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How Drone Manufacturers Are Making Flights Safer

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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.

4 Misconceptions About Drone Technology

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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…

Why Do Drones Get Such Bad Press?

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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.

5 Things You Can Do To Become A Better Drone Pilot

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In this industry, we all start out as beginners. Even if you’ve moved beyond hobby flights at the weekend to flying drones as part of your 9 to 5, this business doesn’t stand still for long enough for anyone to properly catch up.

So what can you do to keep improving as a drone pilot? What steps can you take to get better at flying your drone and hone all the skills you need on the side to be a success?

We’ve put together a few things that all drone pilots should consider if they want to take things to the next level.

Become your own video editor

Plenty of drone pilots and professional flyers outsource their content editing or don’t do any at all. After a long shoot, the last thing most of us want to do is painstakingly go through footage to create the final product we are looking for.

Here’s a great tutorial to show you an example of what’s available for free. 

It’s tempting to hire an editor familiar with the intricacies of the required software. But if you don’t know how already, perhaps 2019 could be the year that you learn how to edit media for yourself?

It’s not all about cutting videos down to size and organizing a montage. Depending on your camera settings and the conditions, all kinds of post-production effects might be needed to bring the best out of your shots, including color correction.

A great place to start is with Adobe Premiere Pro. The software is relatively easy to use, and there is plenty of content out there in the form of videos and guides to support your efforts. The initial trial is free, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Of course, one of the best ways to minimize the work you have to do in post-production is to get a grip on your camera settings and set up shots perfectly before you hit record.

Which brings us to…

Get a grip on your camera settings

The cameras on many decent drones, incuding those from popular manufacturer DJI, offer solid image quality and near-instant results. Which is why it’s tempting not to worry too much about the settings, send up your drone and hit record.

But if you’re a perfectionist and want to make your media look as professional as possible, you need to get a grip on your camera settings and understand all the possibilities in detail.

This means understanding the basic elements of photography: shutter speed, aperture, ISO and the rest.

These two blogs from DJI are a great place to start:

Fly in challenging conditions

Baptism of fire, jumping in at the deep end… both idioms are all about learning from challenging experiences and improving as a result. With flying a drone it’s no different.

One way to become a better drone pilot and a more effective aerial photographer is to practice. But the conditions are important. Once you’ve mastered the basics, your skills will probably plataeu unless you push yourself and try new things.

So set yourself creative targets, fly at times when the weather isn’t perfect and you’re under pressure to complete your shots quickly. Try out new locations.

That way, when a situation arises that isn’t ideal: low battery, heavy winds, moving subjects – it won’t be the first time you’ve had to adapt on the fly.

Invest in accessories

Being a good drone pilot isn’t just about how comfortable you are behind the controls. It’s also about the quality of your results.

Just as important as perfecting your camera settings and learning the art of post-production is knowing which accessories to use and when.

Some are small but make a big difference to your final product, like Neutral Density Filters. Others are expensive but give you greater control during flight, like DJI’s CrystalSky monitor.

Both will give your footage an edge and provide you with extra creative control when you need it.

Master autonomous modes and flight apps

So much of a drone pilot’s time is spent switching attention between monitor and aircraft. That’s because while the drone and your thumbs are doing most of the hard work, accompanying applications provide technical assistance and are the link between the two.

Learning to navigate your away around flight control apps like DJI Go is an absolute must if you want to make the most of all the flight modes and creative options at your disposal.

Autonomous shots such as Active-Track and Orbit can free your hands and enable you to be a part of the action. On top of that, most drones have preset manoeuvres that capture moments with more of a professional feel than even the most skilled pilots can bring to the table.

Besides autonomous flight modes, there are a bunch of apps out there to help you expand your creative potential and get better quality shots.

These include PolarPro, the app from the popular camera accessory company. The PolarPro app helps you choose the best filter for the conditions and provides the perfect combination of shutter speed, IOS and aperture to bring your shots to life.

You can also get live weather forecasts for your location and alerts for golden hour.

Another popular app with drone pilots and photographers in general is Sun Surveyor.

interactive map screenshot

With the light conditions being so important to the composition of your aerial photos and videos, Sun Surveyor gives you GPS-specific details on the position and movement of the sun so that you can plan flights ahead and nail shots first time around.

2019 Consumer Drone Industry Predictions

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2018 was an interesting year in the consumer drone industry. DJI reinforced its domination at both ends of the market with the Mavic Air and the new Mavic 2 Pro; Parrot launched a solid contender in the shape of ANAFI, despite cutting its workforce after disappointing sales. And, of course, Skydio’s R1 finally hit the market to much acclaim.

So what could 2019 bring? Will we see more of the same? What surprises could be around the corner? Here are a few predictions for the coming year.

2019 consumer drone industry predictions

More barriers to recreational entry?

2019 is the year that regulations will begin to catch up to the advances drone technology has made in a few short years.

Registration for recreational pilots has been an ongoing issue in the US. But in the UK and Australia, registration and safety tests are set to become mandatory for hobbyists. This is part of an effort to increase accountability and improve the general awareness around what drone pilots can and cannot do.

It’s hard to say how these new laws will impact sales and the number of pilots out there. On the one hand, these new rules are another barrier to entry, particularly if they include age restrictions and tar all pilots with the same brush: that their hobby is dangerous, a nuisance and something that needs to be better regulated.

On the other, tighter rules could serve to lessen media hysteria when a drone is involved in an incident. This would put the emphasis on the pilots at fault rather than the technology as a whole, which can only be a good thing.  

However, should unfair new rules be introduced in light of the Gatwick airport fiasco, for example, it would be hard to avoid the feeling that regulators are attempting to appease the public rather than educate them.

After all, existing laws already make dangerous and disruptive behaviour behind the controls illegal. It’s a case of enforcing those measures, something that technologies such as Remote ID could help with.

Drone regulation will continue to be a delicate balancing act. Particularly as the pathway from recreational to professional pilot is so well trodden. Not to mention the money raised through consumer sales supporting the important work of DJI Enterprise, for example.

Smaller and more portable

When the original Mavic Pro entered the market, it was a sign of things to come: A shift toward smaller drones with adequate battery life, small form factors and plenty of built-in technology. Then came the Mavic Air and the Spark. And after, the new Mavic Pro 2.

DJI’s drones could continue to grow more compact as part of a wider trend in which manufacturers increasingly streamline their ranges.

After all, if you can pack a fantastic camera, leading obstacle avoidance technology and portability into the Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom, why would you choose to create bulkier models for the recreational market?

This could be the reason why we won’t see the long-awaited DJI Phantom 5 in 2019 or any time soon. It’s not immediately clear who it would be for and why it would be preferable – flight time aside – versus the improved Mavic range.

Traditionally the reasons to go for a Phantom have been about power, camera quality and safety features. But the margins between the two have been shrinking as the Mavic range catches up.

The line between professional and consumer drone is going to become increasingly blurred as capabilities are shared throughout both ranges. So expect more of the same in 2019.

Weather-proof consumer drones?

It’s well known that manufacturers such as Apple like to hold back on putting developed technologies into new products and instead iterate at a deliberately steady pace. That philosophy has been a successful part of the hype cycle of smartphones and a major driver in the annual race to grab the latest model.

But drones are expensive and not yet offered as part of long-term monthly contracts. They are also not the kind of thing you want to be replacing every year or 18 months. Which is why the choice from several drone manufacturers to iterate as well as transform has been interesting to watch in recent years.

No doubt the decision is supported by the fact that drones, unlike phones, are yet to reach peak adoption. There are also technical limitations at play, so manufacturers can afford to make steady changes rather than drastic ones.

But maybe 2019 will be the year that we see major progress for recreational pilots in the realms of computer vision, battery life or, as we are predicting today, weather-proofing.

Skydio and, to a lesser extent the new Hover 2 drone, have shown that computer vision can do more than obstacle recognition. So maybe it’s time for DJI and other manufacturers to bring weather-proofing tech traditionally reserved for enterprise drones into the mainstream.

Currently, recreational pilots are grounded in wet conditions, see their battery life suffer in the cold and are restricted by heavy winds. 2018 cemented progress in portability, computer vision and camera technology. Maybe 2019 will show us how all-action and all-weather aerial photography can really be.   

DJI’s stranglehold will tighten

Watching DJI continue to innovate and push out exciting new drones – not to mention a range of other photography equipment and camera tech – is a thrill.

But there’s also a sense that it’s not ideal for the industry. DJI has already cemented its position as the go-to platform provider for recreational and professional pilots. There’s no reason to think that is going to change anytime soon.

And competitors continue to struggle by the wayside. Towards the end of 2018, Parrot announced personnel cuts amid lower sales than expected and a contraction of the consumer market. Yuneec and Autel have fallen away. GoPro is gone. Skydio is still out of the reach of your average Joe, despite recent price cuts.

All of which makes it difficult to imagine anything other than more DJI domination. Luckily the Chinese manufacturer is at the top for a reason: They produce industry-leading products for reasonable prices. But we can’t help but feel that competition would be healthy, so here’s hoping some new companies come to the fore in 2019.