K and the main MCU (Qualcomm 801) is strong enough to offer computer vision features such face recognition and of course follow me. Like the dobby, the lens must be manually ajusted. A path planner is also promised via the App (iOS & Android). Unfortunatly, the arms are not foldable like the dobby. At least 20min of flight time is promised thanks to 2500mAh LiPo Description: Brand Name:Geniusidea Item Name: Follow Drone Geniusidea Follow Drone Drone Platform Qualcomm 801 Wheelbase 199mm Weight 273g Dimension 160mm x160mm x50mm (without propellers) Maximum Operating Alitude 3000m Endurance Time 20mins Operating Temperarure- -20?-40? Positioning System GPS/GLONASS & Optical flow/ Sinar(illimination more than 15lux) Contorl Distance 100m Hovering Accuracy Vertical:+/-0.1m(Optical flow positioning/Sonar) +/-0.5m(GPS/GLONASS) Horizontal:+/-0.1m(Optical flow positioning/Sonar);+/-0.5m(GPS/GLONASS) WiFi Frequency Band 2.4GHz,5GHz WiFi Working Frequency Band 8.2.11n2x2MIMO WiFi Transmit Power EIRO 2.4G:19dBm; EIROP 5G:15dBm Camera Picture Sensor 13MP Camera Lens FOV117°,14mm Max Picture Resolution 4K EIS Avaliable Adjustable Angle 0°/-20°/-45°/-90° ISO Range 100-3200 EV Range- -12;-8;-4;4;8;12 Video Resolution 4K Storage Format JPG/MP4(MPEG-4AVC/H.264) Memory Capacity 2GB RAM+16GB EMMC Extended Memory Up to 64GB Battery Rated Capacity 2500mAh x 2 Norminal Voltage 7.4V Battery Type 18650 chargeable Lithium Battery Flying Time 20Mins App App Name G-IDEA Real-time Image Transmission 1280×720@30fps Time Delay 16ms(depend in actual shooting circumistance and the mobile device) Requirements on Mobile Decive Version Android 4.3 and above; iOS 8.0 and above Features: High-definition pictures Sony IMX214 camera for aerial photography, featured in 13 mega-pixel, enables you to enjoy taking pictures Route planning Set flight routes accurately to achieve the easy shooting of dynamic videos Facial recognition Capture every moment with expressions clearly Endurance of 20 minutes Achieve the record of a whole sunrise for you Powerful App – G-IDEA With excellent interface design, G-IDEA makes the flight experience simple and convenient Achieves the real-time preview of the picture to be shot, and fast adjustment of shooting parameters Also enables users to control the Follow Drone easily, with the flight condition mastered in real time Package Included: Standard Version: 1 x Follow Drone (Yellow + black Fuel injection) 2 x Battery 1 x Charger 1 x Carrying case 1x PVC box Professional Version: 1 x Follow Drone (Yellow + tarnish plating) 2 x Battery 2 x Color shell 2 x Propellers 1 x Charger 1 x Charger cable 1 x Carrying case 1 x Box Cet article NEWS: Geniusidea Followme, another selfie drone est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Want a super lightweight DSM2/DSMX receiver ? Maybe this new 1g receiver is a good alternative option of the excellent Orange R616XN: http://www.banggood.com/2_4G-7CH-Micro-DSMX-DSM2-Compatible-Receiver-Support-PPM-SBUS-Output-p-1115121.html Both SBUS & PPM connexions are supported but no real confirmation that this new “chinese” spektrum clone module is really supporting the DSMX protocol. Description: Item Name: 2.4G Micro receiver Channel: 7 Weight: About 1g Color: Red PPM Output: Yes SBUS Output: Yes Operating Voltage: 5V Antenna Length: 30mm Dimension: 23mm*19mm Control Range: 500m+ Compatibility: Compatible with DSM2 DSMX transmitter. Feature: Dual signal output,support PPM and SBUS Dual-chip design, more stable performance Over 500m control range in open area Support two kinds of wiring way, make the modification more flexible Note: This item is only compatible with DSM2,DSMX protocol transmitter. During the binding process,don’t move the transmitter control rods. Every time use,make sure to turn on the transmitter before supplying power to the receiver. How To Bind: 1, Supply power to receiver,red LED blinks fast means the receiver is entering the binding mode. 2, Wait 6 seconds,press and hold the binding button on the transmitter, in the meantime,turn on the transmitter,the receiver output SBUS signal. If wait 30 seconds before turning on the transmitter,the receiver output PPM signal. 3, Wait about 1 second,the red LED stay on,means binding has succeed. Package Included: 1x 2.4G 7CH Micro DSM2 DSMX Compatible Receiver Cet article NEWS: 1g DSM2/DSMX nano 2.4G receiver est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently issued an incredibly critical report of the FAA, in which it said the agency has “limited knowledge of where UAS actually operate and limited means to oversee [commercial] operators.” The report was written by DOT Assistant Inspector General Matthew Hampton. Hampton spent a year, from October 2015 to October 2016, overseeing an audit of the FAA’s oversight of commercial drone operations in the United States. The DOT claims in the report that the FAA created a fast-tracked process for granting commercial licenses to drone pilots, which led to quick turnarounds on licenses but poor policies when it comes to assessing the potential knowledge and flying capabilities of the pilots licensed. It seems to us like the FAA was probably tasked with an impossible job: to simultaneously ensure that commercial drone pilots in the U.S. were flying safely, while also ensuring that the U.S. commercial drone business was not overly burdened in a way that would hinder growth. (Of course, we’re just speculating here—we don’t know for sure that the FAA didn’t want to stand in the way of growth. But given the global competition, it doesn’t seem like much of a leap to think the U.S. government wouldn’t want to stand in the way of quick, competitive progress in the drone industry.) According to the report, the DOT seems to think that the FAA erred a little too much on the side of allowing for progress, and should have done much more on the regulatory side. The report finds that the quick turnaround of licenses led to poor tracking procedures, and also meant that pilots did not necessarily fully understand the regulations and requirements they needed to know in order to fly safely. Here is a direct quote from the DOT report with some more details: “[Streamling procedures allowed] FAA to increase its processing rate, and the rate of exemptions granted increased over five-fold in 1 month. However, FAA’s process does not verify that operators actually meet or understand the conditions and limitations of their exemptions either before or after the application is approved.” But it’s not just the operators who are found at fault in the report. Hampton also finds that FAA staff doesn’t have the training required to understand the complexities required to fly drones commercially, and have not themselves received the training needed to understand how to regulate the flight of a UAS: “FAA safety inspectors have received only limited UAS-related training and guidance. For example, as of April 2016, there were no formal, instructor-led training courses and only two outdated online courses available to inspectors focused on UAS technology.” So how can they be expected to regulate them? The report concludes with a list of recommendations, which includes comprehensive drone training for inspectors, the development of risk-based oversight procedures, and the periodic testing of commercial drone operators. The truth is that none of this should be all that surprising, given how quickly the drone industry has exploded onto the scene, and how much catch-up governments all over the world, not just in the United States, have had to do just to wrap their heads around what the advent of the sUAS means for our airspaces. With drones and drone use changing all the time, there are sure to be more gaps between regulation and safety, with drone capabilities constantly outstripping drone regulation. It will certainly be a fascinating ride as government agencies work toward creating regulatory systems that are not overly prohibitive, and actually function to keep our skies safe. We know the FAA is preparing the release of more rules, but we can only guess that those will just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what the DOT would like to see in place. Certainly the FAA is hustling to get safety information out there (check out our recent post on an FAA Holiday Safety Video, for example) but the jury is out on these bigger changes proposed by the DOT. If you’d like to learn more about the DOT report, here is a link to the report itself, entitled (pretty provocatively, it seems to us), “FAA Lacks a Risk-Based Oversight Process for Civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems.” The post Bad News for the FAA from the U.S. Department of Transportation appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

Probably one of the cheapest 5.8G brushed racer, the DM002 5.8G FPV: http://www.banggood.com/DM002-5_8G-FPV-With-600TVL-Camera-2_4G-4CH-6Axis-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1114854.html A simple micro-quadcopter with a AIO FPV camera installed on top. The emitted power can be set between 25mW/80mW and 200mW…. I guess the 7min of flight time is only for the 25mW setting. The radio control is ultra basic but the control range is announced to be around 100m. It’s enough for proximity flight indoors… The machine should be relatively light, I guess around 55-57g. Announced around 43 USD, no miracle no 5.8G FPV monitor with the bundle. Description: Item Name: DM002 Micro 5.8G FPV RC Quadcopter Frequency: 2.4GHz + 5.8GHz (Video transmission) Gyro: 6 axis Flight time: around 7 minutes Charging time: about 60-80 minutes Remote Control Distance: about 100 meter Image Transmission Distance:about 200 meter Battery For Quadcopter: 3.7V 300mAh lipo Battery (included) Night Flight: Yes Operating environment: indoor & outdoor Camera: 25MW /80MW /200MW Switchable 600TVL Camera Features: 5.8G FPV camera gives you more clear and high quality wonderful views from different angles. It has 6-axis gyro which can have more stable flying and be easy to control. One key to return function makes it easily to find the way home. Super bright colorful LED light, make it more dazzle beautiful and colorful night light. Can fly both indoor and outdoor. Function: FPV / ascend / descend / forward / backward / side flying / Slow/Medium/High speed / turn round / 360°rolling action / 360° accurate localization / LED / One key return Package Included: 1 x DM002 RC Quadcopter 1 x Transmitter 1 x 3.7V 300mAh Battery 1 x Battery Charger 4 x Spare propeller 1 x Screwdriver 1 x English manual Cet article NEWS: DM002 5.8G FPV, the cheapest microFPV machine ? est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

The Eachine racer of the day …. (so much active… with probably a lot of OEM compagnies behind), the aurora 90: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Aurora-90-90mm-Mini-FPV-Racing-Drone-BNF-wF3-OSD-10A-BLheli_S-Dshot600-5_8G-25MW-48CH-VTX-p-1114799.html. It’s a 90mm brushless racer with all last technologies of ESC (BLheli_S supporting Dshot), FC (SPF3), motors (1104) and even including a builtin OSD !!!!. Here almost all elements are in 3K carbon even the ducted system…. So it should much more crash resistant. In the other the machine standalone weights already 72.7g. So with the 2S 450mAh LIpo, the total weight will be around 100g…. so not super indoors FPV friendly. The FPV part is done by a 25mW AIO camera. Maybe a 200mW would have been a better choice since outdoors applications will be mainly targetted. Description: Brand name: Eachine Item name: Aurora 90 Mini FPV Racing Drone BNF Wheelbase: 90mm Size: 118mm*118mm*70mm Weight: 73g( battery not include) Motor: Eachine 1104 7500KV brushless motor ESC: 10A BLHELI_S 16.5 1-2S 4 in 1 ESC Dshot600 Propeller: 50mm 4-blades propeller Receiver: Frsky/DSMX/Flysky AFHDS2A (optional) Camera: 600TVL HD CMOS 1/4 inch VTX: 5.8g 25MW 48CH NTSC/PAL video transmitter Flight controller: Halocube Betaflight F3 6DOF built-in OSD OSD: Betaflight OSD Firmware of flight controller: Betaflight 3.1 Flight time : 3-4minutes Rear LED Ready (LED_Strip function) Buzzer Ready Battery: 7.4V 450mah 80C lipo battery Charger: B3PRO 2S balance charger Minicube F3 6DOF flight controller: Size: 27mm*27mm*5mm Mount hole: 20mm*20mm Processor: STM32 F303 MCU Sensor: SPI Sensor MPU6000 Built-in Betaflight OSD (Batt voltage, RSSI, Artificial Horizon, Fly mode, Flytime, Craft name etz.) Firmware version: Betaflight 3.1 Dshot ready Target: OmnibusF3 Minicube 10A BLHELI_S 4 in 1 ESC Dshot600: Size: 27mm*27mm*5mm Mount hole: 20mm*20mm Firmware version: BLHELI_S 16.5 BB2, 48MHZ Chip Lipo Battery: 1-2S Con. Current: 10A Peak Current: 15A (10S) BEC: 5V @0.1A Programming: YES Betaflight passtrough ready Dshot600 ready(Default) Support oneshot42 oneshot125 Multishot Dshot Damped light on Features: Extremely light and more powerful STM32 F303MCU + BLHELI_S ESC make your Operating feel more stabilly and silky Adjustable Angle of camera Jaw-dropping flight performance Cleanflight/Betaflight support Acro mode / Air mode /Angle mode support Built-in OSD(Using F3 MCU controls OSD over SPI bus in DMA mode) OSD Configuration has been include in BETAFLIGHT GUI Radio Stick to control PID Tunes BLHELI_S pass-through ready Telemetry RSSI Output ready Notice: 1. BNF receiver (intergrated buzzer) option: Compatible Frsky SBUS receiver Compatible Flysky 8CH AFHDS2A receiver Compatible Specktrum DSM2/DSMX receiver 2. Compatible: 1). Frsky Receiver compatible with FRSKY ACCST, X9D(Plus)DJT/DFT/DHT 2). Flysky Receiver compatible with FS-i4, FS-i6, FS-i6S, FS-i6X, FS-i10, FS-GT2E, FS-GT2G, FS-GT2F. 3). DSM2/DSMX Receiver compatible wiht Satellite receiver. Package included: 1 x Eachine Aurora 90 Frame kit 1 x Betaflight F3 6DOF flight controller build-in OSD 1 x Frsky/DSMX/Flysky AFHDS2A (optional) 4 x Eachine 1104 7500KV brushless motor 1 x Minicube 10A BLHELI_S 16.5 1-2S 4 in 1 ESC Dshot600 4 x 50mm 4-blades propeller CW 4 x 50mm 4-blades propeller CCW 1 x 600TVL HD CMOS 1/4 inch camera 1 x 5.8g 25MW 48CH NTSC/PAL VTX 1 x 7.4V 450mah 80C lipo battery 1 x B3PRO 2S balance charger Cet article NEWS: Eachine Aurora 90, the full carbon 2S brushless Whoop est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A big brother in the Eachine EX”s serie with a microhexacopter: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-EX120-120mm-With-800TVL-FPV-Camera-F3-EVO-Brushed-LED-Buzzer-Racing-Quadcopter-p-1114602.html Everything like usual: SPF3 board, a 800TVL 25mW AIO FPV cam but here the EX120 comes in 2S configuration and integrates directly a builtin buzzer !!!! Announced to 63g witout the battery and 80g AWG …. Well a little bit heavy for indoors training but for outdoors applications, should be a beast. A small alert, announced flight time are 3.5-4min …. Hummmm it means in practice more 3min. Now we want also the quadricopter version of this EX120 to save at least 10-12g and probably more Yes !!!! at least a buitin Buzzer Specification: Brand Name: Eachine Item No.: EX120 Wheelbase: 120mm Weight: 63g Size: 123*120mm Flight controller: SPRACING F3 EVO Firmware version: BetaFlight 1.3.1 Motor: CL820 5200RPM motor Prop Size: 56mm Receiver: Flysky/Frsky Camera: 800TVL HD CMOS 1/3 inch Camera AV Wireless Transmitter: 5.8g 25mw 40ch Batterry: 7.4V 2S 450mAh 25C Lipo battery Flight time:3.5-4 minutes Package size: 215*110*265mm Package weight: 236g Features: Flight control base on SPRACING F3 EVO, high current MOS output,convenient according to the personal touch. Made of high quality carbon fiber material, a full set of take-off weight of 80 grams with battery. The user only need to be equipped with a remote control to experience the indoor FPV flight. Use buckle structure, no screw fixation, installation is very convenient. With 7 LED light, have LED_Strip function. F3 flight controller tail light with a buzzer, can provide low pressure alarm, signal loss alarm, searching alarm. Compatible: 1.Frsky Receiver Support FRSKY taranis X9D/X9D PLUS(D8 mode),and XJT (D8 Mode),DJT DFT DHT Transmitter. 2.Flysky Receiver Support FS-I6, Echine I6, TH9X, DEVO 7E with A7105 Module series Transmitter. 3.DSM Receiver Support Spectrum/JR(DSMX/DSM2 protocol) DEVO10/DEVO 7E(with deviation firmware). Note: BNF version come with receiver (4 options: Frsky Receiver, Flysky Receiver, DSM2 Receiver). ARF version come without receiver. Package included: 1 x Eachine EX120 Carbon Fibre Frame kit 6 x CL820 5200RPM Coreless Motor 1 x F3 Brush Flight controller 1 x Receiver (Optional) 1 x 5.8G VTX w/Camera antenna 12 x 56mm Propeller 1 x 3.7V 450mah 2S Battery 1 x USB Charging cable Cet article NEWS: Eachine EX120, the 2S micro-hexacopter FPV racer est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

INTRODUCTION After the QX70, here is another ducted brushed racer, i.e. the Eachine FB90 “Fatbee”. The similarities between both models are important but the main difference is probably the presence of a 2S system… which should bring much more power out of the box than QX70 (was not hard since the QX70 is completly underpowered). BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine FB90 (with a 2S 400mAh LiPo with microLOSI connector) + 1 x USB charging cable + 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 1 x Spare LiPo + 2 x Spare motors (1 CW, 1CCW) + 3 x Velcro bands + 1 x Wrench tool + 1 x Instruction manual (English) OVERVIEW As many many last QX’s and EX’s machine from Eachine, the main ingredients are the same: powerfull SPF3 board, good receivers: FrSky (D8), FlySkt (AFHDS) or DSM2, efficient AIO FPV 25mW 48CH camera. As the QX70, you have the same ducted system and the same props….. For this latter, it’s not a good choice if you already read some QX70’s reviews. -FRONT VIEW and with the battery strapped beneath Two leds are installed behind eyes They change color proportionally to the throttle input and configurable through cleanflight/betaflight. -SIDE VIEW No visible USB port latteraly -REAR VIEW Neither rear -UPPER VIEW With the original props, the same models as for the QX70 -BOTTOM VIEW Real 3K carbon monobloc element with 1mm of thickness. When Velcro bands are installed -WEIGHT With the battery and velcro bands. Close to 64g!!!! 10g more heavier than QX70 model, so close to 20% more Motors Probably one the main feature, the 2S compatible 8520 motors. A tiny 1mm connector allow an easy maintenance. Probably with 2S power and the 63g…. they are “living” into a huge stress and it’s really a good idea to provide two spare motors LiPo A 2S 400mAh LiPo with microLOSI connector but no balancer plug !!!!!! It’s known that USB charger often overcharge cells … It means, with balancing, the probability to damage the FB90 batteries is non zero with the USB charger. AIO FPV Camera module Still a 25mW but here a “simple” 520TVL CMOS camera. Paradoxally, the camera offers super vivid colors and relatively good light handling. “TVL size” do not matter … for camera. The camera support fix the lens orientation to 0 degrees. Probably by inserting a piece of foam front, you can ajust a small positive angle. The front button permits to flip the camera when pressed shortly and if pressed more than 2s, to cycle between NTSC (default) and PAL systems. The rear button selects the Vband when pressed more than 2s (6 bands supported in total) and a short press cycles between each of 8 Vfreq inside the current band. Disassembling Release the four rear dark yellow clips to remove the top plastic canopy. Be gentle during the release process to not break these thin plastic tabs The linear 5.8G antenna is parallel the board and clearly not correctly installed to favorize horizontal signal propagation…. A mod would consist to bend gently the antenna and dril a hole on the top of the canopy to install it more vertically. We can still deeply regret the absence of a builtin Buzzer …. a must to have to play the FB90 in a more wider field (despite its yellow color) To acess to the microUSB, you will need each time to remove the top canopy section. A mod would consist to cut the last third of the plastic canopy to make an easy USB access On the front right of FC, at least for the FrSky version, you have two pads to be short to enter into the binding mode. Use a tweezer or a screwdriver Mods As for the QX70, the hubsan’s triblad mod is working great for the FB90 http://www.banggood.com/Hubsan-Upgraded-3-Leaf-Propellers-for-H107L-H107C-H107D-p-970384.html The antenna mod UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHTS Out of the box with default settings, the FB90 is much much more powerfull than the QX70. It means it’s enjoyable directly. Punchout are not amazing but enough to perform acro IMHO with a minimum of altitude for flips & rolls. The drawback is the noise emitted by the combo props-motors. Maybe it’s related to the higher RPM asssociated with the 2S motors, but it’s really much more noisy. The machine with default CF settings is super stable in both angle and acro modes. You have in average 4min-4min30 of flight duration with the default configuration. The 64g AWG is the guilty here. When the hubsan’s props are installed, the machine becomes more silent, with improved thrust and better flight time (> 5min) just only bonus I strongly advise this mod. As you can see, in the last part of the vdeos, the FB90 can be super fast and nimble… Acro is easy and flips & rolls not a problem. As expected without the antenna mod, despite the FPV signal is super clear and strong in proximity flight, the signal can break when the antenna’s cones are parellel the VRX antenna. Nothing catastrophic and an easy fix can improve the situation. Other acro flight mode demo CONCLUSIONS The Fatbee FB90 works fine out of the box with a minimum of setting operation (binding and flight mode). The machine is clearly much more powerfull than the QX70 but much more noisy in the other hand. While the QX70 is almost a indoors only machine the FB90 is also promising for outdoors in calm wind situations. It’s fast and nimble while being stronger. I strongly recommand to install better 40mm props (such as the Hubsan’s modded model). With this 2USD mod, the FB90 performances are boosted !!!! and becomes one of my favorite brushed acro trainer. Even if 2 extra motors are given in the bundle, I am afraid the MTBF of motors is poor and statically every 20 flights, you will need some motor maintenance. PROS + Much powerfull than classic 1S equivalent + SPF3 board (CF/BF compatible) + Good AIO FPV camera + Good radio and FPV rance (> 100m & < 150-200m in LOS conditions) + 8520 2S motors + Spare motors + Spare battery + Programmable LEDs + Superb acro flyer with the Hubsan's prop mod CONS – Same Heavy, not efficient and unbalanced props as for the QX70 – Noisy – No possibility to tune the lens tilt orientation – Bad VTX’s antenna location – No balancer plug for the 2S LiPo – No builtin buzzer – Durability of 2S motors ? This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude. You can find it actually for 73USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Fatbee-FB90-90mm-Micro-FPV-LED-Racing-Quadcopter-BNF-Based-On-F3-Flight-Controller-p-1089814.html Cet article TEST: Eachine “FatBee” FB90, the 2S Whoop est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Sorry …. but I have been notified that it’s impossible for you to post a new comment in drone-maniac Seems to be a bug of the last WordPress 4.7 update. I applied a momentanary fix but I need to validate manually each new message. Sorry for the convenance. Cet article FYI: Comments buggy since last WordPress update est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

Want to boost your last brushless racer with 8.5mmx20mm ? Maybe the new Racerstar motor can represent a good alternative to the expensive Chaoli model from MWW: http://www.banggood.com/Racerstar-8520-8_5x20mm-53500RPM-Coreless-Motor-Upgrade-for-Eachine-QX90-QX95-DIY-Micro-FPV-p-1113933.html. They come with or without a 1.25mm JST connectors. Description: Motor Diameter: 8.5mm Motor Length: 20mm Shaft Diameter: 0.05-0.3mm Cable Length: 80mm Weight: 5.1g Option: Clockwise Motor(With Red Blue Wire), Anti-clockwise Motor(With Black White Wire) Option: With 1.25mm JST Plug Quantity: 1 pcs Electrical characteristics: Items Specification Standard value No Load speed 53500rpm±12% 53500 rpm No Load current 280mA max 200mA Starting voltage 0.8V max 0.5V DC Stall current 10570mA±5% mA 10570mA Terminal resistance 0.4O ±5% 0.4O Insulation resistance 10M? min AT 250V DC between motor terminal and case Stall torque 64.0±3g.cm 64g.cm Cet article NEWS: Racerstar 8.5mmx20mm 53500RPM est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

The future is here, folks. Not that any of us drone pilots, aficionados, and fans are all that surprised—in fact, many of us thought this day might come even sooner than it has. But we will admit, now that the day has finally arrived there is a feeling of surreality about the whole thing. Just think about it: a flying robot has delivered a package to someone’s house. (Wait, wait—anyone remember Skynet? Just kidding!). Seriously though, this is a monumental moment, and a milestone to be celebrated by the sUAS industry at large. We are of course talking about Amazon’s recent announcement that they have made their first successful drone delivery via Amazon Prime Air. Way back in December of 2013 Amazon announced the launch of Prime Air, and we wrote about how Prime Air was shaping up to be a new disrupter in the delivery industry in general, in large part because drone deliveries are so much cheaper than any alternate method for making deliveries. Well, the day has finally arrived. Check out the video below if you’d like to watch the first Amazon Prime Air test delivery, or scroll down to learn more about the details. The Details The first drone delivery was done not in the United States, but in the United Kingdom last week. This first test delivery took place near Amazon’s drone testing facility in Cambridgeshire. According to USA Today, “The test was done with the approval of Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority, which Amazon says plans to allow it to deliver to rural areas once it has amassed sufficient safety data.” The ultimate goal is to deliver packages of up to five pounds in 30 minutes or less. The test took place on December 7, and was a delivery of an Amazon Fire stick and bag of popcorn—the delivery was there in just 13 minutes. Add to that the fact that Amazon has stated they don’t plan to charge extra for the service. Pretty darn neat, if we don’t say so ourselves. What about the U.S.? Amazon received approval from the FAA to test drone delivery back in April of 2015, but has yet to begin actual test flights like the one just completed in the U.K. It can be expected that the tests and data collected in the U.K. will inform, and probably accelerate, the testing process and eventual implementation of the service here in the United States. Of course, as exciting as this recent announcement is, actual drone delivery is probably still years away. Although the technology may be capable, Amazon will have to test and demonstrate the ability to scale safely before the U.K, the U.S., or other governments will allow them to fully launch their delivery service. But nonetheless, this is one more big step forward for the sUAS industry, and one we can all be excited about. Of course, startups like Zipline have already been breaking into the drone delivery business by building drones to deliver medical supplies to remote areas, but the idea of having a drone that comes straight to your door with a bag of popcorn, well, that is a different kettle of fish. Can’t get enough? Here’s a video from CNN on Amazon’s Prime Air delivery service. The post Amazon Makes Its First Drone Delivery appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

INTRODUCTION The Eachine QX70 comes after the QX90, QX80, QX100 and the QX95. With the QX70, we have a 70mm “tinywhoop” machine with ducted props, SPF3 board, a 25mW 600TVL AIO FPV camera. Three choices of receiver are offered. FrSky, Flysky or DSM2/DSMX. I will review the QX70 with a builtin FrSky D8 receover. A ducted system in theory should improve the general lift capacity while offering also a complete prop protection. In the other hand, as soon as the machine is no more leveled, the non-vertical thrust is rather poor: A good stabilized hover, but a poor mover …. The Eachine QX70 as many other QX’s model comes with three choices of receiver: FrSky (D8), FlySky (AFHDS), and DSM2/DSMX. BOX CONTENT + 1 x Eachine QX70 (with a 1S 600mAh LiPo with microLOSI connector) + 1 x USB charger + 1 x USB to FC cable + 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 1 x Prop wrench remover + 1 x Instruction manual (English) No spare LiPo or motors like for some other QX models. OVERVIEW Nothing else than a 70mm version of the tinywhoop for the general design: each motor got its own ducted system with quadiblades prop. -FRONT VIEW On top, installed Inside a specific plastic mount the classic 600TVL AIO delivering 25mW in 6 different 5.8G bands (48CH in total). A cloverleaf is installed. A model very similat to the Eachine TX’s serie. with the battery installed vertically, quiet original position In practice, especially with a ducted system, I don’t think it’s a good idea: The ducted system improves the hovering capacity but decreases the mouvement one. With the battery installed verticaly, the CoG is even lower and the quad will tend to be leveled more easily. It means this battery position will enforce the ducted effect and killed even more the horizontally displacement capacity. To help to keep your orientation for LOS flight, only a tiny green LEDs emitted by the AIO camera … -SIDE VIEW Partially hidden by the camera support, on the front left you can find the Bind button for the FrSky D8 version -REAR VIEW Like the QX95, you have strong lights, four LEDs programmable through CF/BF. By the way, you have the same light behaviour than the QX95 indicating arming, left and right mouvements. -UPPER VIEW With the camera support removed The AIO camera is directly powered by the LiPo while the light from the +5V builtin Vreg. -BOTTOM VIEW Large plastic motor pods jail correctly each motors. Maybe they could be a light bit thinner to save few little weight. Good news, motors are pluggeds via mini JST SH connectors for an easy maintenance. -WEIGHT Less than 55g AWG…. With normal 8520 props, it’s not a drama …. here since the props are much smaller …. the weight will have a deep impact of flight performances. Motors Classic 8520 coreless motors …. not super fast btw. Props are small 40mm versus 60mm or even 70mm for Parrot spider model. Is the lack of direct thrust associated with the 40mm props will be compensated by the ducted system ? LiPo The same 600mAh Lipo as for all QX & EX series. Camera module One more time the classic 600TVL AIO 25mW camera. The light handling is rather good and the FOV maybe a little bit too wide for outdoors but good for indoors training. The FPV range is known to be great with this camera. Over 100m in open conditions. You can cross easily several walls with… Two buttons: the front select the NTSC/PAL mode while the rear one the Vband (long press) and the Vfreq (short press) The full list of the Vfreq and Vbands The main potential problem is the PCB antenna support, potentially breakable after a hard crash. Versus multiple crashes, you may probably replace the CL antenna by a simple linear model. UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND FIRST DEMO Whooohhh what’s happens ? The machine lost power super soon…. You have one clear minute where everything is ok. Well the props are vibrating a lot and introduce some jello effect. After 1min 30… the machine climb by itself after any mouvements…. It lack horribly of power with the default architecture. with betaflight One more time such disapointement in term of power thrust …. practically it can hover relatively well during 1min30 after it’s painful… boucing between the ground and 1-2m high… A so frustrating situation. CONCLUSIONS To make short and simple: avoid the QX70 if you are looking for a perfect machine working flawless out of the box. The QX70 is unfortunatly completly underpowered by the undersized props. With 55g, paradoxally it’s too much. I would say 5-6g should be saved to make the situation better. But except to save 1g maximum 2g by removing the rear LEDs bar… There are no many options to save extra weight. Maybe installing the LiPo horizontally and clearing the actual battery bay can be a solution. But the more clever move is to install lighter and larger props. Bi-blades or tri-blades… PROS + SPF3 board + AIO FPV cam with vivid colors + Ducted system + Connector for motors CONS COMPLETLY UNDERPOWERED SYSTEM– Vibrations – Poor flight time (~ 1min30 than bouncing with the ground) – No builtin buzzer – No OSD – No spare motors – No spare battery RCgroups thread: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2795916-Eachine-QX70-the-8520-whoop-version-(In-early-construction) This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude. You can find it actually for 63USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Turbine-QX70-70mm-Micro-FPV-Racing-Quadcopter-BNF-Based-On-F3-EVO-Brushed-Flight-Controller-p-1095990.html Cet article TEST: Eachine QX70, the large tinywhoop est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A new beginner brushed FPV machine from Cheerson: http://www.banggood.com/Cheerson-CX-93S-CX93S-5_8G-FPV-With-720P-120-Wide-Angle-Camera-1020-Motor-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1113482.html Here we have a machine in 2S configuration with 1020 coreless motors, triblade props, buitin propguard and at least a wide angle !!!! yes miracle, they start to undersand …. Here a 120 deg of FOV… The camera is able also to film in 720p ….. Ok I don’t yell yet victory because if the light sensitivity of the sensor is poor, to have a wide angle is almost useless in practice. Anyway, the control range is announced to be 100m. Good news for FPV, they removed also the completly useless altitude hold feature…. clearly incompatible with FPV practice. Description: Quadcopter: Brand Name: Cheerson Item Name: 5.8G FPV RC Quadcopter Item NO.: CX-93S Frequency: 2.4G Channal: 4 Channal Gyro: 6 axis CX-93S Quadcopter Quadcopter size 165*165*45mm Quadcopter Weight 98g Battey 7.4V 520mAh Flight weight 100g Transmitter battery 4*AA 1.5V Flight mode 3D/2D Charger Time about 70mins Max. speed 10m/s Flight distance about 100m Diameter of Blade 50mm LED light Yes Operating temperature 0-40? Flight Time about 6mins Camera 1MP Color Black 5.8G Camera Lens 120°Wide Angle Lens Photo format JPG Video format avi Photo resolution 1280*720 Video resolution 1280*720 Frame rate 30f/s Monitor Resolution 480*272Pixes Battery ( built-in ) 3.7V 1000mAh Operating current =500mA Charger USB Screen size 4.3inches Service time 85mins Package Included Package Contents: 1 x Quadcopter, 1 x Transmitter ( with FPV Monitor ), 1 x 7.4V 520mAh Lithium-ion Battery, 2 x USB Charger, 1 x Screwdriver, 1 x Wrench, 8 x Spare Propeller, 1 x 8GB Micro SD Card, 1 x Card Reader, 1 x English Manual Functions: 360 degrees spin,3D rollover,3D stunt,Camera,Forward/backward,FPV,Hand Launching,Sideward flight,Turn left/right,Up/down,With light Features: * With 1MP 120 °wide angle camera,can be rotated up and down. Tuned amazingly to capture stunning pictures and videos from the sky. * 5.8G FPV Real-time Video Transmission: Share the videos and photos to the LCD display at anytime anywhere * 4 Channel which can do ascend, descend, forward, backward, left sideward fly, right sideward fly and 360°3D rolling * 6-axis gyro stable system which makes it with easy operation and good stability. * With 1020 powerful motor, action sensitive, explosive, can do the 3D tumbling violence better . * USB high-speed charging, battery charging plus with protection, full power automatic power. * LED colorful lights design that it has more characteristics when flying and becomes the scenery in the night sky. Package included: 1 x RC Quadcopter 1 x 1 x Battery 1 x Transmitter ( with FPV Monitor ) 2 x USB Charger 1 x Screwdriver 1 x Wrench 8 x Spare Propeller 1 x 8GB Micro SD Card 1 x Card Reader 1 x User Manual The FPV monitor is a simple 4″.3 inch model. I hope without blackscreen and with a mate display…. Wait & See Cet article NEWS: Cheerson CX-93S, a beginner brushed FPV quadcopter with 1020 coreless motor and 120 deg FOV lens est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

A new 100mm compact brushless racer is one more time introduced by Eachine: http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-K100-100mm-Betaflight-F3-Dshot-6A-5_8G-25mW-40CH-600TVL-Camera-FS-A8S-Receiver-FPV-Racer-BNF-p-1113467.html Here we have a super lightweight X-design machine for 1-2s or 2-3s inputs (53g/57g). The camera is installed bellow to be free of prop occlusion. In another hand, the camera will be less protected in case of frontal crash. SPF3 FC is here and 6A ESC BLheli_S support Dshot600 last technology. Motors are some 1103 with 10000 KV !!!! A buzzer is also directly integrated !!!!. The FPV rig is a 25mW AIO…. Maybe a 200mW would have been a better choice. The total weight with a 300-400mAh should be around 75g max IMHO. I want to review this machine :). Wait & See Specification 1-2S Version | 2-3S Version Brand name Eachine Item model K100 Item name K100 FPV Racer Propeller 65mm(ø1.5) Motor 1103 10000kv ESC Blheli-S 6A dshot600 Flight controller F3 6 DOF Antenna IPEX antenna Receiver Flysky A8S Channels: PPM 8CH, i-BUS 18CH Model type: Multi-rotor Frequency range: 2.408-2.475GHz Band width: 500KHz Band number: 135 RX Sensitivity: -92 dBm 2.4GHz system: AFHDS 2A Modulation type: GFSK DSC port: PPM/i-BUS/S.BUS Transfer method: FHSS Data output: 1.5mm*3 Pin PPM/i-BUS/S.BUS Antenna length: 26mm (Not including brass contacts) Input power supply: 4.0-8.4V Display method: LED No ground interference ( Transmitting and receiving 1 m from the ground): >300m Working current: 40mA AIO FPV Transmitter Camera 600TVL camera Sensor: cmos Resolution: 640×480 Frame Rate: 60 fields/sec NTSC mode. Sensitivity: 8.0 V/Lux-sec S/N Ratio: 48dB Dynamic range: 55dB FOV: H:95°, V:70° Image flip 180°: Support Power supply: 3.3-4.2V Power consumption: 1W 5.8G 40CH Transmitter Frequency Range: 5645MHz-5945MHz Transmit power: 13dB±1dB Input signal: NTSC, 1Vp-p (75O) Modulation: FM Channel: 40CH Frequency CTL: PLL Frequency stability: ±100KHZ(Typ.) Frequency Precision: ±200KHZ(Typ.) CH carrier err: 1dB Antenna port impedance: 50O Power supply: 3.3-4.2V Power consumption: 1W Flight time 6-8mins | 8-12mins Battery house size W: 25mm H: 18mm W: 25mm H: 26mm Weight 53g 57g Feature: Modular design, easy for modification and replacement parts. Night flight, integrated lighting and body design F3 flight controller with buzzer Bulit-in 5V output Package Included: 1 X K100 Frame kit 1 X Battery 1 X Receiver 1 X AIO FPV camera transmitter 1 X F3 flight controller 1 X Buzzer 4 X ESC 4 X Motor 10 X CW propeller 10 X CCW propeller Cet article NEWS: Eachine K100, a new super lightweight FPV X-quadcopter est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

It’s avalable here: Aosenma_vast_gcs Allow mainly to flash a new firmware, tune PIDs, RTH max altitude and set the voltage alarm threshold. It’s done by Hohem, the same compagy who released some 3-axis gimbal for the Cheerson CX-22, the Wingsland Minivet for example. Please find the full review this machine here: http://www.drone-maniac.com/test-ao-senma-cg035-fpv/ (Source RCGroups) Cet article NEWS: AO SenMa CG035 FPV ground station software available est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

When Skyward launched the first information management solution for drone operators back in the fall of 2015, we were pretty excited. Why? Because we’d been working closely with a lot of you in the commercial sUAS business, and hearing that you really needed a tool that would help you organize, manage, track, and document the incredibly large amounts of data being collected by your drones. Enter Skyward. As you know, the drone industry has been growing like crazy over the last few years, and growth means opportunity. But growth also means that, where drone pilots once faced a scarcity of options, they’re now overwhelmed with choices when it comes to which platform to choose and how best to manage their commercial operations. (One other thing growth means is that some companies just aren’t going to make it—check out our recent post, 3D Robotics’ Cautionary Tale: Losing the Hardware Game to China and Pivoting to Software for Survival). Recently we sat down with Skyward Co-Founder Eric Ringer to learn more about what Skyward does to help sUAS commercial operators run their businesses. It was a great conversation, and really helped us wrap our minds around all of the factors that need to be considered when setting up a commercial drone program, and the ways that Skyward provides support for both “solopreneurs” (i.e., drone operators working for themselves) and for big businesses. Now without further ado, let’s move on to the interview itself. How to Run a Commercial Drone Program with Skyward You can watch the full interview below, or scroll down to see our key takeaways, with links to specific portions of the interview. Key Takeaways and Topics of Interest 0:22 — Operationalizing your sUAS business, and what it means to do so 5:02 — Airspace research, and defining your flight area 17:43 — Organizing an operation 21:27 — Tracking pilot hours and FAA certification (for operations with multiple pilots) 24:12 — Operational summary report, for accounting (for bigger commercial operations) 25:13 — Common mistakes/challenges, and possible solutions 28:18 — Using Pilot Finder to find pilots, and setting up your Pilot Finder profile to find work a pilot The post How to Run a Commercial Drone Program: An Interview with Skyward Co-Founder Eric Ringer appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article

A new 90mm brushless racer integrating a full prop guard protection, probably more adapted for indoors flights: http://www.banggood.com/LP90-90mm-brushless-FPV-Racing-Drone-PNP-w-12A-ESC-F3-6DOF-Flight-Control-FX798T-Transmitter-p-1113300.html A SPF3 populates the machine as well the 25mW AIO FX798T. No information about the weight but since the thickness of the carbon strcture is really light, should be not so heavy. No builtin receiver, battery…. and the announced price is too much IMHO. Specification: Item NO.: LP90 Material: Pure carbon fiber Top board thickness: 0.8mm Bottom board thickness: 1.0mm Motor: DYS1104 ESC: LittleBee 12A Flight Control: F3 6DOF Paddle: 3020 Trasmitter: FX798T Package included: 1 x LP90 Racing Drone Cet article NEWS: LP90 a 90mm brushless racer est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

INTRODUCTION “Smaller and smaller, brushless racers will be”. Eachine delivers here with the Racer 130 a compact 130mm FPV racer, a direct competitor of the Tarot TL130H1. A lot of similarities between both models: 1104 motors, 3″ props, Naze32 board, builtin buzzer for example. But the Racer 130 comes directly in RTF version and a 720p camera is added as well. Let’s have a look to the new racer. BOX CONTENT First of all, the Eachine Racer 130 comes with a very nice transportation bag, the same in practice of the Eachine Assassin. Everything is well protected into foam + 1 x Eachine Racer 130 (with a 1S 450mAh 3S LiPo with JST connector) + 1 x Transmitter Flysky i6(using 4xAA batteries not included) + 4 x Ni-Mh AA batteries + 1 x Charger + 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW) + 1 x Allen key + 4 x Zip ties + 2 x Velcro bands + 4 x Foam pads + 1 x Instruction manual (English) Thumbs up for the presence of 4xAA rechargeable batteries OVERVIEW The general design is more or less a clone of the Tarot TL130H1, a compact 130mm. A solid H 3K carbon frame with 2mm elements. The flight controller is a classic Naze32 why we could expect more a F3 arm core based one. The 40CH VTX outputs up to 300mW through the linear antenna. The 700TVL camera offers 130 degrees of FOV. Installed on top and strapped with the battery, the 720p camera module. It’s adviced to install a piece of foam to incline the camera with a positive angle. 2mm lower and upper plate of real 3K carbon In comparaison with the Youbi XV-130 and the tarot TL130H1 -FRONT VIEW ESC are individual and zip tied on the top of each arms. They are rated 10A (no information about the peak). In the BLHeli suite they are even seen as 20A. They are only supporting oneshot 125 and damping light. No multishot support. The FPV camera lens orientation can be ajusted thanks to the two latteral vertical carbon element. You can apply a positive angle up to 20-25 degrees approximatively. -SIDE VIEW The left side shows the microUSB port for the Naze32 board. The flysky receiver with the 2.4G copper antenna aligned with the upper carbon plate. For a better range control, you can straight it vertically The right side welcomes UART ports and the receiver port where the FlySky receiver is connected with PPM connexion. -REAR VIEW A unique LED light is installed rear A 3 positions DIP switch select 8 potential colors. -UPPER VIEW For the 300mW VTX, a 6 position microDIP switch select one of the five frequency bands and the associated Vfreq. The race band is supported of course. The 720p camera must be connected via microLOSI connectors. -BOTTOM VIEW A buzzer is integrated, a very important point for compact racers. In practice, the buzzer start to emit beep after 1min30-2min of flight. Probably, under load, the voltage drops too much. A LiPo with an high discharge rate should solve that problem. Decreasing in Cleanflight/Betaflight the value of voltage thresholds, should help. Be default, the buzzer is not assigned to the switch B. It’s strongly advised to apply such change in CF/BF. -WEIGHT In comparaison with the tarot Motors 1105 brushless motors, 4000 KV so slightly more taller than the 1104 for the tarot model. Shaft section of 1.5mm To secure props installation, you need some M1 x 7mm hexscrews 3″ props, 3020 to be more precise. In practice super fragile. Despite the presence of 4 spare props, it’s strongly advised to stock a lot of spare ones. LiPo A 3S 450mAh LiPo with JST connector. The discharge rate is annouced to be equal to 30C… should be enough but since the LiPo power the quad, the FPV cam, the VTX and the 720p camera simultenously, 30C is probably not enough and Under load, the buzzer rings relatively early Camera module A 720 camera with a builtin DVR. The FOV for this module is 110 degrees so narrowrer than the FPV cam’one. A unique button to press & hold more than 2s to trigger recordings. With the 720p, two cables are given. The two wires one is the one to be used with the Racer 130. The four’ one, permits to retrieve the AVout to be send to a VTX. In practice, the module also can be used for DIY project as a 720p+FPV cam combo. The files are recorded in AVI format @30fps. I noticed than the frame rate is in practice slightly slower than 30fps since I can’t synchronize it with a true 30fps video source. Here is a raw sample of the 720p camera As you can see, the video is slightly blur. IMHO, the guilty is the cheap plastic lens installed, not compatible with the higher resolution of the 720p sensor behind. Transmitter A classic rebranded FlySky i6. To enter into the menu, you will have to press inner both horizontal trims while powering the radio. Good news, channel 5 and 6 are correctly assigned to the switch C (3-way) and the switch B (2-way) respectively. However, you will need to assign the buzzer function between the AUX2 and the Switch C in CF/BF. Default Cleanfight settings By default, a relatively old Cleanfight OS installed (12.1) For my personal case, I installed relatively soon betafligh 3.0.1 as depicted in the next video. UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND FIRST TEST FLIGHT In practice, the Eachine Racer 130 with the camera installed, without being a monster of power is really enjoyable. The FPV camera is far Superior versus the poor Tarot’s model. FPV is much more easy with. With the default BF settings, only small vibrations can be observed for high throttle inputs. Playing with TPA will probably solve. Despite the linear antenna, the FPV signan is strong. The Racer 130 is stable and is a good acro trainer machine. No problem to flip and roll with this machine. As expected, the 3″ props are super fragile and never forget to bring with a set of spare props and the allen key on the field. The buzzer starts to emits first treeble sound after 1min30-2min …. probably too early. The guilty is main certainly the battery with only 30C of discharge rate. A 45C or more should be more suitable. In practice, you have around 6min of flight time with the camera installed before to hear the acceleration of the treeble sound. The measured voltage is about 11V. FIRST USAGE The acro flight mode is relatively easy even for beginner…. Nice trainer btw. The FPV camera handles better light transition versus the 720P one. I am pretty sure than a mini-möbius camera without the builtin camera and directly powered by the main LiPo can be installed instead. CONCLUSIONS To make short, the Eachine Racer 130 is one of good Eachine model andsSuperior to Tarot competitor especially for the FPV part. The structure is super strong, ESC are also stronger (10A vs 6A and I wouldn’t be suprize dif then can even support 4S) and a relatively satisfying 720p camera is offered in the bundle. Except the props, there is no weak point for this machine. One can argue than a SPF3 would have been better but the Naze32 do already a great job especially with Betaflight. One last important remark, think to stock a lot of props, they are breaking super easily. PROS + Strong and solid 130mm racer + Good FPV camera (versus the tarot model) + Orientable FPV camera + Strong ESC with oneshot 125 support + ESC firmware can be easily updated + Naze32 board + Builtin buzzer + AA Ni-Mh batteries + 3S system + 720p camera can be also used as FPV camera + Price segment competitive CONS – Fragile props – Blurred 720p videos – No microSD card provided – Buzzer starts to beep from 1min30 RCgroups thread: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2718933-Eachine-Racer-130-(Under-construction) This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude. You can find it actually for 210USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Racer-130-Naze32-FPV-Racer-Drone-RTF-with-HD-ActionCam-700TVL-Camera-p-1080548.html Cet article TEST: Eachine Racer 130 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!. View the full article

In the seven years that they’ve been around, 3D Robotics, once a major player in the drone industry, has been through three major shifts in focus—that is, three distinct iterations of what their company does, and how they do it. Image Source When you think about it, three is a lot. Most companies try to do one thing, and when they can’t succeed at that, don’t survive long enough to pivot to something else. (And according to many sources, 3DR may not survive this second pivot, but we’ll get into that in a moment.) For now, strap in for some story-telling, because the 3DR saga is fascinating, and—like so many great stories—shaping up to have a tragic ending. In the Beginning 3DR got its start in the drone space as a collaboration between Chris Anderson, an NY Times best-selling author and the former Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine, and a nineteen year old DIY drone autodidact named Jordi Muñoz. Muñoz first garnered attention in the DIY community by creating a fully functioning autopilot using circuitry lifted from a Nintendo Wii remote (how cool is that?). The two met through Anderson’s online website for DIY drone folks, DIYDrones.com (a site founded by Anderson in 2007, described on 3DR’s website as “the world’s largest open robotics development community”). As the story goes, when they first met, Anderson was so impressed by Muñoz’s self-made autopilot systems that he gave Muñoz $500 to help him continue his work. In 2009 the two founded 3D Robotics, or 3DR, the name “alluding to the third axis, up, where consumer robots hadn’t yet traveled.” For the next several years they sold homemade drone kits and autopilot circuit boards, doing work limited solely to the DIY drone space. Fast forward to 2012, and interest in drones was growing rapidly. No longer just a fringe hobbyist thing, Anderson saw that there was the potential to make real money and a big impact on the world in the budding drone industry. As he wrote in a Wired article that year called How I Accidentally Kickstarted the Domestic Drone Boom: “We’re entering the Drone Age.” Here is an excerpt from that article, which is prescient in its description of how many different industries would be impacted (not to mention created) by the proliferation of drones in the years to come: …as personal drones become more sophisticated and reliable, practical applications are emerging. The film industry is already full of remotely piloted copters serving as camera platforms, with a longer reach than booms as well as cheaper and safer operations than manned helicopters. Some farmers now use drones for crop management, creating aerial maps to optimize water and fertilizer distribution. And there are countless scientific uses for drones, from watching algal blooms in the ocean to low-altitude measurement of the solar reflectivity of the Amazon rain forest. Others are using the craft for wildlife management, tracking endangered species and quietly mapping out nesting areas that are in need of protection. Anderson knew how important drones were going to be, and he wanted to be in on the ground floor. The First Pivot After deciding to make their first pivot into the consumer space in 2012, Anderson and Muñoz hit the ground running. By November of that year they’d raised $5 million in venture funds to help grow 3D Robotics and expand it’s work from DIY into the consumer space. They would now go head-to-head with other drone companies in building Ready-to-Fly (RTF) drones for consumers to use recreationally and commercially. By 2013, they’d raised another $30 million, and things were looking—well, up, if you’ll pardon the pun. But there is a rivalry in this story—and here is where the story gets juicy. Of course, we’re talking about DJI. If you have any interest in drones, you’d have to be hiding under a rock not to have heard of DJI. Their recent simultaneous launch of the Inspire 2 and the Phantom Pro 4 were met with such fanfare that the reception alone could indicate that they’ve cornered the market. At the same time that 3DR was breaking into the consumer space, DJI was aggressively creating and releasing consumer drones that were setting industry standards. To survive, 3DR would have to create a drone that could compete with DJI, and specifically with DJI’s Phantom series. Enter 3DR’s Solo Quadcopter. When the Solo was first released in April of 2015 at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, The Verge said it “may be the smartest drone ever.” Given it’s warm initial reception by industry leaders, 3DR planned to build LOTS of them, so they could start making a return on all of the money investors had sunk into R&D and production. Toward that end, they committed to building 60,000 Solos, and then, with only one month of sales data guiding the decision, added 40,000 more to what was already a tall order. Since it cost $750 to manufacture a singe Solo and ship it to retailers, you don’t have to be a math genius to see that creating 100,000 of them was a big, and expensive, gamble. (3DR was able to raise $64 million more in funding in 2015, but the majority of it was sunk into manufacturing costs.) In 2015, 3DR was betting that they would sell their 100,000 drones and corner the U.S. market, and start to corner the international market. What company leaders may not have realized, or failed to take seriously, was that if they lost this bet they would have trouble surviving. The Second, and Possibly Last, Pivot Fast forward again, to today. After pivoting from a DIY company to a “mass-production company,” 3DR is now pivoting again by abandoning hardware altogether and shifting their messaging and business strategy toward providing easy-to-use solutions and software to the construction industry. So now the company that was first DIY-focused, and then in a race to beat DJI, Parrot, and other big competitors in creating consumer-focused drones, is going into the commercial business, and providing surveying services to construction companies. This newest iteration of 3DR is called Site Scan, and is “an aerial analytics platform… [that enables] anyone to perform physical asset management and analysis at the worksite.” Site Scan is focused primarily on supporting the construction industry, but is also aimed at supporting other sectors: insurance, surveying & mapping, agriculture, utilities & telecom, and public safety. In short, Site Scan offers these industries a way to collect data using drones, and also to store, manage, and analyze that data once it has been collected. Site Scan definitely serves a need these industries have, especially as the use of drones grows and the data collected becomes overwhelming to process and analyze. But the jury’s still out on whether 3DR has gotten there in time. We wrote last April about how 3DR had been granted FAA exemptions for their drones and effectively opened the door for industry collaboration. But the company has changed so much, and lost so much, since we wrote that post that in many ways this new manifestation is almost unrecognizable when compared to the company we wrote about last spring. Though we hate to say it, it feels like the only conclusion you can make is that this new pivot is a Hail Mary. Right? I mean, when Forbes writes an article about you called Behind the Crash of [Your Company’s Name], well, it might be time to call it a day. So What Went Wrong? To put it simply, 3DR failed as a consumer business. One of the biggest challenges 3DR faced with their Solo drone was stiff competition, primarily from Chinese-based DJI. The real war between 3DR and DJI (and Parrot too, to some extent) was around pricing. As 3DR’s President Jeevan Kalanithi put it back in June, and as we’ve already described in greater detail above, “We got knocked down for a really simple reason: We made too many Solos, especially given how fast our competitors dropped prices and flooded the market.” Forbes put it succinctly in their recent article on the topic: In 12 months [from November 2015 to 2016], 3D Robotics has gone from an industry leading U.S. drone startup to an organization struggling to survive—the result of mismanagement, ill-advised projections and a failed strategy that relied on a doomed flagship drone. In the last year 3DR has laid off more than 150 people, burned through almost $100 million in venture capital funding, and completely changed its business strategy. To put it in 3DR’s own words, via the voice of Colin Guinn, 3D Robotics’ former chief revenue officer: “What we realized is that it’s just going to be inherently much more difficult for a Silicon Valley-based, software-focused company to compete against vertically integrated powerhouse manufacturing company in China.” What’s Next, and What Can We Learn from This Story? The 3DR story should be seen as a cautionary tale for those drone companies looking to scale quickly, and sinking money into production without additional supporting revenue streams in place to balance out the funds being depleted by production costs. But it is also a cautionary tale about the incredibly persuasive power of ideas. Chris Anderson is a visionary, and a thought leader in the drone movement. There is no doubt about that. But turning a vision into a viable company—well, that may be a lot trickier than it seems, if the 3DR story is any indication. The post 3D Robotics’ Cautionary Tale: Losing The Hardware Game To China and Pivoting To Software for Survival appeared first on UAV Coach. View the full article