Drone shoots footage of space needle

ipengineer

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Pretty amazing footage from a GoPro strapped to a drone. With the several drone topics around here I got to scouring youtube and found this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqwwrG9-uX4

Curious what the FAA is going to do about these long-term. I'm sure they will be like everything else.. **regulated**.. :nono:
 
That's really neat. The way he was able to aim the GoPro at the people seems to imply that he had a live video feed back to his apartment/hotel room.

Is that even possible with a GoPro? I've got a Hero3, and have no idea how that would work.
 
Yes. While I don't use a GoPro, it is perfectly capable. The camera isn't transmitting. The video out from the camera is connected to a video transmitter.
 
That's really neat. The way he was able to aim the GoPro at the people seems to imply that he had a live video feed back to his apartment/hotel room.

Is that even possible with a GoPro? I've got a Hero3, and have no idea how that would work.
It's not the camera, but the quadcopter (Phantom 2). You can see the screen attached to the remote control in the very beginning. It's showing live video feedback. It's called an FPV, or first-person view.
 
On the left is the telemetry radio. Connects the drone's flight controller to my laptop or smartphone. On the right is the receiver for my controller. The horizontal one is the video transmitter.

 

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It's not the camera, but the quadcopter (Phantom 2). You can see the screen attached to the remote control in the very beginning. It's showing live video feedback. It's called an FPV, or first-person view.
That's really cool.

I'm still a bit confused, however. My GoPro doesn't have a "live video out" jack, to my knowledge. Yet the guy clearly AIMS the GoPro at the people, in real time.

How does he know where to aim, if he can't see what the GoPro is taping? It must be in some sort of a bracket, slaved to the transmitting camera?

However it's done, I suddenly want one. :)
 
All but the oldest legacy GoPros support video out. That accessory bus connector on the back contains, among other things, video out. The video transmitter on the drone is connected to the video out on the GoPro. It can also come out of the USB connector.
 
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All but the oldest legacy GoPros support video out. That accessory bus connector on the back contains, among other things, video out. The video transmitter on the drone is connected to the video out on the GoPro. It can also come out of the USB connector.
No kidding? I knew GoPro could transmit a short range signal to my phone/tablet via WiFi, but I didn't realize the signal was there in the USB out jack.

I'm surprised no one has installed a ship's-powered GoPro in a homebuilt, connected to an EFIS. I've seen this done with other video cams.
 
It is unbelievably stable
Question. Is that a function of image stabilization or is the copter using gyros or something to keep the craft steady?

Meaning if it were bumpy / windy would it still be stable like that?
 
All the video out options for the GoPro defeat the use of the waterproof case. This is probably why it isn't more popular for that application.
 
The Sony Action cams comes with the wifi that works with an arm screen or the smart phone wifi. It seem to be good for about 20 feet range. On the space needle video he is probably running a 2.4gig transmitter to a receiver. Google Fat Shark.
 
It is unbelievably stable
Question. Is that a function of image stabilization or is the copter using gyros or something to keep the craft steady?

Meaning if it were bumpy / windy would it still be stable like that?

The drone has a gimble mount for the camera and I believe it is connected to a gyro system for stability.
 
...Curious what the FAA is going to do about these long-term. I'm sure they will be like everything else.. **regulated**.. :nono:

It puzzles me as to why anyone would consider this as being "okay" considering that there are absolutely no redundancies or other safe guards to ensure that this GoPro toting machine will not suddenly drop 600 feet onto unsuspecting persons and property below. If something like this had occurred and cause injury or even death would that guy in the hotel room run down and take responsibility?

I can guarantee you that regulation is coming but it won't necessarily be from the FAA. Most likely Municipal or such. For instance, it is already illegal to operate them in National Parks.
 
More regulation is not needed. Reckless endangerment and other such laws already exist. If it fell down and hurt someone, there are plenty of laws that he could be charged with. More government oversight does not fix or change anything for the better.
 
I'm not claiming it does I'm just saying it's going to come.
 
It puzzles me as to why anyone would consider this as being "okay" considering that there are absolutely no redundancies or other safe guards to ensure that this GoPro toting machine will not suddenly drop 600 feet onto unsuspecting persons and property below. If something like this had occurred and cause injury or even death would that guy in the hotel room run down and take responsibility?
There are no redundancies or other safeguards to ensure that you don't drop a brick from your high-rise balcony onto unsuspecting persons and property below. But if you do it intentionally, it's a crime, and if you do it negligently, it's a tort. So far that seems to have been sufficient to avoid a significant problem with falling bricks. I think the same works for falling cameras.
 
So how does it work?
It is a quad copter correct?
If 1 of the 4 motors fails, is it game over?

I have seen these things toting around DSLRs and I would want some sort of backup plan just in case.

Do they have parachutes?
 
Quads are the most common. Their capacity is generally enough to carry a GoPro or a small DSLR. A quad cannot maintain control or altitude with the loss of any one thrust unit. So if a motor/prop fails, it will crash. The failure rate is pretty low, but of course it can happen.

Mine is a Y6. It has 6 motors in a Y configuration. I can maintain flight with the loss of any one. It will take some room to recover, both vertically and laterally, but it can save itself. The really big ones are up to 8 motors.

The ones that haul around really expensive cameras are generally 6 or 8 motors for obvious reasons.

Lots of people have been working on parachutes for emergencies. It is complicated. You have spilling props that can cut the lines. It can be falling inverted. etc etc. It has been done, and it works. The trick is perfecting it for the mainstream. They've even got them to auto-deploy on failures. But again, it still needs work.
 
Just wait.

People have already played around with attaching guns to RC aircraft. Inevitably someone will strap some explosives or a gun to one and carry out some kind of attack somewhere. The day that happens, the regulators will care very much.

The question is how the heck are you really going to regulate a little piece of styrofoam with some propellers/motors/electronics attached to it? Sure you can write some regulations but what's the chance of actually being able to enforce anything?
 
I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. People have used them to drop drugs over the wall of prisons.
 
I came up with a way to launch a model rocket from an rc plane.
I just need a place to do it.
 
Most are 8 to 15 minutes. My battery dies at 14 minutes. I limit mission time to 10 minutes, leaving me 4 minutes of return and landing screwing around. Larger birds with larger props can last longer.
 
Just wait.

People have already played around with attaching guns to RC aircraft. Inevitably someone will strap some explosives or a gun to one and carry out some kind of attack somewhere. The day that happens, the regulators will care very much.

The question is how the heck are you really going to regulate a little piece of styrofoam with some propellers/motors/electronics attached to it? Sure you can write some regulations but what's the chance of actually being able to enforce anything?

I'm sure someone will try, but I think practicality will keep the idea of using a drone as a weapon at bay. The ones people are using now have short duration, limited range and a small payload. They are also pretty noisy.

In the case of the gun idea, you have basically one shot at it and accurately aiming from a wide angle lens likely tougher than it sounds. Even if your killer drone has multiple rounds in it, recoil will make semi, or full auto useless. I single action mode, by the time you get recovered from the first recoil and lined up for another shot, your intended victim is alerted and fled.

The explosive may be more practical, but the payload restriction means it has to be a small and light bomb. That means you have to get very close to be lethal. Likely your intended victim will hear you coming and run for cover. Sneaking up from behind in a noisy environment might be effective.

A third idea might be dropping a small bomb into a crowd. Would likely work as a terror weapon, but not much as an assassination weapon. More maiming than killing.

Then there is the issue of recovery. Are you going to try to recover the bomber and the rifle drone, or abandon it and potentially leave behind a wealth of forensic evidence? If you try to recover, how will you not be seen?

Like I said, it wouldn't surprise me if someone tries, but I think the idea of a killer drone is more novelty than practical.
 
Your'e greatly underestimating the useful load of these things. Four to ten pounds of explosives, chemicals, or drugs is a lot. And it can be precisely targeted. I can make a very long list of horrible things you could do just with the 5lb capacity of mine. I'm not going to list them all. But rest assured, they have the capacity and ability to cause serious intentional harm or death in the wrong hands.
 
Your'e greatly underestimating the useful load of these things. Four to ten pounds of explosives, chemicals, or drugs is a lot. And it can be precisely targeted. I can make a very long list of horrible things you could do just with the 5lb capacity of mine. I'm not going to list them all. But rest assured, they have the capacity and ability to cause serious intentional harm or death in the wrong hands.

I'm sure you could build and engineer one that could carry 50lbs, but does that make it a practical weapon? I think such an attack would be more novelty than practical. I'm sure that one day soon somebody will carry out such an attack, likely that it won't be all that effective and the perpatrator will be caught easily. With America's new fascination with this latest consumer gadget, we will soon find out.
 
So 5-10lbs of explosives or chemicals is not effective??
 
So 5-10lbs of explosives or chemicals is not effective??

At doing what? Targeted killing, or just maiming and terror? If you can get your hands on 5-10 lbs of bad stuff, couldn't you then also get 20-50 lbs of the same stuff? Then it comes down to the delivery method. Is the drone really the best choice? I would think not.

Regardless, somebody somewhere will try it. Like I said, at the very least there is a novelty factor and seems all high techie, like the CIA does. When this happens, there will be a flood of regulations to follow.
 


Concept is pretty well proven...


Now combine it with this...


I think it's only a matter of time. I can't believe nobody in R&D is looking at this as a battlefield weapon. If hobbyists can throw stuff like this together for a few hundred bucks just imagine what the army could do.
 
I think it's only a matter of time. I can't believe nobody in R&D is looking at this as a battlefield weapon. If hobbyists can throw stuff like this together for a few hundred bucks just imagine what the army could do.
What makes you think they're not? In fact, they already are, and they're already in use.
 
Here is one Russian quadrotor with a serious machine gun, good video explanation as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU

I've been in the movie business for about 20 years now, I do not believe this is real. Nicely rigged though.

Here's one more of a fun example of FPV drone shooting fireworks rockets and chasing people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL0zLHLMBVw

This video shows why these things will soon be well regulated. When people grow tired of making videos, it will only go down hill from there. Remember, once upon a time, you could buy a Thompson sub-machine gun in a hardware store.
 
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I've been in the movie business for about 20 years now, I do not believe this is real. Nicely rigged though.

Of course it was a joke, but we are getting to the point where quadrotors can stand more and more one-time explosive pressure thanks to various stabilization mechanisms. There are also some gun-like mechanisms which are pretty deadly when shot but the backforce is not so strong.

One option is to use rockets which take time to accelerate and don't throw the drones off balance so much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToUfpfllqdQ
 
Just wait.

People have already played around with attaching guns to RC aircraft. Inevitably someone will strap some explosives or a gun to one and carry out some kind of attack somewhere. The day that happens, the regulators will care very much.

The question is how the heck are you really going to regulate a little piece of styrofoam with some propellers/motors/electronics attached to it? Sure you can write some regulations but what's the chance of actually being able to enforce anything?


 
So I spend the past week in Vegas and happened across a store that sales drones and found out some interesting information. This location only had the phalcon drones(the phalcon 2 shot the video) it was a very small store in container park.

I got to talking with the sales rep and was asking him if they have been having issues with the faa, municipalities, etc cracking down on their use. He told me not really. He said that their was a firmware release the keeps the drones from flying near airports.. Basically they categorize airports into two classes. Depending on which class the airport is in they have a 1.5 or 5 mile no-fly parameter around them. I have often wondered how it was going to play out when someone took one of these drones and wanted so "cool" footage of a jet taking off at the end of a runway somewhere.

I found this page on their site that has a video and a list of airports.

http://www.dji.com/fly-safe/category-mc
 
That is a "feature" on the newer Phantom firmware. It is a horrible incomplete list of airports. There is no thought or rationality behind it. It's a decent step in some direction, but far from a meaningful solution. And it is only activated in a GPS guided flight mode. If you're flying in manual, it is not going to restrict you.
 
That is a "feature" on the newer Phantom firmware. It is a horrible incomplete list of airports. There is no thought or rationality behind it. It's a decent step in some direction, but far from a meaningful solution. And it is only activated in a GPS guided flight mode. If you're flying in manual, it is not going to restrict you.

Agreed. I noticed they are missing a lot of airports. I cant believe that Love Field (DAL) is not on the list. That is Southwests main hub in Dallas.

I didn't know if the GPS was always on and would validate that you are not in a restricted area even in manual flight. I have never operated one but that is what the guy was suggesting. Of course you never can trust the guy trying to sale you something! :nono:

When they set out to implement this feature I don't understand why they didn't restrict all Class B, C, D airspace instead of compiling their own list. Seems like a lot of assumed overhead to me.
 
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When they set out to implement this feature I don't understand why they didn't restrict all Class B, C, D airspace instead of compiling their own list. Seems like a lot of assumed overhead to me.

Why just airports with controlled airspace? Why not all airports? Having had to do a go around in the past due to people flying an RC plane at the departure end of an uncontrolled airport before, I would really rather people keep their drones and planes away from airports.
 
I would really rather people keep their drones and planes away from airports.

Many uncontrolled fields happily share the airspace between piloted airplanes, drones and R/C models. It's an open air for all of us to share. If both sides are well educated it works out pretty well. Being grumpy does not help with that education or good relations between different parties.
 
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