https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gITBeaMObcA

 

Having walked up that strip of land (3 km end to end), I know how blowy it can be.

 

Nick

An amazing bit of video, given a reported wind speed gusting to 20MPH.

 

The shots are so steady, you would think they have been taken from a full size helicopter, rather than a semi-pro RC  quadcopter no more than a metre across.

 

Apparently, the production versions can go up to 1000 feet (Limited in or near Air Traffic zones to 400 feet ) and there are videos on the makers web site showing them operating at what appears to be well above 1000 feet.

 

The cameras can be  mounted on an active gimble which corrects for out-of-position  (I think that was the case in this video) and some models of 'copter have a GPS receiver and station-keeping software which modifies engine and control surface output to compensate for gusts of wind etc, so that operator control input is minimal. And, with some models, there is live streaming of the video image on 2.4 and 5.8 Ghz to an I-phone or similar

 

Battery which supplies the motors last anything up to half an hour.

 

Makes you wonder why the pictures output by military drones as shown on TV appear to be so bloody awful.

 

 

Nick

Edited 30 August, 201411 yr by Clunkclick