Drones are proving to be more popular than ever. So join David Crookes as he looks at some of the best models and the legal problems surrounding unmanned aerial vehicles
There may well come a time, perhaps in the very near future, when a major city will see the whole sky blacken above it as drone after drone takes to the air. It will be reminiscent of the looming shadow cast by the spaceship over New York in the film Independence Day, only this shadow will be fragmented; a buzzing mass of whirring quadcopters battling for supremacy in the sky.
As prices fall, and more and more people become aware of them, drones have become incredibly popular over the past few years. They’re infiltrating all corners of popular culture with kids now set to enjoy toys like the new ‘Drone Barbie’, which can fly around on a quadcopter, and scores of viewers settling down to watch a futuristic drone combat show on CBBC called Airmageddon.
Combined with numerous art installations and compelling adultdriven races, drones makes up a soaring trend which shows no sign of slowing down.The Consumer Electronics Show in January was proof of that, but the momentum has been building for years. Numerous new models were being showcased across the event, bringing with them some exciting new innovations.
In many ways, drones are the successors to the radio-controlled model aircraft that hobbyists manoeuvre using a handheld radio transmitter to communicate with an on-board receiver. Yet they are easier to fly, they combine with a wider range of interests and they come in so many different shapes and sizes that there really is something out there for everyone.
Great For Photographers
Perhaps the most common use for drones is aerial photography since they’re able to deliver amazing shots from high in the sky. Many people strap a GoPro camera to their drones (or buy quadcopters with a camera built-in) and while it has led to lot of height-advantage shots of houses and events, it has also led to the growth of some extreme-action videos. A quick glimpse on YouTube will show you exactly what we mean.
So if photography is your thing, then consider the DJI Phantom 3 Standard, which is not only a great looking machine but also easy to fly – and therefore perfect for beginners. It comes with a 12 megapixel camera with a f/2.8 prime lens and a 1/2.3” sensor that can take JPEG or DNG RAW files if you want the very highest, no-compromise quality from your aerial shots.
It can also shoot 2.7K video – which is close to three times the clarity of HD – at 30 frames per second, as well as 1080p and 720p. Even better, you can control all of this using the DJI Go app on a smartphone or tablet and then instantly share the results via social media.
What we especially like about the DJI Phantom 3 Standard is that it has a 94° field of view, which is perfect for those who don’t want to take photos that look as if they’ve been taken through a fisheye lens. In line with higher-end drones, there is image stabilisation for less migraineinducing footage.
All that said, there is a new drone in town that is even better: the brand new DJI Phantom 3 4K, which was announced at the CES. As the name suggests, it upgrades the camera to a 30fps 4K model. At £699, it’s a lotmore expensive – around £300 more than the Standard is going for these days – but it certainly gives you food for thought.
Before you do splash the cash, it’s worth checking out websites such as Dronestagram (www.dronestagr.am) to get a flavour of what a drone is capable of doing. These sites are packed with images usually broken down into various categories ranging from urban, country, industrial, pro, amateur, sports and video and they are nearly all inspiring. Who knows, you may even want to jump straight in at the deep-end with a drone like the Turbo Ace Matrix. It may be more than £2,000, but it comes with an 8” monitor and it can stay airbourne for 25 minutes and fly for 1.2 miles, which is more than enough time to allow you to perfect even the furthest away of shots.
In fact, range is an important consideration for any drone. You don’t want to suddenly lose reception as you’re gearing up for a great shot just because you’ve lost sight of your drone’s distance. Equally you have to think about the battery life. Lots of streaming and flying can seriously drain the juice so look out for the manufacturers’ claims and read reviews carefully online before stumping up for something.
Perfect For Racing
As well as photography, another great use for drones has begun to emerge relatively recently: first-person drone racing. It’s a highly exciting arena for the technology with competitors wearing a headset that receives a wireless live stream from the drone they are flying and beaming the footage straight into their peepers. As the drone is flown at speed users get to see what the quadcopter is viewing, giving the sensation of actually sitting inside the cockpit rather than holding a radio controller and moving a couple of sticks to navigate it through the air.
Of course, given there is expensive equipment being used, there is a great element of risk of damage with this so it’s not one for beginners. For some, however, the danger is part and parcel of the fun. Crashes are par for the course, certainly when you first get started, but even experienced hands will see their drones smashed into the ground from time-to-time usually as a result of some over-zealous racing. Some groups take it further and set up courses that are packed with hazards and fun twists and turns. Indeed, the CBBC programme we mentioned earlier taps into this and it’s only a matter of time before adult television shows sense the opportunity too.
In the meantime a few leagues have been set up together with the UK Drone Nationals, where the best pit their skills against each other. There is hope of following in the footsteps of the Drone Racing League in the US, which is already lucrative. A World Drone Grand Prix in Dubai has also been amazing people with its speed and freestyle categories – flown by heavily sponsored competitors hoping for a $1 million prize. There are some who believe drone racing will be as big as videogame e-sports which, for live streaming games service Twitch, already shares a pot of some $3.8 billion each year so perhaps now is time to get a slice of the action.
The Walkera Furious 320 is one to consider since it is specifically geared up for racing, not only able to reach speeds up 75 miles per hour, but doing so with great stability and control. It has a small pitch and it is able to rotate, roll and flip with ease while recording every moment with its 12 million pixel HD lens that has a shooting AF speed of up 0.1 seconds. It can be controlled using the open-source system CC3D and even record its return point and figure how much time you can have in the air before it needs to head home (automatically making its way there if you don’t take action).
The good thing about this drone is that it has a modular design and that enables users to switch out any components that may become damaged. Since there is a certain skill to drone racing this will come in handy for those mishaps. We also like that this machine costs less than £600. It’s a steep price, for sure, but not as expensive as some racing drones can be.
Having said that, there are some lower costs alternatives and one of the coolest things we’ve seen for a while is the ByRobot Petrone Drone Fighter, which not only allows for first person video streaming to a headset but adds a host of interactive features too – not least lasers than can be used to shoot at each other.
The drones were unveiled at the CES and they are aimed at older children – but that’s not to say adults can’t have a lot of fun with them. Looking like an evil bug with four propellers, they have an accompanying app and on-board barometer, camera, accelerometer and gyroscope, meaning they are fully equipped for some serious sky warfare.
There are certainly lots of little quirks. Petrone Drone Fighters can auto-hover and are fully programmable, making them perfect for hobbyists. What’s more, by running your finger over the smartphone app, you can make them fly in a set pattern, and it has voice control so you can deliver direct instructions such as “follow me” too. But it’s the ability to shoot that takes it to another level, bringing a straightforward gaming element to real-life drone flying, as players seek to amass as many points as possible while watching their flying machines do battle.
Practical Drones
Even so, we know there are lots of people who prefer practicality when it comes to their technology and the good news is that drones are great for checking out hard to reach places. Many drones such as the new forthcoming JIYI Robotics X380 have obstacle avoidance, so if you’re looking to take it upwards to look at your roof tiles, for instance, you can rest assured it’s not going to go crashing into your chimney and cause further damage. Indeed, obstacle avoidance is fast becoming a much-wanted feature within the drone market because it offers some extra protection and makes it less likely you’re going to damage the machine, property or, most importantly, people.
One drone that is making a feature of its difficulty to crash is the Parrot Disco. With its wing-shape, it looks different to most of the other drones we’re discussing and it doesn’t require any piloting skills. Once it’s thrown into the air, it can be controlled on a tablet using the Flight Plan app.
It has three-axis digital stabilisation and the all-too-crucial autopilot mode that lets you play around with the pitch while avoiding any stalling: the computer will control the drone and simply let you do what you need to, which is take images. The Loiter mode will ensure the drone is stable enough in one place for proper examinations. The only problem is that you’ll have to wait until later in the year to get your hands on it.
Right here and now, though, we are seeing drones being used for lots of real-life situations. There is delivery drone technology being pioneered by companies as diverse as Amazon and Domino’s and some professionals such as Redcopters.co.uk are already using drones to carry out aerial roof and chimney inspections. Flying around a building is far quicker than having to get some ladders out or erect a platform, after all.
However, this sort of use has not gone unnoticed by criminals, unfortunately. A report in The Independent newspaper said gangs were using drones to survey the roofs of churches in the search for lead potentially worth tens of thousands of pounds. It’s no surprise, though: criminality and drones do appear to have strong links.
The Dark Side
Late last year it emerged that the police in Tokyo had taken to buying interceptor drones in order to fly up to suspicious looking drones and catch them in a net. That’s because in Japan there is much paranoia about the use of drones for spying, and there is also worry that they will be used for terrorism. A drone carrying trace amounts of radioactive caesium was found in the city, which put the authorities on alert and planted the idea that a gang could one day use drones to wreak havoc.
The fear of drones even extends to companies looking to protect their valuable intellectual property as well. The producers of Star Wars: Episode VIII have, we’re told, bought in their own drones with the intention of targeting others that are hoping to grab spy footage by flying over the set of the much-anticipated new movie. Their caution is not unfounded, problems had arisen during the making of The Force Awakens that prompted a stronger response this time around. It conjures up images of drone wars with some scintillating duels in the sky. The reality will probably be more mundane but caught our imagination, it has.
Yet what about here in the UK? Well, police have been told to be on their guard. Officers have received 28-pages of guidance which, courtesy of a leak to the magazine Wired, was shown to lay down a series of instructions on how they should deal with them. Specifically, they are being warned to be on their guard for the potential use of drones for terrorism and they are told to ask to see any recorded footage – even though they know the user can actually refuse unless they are suspected of being a terrorist.
The guidelines also clearly state that they want users to be able see their drones at all times, though, so the police can arrest people who wear first person headsets and most likely will do if they feel you’re in a public place and potentially endangering others. One thing they won’t do, though, is snatch the controls out of your hand and attempt to land it. They’ll ask you to do that and will only do it themselves if they really, really have to.
The guidance was apparently necessary because of a growing number of complaints about drones, which means users should be careful when using them. Anyone operating a drone has to do so under the same legal considerations as those who fly model aircraft – and the key part of those regulations say that users must take care not to endanger life or property nor act in any reckless or negligent manner. The Civil Aviation Authority can prosecute people who fly drones illegally and that has to be a chief concern for anyone who is looking to operate one.
The regulations are laid down in the Air Navigation Order which you can view in full at tinyurl.com/gvkpmle. In general, they say drones have to be less than 20kg unless you are in a specific area of the UK such as ParcAberporth aerodrome in West Wales. You also need permission from the CAA if you plan to fly the aircraft on a commercial basis or fly a camera/surveillance fitted aircraft within 150 metres (492 feet) of a congested area and you will only be granted it if you can show that you are a competent operator.
You certainly can’t fly over organised gatherings of more than 1,000 people which puts the filming of many demos or concerts out of reach. And you can’t – as you’d imagine – fly drones over airports, high-security prisons, military sites or nuclear power plants (not that is has stopped some from trying anyway: there were 33 incidents of unmanned aircraft detected in or around prisons in England and Wales last year).
Drones with a camera always have to remain at least 50 metres (164ft) away from a person, building, structure or vehicle. Also, as we’ve mentioned before, the drone has to remain within the line of sight of the operator – as the police guidelines pointed out.
In practice, though, anyone using common sense will be left alone, and the rules are sensible enough to protect members of the public while allowing you to have a lot of fun. The key is to avoid invading people’s privacy and ensuring anywhere you fly is safe and appropriate – so, just good manners, basically. Taking your new drone for a look-see over next door’s fence when the owners are sunbathing would be wrong, and downright creepy if we’re honest, but it has been known to happen (in fact, a father was arrested last year when he shot down a drone in Louisville, Kentucky that he believed had been filming his daughter while she was sunbathing).
Future Hopes
While there are concerns about the growth of drone usage, as the months and years roll by it is hoped there will be a growing acceptance that this is technology that can do good. It could be that the UK follows America’s lead by issuing fines as high as $250,000 for anyone not registering drones with the Federal Aviation Administration but, as it stands, there is no need for such measures. Instead, what we are seeing are some major strides forward that could make drones a very positive part of our lives.
Amazon, for instance, has been regularly dishing out updates on its muchhyped drone-based delivery service, which it still looks like it wants to push ahead with. There is no firm roll-out date as yet, but it’s a technology leap that has the potential to revolutionise internet shopping. As it stands, the regulations wouldn’t allow them to be used legally, though, because they leave the eye-line of operators and – of course – would need to be flown in built-up areas. It could well be that the laws are relaxed once the safety of the deliveries are established as being within reasonable parameters, and it would folly to put too much red tape in place before the technology has had a chance to prove itself.
We’ve already seen a host of technological strides that have suceeded in making not only more commonplace, but safe. We’re likely to see more in the next few year (along with, ironically, a growing sideline of anti-drone technology – but we’d assume that levels of protection would be offered to bona fide operations). We are also beginning to see a great rise in the creation of DIY drones – those which are self-assembled by hobbyists and often have small computers such as the Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi Zero at their heart – as well as open source software controllers including Cleanflight (cleanflight.com).
At the same time, there are more and more 3D printable drones including those that claim to be military grade (the US Army is also considering 3D printing drones for action, allowing them to be produced on location and customised for various scenarios). It may even lead to an eventual crop of throwaway drones that are able to be knocked up for certain situations. Imagine leaving a nightclub or a restaurant and have the business owner quickly produce a ‘follow-me’ drone that will see you home safely. While all of this may be in the realms of sci-fi right now, there is still a sense that we are only really at the beginning.