Tech Archives - RotorDrone

Put Your Drone To Work

What recommendations would you give to an aspiring drone operator who has a Part 107 certification and is looking for commercial work? Answer: Having the certification is a good starting point, but there is a lot more to becoming a competent commercial drone pilot. Prospective pilots must have additional training in the various platforms, payloads, […]

Charging several battery packs at once

Lithium battery chemistry is volatile. If one battery can catch fire and cause a lot of damage because of improper charging, imagine what several batteries hooked together and charging in close proximity to one another can do if anything goes wrong. Parallel charging might sound like a convenient way to charge multiple batteries at the same time, but it can […]

Fly Safely with a 3-Person Crew

When working as a commercial drone pilot shooting footage for TV commercials and movies, pilots have to be able to fly their multirotors in a wide array of circumstances. This includes flying indoors and outside under various weather and lighting conditions. Needless to say, this can create a stressful environment for pilots, who can have […]

FLIR Tech Note on Radiometric Temp Measurements

A radiometric thermal camera measures the temperature of a surface by interpreting the intensity of an infrared signal reaching the camera. This non-contact and non-destructive technique (NDT) gives users enormous advantages for many of their surface temperature measurement applications. It can be integrated onto unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Click here for the FLIR UAS TECH NOTE

Drone Search and Rescue- Mission Ready – Part Two

The rain was so heavy that, in no time, we were all completely drenched. We didn’t have time to put on our rain gear. Luckily, I had decided to pack the drone in a dry bag inside the backpack. So at least I knew that the Phantom 4 would stay dry. The conditions got worse […]

Drone Search and Rescue – Mission Ready

Testing search-and-rescue drones that may soon save lives Text & photos by Romeo Durscher I had always envisioned that drone technology could be used in first res ponder situations, but for that to really happen, the technology had to mature a little more. In late 2014, at the brink of the release of the Phantom […]

NYC Drone Film Festival 2018, More Winning Videos

“LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURE” Ottsjö by Air and Timelapse—by Marcus Möller For 2018, the “Landscape” and “Architecture” categories, which had previously been separate, have been combined into one. The title is fairly literal on this one, so it pretty much describes the concept. But that doesn’t begin to cover the evocative imagery in this tourism […]

Drone FAQs: Is it OK to use different-capacity packs?

This is a common question, yet the answer is complex. I normally break it down into two categories: sport and commercial. For most first-person view drones and other sport models, you do have some flexibility regarding different-capacity packs without worrying about damaging your unit. In fact, most of the modern racing drones actually can handle […]

The fixed-wing PrecisionHawk Lancaster 5 being launched during the TCL2 demonstration at Reno-Stead Airport, October 2016. (Photo courtesy of NASA Ames/Dominic Hart)

Air Traffic Control for Drones

Within the next few years, millions of drones may be regularly flying over U.S. skies, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and industry partners on developing a system for managing drone air traffic. We recently spoke with NASA’s Parimal Kopardekar, Ph.D., manager […]

Drone News: AUVSI

The AUVSI XPONENTIAL is one of the leading drone expos, and it will be happening from April 30 – May 3 in Denver, Colorado. If you are looking forward to cutting-edge content of unmanned use within the aerospace on topics like UAS in the NAS integration efforts, cyber security vulnerabilities then this is the show […]