GPS Drone mavic air 2 pro

Buy GPS Drone in Kenya (Nairobi) for:

What is a drone and how do drones work is answered here in this easy to understand article. UAV drone technology is constantly evolving as new innovation and big investment are bringing more advanced drones to the market every few months.

Below, we discuss UAV technology on the most popular drones on the market, which have all the latest drone technology.  Most UAV drones will have very similar systems incorporated.

Also included is the latest list of top drones with cameras on the market right now.

Unmanned aerial vehicle technology covers everything from the aerodynamics of the drone, materials in the manufacture of the physical UAV, to the circuit boards, chipset and software, which are the brains of the drone

 

One of the most popular drones on the market is the DJI Phantom series.  These drones are very popular with professional aerial cinematographers.

This Phantom UAVs are ideal to explain drone technology because they have everything in one package.  It includes the UAV, gimbal and camera. They also have some of the top drone technology on the market today.

In the past few months, more new and highly advanced drones such as the DJI Mavic Mini, Mavic 2, Mavic Air 2, Phantom 4 Pro V2.0, Yuneec Typhoon H3 and Autel Evo 2 have come to the market.

The fast pace of UAV drone technological innovation is tremendous.  I’ve included these latest drone technology advancements in the below article.  So this article is right up to date including all links.

How Drones Work

A typical unmanned aircraft is made of light composite materials to reduce weight and increase maneuverability. This composite material strength allows military drones to cruise at extremely high altitudes.

UAV drones are equipped with different state of the art technology such as infrared cameras, GPS and laser (consumer, commercial and military UAV). Drones are controlled by remote ground control systems (GSC) and also referred to as a ground cockpit.

An unmanned aerial vehicle system has two parts, the drone itself and the control system.

The nose of the unmanned aerial vehicle is where all the sensors and navigational systems are present. The rest of the body is full of drone technology systems since there is no space required to accommodate humans.

The engineering materials used to build the drone are highly complex composites designed to absorb vibration, which decrease the sound produced. These materials are very light weight.

What Is A Drone And UAV Technology

Below we examine the science and drone technology behind the DJI Phantom UAV.  We also have plenty of information on the latest drone technologies from the newest drones on the market.

There are plenty of links, where you can read deeper into various components of drone technology. For example, here is a terrific drone components overview article.  This gives information on the individual components seen in most drones.

Drone Types And Sizes

UAV drones come in a wide variety of sizes, with the largest being mostly used for military purposes such as the Predator drone. The next in size are unmanned aircraft, which have fixed wings and require short runways.  These are generally used to cover large sections of land, working in areas such as geographical surveying or to combat wildlife poaching.

 

VTOL Drones

Next in size for drones are what is known as VTOL drones.  These are generally quadcopters but not all. VTOL drones can take off, fly, hover and land vertically. The exact meaning of VTOL is “Vertical Take-Off and Landing”.

Quite a few of the latest small UAV drones such as the DJI Mavic Air 2 take VTOL to the next level and can be launched from the palm of your hand.

 

Radar Positioning & Return Home

The latest drones have dual Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS and GLONASS.

Drones can fly in both GNSS and non satellite modes.  For example, DJI drones can fly in P-Mode (GPS & GLONASS) or ATTI mode, which doesn’t use GPS.

Highly accurate drone navigation is very important when flying, especially in drone applications such as creating 3D maps, surveying landscape and SAR (Search & Rescue) missions.

When the quadcopter is first switched on, it searches and detects GNSS satellites. High end GNSS systems use Satellite Constellation technology. Basically, a satellite constellation is a group of satellites working together giving coordinated coverage and are synchronized, so that they overlap well in coverage. Pass or coverage is the period in which a satellite is visible above the local horizon.

UAV Drone GNSS On Ground Station Remote Controller

The radar technology will signal the following on the remote controller display;

·         Signal that enough drone GNSS satellites have been detected and the drone is ready to fly

·         Display the current position and location  of the drone in relation to the pilot

·         Record the home point for ‘Return To Home’ safety feature

 

Most of the latest UAVs have 3 types of Return to Home drone technology as follows;

·         Pilot initiated return to home by pressing button on Remote Controller or in an app

·         A low battery level, where the UAV will fly automatically back to the home point

·         Loss of contact between the UAV and Remote Controller, with the UAV flying back automatically to its home point

 

The latest Mavic Air 2 technology can sense obstacles during automatic return to home.

Obstacle Detection And Collision Avoidance Technology

The latest high tech drones are now equipped with collision avoidance systems. These use obstacle detection sensors to scan the surroundings, while software algorithms and SLAM technology produce the images into 3D maps allowing the drone to sense and avoid.  These systems fuse one or more of the following sensors to sense and avoid;

·         Vision Sensor

·         Ultrasonic

·         Infrared

·         Lidar

·         Time of Flight (ToF)

·         Monocular Vision

The DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom have obstacle sensing on all 6 sides. The Mavic 2 uses both Vision and Infrared sensors fused into a vision system known as omni-directional Obstacle Sensing.

The DJI Mavic 2 obstacle sensing system is top drone technology.  The Mavic 2 will sense objects, then fly around obstacles in front. It can do the same when flying backwards. Or hover if it is not possible to fly around the obstacle.

This technology is known as APAS (Advanced Pilot Assistance System) on the DJI Mavic 2 and Mavic Air drones.

In December 2019, the Skydio 2 drone was released. This also has obstacle avoidance on all sides.

The Skydio 2 autonomy technology visualizes and calculates what’s happening around the drone. It can then intelligently predict what will happen next and will make accurate decisions multiple times a second.

The Skydio 2 quadcopter uses 6 x 4k cameras to build a 3D map of its surroundings, which will include trees, people, animals, cars, buildings and more.

Gyroscope Stabilization, IMU And Flight Controllers

Gyro stabilization technology give the UAV drone its smooth flight capabilities.

The gyroscope works almost instantly to the forces moving against the drone, keeping it flying or hovering very smoothly.  The gyroscope provides essential navigational information to the central flight controller.

The inertial measurement unit (IMU) works by detecting the current rate of acceleration using one or more accelerometers. The IMU detects changes in rotational attributes like pitch, roll and yaw using one or more gyroscopes.  Some IMU include a magnetometer to assist with calibration against orientation drift.

The Gyroscope is a component of the IMU and the IMU is an essential component of the drones flight controller. The flight controller is the central brain of the drone.

Here is a terrific article, which covers gyro stabilization and IMU technology in drones.

 

UAV Drone Propulsion Technology

The propulsion system (motors, electronic speed controllers and propellers) are the drone technology, which move the UAV into the air and to fly in any direction or hover.  On a quadcopter, the motors and propellers work in pairs with 2 motors / propellers rotating clockwise (CW Propellers) and 2 motors rotating Counter Clockwise (CCW Propellers).

They receive data from the flight controller and the electronic speed controllers (ESC) on the drone motor direction to either fly or hover.

Top UAV drone motors and propulsion systems are highly advanced and include the following components;

·         Motor Stator

·         Motor Bell (rotor)

·         Windings

·         Bearings

·         Cooling System

·         Electronic Speed Controllers

·         ESC Updater

·         Propellers

·