Drone Archives - Argyll Free Press

New Intelligent Energy Drone Fuel Cell Boosts Range

December 15, 2015 By Kenneth Scott Leave a Comment

Intelligent Energy is a British company whose objective is to provide advanced and efficient power sources, especially fuel cells.

It has been developing such technologies since its establishment in 2001, when it acquired Advanced Power Sources LTD, a company composed of researchers from Loughborough University (UK).

The main interest of the Loughborough University research and development team (which subsequently became Advanced Power Sources LTD), as well as that of the present-day Intelligent Energy was and is the development of Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM) fuel cells.

But the company’s academic-born past and its cutting edge technology focus means it’s interested in developing more efficient fuel cells in other domains as well, with the company holding more than 400 patents submitted or awarded by now.

For which they have prototypes or intend to develop them soon.

Like, for example, the new Intelligent Energy drone fuel cell which they recently announced.

It is a hydrogen fuel cell which can extend drone flight-time from the approximately 20 minutes that most drones are capable of today to hours.

Intelligent Energy have also promised that their upgrade will reduce charging time from the 1-2 hours usually required to mere minutes!

These results were achieved after 14 months of experimenting with drones in two power configurations: fuel cells and hybrid power systems consisting of a battery and a fuel cell that constantly charges that battery.

Both systems performed very well, and clearly better than the currently used ones which rely only on a battery.

The company said they will keep testing between these two systems to decide which is the most efficient and desirable overall.

The best part? The hydrogen fuel cell tested in both systems works by a chemical process which convert hydrogen into electricity. And there’s only one “waste” to this conversion: water! So, no pollution takes place with Intelligent Energy’s fuel cells.

Still, although the hydrogen battery is energy efficient and reliable, there is a tiny downside. It is not currently very good at quickly pumping the energy burst required when the flight conditions change quickly, for example in the case of a strong gust of head-wind that the drone might experience suddenly.

That’s why the company is testing the hybrid system as well, in which the conventional battery would compensate in such cases.

Still, if they are not ruling out the possibility of solving this minor problem and in the end presenting a solely hydrogen fuel cell powered version.

More information on these developments will be given by Intelligent Energy at the CES (Consumer Technology Association) meeting in 5-9 January in Las Vegas.

So, if you’re a drone owner you might want to follow-up on that.

Image source: 1.

Peek in your neighbor’s yard with the DJI beginner drone

August 6, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Ever wondered what decorating style your neighbor chose for his garden? The new DJI beginner drone is quickly becoming known as highly accessible, intuitive and easy to control.

The DJI Phantom 3 Standard was designed with first time drone pilots in mind. Based on the DJI Phantom 3 Professional and Phantom 3 Advanced, the drone manufacturer strove to come out with a new model that would enable drone newbies to explore their curiosities without having to break the bank.

Let’s take a look at the more technical stuff. The DJI beginner drone can record clips at thirty frames per second with a high quality ninety four degree distortion free lens. You’ll get 12 megapixels photos both in DNG RAW and JPG. And you can use your wireless connection to see almost in real time what your camera sees with the DJI Go app.

This sounds like a futuristic description from a sci fi book by Philip K Dick, but with drones becoming more and more accessible to the public, we’re probably going to have many of them flying over our heads soon.

DJI’s latest model also comes with an updated remote controller. This is an upgraded version of the DJI Phantom 2 Vision remote controller. As newly added features, it has an incorporated wifi range extender as well as a wheel that allows the users to angle the camera faster and easier.

What else does DJI Phantom 3 Standard include? It has GPS stabilization and can fly for twenty five minutes due to the interchangeable Intelligent Flight Batteries that were especially created for the Phantom 3 series.

The “Follow Me” intelligent feature of the DJI beginner drone will have the Phantom 3 Standard following the user or an object chosen by the pilot. With the Waypoint Navigation the user will be able to set a route for the drone with various points of interest.

The DJI beginner drone will proceed to fly in circles around the requested object and will frame it in the center of the shot. You’ll be left with a beautiful cinematic video that is almost impossible to capture manually.

The quadcopter Standard version of the DJI drone costs $799 and can shoot 2.7k video, surpassing the 1080p video clips his predecessor, the Phantom 3 Advanced, can shoot.

If you’ve been planning a wedding and you just need that aerial shot in your wedding movie, then you might want to look for a photographer who owns the Phantom 3 DJI drone. And if you feel more adventurous, you can try it yourself, trusting the accessibility and stability of the DJI beginner drone.

Image sources 1, 2, 3

Facebook To Start Testing Their Aquila Solar Powered Drone

July 31, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Last year, Facebook started teasing the world with its plans of building a little plane that would deliver internet to the masses. Now, the big F is preparing to test their Aquila solar powered drone.

The Aquila solar powered drone is a 140-foot self driving plane that will deliver internet, for free, from altitudes of 60,000 to 90,000 feet.

More than 10 percent of the world’s population doesn’t have the infrastructure required to use basic internet, and Facebook’s plan is to solve this issue.

The drone, or UAV, however you want to put it, has a wingspan similar to the well known Boeing 737, and it weighs just about 880 pounds.

It will be able to patrol a selected area for 90 days, relying solely on energy from the Sun. But this doesn’t mean that it isn’t costly. Facebook employs balloons to get the Aquila solar powered drone to a specific altitude, and then it sets it loose.

Aquila will be able to fly above commercial airliners, and thunderstorms, and at night, to conserve energy, it will drop at 60,000 feet.

Aquila drones will be able to fly in a circle in a radius of 3 kilometers, and it will be able to offer free internet within a 50 kilometer range.

It’s a little bit confusing at the moment how the Federal Aviation Administration will control this kind of air traffic.

The Aquila solar powered drone is part of Facebook’s plan of connecting the world. Through their internet.org, the company has brought free basic internet service to over a billion users, in 17 countries across the world.

Their main goal is to bring the internet to underdeveloped countries that don’t have the infrastructure required e.g fiber optic cables, microwave repeaters and cell towers.

Facebook wants to start testing their UAV later this year, but we don’t know a precise date.

Facebook has built a prototype, and has tested it in a plant in the UK, but the company hasn’t disclosed any information.

Also part of the internet.org connect-the-world project, Facebook is developing an improved way of transmitting data. They managed to go up to 10 Gbps, which, when comparing to the previous system that was capable of transmitting at 1 Gbps, is ten times faster.

FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg is aware that offering free internet to people in underdeveloped countries will also be profitable for Facebook, but he notes that this isn’t profit-driven, and it’s mainly inclined on helping developing countries, and their economies.

When you have access to the world’s knowledge only at a mouse click’s distance, you can grow better and faster.

Image Source: 1, 2,

GoPro is Building a Spherical Camera Rig for Virtual Reality

May 28, 2015 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

I was beginning to wonder when GoPro would announce to the world that they too are tackling virtual reality – in some way or another.

This doesn’t come as a surprise at all, and it really seems the logical thing to do when you’re known as one of the industry’s best camera manufacturers.

Not only virtual reality, but also drones. These two things are in the company’s sights. The spherical camera rig that they just announced will be built with virtual reality usage in mind, and another model is being built to offer the best view possible when mounted on drones.

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman announced these two thrilling projects at the Code conference during an interview. Just imagine the interviewer’s face – Oh, so, you’re going to revolutionize the industry once again?

I would have had the biggest beaming grin on my face after hearing the news.

We already knew that GoPro was aiming at building a spherical camera, because they announced it last month when they also bought Kolor – a virtual reality company that is known for bundling up footage to offer the supreme VR experience. The hints were there, and as I said before, this comes as no surprise.

Take a look at the footage released last month. Remember that you can rotate the view!

That was just extraordinary. For a man that is really really scared of heights, GoPro is letting me experience something that I couldn’t have done all by myself.

The six-camera spherical array will be available for purchase later this year, and the GoPro Quadcopter will be released sometime in 2016 – there is no official date at this moment. There are rumours that the GoPro done will cost something between $500 and $1000.

I would definitely buy a Quadcopter from GoPro so I could use it to take some fabulous footage, but for $1000 – worst case scenario – I would rather take a trip to Italy, and experience beauty with my own eyes.

What are your plans? Do you have any intention in buying these new toys?

Image Source: 1, 2

Lily the Selfie Drone

May 14, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The Lily drone is the perfect selfie machine that can follow you anywhere – it has about 20 minutes of flight time, and that is more than enough to take superb pictures.

It can take photos, and also video footage from the air while it follows you skying, biking, climbing a mountain, or just simply sitting on your couch and eating your microwaved frozen pizza rolls.

This consumer drone seems to be a big hit, and at an affordable price too – $499.

It’s going to ship starting February of 2016 according to the official website.

It’s hard to take a proper selfie and also maintain that duckface pose, and we, the human race, seriously need a high-tech machine that can solve this problem. What? Did you say end world hunger, and poverty? Don’t be silly, sharing pics of you doing ordinary things is more important than alleviating the suffering of the poor.

But I digress. Lily is actually a really great machine that can help out young up and coming filmmakers to get that perfect shot for their début movie.

Lily’s camera is quite top notch, and it can even film at 1080p. Down below you can read some tech specifications:

Video Resolution: 1080p 60 fps / 720p 120 fps
Video FOV: 94º
Video Format: H.264 codec, .mp4 file format
Photo Resolution: 12 MP
Digital gimballing
Image stabilization
Fixed Focus
Waterproof
Non-Removable Battery

With these features it can stay in the air for about 20 minutes, and after that it will require you to put it down, and re-charge it – 2 hours for a full charge is really not that bad. It also has 4 hours of life-time if you plan on not flying the little bugger.

In order to not demolish buildings, signs, and people, Lily has a top speed of 40 km per hour, and it can go between 1.75 meters and 15 meters up in the air.

The drone can track only the person holding, or wearing the tracking device, so your plans are foiled once again Mister Internet Detective – no, but seriously, it would be horrible if you were able to task Lily to track some random dude; from the perspective of the random dude, I think I would go berserk and try to land it “smoothly”.

Also, Lily makes some noise, so spying on your neighbours is out of the question. Their FAQ page states that – “Lily is always pointing at you and less than 100ft from you. Also, Lily’s motors make noise, so other people will most likely notice Lily and quickly figure out where you are. You are better off climbing up a tree and using binoculars.”

Although the price at the moment is $499, when it will hit the street it will almost double, so pre-order a Lilly now if you don’t want to pay up to $999.

Lily was created by a group of graduates from the Berkeley University in California – “Our passion for personal robotics led us to believe that there is a better way to capture and share the world around us.” chief executive Antoine Balaresque on Medium has stated.

I’ll definitely buy one for myself. I’m not a skier, nor a snowboarder, but I would love a drone that documents my trips to the market, or just hanging around in the park.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

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