#droneparanoia – Above threshold signals: drones pose hazard problems to firefighters helicopters even if they are (possibly) not actually there

I have been discussing this BBC article with my friend Bo Lorenzen (check out his FPVGuy blog).

The news per se is sad but not particularly spectacular, consisting of a report of a huge blaze in an heritage village in southern Norway, known for it’s unique wooden buildings.

Norwegian village Laerdalsoyri devastated by a fire - Source
Norwegian village Laerdalsoyri devastated by a fire – Source

The interesting bit for us was a relevant presence, in the story, of drones. Specifically multirotors possibly equipped with video cameras, deployed by journalists to follow and document the event and the firefighters operations. Imagine the scene, can you visualize them, the big multirotors flying and filming over the disaster area?

Multirotor drone with camera
Multirotor drone with camera

Continue reading #droneparanoia – Above threshold signals: drones pose hazard problems to firefighters helicopters even if they are (possibly) not actually there

Tijuana authorities plan to buy quadcopters from 3D Robotics to help in city surveillance tasks

According to a story published on UT San Diego, authorities in Tijuana, Mexico, are planning to buy several drones/multirotors from 3D Robotics  to “monitor traffic, evaluate accident scenes, detect landslides and control wildfires”.

The IRIS quadcopter from 3D Robotics
The IRIS quadcopter from 3D Robotics

“The main idea is that they help with surveillance of the city,” Major Jorge Astiazarán said in an interview. “This won’t just be used for public safety, but to see how the city is growing, discover clandestine dumps … monitor any land movement in a remote area that has gone undetected.”

The Y8 quadcopter from 3D Robotics, that comes with 8 motors, 2 on each arm
The Y8 quadcopter from 3D Robotics, that comes with 8 motors, 2 on each arm

Continue reading Tijuana authorities plan to buy quadcopters from 3D Robotics to help in city surveillance tasks

Breaking news: pink drone threatening US Senator’s privacy crashes – #droneparanoia

A recent episode is raising concerns about the issue of personal drones and the protection of privacy.

As reported in this article from the Washington Times, while some protestors were manifesting outside her house, US Senator Dianne Feinstein spotted a drone, right outside her window, staring a her. We see how this must have been a terrifying experience.

“I went to the window to peek out and see who was there, and there was a drone right there at the window, looking out at me” the senator said.

For a specialized blog such as Personal Drones, it is of interest to ascertain which kind of drone was used to spy on Senator Feinstein’s privacy.

Was it a predator drone?

Predator drone
Predator drone

Or maybe an octocopter equipped with a big camera?

Octocopter with big video camera - Source
Octocopter with big video camera – Source

Continue reading Breaking news: pink drone threatening US Senator’s privacy crashes – #droneparanoia

DHL plans to deliver medicines and urgent parcels by drone – DHL aerial delivery services

We have recently reported about DHL’s plans on integrating multirotors in the delivery chain of some mission critical goods such as medicines, see the original post here.

DHL quadcopter for the new drone delivery service - source
DHL microdrone for the new drone delivery service

The multirotors selected for the mission are the Microdrones md4-1000. Not so “micro” for the standards of this blog.

md4-1000 microdrone - Source
md4-1000 microdrone – Source

Continue reading DHL plans to deliver medicines and urgent parcels by drone – DHL aerial delivery services

Tales of quadcopters and water – A nice article by Eric Cheng on Make Magazine

Make Magazine has published a nice, entertaining and generous article by Eric Cheng on quadcopters flown over water.

Crashes and fly aways are of course part of the story, therefore maybe when doing footage on water environments it could be worth considering a specialized solution such as a a Quad H2O?

Quad H2O - Source
Quad H2O – Source

Continue reading Tales of quadcopters and water – A nice article by Eric Cheng on Make Magazine

Dutch Engineers create the world’s smallest autopilot – The Lisa/S flight controller

Bart Remes wants you to have a personal drone in the pocket. Lisa/S brings this goal closer.

Lisa/S
Lisa/S – Source

At 2×2 cm and just 2 grams, Lisa/S could well be the world’s smallest autopilot, except maybe the one from the Black Hornet (on which no details are currently available).

The Lisa/S autopilot
The Lisa/S autopilot

Lisa/S was created virtually from scratch by Bart Remes, project manager of the Micro Aerial Vehicle Lab at the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of the TuDelft, and it’s team.

Continue reading Dutch Engineers create the world’s smallest autopilot – The Lisa/S flight controller

GoPro goes anamorphic with Letus AnamorphX adapter

GoPro cameras are widely used in sports and are possibly the more popular action cameras on the market.

They are also possibly the cameras of choice to mount on a multirotor to shoot aerial video. A wide range of accessories, namely gimbals and video-out cables are available to mount and use a GoPro on a quadcopter or multirotor.

The typical, very wide field of view of the GoPro also makes these cameras useful to pilot in FPV, although many suggest to instead use a second, simpler board camera for the flying itself,  because possibly more things can potentially go wrong with the GoPro with respect to a simple camera with less functions. However the GoPro often remains the camera of choice to take the footage for video production.

A TBS Discovery quadcopter with a board camera for FPV and a GoPro for video footage -  Source
A TBS Discovery quadcopter with a board camera for FPV and a GoPro for video footage – Source

The GoPro wide angle lens gives GoPro images a distinct fish eye touch that is very easy to spot, as in the image below.

An image taken with a GoPro, with the characteristic fish eye look - Paul Toogood on Flickr
An image taken with a GoPro, with the characteristic fish eye look – Paul Toogood on Flickr

Continue reading GoPro goes anamorphic with Letus AnamorphX adapter

British Army and the Black Hornet PD-100 UAV

We recently made a post on the Black Hornet military drone.

The Black Hornet mini UAV
The Black Hornet mini UAV

It is a mini helicopter equipped with 3 cameras and a GPS, weighting 16 grams, that can can autonomously fly and broadcast aerial video for 20+ minutes.

PD-100 Black Hornet
PD-100 Black Hornet

Because of the size and weight, it is apparently strongly affected by wind.

According to the soldier in the video, “a life saver”, as it basically allows to see what’s ahead, before you actually get there.

Continue reading British Army and the Black Hornet PD-100 UAV

Citizens take down police drones to avoid aerial surveillance

In the following video, a Drone in a police mission in the city of San Francisco, shown performing a number of surveillance tasks

A screenshot from Alan Cornell's  "our drone future" video
A screenshot from Alex Cornell’s “our drone future” video

is taken down by a shooting citizen, specifically a blonde woman.

Citizen takes down drone - From "our drone future" video
Citizen takes down drone – From “our drone future” video

Continue reading Citizens take down police drones to avoid aerial surveillance

Multirotors autonomously build complex wall – The “Flight Assembled Architecture” installation

The research group of the Institute for Dynamics Systems and Control, led by Raffaello D’Andrea at the ETH of Zurich, in collaboration with a team of architects led by Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, presented an installation in which a swarm of quadcopters autonomously pick up sequentially 1500 foam bricks (500 gr each) and position them at the right place to build a  6-meter tall tower with a sophisticated shape.

The "FAA Tower" - Source
The “FAA Tower” – Source

Continue reading Multirotors autonomously build complex wall – The “Flight Assembled Architecture” installation