Drone Review and Reality Check: Capabilities, Flight Times, Costs, Best Brands - Interview with Michael Nash

Separating drone realities from drone hype is critical in an area that is seeing rapid development of technology, applications, and a legal framework that supports more uses of drones. Welcome to an interview with Michael Nash, Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate with extensive experience in robotics (including drones).  In this interview, Nash provides a reality check as he details the capabilities of drones, their limitations, and discusses their potential.

Michael will be presenting a paper, "Drone Reality Check .. .What Drones Can't, Won't, and Flat-Out Refuse to Do" at the AAPG Workshop: New Opportunities with Drones:  New Needs,  FAA Rule Changes, New Technologies, Dec. 1-2, Houston, Texas.

1. What is your name and your relationship to drones?
My name is Michael Nash.  I am a doctoral candidate at the University of Oklahoma in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in robotics.  I have experience in aerospace system design and control systems and have practical experience combining the two in the design and development of drones from raw materials and mathematical modeling by integration as embedded firmware performing the sensor fusion to filtering to actuation.

DJI Phantom 3

2.  What is a drone, from your point of view? How is a drone not quite what the public generally thinks it is?
The common conception places drones as somewhere in between automaton and remotely-operated vehicle.  Most of the time they are imagined to be masters of their environments that live aloft. 
The way people should define a "drone" is between a hobby RC aircraft and self-piloting aircraft following GPS waypoints.  Both capable of collecting data with lightweight sensors, but none capable of spending a significant amount of time in the air (unless specially built by an aerospace/mechanical engineer).

3.  In your opinion, what are some of the most realistic claims that are being made about what drones will do for you?
Drones can provide non-flying humans with an "eye in the sky".

4.  What are some of the most outlandish?
Delivery drones come to mind.

5.  Please list and very briefly describe the types of challenges facing drone pilots?
Pilots of drones are pilots; piloting takes skill that takes time to develop.  The lay-man cannot pick up drone controls for the first time and fly a drone effectively.  Hundreds of hours of practice on a particular platform (be it rotorcraft or fixed wing) stand between the first-time enthusiast and competency.  Ironically, pilots needn't be college educated but can often be found at the local middle or high school.

If the entity wishing to deploy the drone does not wish to employ an experienced pilot, they should plan for repairs.  For rotary-wing aircraft such as helicopters and (tri, quad, hex, octo)x-copters, and propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft, nearly all crashes will break propellers.  Fixed-wing aircraft will frequently lose wings or receive damage to control surfaces; x-copters will break motor shafts, motors, and arms.  The electronics are fairly robust, but very often get pulled.  The most severe crashes will damage the on-board battery resulting in fiery explosion.

Hobby drones purchased for less than $100 made solely for flying in a gymnasium or low-wind field will be more resistant to damage and can possibly crash 100 times needing only propeller replacements, but they will not be capable of carrying special sensor systems (max payload likely less than 1kg).  Drones capable of a significant payload (yet still less than 5kg) will be less user crash-friendly and can be $1500 up. An example is the newest of the DJI Phantom series, the Phantom 4, with a fly time of 30 minutes.

No multirotor aircraft will fly for an hour (see the information at bottom).

No radio controlled aircraft will be controllable outside a couple hundred meters; if the controller signal is not attenuated, you won't be able to see it.  Professionals may argue this, but professionals don't need to use their drones to collect scientific data.

6.  Please list and very briefly describe the challenges facing the people programming the drone?  (please explain how a drone is or is not a robot)
If one is personally programming the drone's logic, then the skill can be shaved with programmed responses such as low-altitude altitude hold using distance sensors (such as infrared or ultrasonic rangefinders to continually monitor how far the ground is), interpreting pitch and roll relative to global positioning using GPS, or even converting the controller to an input to select waypoints defined as global coordinates to which the drone could travel.  None of these include interaction with sensory equipment, though for the most part it could be effective in a fixed position.

7.  What are some of the challenges involved in working with drone-derived data?
Drone derived data has its own unique set of challenges. 
The most significant is noise.  If your sensors are analog signals being measured by on-board computer, you will be struggling to shield the sensor lines from electromagnetic interference from the motors.

Parrot BeBop Drone

The high current pulses can also wreak havoc on magnetometers. 
Propellers or motors that are slightly off-balance will cause vibrations in the entire craft that can reduce image resolution on cameras at best, and rattle loose hardware at worst. 

Review of drones (quadcopters) with flight times and prices

A google search for "high flight time quadcopter", result #1 (for me):  http://www.dronesglobe.com/guide/long-flight-time/

Quadcopter Price (USD) with Flight time (min)

Holy Stone HS170
$40-$50 6-8 minutes

MJX X101C $140 8-10
Parrot AR Drone 2.0
$270 Up to 20 minutes

Traxxas 7908 Aton
$400 14 minutes

DJI Phantom 3 Std
$500 20 minutes

Chroma Camera Drone CGO2+
$600 30 minutes

Yuneec Q500+ Typhoon
$1400 20-25 minutes

3DR Solo Drone
$800 20-22 minutes

DJI Phantom 4 Pro
$1400  30 minutes

DJI Phantom 3 Pro.
$800 25 minutes

DJI Inspire 1 T600
$2000 25 minutes

From the next link, "5 Longest Flight Time Drones to Buy in 2016!" (http://www.topdronesforsale.org/longest-flight-time-drones/)

Quadcopter name with Flight time (in minutes)

DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone
15 minutes

Parrot Bebop Drone
18 minutes

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced
23 minutes

Yuneec Q500 Typhoon Quadcopter
25 minutes

Chroma Flight-Ready Drone
30 minutes

Would you like to learn more?  Working with Drone Data 101 Course | 30 November 2016.  This course is a primer on processing UAS acquired data, and leveraging it in common business platforms such as ArcGIS, Google Earth, SketchFAB and others. In this course the participants will learn about the types of data that can be acquired by drones, how to render that data into 3D models, and more…Register today.

Drones on Verge of Boom: What You Need to Know to Make Money with Drones (UAS) -- Interview with Marc Johnson, skynce

Operating drones is about to get a lot easier with the implementation of Part 107 of FAA regulations. With that change, and the low cost of entry, we may see a step-change in implementation, and applications will be limited only by the imagination. Welcome to an interview with Marc Johnson, an engineer with 15 years in the oil industry, who builds and deploys drones for many different commercial applications.  

1.  What is your name and your relationship to drones?

My name is Marc Johnson and I have spent 15 years in the Oil and Gas industry applying my passion for technology working with data acquisition, control systems and software.  I love helping people with big problems to solve and take pride in delivering successful outcomes implementing technology.

I founded skynce, LLC a year ago in order to offer consulting services to organizations implementing Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS/drones) into their businesses.  Technology improvements resulting in better drones at lower prices have made UAS adoption practical for a number of commercial applications.  I work with my customers to implement the programs and technologies needed to execute UAS missions.  When we move into the part 107 regulatory regime skynce, LLC will begin offering our customers Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) services for hire in addition to the technology consulting services we currently provide.

2.  When and how did you get interested in drones?

I have always been excited by UAS technology, I possess a mechanical engineering and computer science background and I have a passion for a wide variety of fantastic machines.

A couple of years ago I saw a $50 drone in the store and couldn’t refuse.  I just couldn’t believe that someone could build a flying machine for that price.  I had a lot of fun with that little drone in its short life, and like many of the drones that would follow it became a casualty in the name of furthering the science.

Intrigued by first experience I started investigating and was thrilled to find like-minded enthusiasts who were building their own drones out of relatively inexpensive components in their garages.  Being an engineer, I of course thought I could do better and within a week I had parts on order to build a drone for myself. 

Over the next year I would build a number drones for a number of applications. What really got me excited was using them for mapping and 3D reconstruction applications and I built a number of prototypes in my garage capable of capturing the required data. I was lucky enough to have a friend with a similar passion for flying machines with a large pasture that over time would turn to a veritable graveyard of drones.   We learned so much about the technology as we built, flew, crashed and repaired our flying machines. 

About the time I was getting my mapping prototypes airborne DJI released the Phantom, and it really changed everything.  You could buy a $1000 drone at WalMart that, when coupled with the right software, was able to create detailed maps and structural models.   Its introduction has enabled a whole new class of user. Cost effective and easy to use, its introduction is as significant as the personal computer or the Ford Model T.  (A good number of our readers (or their kids) probably already have one of these).

I found the inspiration to found skynce, LLC after an aspiring drone pilot came to me with a DJI Phantom 3 not quite sure what he could do with it.  He had heard about my experiments with mapping and was eager to learn more, I was eager to test the new Phantom so we spent a couple of days together in which we experimented with his new toy. The imagery I will present in this interview was captured during our time collaborating and learning.

1457371474_THOMASMARCJOHNSONINSPIRE by DroneDeploy on Sketchfab

https://skfb.ly/LKCF

I founded skynce, LLC, to help individuals and businesses understand and implement UAS technology, with a focus on how to utilize the acquired data for mapping and 3D reconstruction purposes.

4.  What is the regulatory environment like these days? Do you see any changes in the near future? If so, what will the impact be?

We are on the cusp of a significant change in regulations that is going to reduce a lot of barriers to entry that are currently in place to organizations seeking to implement UAS technology.    Specifically at the end of August the FAA will be putting into effect the new part 107 regulations.  These new regulations will lower the regulatory threshold to commercially operate drones while maintaining the importance of safety in operations.  A new class of commercial users will begin employing UAS technology as a routine function of their jobs.

While I am excited about the forthcoming part 107 regulatory regime that will be in place at the end of this month in April of 2015 the FAA in the face of media sensationalism about the potential for misuse introduced the burdensome process for obtaining FAA 333 exemptions for commercial drone use.

Under the current regulatory regime companies seeking to fly UAS commercially have to get a FAA 333 exemption, and all but the best-funded startups can afford the lawyers to get one in put in place.  Further the Pilot in Command of operations had to hold a sports pilot's license at a minimum to operate the UAS.  Reducing the number of projects that could be completed in a commercially viable manner.

As we see part 107 introduced in September, a lot of the regulatory overhead will be reduced for commercial operators.  Remote Pilots in Command will need to be certified under the new regime, but the requirement to carry a sports pilot's license will be dropped.   With these lower barriers to entry we are going to see professionals in a variety of markets adopt drone usage as a part of their day to day jobs. Insurance adjusters, realtors, landscapers, architects and yes, even geologists, are going to be adopting this technology.

Changing Regulations and Operators Demographic

3.  What are some of the areas of most dramatic growth in drone uses? 

If you look at the first 1000 333 Exemptions issued by the FAA you can get some insight into the early adopters looking to employ UAS as a part of their business.  As we move to the new regulatory regime we are going to see increased usage in all these market segments. 

A breakdown of the first 1000 FAA 333 exemptions

Real Estate shows up pretty high on the list of exemptions granted, it will soon be the norm that 3D models like this will be included in real estate listings.


https://skfb.ly/LYWw

1458145805_THOMASMARCOPENPIPELINE by DroneDeploy on Sketchfab

Aerial Surveying is also one of the most filed exemption types.  Drones provide a means to capture up to date imagery of an area at a relatively low cost.  Further this updated data can be easily imported into mapping applications.  When we look at lof of the activities associated with resource development and construction these are both areas where data currency matters. 

The data collected for mapping applications can also be used to generate 3D models of terrain and other structures using a technique called photogrammetry. The resultant models can be used to complete tasks such as volumetric analysis and the generation of topographic maps.

UAS acquired orthomosaic map overlaid on dated satellite imagery

UAS acquired orthomosaic map overlaid on dated satellite imagery

Topographic map generated from UAS acquired data.

3D Structural model generated from UAS acquired data.

Agriculture is another an area where we are already seeing widespread adoption of UAS, use of specialized cameras and Normalized Differential Vegetation Indexing (NDVI) is enabling farmers to really take a bird's eye view of their fields and identify areas that need remediation, prescribe corrective action and then monitor success of corrective actions taken.

NDVI Map Generated from Drone Acquired data.

6.  How can an individual or a small business that focuses on natural resources development and geographical information get started? How best can they team up?

The first step is to really get educated about how drones can be used to support your business, and how the availability of current low cost aerial data will impact how you do business.

What you will find is that once you start exploring implementing this technology you will realize that finding a certified pilot and buying a drone is only a small piece of the drone adoption equation.

An organization needs to understand how it will plan, execute in compliance, process and ultimately use the data they acquire from drones.  It needs to understand the investments in technology, training and compliance required to fulfill their vision.

I work with my clients to help them understand and implement the programs and technologies needed to achieve their vision of drone adoption in their business.

7.  What kinds of drones are best to use and how much do they cost?

Earlier in this article I gave pretty high praise to DJI and there Phantom Drone, and all the imagery I have used in this article was captured using these devices that are extremely accessible given current pricing.

With that said a Drone should be selected as a function of what you are trying to accomplish.  The phantom is a great tool for surveying small areas of interest, for larger areas such as those encountered in agricultural applications fixed wing drones are often better suited for the job.  There are a quite few options for commercial fixed wing drones available with mission specific payloads. 

Further the cost of the drone is really only a small part of the investment required to leverage UAS technology in your business. Software, insurance, certification, location, size all factor into total operation cost. These things all need to be considered when planning a UAS operation.

8.  What do you see as the best opportunities in the medium-term?

Once we move into the new regulatory regime in September we are going to see explosive growth in all the fields mentioned above. A lot of projects that were not cost effective suddenly will be, further there will be less regulatory overhead. For a lot of business the next few months will be a key time to adopt this technology to gain a competitive advantage or to just keep up.

This interview was first published on the AAPG Learn! Blog by Susan Nash
Please stay tuned for information on workshops - How to Make Money with Drones