UAS
Sensor Selection and Placement
The
Parrot Disco provides exceptional quality video and photography for its
price. This fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle (UAV) weighs 1.6 pounds and is constructed from lightweight flexible
plastic foam. Its single rear propeller
is positioned in the rear and its propulsion system is strong enough to propel
the UAV up to 50 miles per hour for up to 45 minutes (Goldman, 2016). Exteroceptive and proprioceptive sensory
equipment includes an air data pitot static system for airspeed, an
accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and GPS for navigation. The Control Hub and Universal Computer Kit or
CHUCK allows the Parrot Disco to be hand-launched while it autonomously ascends
to 50 feet and circles until it receives commands.
Command
and control of the Parrot Disco is semi-autonomous and can be flown by
beginners. Command and control is provided
by a First Person View (FPV) headset and the Skycontroller 2 which is a smaller
design of the original Skycontroller. With
a latency of about 250 ms from the UAV to ground control, the Parrot
Cockpitglasses provide a FPV full High Definition (HD) video and still
photographs (Goldman, 2016). Sensor
placement of the HD camera is in the absolute nose of the aircraft and
advantageous to FPV flight through the Cockpitglasses. Since a smartphone is connected by USB it is
also positioned to face the smartphone camera downward and view the ground
through the rear camera position. I have
chosen the Parrot disco for the placement of the forward and rear cameras with
constant forward flight providing multiple angles.
It
has some differences from flying a multi-rotor UAV. Since it does not have Vertical Takeoff and
Landing (VTOL) capability and needs to constantly fly forward, it will need
more open space to fly. It can be landed
manually or automatic but it has no sense-and-avoid system so you could crash
it if you are in close proximity to terrain and obstacles. With a range of 1.2 miles and a user-set
geofence it will fly back to home if it goes off course. It is an overall different flying experience
than multirotor and takes great video for its $1300 price including
cockpitclasses and controller.
The
Walkera F210 is a multirotor VTOL quadcopter racing drone. It is a FPV UAV that provides real-time HD
video through its 5.8G double antennas.
It is ready to fly upon purchase and includes the FPV 3D glasses and F3
flight controller. Smooth transmission
of real-time flight data can be achieved up to 800 from controller to drone (Walkera F210, 2017). The F210 has a modular design and crash resistant
carbon fiber airframe. In manual mode the user can adjust the angle of the
camera with a framing angle up to 120 degrees.
What may set this racer apart is the 700TVL Night Vision
camera and flood lights. The
photosensitive adjust to the available brightness. It is advertised to be flown day or
night. Its camera is placed at the front
and can angle up and down up to 120 degrees as the operator prefers. I am not an expert on drones but at a price
of $399, it sounds like it has good value.
References
Goldman, J. (2016). Parrot Disco fixed-wing drone priced
at $1,300, lands in September (hands-on). CNET. Retrieved 10 April
2017, from https://www.cnet.com/products/parrot-disco/
Walkera F210 5.8GHZ Complete RTF FPV Racing Drone with
DEVO7 Remote Control & Battery Included. (2017). Dronenerds.com.
Retrieved 10 April 2017, from
http://www.dronenerds.com/products/racing-quads/ready-to-fly-kits/walkera-f210-5-8ghz-rtf-fpv-racing-drone-with-devo7-remote-walkeraf210-dronenerds.html?gclid=CPbHpvXvmNMCFY6EswodIKQEMg
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