"Private Brits" who offer mini drones

Skydroid



http://skydroid.co.uk/applications/applications_overview/







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Conquiro


http://www.conquiro.co.uk/about-us/

I know that TV Production companies are increasingly using UAV's as a cheaper alternative to helicopters for unique aerial shots. The 'Gadget Show' tested a couple recently, the better ones costing around £40k.

My local Police Force and Fire Service also are using this technology.


I will have to have a word with my Site Manager , one of these would be most useful!

Treat with caution ! CAA regs mean that anyone using these commercially, is effectively in need of CAA Approval. You CAN get way with using one as a 'hobby', but any hint of use operationally, and they're going to want to see flight and maintenance records, Public Liability Insurance, the LOT!

They'll eventually come under the command of Police ASU's, with their services being leased / hired out to Local Authorities / Electricity Suppliers, railtrack, etc.

Thanks for the info, I wondered about the regulations for commercial usage.

Have you come across the hobby drone Visioneer? A popular one is the Parrot AR Drone:
http://ardrone2.parrot.com/
Around £260

Parrot is one of the better 'domestic' units, and I wouldn't mind having one to play with ! :)

A commercial photograper friend of mine was contemplating buying a UAV, up to around £30k as an alternative to hiring helicopters every other week, and we looked at a good few.

Anything capable of carrying a fully loaded Nikon, was at the top end of the budget.

All of them relied on crappy S band, 10mw Video Tx to relay live images to the controller, which meant their transmission range was pathetic, and reliability of signal useless. (And the standard on-board cameras are sh!te.)

Although the telemetry on these things can give an effective control range of 1/2 km or so, it's useless if you can't see what the thing's doing !

'Police Spec' versions will eventually HAVE to have camera / transmission systems comparable with their bigger brothers in the ASU's, to ensure compatibility with ground based units, which means a relatively large payload, and to all intents and purposes, similar operating procedures / licensing to regular rotary winged aircraft.

The thought of some inexperienced PCSO operator inadvertently dropping one of these on a busy motorway, housing development, or public event, is SCAREY, and expensive. :)

I have already downloaded the app for the Parrot on my iPhone in anticipation , I could have some fun with one of these and of course it won't be used in a commercial capacity.


It will be interesting to see how this tech develops , I can think of many uses for just the Police never mind all the the other agencies.


You will have to keep us informed of your photography friends quest, some footage/pics would be nice :)

Hated to do it, but I advised him to scrap the idea. The thought of investing £40k on kit, which could be imminently banned for commercial use at the whim of the CAA, effectively killed it.

There's some fairly nice kit out there, from around 15->£45k, but they all come with pathetic cameras and transmission kit.

To up the spec to something decent, ie: what the police spec will have to be when they get their act together in ensuring it's compatible with their existing ASU's:

Camera: Current generation, around £3.5k (That's NOT CAA Spec, but something that would give reasonable zoom range and low light performance, comparable to that used by TSU's.

Future spec: Will have to be HD, so in the region of £9-19k.

Microwave link: Currently, a complete ASU, COFDM (Digital) downlink, with Tx & RX, around £12-15k. (If it's from their main 'approved supplier', double it ! (The guy has a fleet of classic Jaguars to run, and they ain't cheap.)

....on the back of an HD Camera, you can probably triple that !

Interesting info , thanks. Some serious money involved at the higher end of the scale!

How does it work with the Aviation Authority? Is there a course and license to allow you to fly UAV's ?

Not sure to be honest. There wasn't, but from the last research I did, they were damn near insisting on the equivalent of Private Pilots Licence, with overtones of going the full route to a Commercial Licence if you were going to be using one to make a living !

To be fair, the better UAV distributors DO give a fairly extensive induction, and the software that comes with them gives you a full data log / flight details, etc.

Things the CAA we're / are, anxious about:

1) Collision Avoidance software, to stop some muppet flying one into a house.

2) Auto Return to point of take off, in the event of control failure. (Dropping out of the sky at the wrong moment, is NOT an option.)

3) Overflying traffic / Public Events. (You'll need SERIOUS insurance)

....it's almost cheaper / easier, to hire a Robinson R22 for a couple of hours !

There are other options tho'.....tethered kites and semi dirigibles are almost a reasonable alternaitive.

It appears the more you look into it the deeper the hole gets, and the deeper your pockets need to be!

I can understand the concerns of the CAA , I'm sure the headshed are working on this as agencies and companies will be wanting to use this tech in the future. Something a bit cheaper than a Commercial Pilots License would be a start, maybe a specific UAV license? It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Thanks again for the info Vis :)

PS . In regards to kites , remember the Chinese Guards? I would be willing to send you up with a Nikon while I stay firmly on the ground holding the 'string' !!

http://www.allsopp.co.uk/

I ain't going up in ANYTHING without a motor bigger than a lawnmower, and preferably with in-flight service ! :)

There should be a good living for any ex mil guys with UAV experience. There's quite a few UK companies developing various mil-spec UAV's that should be in the right budget for commercial use. IF they get the licencing issues sorted.

There's a pretty good User Group on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=94718&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

AUVSI is useful for general product info and developments: http://www.auvsi.org/Home/

Private companies aren't always great!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-crashes-mount-at-civilian-airports-overseas/2012/11/30/e75a13e4-3a39-11e2-83f9-fb7ac9b29fad_story.html

The company that made the blunder and had the contract in the Seychelles was Merlin RAMco
This company works for the Pentagon

The DoD and DoS employs other companies such as:

-Battlespace Flight Services
-Camber Corp
-AME Unmanned Air Systems (Part of Lockheed Martin
-Tenax Aerospace
-L3 Services.

Interesting: The Drone Crash Database

http://dronewarsuk.wordpress.com/drone-crash-database/