This week DJI announced that starting in January 2020, all of the company’s new drones weighing over 250 grams will come with AirSense – a tool enabled by an ADS-B receiver – as standard.
In practice, that means that DJI pilots will be alerted to nearby manned aircraft, well ahead of time and long before they could hope to spot or hear a plane or helicopter coming.
It’s a big step and a positive commitment from DJI. The company has taken several steps to ensure safety is a priority in the drone business.
Here are a few technologies developed by manufacturers that are making the skies safer as drone technology aims for mass adoption.
AirSense
As mentioned above, AirSense is one of the solutions DJI has brought to market to prevent drones and manned aircraft from coming into contact.
There have been endless stories of ‘near-misses’ across the media. Whether they are all reliable is another matter. What we know for sure is that the concern is very real and the consequences could be severe indeed.
Currently, AirSense is limited to a number of DJI’s enterprise drones, including the Mavic 2 Enterprise. The latest announcement from DJI will set a new standard by putting professional-grade aviation safety technology in drones available to everyone.
AirSense can detect airplanes and helicopters while they are still miles away. The system displays their locations on the screen of the pilot’s remote controller.
In theory, this should give drone pilots plenty of time to land their drone or adjust their position to avoid an encounter with any incoming aircraft.
Obstacle avoidance
It’s not only manned aircraft that drones could potentially crash into. Most pilots will, at one point or another, have watched in horror as a slight mistake sent their drone plowing into tree/building/insert noun here.
Fortunately, that kind of scenario is becoming increasingly rare thanks to obstacle avoidance technology.
Pioneered by the likes of DJI and Yuneec and since taken to new heights by Skydio, the ability to sense and avoid obstacles is vital – whether you are an enthusiast flying in the park or an industrial inspection crew carrying out maintenance.
This technology is rooted in computer vision. And we are already seeing serious advances in that department, beyond the simple ability to stop a drone short of an obstacle.
Skydio’s system can actively weave around obstacles and plot a path that takes them into account, for example.
More recently, researchers have been looking at ways to use Event Cameras to enable drones to avoid moving obstacles: dynamic obstacle avoidance. The team from Zurich, Switzerland, has developed a drone that uses a camera and an onboard Visual-Inertial Odometry system to see an incoming ball and dodge out of the way.
It’s the obvious next step from systems like those we have seen from DJI and Skydio – which are focused on avoiding collisions with static obstacles.
Geofencing
AirSense and obstacle avoidance are focused on avoiding manned aircraft and static obstacles respectively.
But what systems are in place to prevent drone pilots – accidentally or otherwise – flying where they shouldn’t?
The answer is geofencing, and most major manufacturers have it built into their drones.
Geofencing draws an invisible barrier around certain GPS coordinates, whether they refer to an airport, a prison or a sporting venue. Drones with geofencing enabled cannot fly there without gaining approval from local regulators and/or the manufacturer in question.
Geofencing is also used to enforce altitude limits, and can also be customized by the user and used as a training aid.
For example, if you’re taking a new Parrot drone out for a spin, you might want to set a custom geofence around you at an altitude of 100ft and a range of 200ft – just while you get used to the controls.
You can expand it as you grow more confident.
Return to home
One issue that plagued early adopters of drone technology was the dreaded flyaway: a loss of signal or battery would cause your drone to land in a far-flung location or simply disappear.
Now, the vast majority of drones on the market have a built-in return to home function. This usually activates at the touch of a button or in the case of a low battery warning.
Manufacturers know how infuriating it is to spend a small fortune on a drone only for it to fly away of its own accord. They also know how dangerous an out-of-control drone can be. For that reason, return to home has become a standard feature in the industry and no doubt saved many drone pilots from embarrassment.
FILED UNDER: COMMERCIAL DRONES, CONSUMER DRONES, DRONE TECHNOLOGY, GENERAL, NEWSTAGGED WITH: ADS-B RECEIVER, AIRSENSE, DJI, GEOFENCING, OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE, PARROT, RETURN TO HOME, SKYDIO
4 Misconceptions About Drone Technology
APRIL 30, 2019 BY MALEK MURISON LEAVE A COMMENT
From the outside, the world of flying robots can seem complex, daunting and, in some cases, totally unnecessary.
But there’s more to this business than meets the eye, particularly if you’ve only previously come across drones because media outlets are blaming them for airport disruption.
Read on for our top four misconceptions about drone technology.
They are just toys
To start with, yes. Parrot’s original AR Drone was the first of its kind and was solely designed for fun.
But now, almost a decade later, things have come a long, long way.
For starters, all of the latest drones have a degree of altitude stability, intuitive controls and all sorts of safety features. These are advanced machines.
Safety features usually include return to home functions and predetermined limits on speed and altitude. Many of DJI’s drones can also sense and avoid obstacles.
If you bought a drone between 2011 and 2015, flyaways were common. Now they are an exception to the rule and a new standard for reliability has been established.
Aerial cameras have also come a long way. DJI’s acquisition of camera specialists Hasselblad was an inflexion point as drone manufacturers started incorporating supremely sophisticated (and tiny) cameras into their hardware. Once the flight was mastered, the payloads were focused on more.
Advances in digital stabilization and gimbal technology have also played a major part in moving drones on from toys to legitimate professional tools.
All sorts of organizations are now using off-the-shelf drone technology on a regular basis, from industrial inspections to agriculture to search and rescue.
In fact, drones are now helping to save lives on a daily basis and supporting first responders around the world.
They are too complicated for me to fly
Again, at one point this may well have been the case. But in recent years drones have become legitimate mass-market products as manufacturers have sought to cater to photography and adventure enthusiasts by making them as easy to fly as possible.
And make no mistake: they are easy to fly. Most drones now come with advanced autonomous flight modes that effectively remove the need for a pilot completely – depending on your location of course.
But even before those modes are engaged, all decent quadcopters on the market today will simply hover in place should you let go of the controls.
Piloting will be intuitive for anyone who has used a games console before. For those who haven’t, getting to grips with the remote control will take a bit of practice.
The bottom line is that drones are getting easier to fly and more capable of operating with autonomy with every iteration and new product release. You needn’t be daunted by the prospect of owning one of taking one for a spin!
They are causing chaos at airports
There have been several incidents recently involving drone sightings and major international airports around the world.
Without a doubt, the most high-profile was at London Gatwick in the lead up to Christmas 2018.
We say these incidents have involved ‘drone sightings’ because that’s exactly what they are. We are yet to see evidence that reckless drone pilots were involved or any details that prove the presence of a drone at these recent events.
In the past, birds, helicopters, bats and plastic bags have been mistaken for a rogue drone, so you can understand our hesitation to say what happened for sure. Particularly as the officials at Gatwick still seem no closer to understanding.
Having said that, footage does exist of reckless drone flights near airports and it is a problem. We still don’t fully understand the risks that drones pose to larger passenger jets but the science on that is evolving.
One thing we do know for sure: the vast, vast majority of drone pilots would never dream of flying in such an irresponsible manner.
You can read more on this topic here: 5 Times It Wasn’t A Drone.
If you can see one, it’s spying on you
Again, it’s possible that you do have a nefarious drone pilot neighbor. But it’s very, very unlikely.
The vast majority of drone pilots are hobbyists or professionals, far more interested in capturing landscapes and inspecting infrastructure than getting a look at you or your property.
If you do see one flying near your home, the chances are the pilot is not even looking at you.
This is because of another misunderstanding behind this misconception: off-the-shelf drones are not actually useful or effective tools for spying.
Sure, a neighbor can fly over your back yard and see more than they would peeping through their window, but the majority of drone cameras are much better suited to capturing sweeping vistas at wide angles than zooming in on your secrets.
And, in case you haven’t noticed, drones aren’t the most subtle of spying tools. You can hear the high-pitched whine from a mile away.
All of this adds up to a simple and much less exciting conclusion when you next see a drone: its pilot is probably filming a sunset or inspecting a roof.
Those are our 4 common drone misconceptions. We firmly believe that the technology has the power to do enormous good in the world, from supporting business operations to saving lives. Let us know if there are any unjust misconceptions that we’ve missed…
Scroll through Google News having searched for ‘Drone’ on any given day, and you’ll be faced with a list of articles from around the world. Drones are making headlines everywhere but, more often than not, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
Whether it’s another near miss with a manned aircraft, a case of voyeurism or a foiled prison drone delivery plot, negative stories involving the technology are much more common than positive ones.
So why is it that drones get such bad press? Why are stories in the media so overwhelmingly negative when we know for a fact that drones are saving lives around the world and having a significant impact across a range of industries?
They tap into our futuristic fears
One major reason is that they tap into the public’s preconceptions. Fear sells and generates clicks, so if you can attach negative connotations like danger and ‘Big Brother’to a certain technology, any story that involves it is going to get attention.
But delving deeper, you can see why drones are an easy target for that kind of scrutiny. They don’t sound very nice. They don’t look very appealing. And worst of all, they buzz around seemingly with a mind of their own, like overgrown robotic mosquitoes.
So with that in mind you can understand the negative predisposition people feel towards the technology.
Which is where negative media becomes self-perpetuating. The more people hear about the dangers drones pose, the recklessness with which they are used and the criminal situations they are involved with, the less likely the worse the situation gets.
It’s a vicious circle.
Anonymity
One of the major issues people have with drone technology is the same fear that applies to self-driving cars and autonomous systems in general. There is a lack of trust. Without an obvious pilot in the cockpit (which would be impractical to say the least with a drone) there is a lack of accountability. Who is controlling that thing and how?
Which means many people’s first impression of a drone is seeing one flying nearby, but not having any idea who is controlling it.
With anonymity comes concern. If it doesn’t have an obvious pilot then it must be dangerous. It’s human nature to be suspicious of something when you can’t understand its motives, after all. Unless the pilot is present and close enough to let you know what’s going on, that same factor is going to apply to most drone flights.
Fear of the unknown
On the one hand, the rise of drones has given us a glimpse into a robot dystopia, where autonomous vehicles buzz around the skies, monitor us from above and generally make our lives a misery.
But for most people, the fear and suspicion of drone technology stem from something much more innate: the unknown.
The general public isn’t particularly well-informed on the benefits of drone technology, on what they are capable of and on what they definitely aren’t capable of.
Are they dangerous? Are they spying on me? How reliable are they? Are they reading my pin code from afar? Are they stalking me? These are all legitimate questions if you’re not aware of what the technology is being used for.
The solution is obviously a case of education, of highlighting the many positive use cases. The best way for this to happen is for pilots on the ground to make themselves known and be open about what they are doing. Fear and doubt will melt away as soon as the reason for flight is explained.
They put power in anybody’s hands
The final reason that drones get bad press is because they are powerful, affordable and far beyond anything that’s come before in terms of capability.
This means that, unfortunately, they can easily be harnessed for malicious purposes and criminality. Already we’ve seen contraband smuggled into prisons using drones, weaponized models used on the battlefield, and suspected deliberate interference at major airports.
This is scary. It’s also likely to get worse and more sophisticated in the future. But that doesn’t mean that the current levels of negative publicity are justified.
It’s clear that the industry as a whole needs a huge PR effort, particularly at a time when regulations are shifting and legislators risk being swayed more by public opinion than by evidence.
It’s unlikely that the PR the industry needs will come through media channels, who will always skew towards the negative. So really it’s down to the community to speak directly to people who do raise concerns.
And, of course, the many companies doing remarkable work with drones. Keep doing what you’re doing, folks.
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