What can modern quadrocopters?

When it comes to quadcopters, most of us imagine a device with rather modest characteristics — more like a radio control toy than something worthy of the name “unmanned flying vehicle”. Many are puzzled by initiatives like this — it's hard to believe that something serious can be built on the basis of these toys. Nevertheless, the technologies underlying quadrocopters - batteries, navigation equipment, on-board computers - are developing very quickly. Modern professional drones with four rotors are very different from amateur toys. They are able to fly in the pouring rain, frost and heat, they can hold out for about an hour in the air, and even a child can manage them.

This article will focus on two fairly similar professional devices designed for use in industry, video surveillance, aerial photography, agriculture and military affairs. The two companies, the Canadian Aeryon and the German Microdrones, just this spring updated the flagship models of their quadcopters - Aeryon SkyRanger and Microdrones md4-3000.

Aeryon SkyRanger is the elder brother of Aeryon Scout , a half- kilo robot intelligence officer and an observer. SkyRanger weighs almost twice as much, can stay in the air for up to 50 minutes with a payload. Standard and infrared video cameras installed on a stabilizing platform are standard loads. A regular camera shoots in Full HD and can take pictures with a resolution of 15 megapixels. The infrared camera works with a resolution of 640x480. Video from cameras in real time is transmitted to the base station, which can be located at a distance of up to 3 kilometers, with the possibility of increasing the distance to 5 kilometers. All data exchange with the UAV is encrypted using AES 256.
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SkyRanger can operate with winds up to 65 km / h and carry short gusts up to 90 km / h. He is not afraid of rain and snow and flies at temperatures from -30 to +50 degrees. Piloting skills to control a quadcopter are almost not required - it is enough to mark the target point and altitude on the map, and the drone will automatically fly to it, guided by GPS. The joystick is needed only for more subtle and precise maneuvers.

Aeryon paid special attention to convenience and portability and SkyRanger - its main parts can be replaced without tools at all. Quadcopter can be folded, and then it is placed in a backpack. When folded, it is 25 cm wide and 50 cm long. The first SkyRanger presentation was held at CANSEC2013 in Ontario, May 29-30.


SkyRanger commercial


Younger model Aeryon Scout is used to study animals off the coast of Alaska

The German company Microdrones , whose drones use Google for aerial photography, in March of this year supplemented its line of quadcopters with a real giant. The previous models - md4-200 and md4-1000 had a loading capacity of 200 grams and 1 kilogram (by the way, they are sold in Russia under the name Granat BA-200 and Granat BA-1000). The md4-3000 lifts up to 3 kg, its maximum take-off weight is 15 kg. Unlike the vast majority of quadrocopters, it has an aerodynamic asymmetrical design that creates additional lift for fast flight.



Its length is slightly more than two meters. It can fly at a cruising speed of up to 57 km / h for 45 minutes, and its practical ceiling is 4 kilometers above sea level. The wing body is not the only unique feature of this quadcopter. Its rotors have three blades each, the pitch of which can be adjusted before the flight, depending on weather conditions and mode of operation. md4-3000 flies in any weather at temperatures from -10 to +50 degrees.

The drone is running the mdOS samopisny real-time OS. SDK is available to users for programming new and non-standard functions of the robot. Like its Canadian rival, the md4-3000 is equipped with a GPS and can fly independently along a given route. A video of his flights and more detailed specifications have not yet been published, but his younger brother, md4-1000, can give a rough idea of ​​his capabilities.


md4-1000 flies in the pouring rain


Preparing for flight and piloting md4-1000


Without load and indoors md4-1000 can hold out for 88 minutes in a row.

The cost of such quadcopters is on the order of several tens of thousands of dollars - there is no fixed price, since the main customers are large companies, scientific and government organizations, which most often order entire complexes, pay for the implementation, maintenance and installation of specific equipment on the drones. With mass production and some compromises in the characteristics of these drones may well cost many times less. So, plans to use quadrocopters not only for shooting and observation from the air, but also for urgent delivery of small loads, medicines or pizza, may well be realized quite soon.