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GEAR, PHOTOS, FLIGHT, PERSPECTIVE, AND THE FUTURE!

www.Drone360mag.com March/April 2016

5 QUESTIONS
WITH UAS EXPERT
GRETCHEN WEST

AUTOMATING THE FUTURE OF FIGHTING p.54

WOMEN TAKE CENTER STAGE WITH UAS


WHEN AIRCRAFT
EXPLORING
MAKING RULES
FIGHT FOR SPACE THE DEPTHS FOR DRONES
everyone loses p.46 with ROVs p.76 aint easy p.64

p.70

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Drone360mag.com

MOUNT SINABUNG
ERUPTS
UAS advocate and humanitarian Rhianna Lakin captured
this amazing image during a
trip to Indonesia. Read how
she and likeminded women
are changing the UAS world
for the better on Page 70.
RIHANNA LAKIN

PREPPING THE REAPER


Staff Sgt. Stephanie Hughes
reviews loading procedures
during weapons load training
at Creech Air Force Base, NV.
One of the squadrons MQ-9
Reapers can be seen behind
her. Learn more about the
drone wars on Page 54.
U.S. AIR FORCE/
SENIOR AIRMAN LARRY E. REID JR.

Drone360mag.com

FIRE IN THE SKY


The sighting of five drones
in a Southern California wildfire closed Interstate 15 and
grounded firefighting crews for
20 minutes as flames spread.
The Center for the Study of
the Drone examines UAV close
calls on Page 46.
JAMES QUIGG/THE VICTOR
VALLEY DAILY PRESS/AP

Drone360mag.com

March/April 2016
Vol. 1 Issue 1

ON THE COVER
An MQ-9 Reaper, operated by
the 42nd Attack Squadron, flies
above Creech Air Force Base, NV.
U.S. AIR FORCE/PAUL RIDGEWAY

DEPARTMENTS
13 DRONING ON Drones in the news heres what you missed.
18 5 QUESTIONS Hogan Lovells Senior Advisor for Innovation and
Technology Gretchen West tells us about how she got into drones, the
opportunities for women in commercial UAS, and much more.
20 WHEN IT ALL GOES WRONG What should you do if you have a
midflight failure? This advice might save your drone! Oliver Volkmann
24 DRONE GEAR Drones, monitors, and a gimbal camera on a
pistol grip what more could you ask for?
84 ESSAY Negative stories about drones are good for getting attention, but there are so many better ways to use UAVs. Faine Greenwood
86 UP What do flamethrowers, downhill skiing, and dragnets have in
common? Up is back with a vengeance! Carl Engelking & Leah Froats

28

XIRO
XPLORER V

Drone360mag.com

FEATURES

COVER YOUR DRONE


MICHAEL DRIES

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

DRONE WARS

DAN GETTINGER & ARTHUR HOLLAND MICHEL

ERIC BETZ

42

46

54

10

Accidents happen, but insuring your


drone may be harder than you think.
Drone360mag.com

Everyone loses when UAVs and


manned aircraft compete for space.

The military is working to take


humans out of the fight.

LETS GO FOR A SWIM


A VideoRay ROV explores
the galley of the shipwreck
America at Isle Royale
National Park. For more
adventures in underwater
archaeology, see Page 76.
BRETT SEYMOUR/NPS
SUBMERGED RESOURCES CENTER

BRINGING ORDER TO THE CHAOS

HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

GOING DOWN

TIM KIDWELL & CARL ENGELKING

LIZ KRUESI

ELISA NECKAR

64

70

76

Experts want to integrate drones into


the NAS, but few agree about how.

As the UAS industry grows, so do the


opportunities for women in the field.

Drones do more than fly. ROVs go


underwater to discover lost treasures.
March/April 2016

11

editors welcome
LET THE CONVERSATION CONTINUE!
After two special editions in 2015, you
Drone360
as a bimonthly publication. What does
that mean? It means that you can expect to
see a new issue every other month, keeping you informed about everything drone:
from the latest consumer and prosumer

has planned next, to emerging tech.
However, Drone360 is about much
more than telling you what weve discovered or what you need to know. Drone360

yet, its about generating many conversations, ultimately drone related, but covering so many subtopics that I couldnt list
them all and neither could you, because new ones are constantly emerging.
How, Tim? you might ask. How is
this a conversation? Im reading a magazine, and I wont talk to it. Ever.
Yep, you have a magazine, but look
at this as the reintroduction of the major
ideas, the visualization of the current big
picture, the regular meeting that sets the
agenda for the next 60 tomorrows. Thats
what youre holding. And the next issue
will do the same.

So, you dont have to talk to it (unless


you want to), but armed with that agenda,
you can talk to your friends, family, taxi
drivers, and the people in line for their
order of Kung Pao beef at China Garden
about drones, regardless of whether they

You can also go to Drone360mag.com


to stay up to date with the latest developments. Email us to ask your questions
(editor@Drone360mag.com), comment on
stories, tell us about your experiences, or
point us in the direction of something you
think weve missed. Every day we talk to

what I want to know; tell us what you
want to know, and well get the answers.



excellent drone videos and photos via
Instagram (#Drone360aerial), and well
pull them into the feed on the website.
(Remember, drones arent just in the air.
So if youve got an ROV, we want to see
those pics, too.)
lieve here at Drone360, its that we need to
communicate in order to see this wonder-

Editor
Timothy E. Kidwell
tkidwell@drone360mag.com

Chief Designer
Drew Halverson
dhalverson@drone360mag.com

Associate Editor Website


Lauren Sigfusson
lsigfusson@drone360mag.com

Art Director
Thomas G. Danneman

Assistant Editor
Leah Froats
lfroats@drone360mag.com

Senior Graphic Designer


Scott Krall
Lead Illustrator
Rick Johnson

Copy Editor
Elisa R. Neckar

Illustrators
Kellie Jaeger, Roen Kelly

Staff Writer
Carl Engelking

Photographer
William Zuback

Editorial Director
Diane M. Bacha

Production Coordinator
Cindy Barder

ful new technology become integrated


into our airspace, into our commerce, and

Theres a lot to cover, and there are a

The world of drones is coming. Lets


work together to not only be part of that
emerging world, but also participants in
shaping it, too.

Timothy E. Kidwell
Editor

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droning on

Drone hobbyists in China often fly their wares with near-reckless abandon, wowing onlookers but also angering airlines and government officials
who fear mounting safety risks posed by the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles.
IMAGINECHINA/AP

WHAT CAN THE FAA LEARN FROM CHINA?


ON DEC. 29, 2015, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) launched a
set of rules for civil unmanned aircraft.
The regulations use a risk-based ap
weight and use.
According to a report by Hogan

to light and small drones that weigh up

weigh 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) or less
must simply operate safely and avoid injuring others, dodging many of the rules.


really does not make sense to regulate a

regulate a 55-pound one, says Lisa
Ellman, a partner at Hogan Lovells and

This makes the CAAC rules userfriendly, at least for drones weighing less


Flying a drone may seem like a oneperson job, but the CAAC regulations

have a pilot, a pilot-in-command, and an


observer when in the air. These measures

Having an additional pilot and observer will help mitigate perceived risks
for those types of operations, Ellman
says. The approach is the right one; it
makes sense to allow innovation to happen in a way that also ensures safety.
According to Ellman, the CAAC is
considering possible risks and what can
be done from either an operational or
technological perspective to ensure safety.

Cloud, a database system that monitors

-



to report every second when in densely


populated areas and every 30 seconds
when in non-densely populated areas,
the Hogan Lovells report said.



command must determine whether or not


drones are operating in accordance with
the rules and avoiding restricted areas.
The Cloud will alert users of regulated

to determine what areas are truly restrict


restricted areas can include airports, pro
Ellman says many drone manufacturers are currently voluntarily incorporat
and geofencing into their models.
March/April 2016

13

Under the UAS Operation Rules,


drones may be operated beyond visual
line-of-sight (BVLOS) in some circumence from the FAAs rules, which require
drones to be in an operators visual lineof-sight at all times.
She says the FAA will eventually

over people in congested areas, and when
this happens, requirements may include
technology similar to the UAS Cloud in
the CAAC rules.
Operators in China are also required
to have insurance, which helps eliminate
questions about how to handle accidents
and covers liability for possible damage
or injury to people or property on the
ground.
The Operation Rules will help foster
innovative drone technology, such as
agricultural and crop-related UAS operations, while maintaining safety in China.
The CAAC rule sets up a risk-based
approach framework that regulates UAS
in a manner proportionate to the risk
presented by the UAS operation, says
Ellman. Ultimately, this will provide
a more workable framework to safely

unleash the true potential of new UAS

approach currently being contemplated


by the FAA.

consistent with those under development
in the U.S. and EU, the Hogan Lovells
report says.
I do hope that the FAA looks to the
CAAC for guidance here, as their approach makes sense in a lot of ways and
tion, says Ellman.

GOOGLE TESTING SOLAR-POWERED


DRONES TO DELIVER 5G INTERNET
It seems Google, a subsidiary of the
congolmerate Alphabet, has run into development snags with Project SkyBender
(once known as Project Titan). Information obtained by The Guardian, including
emails between Google execs, indicates
the company isnt quite as good at assembling and engineering actual hardware
as it is at creating server farms and
writing code.
The project reportedly utilizes solarpowered drones manufactured by Titan
Aerospace, which Google purchased in

2014. The drones have wings covered


with solar cells and are designed to stay



Run out of Spaceport America in New
Mexico, the project has faced a number

which has been delivery mixups and improper installation of sensitive electronics.
At the same time, Google is running
two other tech-heavy programs: Project
Wing and Project Loon. Using millimeterwave radio technology, the three are to
form the infrastructure backbone for
service providers to build on top of.
Despite the setbacks, Google appears
determined to continue forging a new

the world.

NEARLY 300,000 UAS OWNERS


REGISTER ONLINE

opened its web-based drone registration
process for owners of UAS. Impressively,
over 300,000 drone owners have registered in compliance with the FAAs new
requirements as of the end of January.

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FAA Administrator Huerta deemed


this registration success very encouraging, and said that the FAA is working
hard to build on this early momentum.

these requirements should be and how
they could best serve the public, the
FAA created the Registration Task Force
(RTF) for guidance. The RTF consisted of
representatives of industry leaders such
as DJI and Parrot, retailer like Wal-Mart
and Amazon.com, and various aviation
associations. Many of the suggestions put
forth by the task force were accepted and

registration guidelines.
The FAA aimed to focus on three main
factors: safety, education, and accountability. Small-UAS owners who registered

their $5 registration fee. This may have


been a motivating factor in the number
of UAS owner registrations since midDecember. Although the fee has been a

tion number can be applied to multiple


drones, and that the penalties for failing

For operators who owned UAS before


Dec. 21 of last year, the deadline for registration compliance was Feb. 12. However,

One of the most integral and positive


aspects of the registration requirement is
that once registered, drone owners can
receive information about new regula
and other useful facts. The FAA hopes, in
combination with the accountability that
comes with UAS registration, should help

One of the primary concerns amongst


the UAV community is that of privacy.
According to Forbes contributor John
Goglia, the FAA has stated, When the

permit public searches of registration


numbers, names and addresses will be
revealed through those searches.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta
said at a press conference in January
that the database will be searchable, but
only by the registration number. While
addresses will be available to the public,
names will not. All information from the
registry will be open to law enforcement.
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CAPE PRODUCTIONS

FAA GRANTS UNIQUE UAS


SERVICE PERMISSION
In January, the FAA
granted Cape Productions, a
consumer drone video service
for action sports, an amendment to the companys existing Section 333 exemption for
commercial drone operations
in the U.S.

within 500 feet of customers
and in an area larger than a
closed set.
Until now, all previous
decisions prohibited drone
operations closer than 500
feet to anyone except the pilot
and visual observer (aerial
data collection) or persons on
a closed set who have given

Jason Soll, CEO of Cape


Productions, says many commercial drone users have been
operating illegally because of
strict FAA guidelines. However, thanks to the groundbreaking exemption, this might all
change.
Whats so exciting about

16

Drone360mag.com

the door for all of these enterprise and consumer clients all
around the country to have

a way that is fully legal and


fully insured and covered,
says Soll.
Currently, Cape is the only
company that has this type of
permission from the FAA, and
Soll doesnt know if, or when,
lar permission. As of Jan. 27,
the FAA has granted almost
3,200 Section 333 exemptions.
A lot of companies are doing their best to steer clear of
the FAA, Soll says. Instead,
we employ the opposite approach, and were very open
with them.
He says Cape, which has

the U.S. since 2014 and 2015,
respectively, is excited about

game-changing permission.
Soll speculates that the companys open-kimono strategy
with regulators and rigorous
safety measures may have
helped the FAA approve this
groundbreaking amendment.

In a press release, Louis


Gresham, president of Cape
Productions, said Cape has
a 100 percent safety record
to date across thousands of

that safety and compliance are


a top priority of the company.
Before operating at any site,
Cape maps it out and begins
to build rails. Soll explains that
the UAV can only go up and
down the rail, steering clear of
trees, lifts, and customers.
Worst case scenario if
there were to be an issue with
any of our technology our
drones stay locked onto the
rail, Soll says. The drone that
fell inches from a skier during a World Cup slalom run
in Italy last December wont
happen with Cape, which
lends some peace of mind to
customers and bystanders.
The Cape team spent 2014
in Canada testing drones
to ensure maximum safety.
Even though safety is critical,
the company makes sure to
position the drones to capture
beautiful angles and scenery

Soll says Cape has zero


competitors. He says this may
be because many drone entrepreneurs have been focusing
on business within the UAV
industry, but he isnt sure
what the future holds.
We encourage [competition]. It will keep us on our
toes, Soll says. Whatever
yields the best outcome for
our customer, Im extremely
excited about.
Apparently Cape is receiving a large amount of requests
from business owners and
consumers with ideas of what
the company can do for them,
and it welcomes more.
The long-term goal for
Cape is to become the largest, most trusted operator of
drones in the world, says
Soll. The company looks forward to announcing its future
business plans within the next
few months.
Hopefully, 50 years from
now, [we will have] made an
impact on the trajectory of
where drones are going and
how people get value from
them, says Soll.

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5 questions with

HOGAN LOVELLS

GRETCHEN WEST
WHAT GOT YOU STARTED
IN DRONES?
Over a decade ago, I was
lucky enough to start working
with AUVSI and was immediately
fascinated by the potential for
drones, robotics and other unmanned systems, and the ability
to help shape the future of this
industry. I helped write the
associations vision statement,
which was about improving humanity by enabling robotics technology globally. Who wouldnt
want to be part of a statement
such as that?
My experiences in the industry only got better from there.
Ive had the pleasure of working
with the military, government
contractors, regulators, universities, startups, commercial
end-users, and more, and I look
forward to what this new chapter
holds for me with Hogan Lovells
as we continue to work with
various clients and industries to
break down the barriers for success in this marketplace.

WHAT KEEPS YOU EXCITED


AND INTERESTED IN UAS?
While the drone industry has
been around for decades, I still

dont think weve experienced


the best of the best yet; I think
weve only scratched the surface
of whats possible. Were seeing new types of end-users in
the consumer, prosumer, and
commercial markets. We will
continue to see more unique
applications for using drones,
and using technology in general.
We will nally start to achieve
autonomous operations, bringing
more freedom and efciency to
our everyday lives. Being able
to create new paths to open up
this market and broadly allow for
commercial use of drones and
other technologies and having
appropriate policy to match is
a great motivator.
YOUVE HELPED SOFT3 LAUNCH THE COMMERCIAL
DRONE ALLIANCE WHATS IT
ABOUT?
After spending many years
talking to the members of the
unmanned systems community,
I gained a sense of the gaps in
representation, and this was
most clear in the commercial
drone industry. While many associations exist that do great work
and represent various facets of

the industry, the least wellrepresented are the commercial


enterprise end-users communities such as broadcasting,
construction, inspection, mining,
utilities, and more. All of these
industries have a desire to use
drones commercially, but all are
facing severe challenges to operate efciently. I joined forces
with Lisa Ellman, a partner at
Hogan Lovells in D.C., who saw
a lack of end-user voices in her
work with the federal government. With our team at Hogan
Lovells, we recognized the need
to bridge the gap between policy,
technology, and innovation and
focus on representing commercial end-users.
Thus we launched the
industry-led, nonprot Commercial Drone Alliance, which is
solely focused on representing
commercial entities and reducing their barriers to entry and
operation. We plan to focus on
technology and create relevant
policy; create and show value for
these various end-user markets
to ensure technology adoption; and tackle the vast public
perception issue, changing the
conversation to showcase the
good use cases and stories
about drones. We have lots
more planned, but ultimately,
we are building an ecosystem of
partners to advance this industry collectively and aggressively
and are eagerly anticipating our
ofcial launch of the Commercial
Drone Alliance.
WHAT IS THE WOMEN OF
COMMERCIAL DRONES
GROUP ON MEETUP.COM?
Living in Silicon Valley, I often
hear discussions about the general lack of women in technology
leadership roles, but that also

Helping set the commercial UAS agenda: West delivers the kickoff
address at Drone World Expo 2015 in San Jose, CA.
DRONE WORLD
18

Drone360mag.com

EXPO

extends to our smaller drone


community. This past fall, some
conversations started about
better mentoring for women in
the community and getting more
women engaged, but the conversations ended after the event
closed. Based on the enthusiasm
for the topic, those discussions
need to continue in a more formal way. We set up the Women
of Commercial Drones Meetup
group (which is intended to be
nationwide, with events hosted
where there is critical mass of
interest) as a rst step, but more
WEVE ONLY SCRATCHED THE
SURFACE OF WHATS POSSIBLE.
needs to be done.Im a member
of the Amelia Dronehart group,
which is a wonderful forum for
women operators who support
each other and teach each other
to be successful in this industry. The Women of Commercial
Drones group will work with existing groups to make sure that a
network is created for mentoring
and to help women become successful in this industry. And Im
looking for active and engaged
women that would like to help
make this effort into something
meaningful!
BEST MOMENT INVOLVING
A DRONE?
There are so many, its
difcult to narrow down, but
I suppose the rst time I ew
a drone had to be one of the
most memorable. Finally understanding why an aerial vantage
point is so special and unique
compared to anything weve
seen done before with a camera. The other most memorable
drone ight? When I crashed it.
It happens to all of us.

ZEMYA PHOTOGRAPHY

GRETCHEN WEST
HOGAN LOVELLS SENIOR
ADVISOR FOR INNOVATION
AND TECHNOLOGY
Gretchen has been a vocal advocate for commercial drones,
innovation, entrepreneurship,
and robotics for more than a
decade. Before joining Hogan
Lovells, Gretchen served as
vice president of business
development and regulatory
affairs at DroneDeploy, a UAS
startup, and was executive vice
president of AUVSI.

pro tips

WHEN IT
ALL GOES
WRONG
By Oliver Volkmann

ny experienced UAS operator will tell


you that its not a matter of if, but a
matter of when something goes wrong.
Accidents are often avoidable, provided
that the pilot takes the time to perform a
preflight check of all components, thoroughly
tests their system, flies within their capabilities, and practices. Even with all this, and
with all the rules and regulations in the world,
you may still experience an unplanned landing, the severity of which, you might joke,
depends on the number of parts you need
to pick up afterwards. So, what can go
wrong, and how do you recover when
it does?

DREAMSTIME.COM

1. DONT UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF BATTERIES


the longevity of your batteries.
YOUR CHOICE OF DRONE AND THE COMPONENTS
Regarding battery meters like those on
THAT YOU UTILIZE IN YOUR OWN BUILDS MATthe DJI Inspire or Phantom quads, the
TER, BUT DO NOT GUARANTEE THE AIRCRAFTS
LED indicators show a range from 40 to
SAFE PERFORMANCE. One of the most crucial
100 percent charge. When you reach
parts of an aircraft is the power source. Practi40 to 50 percent battery life, thats when
cally all consumer and custom-built drones on
you should land. The way these batterthe market today are powered by lithiumies are metered lines up closely with the
polymer (LiPo) batteries. Anyone who was payvoltage parameters outlined above.
ing attention to the news this past holiday season
Knowing this about your batteries will
probably heard about the issues facing the latest
help you avoid having to take emergency
craze in personal mobility: the (exploding)
actions to land. However, if you should find
hoverboards. What caused these devices to
yourself at a critically low voltage level, there
catch fire has been linked to the poorly manuare a few ways to recover, depending on the
factured LiPo cells used to power them. When
type of craft youre flying.
a LiPo battery fails, the results can be
With multirotor helicopters,
catastrophic like fires hot enough
one of the safest and quickto burn a hole through asphalt.
est ways to get your drone
The first step to making sure
safely on the ground is
your drone doesnt suffer a
to utilize a falling leaf
similar fate is to use batteries
approach. Using this
from reputable companies
method, you reduce
and properly maintain them.
altitude and simultaneFailure to do so can result
ously move the drone
in poor performance, short
closer to the landing zone
flight times, and, eventually,
(LZ) by making a number
complete failure.
of controlled lateral moves
The first sign that someSome transmitters display flight data on an
(see Fig. 1). Like a leaf fallthing is going wrong with
integrated screen. Others require a link to a
ing from a tree, you fly the
your battery is the gradual
If your battery readout says 40% or
smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer.
copter closer, reducing the
reduction in flight time, as
50%, its time to land. Any lower
3D ROBOTICS
throttle to initiate altitude
well as a loss of power. Deand you could suffer power failure.
or you might be able to pull it off in one gentle
loss. Before stopping the
pending on the type of drone
descent.
lateral move, you should increase throttle to
you have, your flight controller may or may not
Why not just come straight down? Because
maintain a hover and avoid the drone plummetbe set up to deal with low-battery issues through
a low battery may be incapable of delivering the
ing. Depending on the area where youre flying
one of its programmable failsafe settings. Many
current needed by the motors to quickly arrest a
and the distance the drone is from the LZ, you
consumer drones on the market today come with
quick descent and return the copter to a hovering
may have to do this in steps like a zigzag pattern,
visual or audio (or both) warnings to alert the operator that the battery is running low. Some go a
step further and automatically engage functions
such as Auto-Land or Return to Launch.
In the event you dont have such failsafe
settings at your disposal or choose not to enable
IF YOU SHOULD LOSE POWER while flying a multirotor copter, there are a couple of ways to
them, it is highly recommended that you have a
land. The falling leaf approach tries to get the aircraft to the LZ in a gentle, controlled
method to determine the current battery charge.
manner. Flying to the LZ and then coming straight down is an option, but could end in a
Without it, youd more than likely keep flying unmangled drone.
til the system shuts down due to lack of power.
Many transmitter and receiver sets are available with a telemetry function that will display
the battery voltage on the transmitter screen.
You can also use a telemetry transceiver setup to
monitor battery voltage. The transceiver displays
all critical flight information on a smartphone,
tablet, or laptop.
I recommend you dont discharge your flight
packs lower than 3.6V per cell. For example, a
6-cell LiPo battery usually rates a nominal 22.2V
when fully charged; the recommended minimum
voltage would be 21.6V. I can get 20 minutes of
LZ
Fig. 1
LZ
Fig. 2
flight time out of one 6-cell LiPo powering a fiveFalling leaf approach
Straight down approach
pound quad by the time it discharges to 21.6V.
Keeping to this minimum voltage rule will ensure

GETTING YOUR MULTIROTOR COPTER BACK IN ONE PIECE

ILLUSTRATIONS BY RICK JOHNSON


March/April 2016

21

FIXED-WING DESCENT
LOSS OF POWER can be more manageable
with a typical fixed-wing plane. Glide
toward the LZ using the elevator and
throttle sparingly to maintain airspeed.
Elevators
down

Wind direction
Elevators
up

Fig. 3
Landing using elevators

state before landing (see Fig. 2). In fact, the


drone may not be able to stop at all, which could
result in a hard and potentially damaging landing
colloquially known as a crash.
Fixed-wing platforms have the advantage of
being able to glide, provided that they maintain
a minimum airspeed. This makes them a little
easier to recover on low battery than a multirotor.
Of course, a lot depends on location, distance,
and environmental factors, such as wind.
By reducing the throttle and utilizing the wind
and control surfaces, you can conserve energy
and buy some time before battery failure. The
trick is to glide the aircraft down as quickly and
safely as possible to an altitude from which you
can more easily fly (using power) to the LZ.
Keep in mind that flying into the wind will
allow you to bring the plane down quicker, while
reducing the amount of distance needed for the
decent and a controlled landing. Decreasing the
elevator will increase the speed of the aircraft by

forcing it to descend. Once you reach the desired


altitude, increase elevator to reduce the rate of
descent, attain proper airspeed, and level out the
plane for a landing. This can be repeated until
you are in a position to land. Utilizing the throttle
judiciously will help keep you in the air longer
while maneuvering for a landing (see Fig. 3).
Both fixed-wing and multirotor aircraft can
also be subject to total power failures. In these
cases, there is little you can do to recover unless
the aircraft has a parachute that deploys the moment the craft is inverted or when the motors cut
out. Try to keep visual contact with your drone
so you can recover it. If youre building your own
drone, consider using two LiPo packs in parallel.
This allows you to have a backup in case the
primary source dies.
Practicing the emergency landing procedures
mentioned above before they become necessary
will make them a lot easier to pull off if you ever
have to perform them.

2. LOSING VIDEO DOWNLINK & LINE-OF-SIGHT

GET TO KNOW
OLIVER VOLKMANN
VOLKMANN HAS WORKED in the unmanned aerial systems industry for the
past five years. As the operations manager
for a UAV-based geospatial company
in Florida, he has traveled extensively,
building UAV operation capacities in the
private sector on six continents and in
over 10 countries. Oliver specializes in
the assembly, configuration, and operation of affordable and field-reparable UAS
mapping solutions.

Author Volkmann (and friend).


OLIVER VOLKMANN

22

Drone360mag.com

SO YOUVE RIGGED YOUR DRONE FOR FPV and


are running the signal back to a ground station,
monitor, or goggles. Just like the control link to
the drone, these video transmitters and receivers
have range limits which, when exceeded, can
result in video dropouts and the infamous blue
screen.
While this may seem like no big deal, it can
quickly escalate, depending on how far away
youve flown the drone and whether or not you
know where your drone is relative to you. To say
the effect is unsettling doesnt begin to cover it.
As racing becomes more popular, were seeing more video dropouts in unsual places, like
in woods where GPS is spotty at best. If youve
been flying beneath the tree canopy, have lost
FPV, dont have sight of the drone, and lack telemetry to tell you where the drone is, the safest
thing to do (if you can maintain your wits) is to
gradually reduce speed and hope that when you
find your drone, its in one piece.
If youre flying in the open, the best option is
to engage the Return to Launch failsafe protocol,
if you have one. Being familiar with your aircraft
and the controls is paramount as you attempt to
keep it at altitude and from flying farther away
while scanning the skies for it.
Recovering from a loss of line-of-sight can
be very challenging, especially if you have have
lost orientation. Experience helps, but sometimes
theres nothing you can do, and you lose the
drone. In this eventuality, the following tools may
help you find your downed drone:
1 Check your video. If you recorded the downlinked video, you may be able to trace where the
drone was when things went dark. This will give
you a place to start your search.
2 If you were flying with a telemetry transceiver,

you more than likely have the last known GPS


coordinates on the screen. Write them down and
save them, because they will provide you with
the starting point for your search-and-rescue
operation. Additionally, it is possible that your
downed drone is still powered. Before shutting
off your telemetry transceiver link, start heading
to the last known coordinates. Hopefully, the link
will come back, allowing you to get a better fix on
the drone.
3 If youve equipped your drone with a buzzer
or alarm, you may be able to find it once you get
within earshot. Obviously, this depends on the
size of the area you have to search.
4 Some operators equip their drones with PET
transmitters or GPS trackers that allow them to
track the device on a mobile phone or via the
Internet. These are not a bad investment when
compared to the cost of losing your copter.

Knowing your distance from your drone can


mean the difference between recovering it
after an accident or losing the aircraft entirely.
3D ROBOTICS

3. TO AVOID HEARTACHE, TEST YOUR EQUIPMENT BEFORE TAKING TO THE AIR


THINGS BREAK. THEY WEAR OUT. Thankfully,
you can implement practices to indentify potential problems before you fly.
Check your propellers before each flight for
cracks. If you find one, replace the prop, pronto.
If you dont, the crack could become a split. The
blade could shear off and damage the aircraft,
not to mention you or bystanders. Whats more,
the motor becomes useless and the aircraft is
unstable.
Always make sure the propellers are securely
mounted to the motors.
Speed controllers and motors that fail could
cause your multirotor drone to crash. You may
be able to recover a fixed-wing vehicle, but
youre probably going to be picking up some
pieces of a quad.
Hexacopters and
octocopters have
redundancy in their
motors. However, depending on the type of
flight controller you are
using, the motors may
Only a madman would not be able to handle
the imbalance in
fly with props that
centrifugal force, causlook like these. But
ing the drone to rotate
midair, a minor split
and become difficult
could become this.
to maneuver. Multiple
WALTER SCRIPTUNAS II

Time to replace a motor! You dont need to strap landscaping bricks to your drone to give it a
stress test, but whatever you use needs to be heavy enough to keep the aircraft from lifting off.
OLIVER VOLKMANN

motor or speed-controller failures with these


types of multirotors may lead to the undesirable
process of parts reclamation.
With fixed-wing platforms, the failure of a
servo motor on a control surface will disable that
surface. Recovering from this requires skills that
you can only achieve through practice.
Inspect each of these components for damage before flying to greatly decrease the chances
of failure during flight. Make this part of your
preflight checklist.

4. WHEN THE CONTROLLER AND THE CONTROLLED


NO LONGER AGREE ON THE ARRANGEMENT
ALL DRONES REQUIRE AN INTERFACE FOR
THE OPERATOR TO CONTROL THEM. This can
either be performed via the conventional radio
transmitter and receiver link, telemetry link, or a
combination of both.
Most modern R/C transmitter and receiver
sets have the ability to lock onto each other
to avoid interference from other transmitting
devices like other R/C transmitters. Telemetry
devices, which link the onboard flight controller
with a smartphone, tablet, or laptop, can similarly
be configured to only communicate with specific
devices. These links have range limits specified
by the manufacturer and should be observed
when operating the drone.
However, if the communication link between the
operator and aircraft is
lost, perhaps because of
distance, the control devices battery running out,
or some other interference,
the only way for the
The Home Button
drone to recover is if the
will usually get your
onboard flight controller
drone back to you.
is robust enough to deal
3D ROBOTICS

with the situation. In this scenario, there is virtually nothing you can do to regain control.
Many midrange and higher-quality drones
come with flight controllers that have programmable failsafe settings for this type of failure.
Learn what the active setting is, and use the
appropriate one for your situation.
Three of the most common failsafe operations
initiated by flight controllers that lose radio link
communication are:
Return to Launch
Land
3 Continue Flying if in a preprogrammed
mission; if misson ends, Return to Launch
1
2

To prevent finding yourself in a situation like


this, make sure that the device you are using to
control your drone is fully charged before flight,
and know the maximum control-link range. Dont
fly beyond it!
If you are using a telemetry link between your
drone and a peripheral device, such as a tablet,
keep your radio transmitter handy and powered
on so you can take control should the telemetry
link fail.

Putting your drone through stress tests before


pushing it to the limits in the air can be helpful. A
simple way to do this is to find a method of safely
strapping the drone to the ground or a table and
running it at full throttle while moving the various
other controls around. While your drone probably
wont be subject to this type of stress during a
normal flight, if anything does go wrong, you
wont lose the whole bird. You can also replace
parts that fail or concern you before they come
apart in the air.

5. GUESS WHAT
CAUSES MOST CRASHES
THATS RIGHT, THE OPERATOR! Proper maintenance of your drone is essential, but knowing
how to fly and how to react in situations like
those weve talked about will not only improve
your chances of recovery, but will also lead to
more enjoyable, less stressful flights. Practice
makes perfect. Fly within your limits and gradually push the envelope. Practice emergency
maneuvers, such as
those needed to quickly and safely land your
drone, before you need
to perform them in an
emergency. Until you
become a skilled pilot,
fly only in areas and
up to distances within
which you know you
can recover and where
your crashing drone
poses minimal risk to
Take time to get to
people or property. Be
know your drone,
patient with yourself.
learn its limitations,
Develop your skills. In
and know your own.
the end, youll be
Itll save your UAV.
happy you did.
DREW HALVERSON
March/April 2016

23

drone gear

VOLTAGE 500 3D
T

he Voltage 500 3D from


Heli-Max is a fully capable
3D aerobatic quadcopter.
If youve been looking
to fly upside down and try helicopter-style 3D aerobatics, this
just might be your quad. How
does it do this voodoo without all
the hardware normally associated
with collective-pitch helicopters?

24

Drone360mag.com

With some clever software in its


flight controller and ESC. What
sets this multirotor apart is its
ability to instantly reverse its
motors direction for both positive and negative thrust.
The Voltage 500 3D comes
in a nicely printed box that had
me revved just to see what was
inside. Upon opening it, you will

find the fully assembled 500class quad and a manual, along


with pairs of black and white
spare props, and a length of
hook-and-loop fastener. Its not
RTR, so no battery or transmitter.
The bright red canopy and
simulated carbon fiber with
white accents really make this
quad stand out. The distinc-

By David Moquay
tive nose, bright LEDs, and
larger size make it easier to
track across the open sky. You
remove the canopy by sliding
four O-rings on the carbon-fiber
arms, exposing the flight
controller sandwiched between
two G10 plates. The beefy

PHOTOS MARTIN TAPPER

1400kV motors are bolted to


shiny red machined-aluminum
mounts. Wide-set plastic landing gear gives the model just
enough ground clearance for the
battery, and lend this quad one
of the lowest profiles I have seen.
The Voltage looks fast while sitting, and with reported speeds of
100 mph, its not just looks!
The eight-page manual does a
good job of explaining the flight
functions.
BEFORE FLYING
The Voltages flight controller
is compatible with Futaba S.Bus,
standard PWM, JR XBus, DSM2,
DSMX, and DSMJ radios.
I used my FrSky Taranis
transmitter with an X8R
receiver. I ran the S.Bus and
power cables beneath the top
frame and mounted the receiver
to the back with a strip of hookand-loop fastener. I attached
both antennas to the bottom
frame pointing away from each
other, and secured loose wires
with tape. I also pulled the ESC
wires under the top G10 plate
to give them added protection
in case of an inverted crash.

The Voltage 500 3D works


with both 3S and 4S LiPo batteries. For this review, I was
provided two 4S 14.8V 25C
FlightPower batteries; one was
2500mAh, and the other slightly
bigger at 3300mAh. Both have
plenty of power to do the most
aggressive 3D aerobatics. Expect
three to eight minutes of flight
time with intense flying; much
longer times are possible if
youre just toodling around.
Unlike a traditional quad, the
Voltage 500 throttle starts at
midpoint. Familiar territory for
anyone flying 3D helicopters, it
will take some getting used to for
pilots who dont. Traditionally,
when faced with a crash, the
throttle stick is pulled to zero
to turn off the motors. If you do
that with the Voltage 500 3D,
you will reverse the motors at full
thrust and likely cause even more
damage. Something to keep in
mind when youre disoriented
and panicking!
Before my first flight, I
removed the propellers and
connected the flight controller to
my Windows 10 laptop. I found
Heli-Maxs software easily down-

loaded and no trouble to run and


navigate. I made sure that my
controls and switches were set up
correctly. I dedicated a threeposition switch for both Stability
and 3D flight modes. More
experienced pilots would assign
Stability Mode to a momentary
switch to regain control quickly
during 3D maneuvers. The software allows experienced pilots
to adjust individual gains across
all channels. For testing, I left all
the factory settings as is.

SYSTEM SPECS
Voltage 500 3D
Available: Tower Hobbies
(www.towerhobbies.com)
Rotor type: Quadcopter
Diameter: 19.7 inches
Weight: 2 pounds
Flight time: 8+ minutes

INTO THE BLUE


For the Voltages first flight, I
plugged in the smaller of the two

Price: $429.99

March/April 2016

25

WHAT SETS THIS MULTIROTOR APART


IS ITS ABILITY TO INSTANTLY REVERSE ITS
MOTORS DIRECTION FOR BOTH POSITIVE
AND NEGATIVE THRUST.

VOLTAGE 500 3D

JACOB UECKER

batteries and selected Stability


Mode. I pushed the throttle
gently past the midway point and
waited for the motors to spool up
and slow down to idle. Wow! The
Voltage is responsive. After raising it five feet off the ground, the
quad felt as stable as if it had
GPS. Stability Mode limits the
Voltage to 45-degree maximum
angles. But when I flicked the
switch to 3D Mode, the quad felt

HIGHLIGHTS
Fully assembled and
ready to fly
Reversible brushless motors
Super responsive
and fast!
Extra propellers

more like a traditional racer in


Manual or Rate Mode.
I took it up to about 30 feet
to test the reversing motors. I
must admit I was quite surprised
at the sound and speed when the
motors switch direction. I can
see how more experienced pilots
will want to shorten response
time from forward to reverse by
adjusting their throttle curve a
few percentage points above and
below mid-stick.
For my second test flight, I
took the Voltage to my local AMA
field where I had a lot more open
sky, and, as it happens, a lot
more wind. I took off in Stability
Mode and again was surprised by
how stable it is. Even with gusts
of 15 mph, the Voltage remained
almost undisturbed.
The response from the
throttle is a bit edgy and takes
some getting used to. But does
the Voltage scream! I flipped

to 3D Mode and rolls and flips


were a breeze. Switching back to
Stability Mode instantly leveled
out the quad to get me out of
trouble and allowed for more
relaxed flying.
For those wanting to break
into 3D flying, the large size,

BEN FORD
26

Drone360mag.com

powerful motors, and distinct


markings make this a really
attractive solution. In more
capable hands, the full 3D aerobatics potential of this airframe
can be wrung out.
Personally, I cant wait to put
an FPV system in it.

XIRO XPLORER V

he sleek and dangerous


looking Xiro Xplorer V
comes smartly packaged with everything
youd expect to get a quad up
and flying: drone, transmitter,
battery, and charger. The fully
integrated 3-axis gimbal camera
shoots video at 1080p at up to
30 frames per second, and takes

28

Drone360mag.com

14MP stills. A 5.8GHz Wi-Fi link


streams live video back to your
iOS (version 8.0 and later) or
Android (version 4.4 and later)
device. Thoughtfully, the package comes with plenty of spare
parts, including props, gimbal
mounting grommets, and screws.
It also includes a magnetic lens
filter and a lens cover.

Compact and light, the


Xplorer doesnt have the heft
of more substantial consumer
UAS platforms, which gave me
pause. But in the Xplorers case,
it was unfounded. The gimbal
took a little bit of figuring to get
attached and locked in place. It
comes with a plastic clamp that
keeps the camera fixed for FPV

By Tim Kidwell
flight that, after a couple of uses,
I decided was an accessory I
wouldnt return to.
The transmitter is rounded
and covered with smooth, but
grippy, silicon rubber that makes
it comfortable to hold. You
control the cameras angle with

THE FULLY INTEGRATED 3-AXIS GIMBAL


CAMERA SHOOTS VIDEO AT 1080P
AT UP TO 30 FRAMES PER SECOND,
AND TAKES 14MP STILLS.

DREW HALVERSON

a dial on the transmitters upper


right corner; you can dim the
Xplorers flight indicators with
a dial on the left corner. The
mobile device holder conveniently slides out of the top of
the controller, but only holds a
moderately sized phone. Also,
depending upon how chunky
your phone case is, the spring-

tensioned clip may have a hard


time keeping the device secure.
My iPhone with a Speck case fell
out a couple of times. You dont
have the option to bind a different controller to the Xplorer.
SOME HIGH POINTS
The Xplorer comes with a
charging station and a hefty

11.1V 5200mAh LiPo housed in


a plastic case. I love the charging station. Just plug it in and
slide the battery into position.
LED lights atop the battery tell
you the charge level. Positioning
the battery on the bottom of
the drone follows the same
principle: Slide it in and flick a
small switch to lock the battery

in place. A small amenity to be


sure, but a thoughtful one.
Also, while it took a little
to get used to, that the gimbal
camera simply locked into place
is a nice touch. No need for
screws or tools to get it attached.
Its a convenience that were
seeing a lot of manufacturers
moving toward.
March/April 2016

29

XIRO XPLORER V

TIM KIDWELL

The power switch on the


drone is conveniently placed on
top and points to the front of the
aircraft. Just stand back after
turning it on and let it initialize.
The controller automatically chooses between GPS and
Attitude modes depending upon
the number of satellites available, which is a nice feature for
beginners. Once achieving GPS
Mode, the controller acts as a
home point. At the press of a
button, if the drone is flying at
20 meters or higher, it will return

SYSTEM SPECS
Xiro Xplorer V
Available: Tower Hobbies
(www.towerhobbies.com)
Rotor type: Quadcopter
Diameter: 13.75 inches
Height: 5.25 inches
(with legs extended)
Weight: 2.65 pounds
Flight time: 20-25 minutes
Price: $799.98

30

Drone360mag.com

to you and land. If its flying at


less than 20 meters and more
than 25 meters away from you,
it will increase its altitude to
20 meters, then return to you
and land. This can be a little
disconcerting, especially for first
timers.
Intelligent Orientation Control
(IOC) is useful if you fly the
Xplorer too far away and can no
longer tell front from back. Just
push the IOC button and all the
stick movements become relative
to your location: Pulling back
brings it toward you, and pushing
forward sends it away. I dont
recommend flying in this mode
all the time. It may be useful for
beginners, but can be a pain for
more experienced operators.

Another cool feature is the


automatic takeoff and landing
button. All I had to do was start
the motors and push a button.
The Xplorer jumped five feet into
the air. When I was done flying, I positioned the drone over
the landing zone and pushed
the same button. It gently
descended and shut down the
motors. Awesome!
BEFORE FLYING
I admit to some difficulties
getting Xplorer in the air the first
couple of times. Compass calibration didnt take, and I became
more than a little frustrated. On
this front, Im willing to accept
the blame, although I spun
myself dizzy trying to get the

calibration to take. Eventually, I


got it. Note that the instructions
tell you to press the IOC button
for 3 cycles. That means a
total of six times.
The transmitter allows
pilots to choose between three
flight levels. The levels control
altitude, operational distance,
and maximum speed, with the
largest envelopes given to Level
Three. Understand that Level
One allows takeoffs only if flying
in GPS Mode. If you dont have
at least six available satellites,
youll have to fly in levels Two or
Three.
I found the Xiro app for the
camera to be finicky. Make
sure to run through a couple of
ground tests first before heading out to get that killer aerial
footage. Youll save yourself time
at the field. Also, make sure to
download a QR code reader. It
just makes access to the app
and tutorial video easier. And
dont forget to add your FAA
registration number. And if you
dont have one, ask yourself why
youre flying right now.
INTO THE BLUE
The temps during the majority
of my test flights with the Xplorer
were usually around 15 to 20
degrees F. Not frigid, but not
comfortable either, especially
for my fingertips. The Xplorer
remained undaunted. I saw only
a negligible reduction in flight
times from flights in the 40 to
50 degree range usually lasting about 20 minutes.

DREW HALVERSON

The Xplorer is responsive


not as fast as other copters in its
class, but nimble. However, that
means trading some stability for
quick movement. It struggled
a bit with the stiff Wisconsin
winter breezes, rocking back and
forth trying to keep its position.
However, when its on the move,
it almost intuitively knew where

I wanted to aim the camera.


Tracking shots while panning
became nearly effortless.
The legs beneath the airframe
can be positioned at an angle or
vertically. If you use the gimbal
camera, make sure to put the
legs in the vertical position, otherwise youll damage the camera.
PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
Images are crisp, and the
color doesnt need much correction. There are a ton of options
to sink your teeth into, such as
Follow Me Mode, altitude lock,
and up to 16 programmable

waypoints. Expect to spend some


time learning how the app works.
My major quibble is that I
found rotors and bright LEDs
in just about every shot that
wasnt aimed directly beneath
the Xplorer. Even gentle nudges
forward would see the props drop
into view as the drone rocked
into motion. Many drones in
this size category have a similar
issue. Practice and familiarity
with the controls helps.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Xiro Xplorer V provides a
fun flight experience with good
video and photo capabilities. The
ability to program waypoints is
a huge plus, and the Follow Me
feature is a winner. The Xplorer
is also available in a basic package without a gimbal camera,
and the G version includes a
gimbal for a GoPro HERO3 or 4
(camera not included).

HIGHLIGHTS
3-axis stabilized
14MP gimbal camera
with Panasonic CMOS
image sensor
5.8GHz Wi-Fi link
for live video feed
to iOS or
Android devices
App with a variety of
useful functions to help
automate flying
Safety features to keep
pilots from flying in
restricted airspace
Return Home, Intelligent
Orientation Control,
and automatic takeoff
and landing features

March/April 2016

31

ESTES PROTO-N
SYSTEM SPECS
Estes Proto-N
Availability: Tower Hobbies
(www.towerhobbies.com)
Rotor type: Quadcopter
Diameter: 1.2 inches
Weight: .32 ounces

ESTES PROTO-N
A

Flight time: 5 minutes


Price: $34.99

BILL ZUBACK AND ISTOCK.COM/WEEDEZIGN

s strange as it sounds,
small quads almost
always get bigger smiles
than the big boys. Maybe
its the idea that something only
slightly bigger across than a quarter can fly. Maybe its our fascination with the miniaturization
of everything smaller phones,
lighter laptops, tinier tablets.
Whatever the reason, Estes
Proto-N is no exception to the
rule. As soon as I unboxed this
little green monster and plugged
it in, I had people poking their
heads into my office, as if they
could hear its fingernail-sized 1S
3.7V LiPo charging.
Measuring just a shade over
1.2 inches on the diagonal, and
weighing only .32 ounces, this is
close to the smallest quad Ive
ever flown. It also offered one of
the most unintentionally confusing battery-charging experiences
Ive had. The Proto-N uses a

HIGHLIGHTS
Does flips!
Durable airframe and props
Spare props
Three flight modes from
beginner to expert
Controller is also
a carrying case

32

Drone360mag.com

USB charger that lights up red


and blue while charging. For me,
the blue light started blinking
about 25 minutes into charging, and went out completely
after 30 minutes, while the red
light stayed on. The instructions
are frustratingly opaque about
charging lights, but do say the
Proto-N needs a full 35 minutes
to charge, so I assumed the red
light would go out in five minutes
when the charge cycle was complete. It never happened. The
red light never goes out. So you
heard it here first, drone fans: no
more blue light, charging is done.
Oh, and make sure to plug in the
USB first, and then connect it to
the Proto-N. Doing it the other
way may damage the battery.
Youll have to buy four AAA batteries for the transmitter.

INTO THE BLUE


The Proto-N has three sensitivity modes Easy, one beep;
Normal, two beeps; and Expert,
three beeps changed by
pressing a button above the left
control stick. I found the Easy
Level controls to be too sluggish,
especially on throttle, which I
guess is the point. But for me, it
made regulating altitude difficult
because the finesse just wasnt
there. On Normal sensitivity,
control got easier, and I was able
to concentrate on trimming the
Proto-N. Still, it drifted away and
to the right, no matter how much
trim I gave it.

There was only one answer:


Calibration! Everyone should be
familiar with calibrating their
drone, whether youre flying
a little guy like the Proto-N
or a heavy-lift job. With the
Proto-N, its as easy as turning
on the controller and copter and
unlocking the transmitter as
usual before flight, making sure
the quad is on a flat, horizontal
surface. Then put the transmitter in Expert Mode. Push the left
stick to the bottom left and hold
it there the motors should
not turn on. (If they do, youre
pushing too far left.) At the same
time, move the right stick to the
top left. Hold them in this position for a couple of seconds. The
lights on the Proto-N will flash
and then shine solid.
Even after calibration, the
quad slid forward and right. A
little trim mostly corrected the
problem. I dont expect quads
this size to sit perfectly still.
With that done, I had to start
getting the Proto-N to flip.
Nothing could be
easier. Push the button on the transmitters right corner and
move the right control
stick in the direction you want to
flip. BANG! The
Proto-N flips.
Make sure youre
ready to recover
because there
will be some loss

By Tim Kidwell
of altitude. Once youve flipped a
couple of times, youll know how
much loss to expect and automatically compensate.
FINAL THOUGHTS
What I love about the Proto-N
is that its exactly the sort of
inexpensive quad you could feel
good about giving to a complete
novice. The chassis is tough, and
four extra props are included. Its
charge lasts for about five minutes not terribly long, but not
unexpected. And thats plenty to
get a flight fix.
If youre wondering how to
transport a quad small enough
for grandmas shih tzu to scarf
down, never fear: The transmitter has a cozy compartment with
a clear lid to serve as a hangar.
Unfortunately, youll have to stuff
the USB charger in your pocket.
Just dont forget about it and put
it through the wash.

%) 10&,)

$,#+ )&+&)
LSLWN_WTYTWUWTNWHRRHI`LIWZXO`LXXLXJ*) *
Delivering swift response and steadfast
interaction with your multirotor, our Energy
5RWRU EUXVKOHVV FRQWUROOHUV OLIW \RXU \LQJ
H[SHULHQFHVWR+LWHFKHLJKWV2XWWWHGZLWK
the new generation MOSFETs, ONESHOT
pre-set synchronization and pilot-favored
%/+HOL UPZDUH WKHVH VL[ (6&V GHOLYHU
smooth and accurate throttle linearity.
Their wide RPM motor range offers the
best in comprehensive performance and
communication. Elevate your expectations!

ESC
Model

Part #

Continuous / Burst
Current Rating

Battery / Cell

Dimensions
(in)

Weight
(oz)

Energy Rotor
12 amp

61071

12A / 20A

5-12N / 2-4Li

0.59 x 1.02 x 0.24

0.28

Energy Rotor
18 amp

61082

18A / 30A

5-12N / 2-4Li

0.47 x 0.87 x 0.17

0.19

Energy Rotor
20 amp

61072

20A / 30A

5-18N / 2-6Li

0.79 x 1.85 x 0.31

0.81

Energy Rotor
30 amp

61073

30A / 40A

5-18N / 2-6Li

0.79 x 1.85 x 0.31

0.71

Energy Rotor
40 amp

61074

40A / 50A

5-18N / 2-6Li

0.79 x 1.85 x 0.39

1.09

Energy Rotor
60 amp

61075

60A / 70A

5-18N / 2-6Li

1.18 x 2.17 x 0.51

1.76

Hitec RCD USA, Inc. | 12115 Paine Street | Poway, CA 92064 | (858) 748-6948 | www.hitecrcd.com |

REALFLIGHT DRONE

SCREENSHOTS/TIM KIDWELL

ealFlight carved out a


comfortable space in the
top tier of flight simulators, and it should come
as no surprise that it now has an
edition dedicated exclusively to
multirotor copters.
RealFight Drone comes with
an InterLink Elite controller made
by Futaba. It has the heft and

HIGHLIGHTS
14 different drones to
choose from
Lots of skill-building
sessions
Nice graphics
Controller feels like
the real deal

34

Drone360mag.com

feel of a hobby-grade transmitter, with switches for various


flight modes, gimbal control,
and, for some models, motor
reversing. In the current version, the switches arent drone
specific, but marked for use with
traditional R/C aircraft featured
in RealFlights other simulator
programs. Take a little time to
get used to which switch controls
what for a particular drone and
youll be good to go.
BEFORE FLYING
Of course, youll have to
load Drone onto your PC. Not
a problem at all plug in the
controller to a USB port, pop in
the DVD, and click next. You
will have to enter two verification
numbers (one is inside the disc
case, and the other is on the
back of the controller) to run the
software.

By moving the mouse to the


screens left, youll find a menu
with options for aircraft, location,
toggles, controls, view, graphic
settings, and a heads-up display.
You can find all of these selections plus more in the buttons at
the top of the screen, too.
INTO THE BLUE
Getting into the virtual blue
is easy: just click fly on the
initial menu and you show up
at the field, drone waiting to
go. To tell the truth, I dont
remember which drone showed
up for my first flight, because
I was off scrolling through the
choices right away. There are 14
aircraft available in Drone, ranging from the Heli-Max Voltage
and Hubsan X4 Pro to generic
hexacopters and octocopters that
could be from just about any
manufacturer.

By Tim Kidwell
I picked a Hexacopter 780
and got right into the air. Of
course, its a blast seeing how
well the controls work and what
happens when you crash. The
simulated world is just as tough
on drones as the physical world.
I left pieces of copters scattered
across many locations, crashed
into the wall of soccer stadium,
and even got hung up on stairs in
a dilapidated hangar.
Once I worked the silliness
out of my system, I noted that
the simulator doesnt provide
you with a way to see both FPV
and fixed point, as if you were
flying with a monitor and line-ofsight. You can fly from a location
on the ground, from behind the
drone, off its front end, or from
the gimbal which is what
gives you the FPV perspective.

Handling was realistic for


various models, and the simulator does a good job of showing
how squirrely some copters are
compared to others. It also demonstrates how quickly a drone
dots out, and you dont know if
youre flying toward or away from
your location. A quick toggle to
FPV helps.
The heads-up display is a
nice touch, although I think just
adding the altimeter, speed,
bearing, and battery life to the
main display without pitch and
yaw would have been plenty.
PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
The description said I would
be able to take photos, so I
started hunting for targets.
There is a training series in

which you fly your drone toward


predetermined subjects bounded
by a red box. When the box turns
green, the drone automatically
takes a photo. Theres another
training program that is essentially a series of more difficult
obstacle courses. You have a
limited amount of time to either
make it through the course or
take a number of pictures. If you
dont, you have to start over.
You also have the opportunity
to take a non-automatic photo
of what youre looking at, which
requires you to take a screenshot
by pressing the tab button on
the computer keyboard.
The photo/video simulation
disappointed me. Part of the full
experience of flying drones is to
shoot masterful video and photos

framing the shots at the very


least and getting comfortable
with seeing the UAS in the air as
well as through a monitor. While
you can tilt the angle of the camera with a dial, the functionality
is minimal.
FINAL THOUGHTS
RealFlight Drone can be a
useful practice tool, especially
if you live somewhere temps get
below 20 degrees in the winter.
You can adjust the weather
and light conditions, change
locations to meet your needs
(or whims), and even fine tune
your flying by heading through
obstacle courses. At $129.99,
its an affordable introduction to
flying or supplement your time in
the field.

SYSTEM SPECS
RealFlight
Drone Flight Simulator
Available: Tower Hobbies
(www.towerhobbies.com)
Processor requirement:
Intel Pentium 1GHz
or better
RAM: 512MB minimum
Hard drive space: 3GB
Price: $129.99

March/April 2016

35

DROMIDA VERSO

SYSTEM SPECS
Dromida Verso
Available: Tower Hobbies
(www.towerhobbies.com)
Rotor type: Quadcopter
Diameter: 4.5 inches
Weight: 1.2 ounces
Flight time: 5+ minutes
Price: $39.99

36

Drone360mag.com

ooking for a small quad


with some zip that you can
fly indoors? Give the Verso
inversion quad a try. Like
its name implies, the Verso can
flip, but it also has the ability to
fly inverted. Everything you need
to fly, including four AA batteries for the transmitter, comes in
the package. Just charge up the
350mAh 3.7V LiPo via the USB
charger about 50 minutes
and youre off!
Youll also find two pairs
of replacement props, a prop
removal tool, and optional thumb
pads for the control sticks. Ill
admit, those made me chuckle.

The idea is to make the transmitter sticks feel more like those of
a video game controller and keep
your fingers from slipping. This
hasnt been an issue for me, but I
put them on anyway. They look a
little weird, but I didnt find they
helped or hindered my ability to
pilot. Your mileage may vary.
BEFORE TAKEOFF
Take a moment to familiarize
yourself with the Q205 2.4GHz
transmitter. As usual in the U.S.,
throttle and yaw are on the left
stick and pitch and roll are on
the right. Youll notice a number
of buttons on both sides of a

By Tim Kidwell
LCD screen. Those on the left
change between three control
rates20%, 60%, and 100%.
The current rate will briefly
display on the screen.
The top two buttons on the
right side of the screen dont
do anything. (Dont know why. I
assume they will on another version or different quad.) But the
bottom one toggles the Versos
LEDs on and off. If theyre on,
youll see a lightbulb icon on the
screen.
On top of the transmitter are
two buttons. The one on the

left will beep if you push it, but


doesnt have a function. The one
on the right controls flips.
INTO THE BLUE
The Verso flew beautifully
right out of the box. Of course,
I couldnt leave it at 20% rate,
and cranked it up to 100%.
Its quick, no question. And the
quad banks well around corners,
although I did drift into a wall
more than once. (I like to fly
aggressively!) Rest assured of
the Versos resilience.
When it came time to go
inverted, I pushed the top
right button and nudged the

right control stick (not the left)


forward. The Verso flipped on its
nose, and the back end became
the front. As I expected, this
altered the flight characteristics
as the motors reversed and the
top of the aircraft became the
bottom. If youre prepared for it,
you can easily make up for any
lost altitude, then hit the button and go right-side up again.
Once I was used to seeing it
inverted, flying that way became
as natural as top up. Then I was
flipping forward and back and
left and right until the battery died. Sigh.
After charging, I was back in
the air, but this time, I wanted
to see what a 360-degree
flip looked like. I held the flip
button until it beeped at me
twice, then pushed forward on
the stick. And just like that, a
forward roll! Make sure youre
ready to give the throttle a quick
kick to maintain altitude.
At only a little more than four
inches across from prop guard

to prop guard, the Verso can get


small pretty quick. The lights
arent bright enough for flying
in the dark, although that didnt
keep me from trying. It just
wasnt much fun.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A good time in a small,
inexpensive package. With the
growing interest in flying 3D and
doing tricks that used to be the
province of fixed-wing aircraft
and top-notch copter jockeys,
Verso puts the ability to do
some simple flips and rolls in
everyones hands. Which, when
you think about it, is a lot of
what quads are about allowing anyone to fly.
Flight times varied between
five and 10 minutes, depending on how many flips I did. Its
tough waiting for the battery to
charge, so Id recommend getting another one or two to keep
you in the air.
The Verso control rates matter. The lowest setting is perfect

for getting to know the quad,


and the midrange is enough for
the typical flyer. But if youre
hot on the sticks, then the full
rate will let you make this quad
dance. Its quick, responsive,
and just plain fun.

HIGHLIGHTS
360-degree flips and rolls
2.4GHz SLT controller
Three control rates
Tough airframe and
extra props

March/April 2016

37

TACTIC FPV-RM1

MIKE INTSCHERT

hese days, there are so


many FPV monitors to
choose from that its
mind-boggling. From
simple display-only models to
fully integrated systems like
the small, lightweight FPV-RM1
from Tactic, users can choose
what suits their needs (and their
wallets) best.
First Person View (FPV)
flying and racing has recently
seen quite an uptick within the
world of drones. Some pilots
opt to wear goggles for a truly
immersive experience, while
others prefer the view from
above displayed on external

38

Drone360mag.com

monitors. Personally, I like the


ability to break off from FPV to
look at the aircraft if needed,
and monitors such as this Tactic model let me do that with
ease.
BEFORE FLYING
The FPV-RM1 boasts a
seven-inch 1024x600 LCD with
integrated diversity 5.8GHz
receivers. It also features an
1800mAh LiPo battery and
built-in LiPo battery charger,
plus multiple inputs and outputs
as well as a sunshield that locks
into place one of my favorite
features of the unit because it

snaps securely in place instead


of using hook-and-loop attachments. The sides of the
sunshield fold down forming a
protective layer on top of the
screen.
Also included in this review
is the FPV-T6 video transmitter.
This 5.8GHz, 600-megawatt
unit is small but mighty: At this
power output level in the U.S.,
an amateur or ham radio license
is required before operation.
(Its not as hard as it sounds.
Go to www.fcc.gov and look
under Licensing & Databases
for details). The transmitter
itself has a nice small form

By Mike Intschert

SYSTEM SPECS
Tactic FPV-RM1
5.8GHz Video Receiver/
Monitor

Tactic FPV-RM1 5.8GHz


Video Receiver/Monitor
Available: Tower Hobbies
(www.towerhobbies.com)
Monitor: 7-inch 1024x600
LCD HD
Receivers: Integrated twin
5.8GHz
Controls: 8 push-button
controls, manual and autoscan frequency selection
Battery: 1800mAh LiPo
battery w/ built-in charger
Sun Shield: Snap-on, foldable
Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 1 in.
Weight: 17 oz.
Price: $230

HIGHLIGHTS
Good display
Locking sunshield
Built-in battery charger
Auto-scan lock onto
strongest signal

factor and includes the harness


already prepped for using a GoPro as your FPV camera. Tactic
includes a heat sink with the
unit, which youll have to install.
The process is pretty simple,
but does require you to get heatsink thermal adhesive from an
electronics or hobby shop before
installation. It would be nice if
they included this adhesive in
the package instead of having
to source it separately. Youll
also have to remove a portion
of the heat shrink around the
video transmitters circuit board
in order to properly secure the
heatsink to the transmitter. This
is pretty simple with a sharp

hobby knife. Just use caution


so you dont damage the circuit
board in the process.
Frequency and band setting
on the video transmitter is
pretty easy with the use of five
dip switches and a handy frequency chart included with the
transmitter. On the monitor, simply set the band and frequency
by using the up and down arrows on the control panel, or use
the auto-scan function where
the monitor cycles through all
available channels and locks
onto the strongest signal.
INTO THE BLUE
Due to unusually rainy weather here in Arizona, I elected
to fly the system inside my
warehouse. This did not allow
me to test the range of the system which, at 600mW transmit
power would be considerable. I
did, however, have a very stable
environment to play with the
settings of the monitor.
The picture is clear for an
analog transmitter and receiver
system. The color on the image
was adequate, but I ended up

FPV-T6 600mW Video


Transmitter
Available: Tower Hobbies
(www.towerhobbies.com)

FPV-T6 600 megawatt


Video Transmitter

Transmitter: 5.8GHz,
600mW
Channels: 32
Range: 1,500m max.
Includes: heat sink
(installation and thermal
adhesive required)

playing with the brightness,


contrast and color settings in order to get a more realistic color
picture it still tended to be a
little green. The menu functions
are pretty easy to navigate via
the push button controls along
the bottom of the screen, but I
would highly recommend setting
up your monitor settings before
you fly to minimize distractions.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Tactic FPV-RM1 monitor
and FPV-T6 transmitter combi-

Dimensions: 1.4 x 0.9


x 0.3 in.
Weight (w/ case): 0.34 oz.
Price: $60

nation is a good value. It may


seem like a pricey option for
somebody wanting to get into
FPV, but the quality Ive seen
with the Tactic series should
make you consider spending
the extra coin to get a quality
product.
March/April 2016

39

YUNEEC TYPHOON ACTIONCAM

TIM KIDWELL

een looking for groundbased video capabilities


to complement your aerial footage? If you have,
your quest is now ended. Meet
the Yuneec Typhoon ActionCam.
This sweet rig combines the
CGO SteadyGrip ground handle
and the CGO3 3-axis gimbal
camera thats right, the very
same camera slung under the
Typhoon Q500 4K. The CGO3
has a built-in 5.8GHz Wi-Fi
link to deliver streaming video
to iOS and Android tablets and
smartphones, as well as Yuneec
ground stations.
You also get a sturdy carrying
case, a charger, and a LiPo

HIGHLIGHTS
True 4K video
3-axis gimbal camera
Comfortable pistol grip
Compact and tough
carrying case

40

Drone360mag.com

battery to power the whole


thing. A nice cleaning cloth and
16GB micro SD memory card
round out the package.
BEHIND THE CAMERA
Setting up the ActionCam
was no trouble at all. It comes
out of the case fully assembled;
all I had to do was plug the
camera into the handle and
charge the battery. The final
bit of prep involved downloading the CGO3 app from the App
Store, and giving the ActionCam about 30 seconds for the
camera and gimbal to initialize
and establish the Wi-Fi hotspot.
Joining the network took up to a
minute, so be patient. Recording video and taking photos are
all handled through the app, so
take some time to get familiar
with it and the options it offers,
including: 120fps slow motion
at 1080p, a plethora of choices
for lighting, resolution and lots
of photo options for ISO and
shutter speeds.
On the pistol grip, I found
a button marked MODE and
a textured wheel. The button

switches between Pitch Follow


Mode and Angle Mode. In Pitch
Mode, the ActionCam behaves
much like a normal camera,
with the lens pointing directly
forward. Of course, the gimbal
all but eliminates camera shake,
making for beautiful, steady
shots. In Angle Mode,
the green LED next to
the button is off, and
the wheel controls
the angle of the
camera, from
shooting directly
ahead to straight
down. However, the
gimbal maintains the
angle of the camera,
allowing me to more
easily focus on one
spot despite the pitch
of the grip.
OUT IN THE WORLD
I love shooting
footage with the
ActionCam. While the
sound isnt the highest
quality and it doesnt
take a mic, it works
well for footage where

By Tim Kidwell
you have a lot happening. We
took it go-cart racing, and it
made catching video of racers
blasting past a ton of fun, while
the slow motion option opened
up a world of options.

See the Typhoon ActionCam in action (of course) at Drone360mag.com

The video feed on my iPhone


had a bit of a fisheye bulge,
but it didnt show on the video
imported to the computer. The
clarity is astounding. Feel free
to edit with the software youre
most comfortable with I use
Adobe Premiere Pro.
FINAL THOUGHTS
You can get the CGO
SteadyGrip with the Typhoon,

which allows you to swap the


CGO3 camera for aerial and
ground filming. However, if you
already have a drone, but are
looking for a versatile handheld
complement, the ActionCam
more than fits the bill. Ive taken
to bringing it along just about
everywhere I go. It packs nicely
in the case, captures way better
video than any smartphone, and
doesnt take long to set up.

SYSTEM SPECS
Yuneec ActionCam
Availability: Yuneec
(www.yuneec.com)
Camera: CGO3 4K 3-axis
gimbal camera
Wi-Fi range: Up to 1640 ft.
Runtime: 90 minutes
Weight: 1.5 pounds
Price: $549.99
Check out the nearly 120-degree range of motion that the CGO3 has.
March/April 2016

41

Drone accidents: They definitely


happen, but regulatory uncertainty
and lack of accident data have
made insurance companies slow
to provide coverage.
WALTER SCRIPTUNAS II

CYD
(cover your drone)

Insurance companies scramble to keep up


with the lightning-fast proliferation of new drone
technologies and the innovative uses theyre fueling.
So how are they doing and what should you know?





















LOTS OF DRONES, TOO LITTLE DATA





 










  




 

  
 

By Mike Dries

THE
INSURANCE
COMPANIES
STANCE

ESTABLISHED

ILLUSTRATIONS ISTOCK.COM/KITTISAK_TARAMAS

STUFF HAPPENS.

ESTABLISHED

WAIT AND SEE

WHATS THE USE?












March/April 2016

43

Even if insured, your drone likely


wont be covered if you violate
federal or local regulations like
flying over a crowd.
ISTOCK.COM/BLUIZ60





 
44

Drone360mag.com






aircraft

What damage to a person, property, or both could a


50-pound drone, flying at 50 mph 400 feet above
the ground, cause if it were to crash?

DRONE-ING FOR DOLLARS


Schrimpf and Klingaman point out that the
line between hobby and commercial drone uses
may not always be crystal clear, but insureds who
receive compensation for their UAS use will probably jeopardize their homeowners coverage. In
that case, commercial liability insurance coverage
would be required to address that individuals drone
liability exposure.
An example of the haziness between the meaning
of the terms recreational and commercial is illustrated by the use of drones in agriculture, which has
far outpaced all other uses of drones. According to
NAMICs paper, the FAA will permit using a UAS to

when they are grown for personal enjoyment, but


would not allow a farmer to use a UAS to determine
if crops grown as part of a commercial farming
operation need water.
And just because the FAA would allow it, doesnt
mean that its automatically legal. Those planning

Section 333 exemption from the FAA. Exemptions



insurance underwriter Global Aerospace points out
in its report, Contracting With and Between UAS
Operators, if an operator is approved for use
of a DJI S1000 and turns up with a 3DR X8 in the

exemption]. And if that same operator were cleared


for real-estate photos, they wouldnt be allowed to
scan crops for disease. Operational parameters, such

population centers, are often included, too.


Whats more, assuming a potential insureds
operations are in compliance with applicable laws

and regulations doesnt necessarily mean that a


company underwriting drone insurance will approve
every application it receives.
Applications for UAS hull and liability insurance
coverage ask a broad array of questions including
the year, make, and model of the system, its means
of propulsion (e.g., single engine, multi-engine, bat
of backup power supply it has, and many more. The
answers to these questions are used by insurance
companies to estimate the likelihood of loss.
We have to assess how risky the endeavor is
itself, says Chris Proudlove, senior vice president and Northeast regional manager for Global

close proximity to power lines? Our greatest concern
is the use of drones in places with large congregations of people, such as outdoor concerts and athletic
events, where the consequences of an accident would
likely be most serious.
One further note: Commercial drone operators
shouldnt assume that they are protected by standard
commercial general liability insurance, which often
contains aviation exclusions.

LOOK BEFORE YOU FLY


It will take time for laws and regulations governing UAS and their potential uses to become as

uses. Right now, were still in the discovery stage,


with new technologies and new ideas about how

The FAA is expected to enact new regulations in the


near term, pursuant to its mandate under the FAA
Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. At this time,
however, unanswered questions remain.
Clarity, in turn, will help the evolving UAS insurance market pick up the pace. More companies will
enter that market and those who are already providing coverage will adapt to whatever changes in the
regulatory environment emerge.
In the meantime, anyone using drones, whether
for recreation or commerce, are well advised to

questions, starting with whether the insurance you


already have covers the drone or drones you own
and how you use them. If the answer to that question
is no, ask the agent if they can obtain that coverage
for you. If that question is also no, shop around.
Think of it this way: What damage to a person,

at 50 mph 400 feet above the ground, cause if it were



for that damage out of your own pocket or would
want to if you could?

COMMERCIAL
VS.
HOBBY
Coverage
most likely
required ...
IF YOU MAKE MONEY
WITH YOUR UAS:

UAS hull and liability


insurance. Dont
assume commercial
liability insurance will
protect you in the case
of an accident.
IF YOU FLY FOR FUN:

Homeowners
insurance might cover
you, but make sure
to ask.

March/April 2016

45

ILLUSTRATION ISTOCK.COM/MOTO-RAMA

drone operators. Invasion of privacy might include,


for example, using a drone to take unauthorized
pictures of people or property. According to Shrimpf
and Klingaman, Coverage should be available if the
[homeowners] policy includes liability for personal

arrest, detention, malicious prosecution, libel, slander, and invasion of privacy. To be clear, personal
injury doesnt equal bodily injury.
It also is important to understand that insurance
policies, including homeowners policies, typically
exclude coverage for acts or operations that violate
laws or regulations. So its critically important to
understand what laws and regulations apply, and
to understand that while federal laws cover all 50
states, many of those states and indeed, some
municipalities have enacted their own laws and
regulations governing drones and their use.

By Dan Gettinger and Arthur Holland Michel,


cofounders of the Center for the Study of the Drone

46

Drone360mag.com

When drones
and manned aircraft
compete for airspace,
no one wins

y the time it was contained in early


July 2015, the Lake Fire had burned
for 10 days straight, destroying
over 31,000 acres of Californias
San Bernardino National Forest. As in

helicopters used to drop retardant over




aircraft as they prepared to make a pass




of the planes, forcing the pilots to make


a hard right to avoid contact. All aerial
operations were grounded for two and a
half hours.
The Lake Fire wasnt the only time that

In testimony before the House Transpor 


Oct. 7, James Hubbard, the deputy chief
of the U.S. Forest Service, said that there
were 21 drone incursions into the airspace

two incidents the previous year.


As commercial drones have become

everyday consumer, they have also been

with greater frequency. On June 27, as the

Lake Fire was raging in California, a pilot


in New Jersey reported coming within 50
feet of a drone near Teterboro Airport. In
that month alone, there were over 130 incidents involving drones in the National
Airspace System.
In a press release on Aug. 12, 2015,
the Federal Aviation Administration
Continue on page 50

March/April 2016

47

Drones interferred with firefighting


efforts in Southern California last
summer, causing damaging and
costly delays.
KENNETH SONG/THE NEWS-PRESS/AP;
LEAD SPREAD IMAGINECHINA/AP

March/April 2016

49

The Solo drone from 3DR is installed with the AirMap app to indicate to operators if the drone is being operated within restricted airspace.
3D ROBOTICS

Continued from page 47

announced that there had been over 650


close calls so far that year, a massive increase over the 238 incidents in all of 2014.
In a bid to help the public, stakehold

solutions to address it, the Center for the


Study of the Drone published an in-depth
analysis of over 900 potentially dangerous
incidents involving manned aircraft and

driven light on an issue that has taken

hopes that we might facilitate solutions


that work.

BY THE NUMBERS

Because manned aircraft fly at low altitudes, sometimes for several miles, while on final
approach and during takeoff, the FAA prohibits the use of unmanned aircraft within five miles
of any airport in the U.S. without permission from air traffic control.
DREAMSTIME.COM

50

Drone360mag.com

With millions of drones in U.S. skies,


most never come into close proximity to
a manned aircraft. In fact, since 1981, the

making sure that model aircraft hobbyists
dont interfere with manned aircraft and,
in recent years, it has applied those guidelines to drone users. What we found is
that incidents tend to only happen when
users break the rules.
Judging from the data, the FAAs
guidelines for drone users are far from arbitrary. One such guideline calls for drone
operators to always maintain a distance of

We found that about 60 percent of inci

of this rule. The FAA also asks that drone




feet. And the average altitude of incidents

higher than the FAAs drone ceiling.



incidents that did not involve a drone

miles of an airport. The average altitude

airport.
Prior to the meteoric rise in popularity
of consumer multirotor models and com
mercial drones, most of the unmanned

dedicated community of model aviation




has shielded the hobbyists from overarch


ing federal regulation.

the size and cost of components like
gyroscopes, autopilot systems, and cam
eras dropped, advanced model aircraft

to buy or build and easier and more



enthusiasts could gain access to the sky

ist in the past. And unlike members of the


hobby community, they can get airborne

sky.

have been involved in these incidents.


Often pilots reporting drones in their


last only a couple of seconds or less, and

ously vague results there are reports

ers, and trash cans but in hundreds of

enough for us to determine the type of

For recreational drone users, multiro


tors are a more appealing option since

The prices for drones and drone tech has dropped substantially in the last couple of years,
boosting the number of consumer UAS flying in the NAS to unprecedented levels.
DREAMSTIME.COM

reason they make up the majority of small


drones being used in the U.S. today. And
to be sure, multirotors are much more

models in fact, three times more com


mon. A small number of troublemaking

helicopter models.

unlikely. Sightings are more common


than close encounters. With hundreds of
thousands of drones entering the airspace

presented some risk of a collision.


CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
While the FAA has not yet published a
OF THE DRONE KIND

drones do indeed pose a threat to manned other manned aircraft, the FAA calls such
aviation some claim that the threat is



contend that the problem is overstated

and overhyped. Richard Hanson, the



director of government and regulatory

 dents involving drones. About 75 percent


tics, has criticized the FAA and the media



ing and mischaracterizing the data makes cases, the drone and the aircraft came
it impossible to assess the magnitude of

the situation and appropriately address


The other quarter of close encounter
the risks involved, Hanson argued in



pilot used language that indicated that

the encounter had been a close one by
Oct. 7, 2015.
using phrases such as came really close.
To try and lay to rest some of these


yourself and the drone that you are trying
 to avoid can be challenging, and yet if
a heightened possibility of a collision,
a pilot believes that a drone is too close


mere sighting.
March/April 2016

51

According to tests by the Virginia Tech CRASH Lab, a jet engine that ingests a drone could suffer from operational stability issues, at minimum, to catastrophic failure, at worst.
ISTOCK.COM/MSTROZ; INSET/VIRGINIA TECH CRASH LAB

CRASHING THE PARTY


The controversy and disagreements
around the true gravity of the situation
extend to one very important question
that the data we extracted from these
close call reports cannot answer: What
would happen if, instead of a mere close
encounter, one of these drones were
actually to hit an airplane? For decades,
aviation authorities have required that
aircraft manufacturers test their wares
against bird strikes YouTube is full of
strange videos of frozen chickens being
hurled into turbofan engines but since
large-scale drone use is a very new phenomenon, there have been no equivalent
live tests using drones.
There is some talk of the FAA preparing drone-strike test requirements for aircraft engine makers sometime in the near
future, but until that happens, the best we
can do is guess. The most sophisticated
guesswork to date has been developed by
a team at Virginia Techs Crashworthiness
for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids
Laboratory (yes, CRASH for short). Using
advanced computer simulations, they
have been able to generate hypothetical
scenarios ranging from drone impacts on

engines.


Lab teams tests indicate that if even


a small drone weighing three to nine

deck or fuselage, it could damage critical


structural components. This seems
52

Drone360mag.com

plausible, as birds in this same weight


range have been known to actually
tear holes in airplane wings and break
through cockpit windows.
If the CRASH Labs work is anything

turbofan engine would be messy, too.


In their simulations, when a three-foot
diameter drone met a nine-foot diameter
turbofan engine, three engine blades were
destroyed within a couple of miliseconds
of impact. The chewed-up drone and
the bits of engine blade then proceeded
into the interior of the engine, where the
debris began to spin at 700 mph, exerting

leading to total engine failure.


Jet planes with turbofan engines, 90 of
which were commercial passenger planes,
were involved in about 40 percent of the
close encounter scenarios. Propeller-driven aircraft, most of which were singleprops, accounted for about half, and the
rest involved helicopters (which could be
most at risk in a drone strike, given that
they only have one rotor).
Even though in most cases a jet plane
that ingested a drone into an engine could

engine long enough to make an emergency landing, its a scenario that would
spell dreadful news for the UAS commu
agency told us, it will only take one such
incident to bring about a severe regulatory whiplash that could really hurt the
industry as well as hobby operators.

The great worry is what will happen to the


UAS industry if a small drone accidentally
crashes into one of these.
ISTOCK.COM/SENOHRABEK

There are probably several reasons


why these incidents are happening at a
growing rate: inexperienced drone users
who dont know the rules, lost links and
other malfunctions that send drones beyond their owners control, and perhaps
a small number of daredevils who know
the rules and break them anyway. And so
there probably isnt a single, silver-bullet
solution the FAA can use to solve the
problem.
Enforcement is one option, but the
airspace is large and the FAAs ability to

education on the part of the government
and the drone industry could help inex

In December, the FAA started requiring all drone users to register any aircraft
that weighed more than half a pound in
the hopes that it would induce greater
accountability among recreational
users. But there has been pushback from
the hobby community, and it is unclear
whether registration would have been
much use in the incidents we studied,
given that law enforcement agencies were
often unable to locate the drones that
pilots reported.
In addition to possible policy remedies, a number of technological solutions
that could help integrate drones into the
airspace are currently being explored.
Geofencing systems such as DJIs
Geospatial Environment Online system, which bars the companys drones
from entering restricted airspaces, could
enforce the rules for those who arent
sure of how to abide by them, as well

themselves in the way of manned air


management system that will track the

aircraft, but the program only just began,


and is scheduled to remain in testing until
at least 2019.
On 28 occasions in 2014 and 2015,
pilots of manned aircraft had to take evasive action to avoid a collision. In other
instances, pilots who came close to drones
said that they didnt have enough time to
react and change their course. Sense-andavoid technology can help prevent drones
from bumping into other aircraft by enabling them to detect an impending collision and make an autonomous judgment
of how to respond. There are still no compact sense-and-avoid systems that would
be capable of helping a small quadcopter
dodge a jetliner travelling at 300 mph, but
the technology is advancing in leaps and

bounds. Eventually, such systems will be



too, will take some time.
The takeaway from all this is that it is

of drones operating alongside manned

and the level of incidents that we are


currently seeing is simply a symptom of
those safeguards lagging behind the unmanned aircraft technology. It is unlikely
that a single solution exists that smoothly
integrates drones into the airspace and,
even if there were, none of these potenmented overnight. Instead, ahead of the

drone regulations in June 2016, regulators are likely to aim for a combination
of approaches that respects the right of
both drone users and manned aviators to
access the sky.
March/April 2016

53

cover story

Airmen prepare an MQ-9 Reaper to fly from


Creech Air Force Base in Nevada during air-toground weapons evaluation exercises in 2014.
U.S. AIR FORCE

54

Drone360mag.com

Americas hunter-killer drone


program is plagued by human
error and a shortage of pilots.
Thats pushing the military toward
swarms of UAVs that can make
more decisions for themselves
By Eric Betz

Early on the morning of Oct. 3, 2009, U.S.


Army soldiers based at Combat Outpost
Keating in Afghanistan woke to intense
tants. The outpost sat in a small, rocky

surrounded by mountains. Insurgents

sides. Severely outgunned, the troops


were forced to surrender the base section
by section, as they gathered the wounded,
consolidated their forces, and called over

throughout the day, with 19 aircraft eventually providing support through intense

Force pilots 7,500 miles away at the March
Air Reserve Base in California provided

an unmanned Predator drone cruising


high above the fray.

ended, a second pilot sat down and took
the controls. Within 13 minutes, he had
slammed the drone into a nearby
56

Drone360mag.com

mountain, turning the multimillion-dollar




distracted and failed to control his aircraft.




OUT OF THE LOOP



the Predator drone in combat, UAVs have

in its war on terror. The once-overlooked


ing a complete rethink of how modern
wars are waged. The Pentagon had a
mere 50 UAVs in the year 2000. Current
estimates indicate that America now has
more than 6,000 military drones in operation around the world.
Most of those are short-range reconnaissance aircraft with hand-held controls
and a wingspan that looks more like a
model airplane. But the Congressional


An MQ-1B Predator (left) prepares for takeoff


behind an MQ-9 Reaper at Creech Air Force
Base in Nevada. The aircraft are operated
by the 432nd Wing, which trains UAV crew
members and runs worldwide combat and
surveillance operations.
CHRISTIAN CLAUSEN/U.S. AIR FORCE

Department of Defense will spend almost


$40 billion more by 2020 to add an additional 730 medium- and large-sized UAVs
to its arsenal.

growing pains. Drones like the Predator
came into favor because of their long

as their ability to strike in places American



robotic planes crash far more often than
manned aircraft. Crash rates vary by
aircraft and complete studies are hard to
come by, but even the most conservative

crash three times more often than the rest
Washington Post
investigation in 2014 showed that more

decisions will be made by machines.


Cadets with only a few months training
will watch over entire robotic squadrons.
And, if the machine loses contact with its

HUMBLE ORIGINS

than 400 large military UAVs have crashed


since 2001. Aside from mechanical problems, boredom, distractions, and other
human errors are often to blame.
The military has also quickly learned
that the term unmanned is a misnomer;
most drones actually require more than
one human to operate them. The U.S. Air
Force now trains more drone operators

Yet the Pentagon is several hundred


operators short of the number it needs to

operations around the globe.


should take more control of themselves.


Drones have already proven that they can

a target all without the need for human


supervision. So why not take humans out
of the loop entirely?
Welcome to the Terminator-esque, notso-distant future of drones, where

Like many disruptive technological


advances, the current drone revolution
traces its origins to a California garage.
 land in 1980 after meeting resistance to


his Hacienda Heights home and set to
work building his dream machine. The
Albatross was no ones idea of a war
wingspan were built simply to soar its
go-cart engine could keep the craft aloft
for days at a time.
By 1984, the modest machine had
caught the eye of the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA),
which saw the value of such a constant

government research group soon helped

Albatross became Amber, which eventually led to General Atomics Predator. And

in 1995 during the Balkan wars, it wasnt
until after the September 11 terrorist

how much it needed drones.

Student teams from the 6th Reconnaissance


Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base in New
Mexico are trained in UAV combat and support
tactics during an MQ-1 Predator super sortie
simulator mission.
BREEANN SACH/U.S. AIR FORCE

The Predator and its big brother, the


Reaper, quickly found a home in the skies

that military drones evolved from their
reconnaissance roles into the hunterkillers that made them both notorious and
indispensable.


 
militants in Afghanistan, and incinerate a terrorist training center in Somalia

Predators have also proven their worth


in combat situations, where they can tell
infantry what waits around the corner, on
the roof, or behind a wall.
These UAVs werent the only robotic

Afghanistan either. The Department of
Defense also poured cash into the Global
Hawk, Hunter, Shadow, Gray Eagle,

drones can now be launched from a backpack or the deck of an aircraft carrier.

THE PREDATOR PROBLEM




but only two and a half more years to


hit the second million. And with them
March/April 2016

57

The RQ-8A Fire Scout can take off and land


autonomously. The unmanned helicopter
provides surveillance, reconnaissance, and
battle management, and can track and
designate targets.
DANIEL J. MCLAIN/U.S. NAVY













58

Drone360mag.com










The Washington Post





































 


The Washington Post




 

A Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk awaits a nighttime mission. The surveillance aircraft can hit altitudes up to 65,000 feet, stay aloft for
more than a day, and has a range of more than 13,000 miles.
JOHN SCHWAB/U.S. NAVY

A small patch of sand, and the


future of American airfields
Red Sea

Eritrea

An impromptu airstrip
outside Djibouti City is
now home to Americas
main drone operations
site in the Horn of
Africa. The military
moved from nearby
Camp Lemonnier
after five Predators
crashed in the densely
populated area. These
small and secretive
lily pad bases are
increasingly common
as the U.S. stretches
out to take on ISIS.

Chabelley
Airport
(detail)

Yemen
Gulf of
Aden

Djibouti City
Chabelley
Airport, see
detail below

Djibouti

Map
area

Africa

Somalia
0

Ethiopia

50 miles

Scale

2016 Kalmbach Publishing Co., DRONE360: Rick Johnson

Djibouti

N
GOOGLE

Gulf of
Tadjoura

Chabelley Airport
Djibouti
City

Chabelley Airport
See detail, right

Scale

3 miles

2016 Kalmbach Publishing Co.,


DRONE360: Rick Johnson

Scale

12 mile

See detail, above

2016 Kalmbach Publishing Co., DRONE360: Rick Johnson

March/April 2016

59

MEET THE FLEET

RQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK

MQ-5 HUNTER
MQ-1 PREDATOR

RQ-7 SHADOW

SCALE
1

10

FEET

20

30

MQ-9 REAPER

MQ-1C GRAY EAGLE

60

Drone360mag.com

MQ-8 FIRE SCOUT

Northrop Grummans X-47B proved it could


safely taxi around sailors in tests on the USS
Harry S. Truman (above) and USS George H.W.
Bush (left). In 2013, it became the first UAV
to catapult launch from an aircraft carrier.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN









ROBOTS TO THE RESCUE

























March/April 2016

61

Marine Unmanned Aerial Squadron 2 launches


one of the squadrons RQ-7B Shadows at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.
S.T. STEWART/U.S. MARINE CORPS

The Global Hawk crash rates are also


lower, thanks to its highly automated
system. The aircraft sits somewhere in
the middle on the spectrum between the

landing the most dangerous part of any
tions are determined as the mission is
being planned, and it is the aircraft itself
that sets and adjusts speed, altitude, roll,

and joystick like those commonly used for
Predator operators, Global Hawk operators sit in a desk chair and use a keyboard
and mouse to control the drone.

that the Pentagon says it will retire its U-2
spyplane and replace it with the Global
Hawk if Congress will allow it. DARPA
and NASA even successfully partnered on

Global Hawks could accomplish highaltitude refueling on their own.


And yet, even the Global Hawk doesnt
rise to the level of autonomy the military
wants. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is
fully autonomous and 1 is completely
guided by remote control, the Global
Hawk the most autonomous large UAV
in service only ranks at 2.5, according
to the Air Force.
Drones arent the only focus of auton
8 million lines of code and automation is
baked into its missile and threat manage62

Drone360mag.com

ment systems. And F-16s have ground


collision avoidance software that will take
control of the plane and make corrections
before handing operations back to the
human pilot. Theres also a push for pilotoptional aircraft. By the year 2035, the
Pentagon predicts its arsenal will include
some 5,000 such planes that can either be
piloted, or pilot themselves.

shouldnt. Automation is common in civilian aviation. The Airbus A320 can already

been running many of its airplanes with

new study by the Humans and Autonomy
Lab shows pilots of those planes only

their hands on the cockpit controls. Boeing


777 pilots report that theyre in control for

DRONE PILOTS (STILL) WANTED


The Air Force says it needs to train
300 remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilots
a year to keep up with the pace of additional aircraft and patrols. Theyre currently training just under 200 each year.
Fuller automation for drones in the
future should lower the number of pilots

strain. But humans wont be completely


obsolete, and automation isnt the only
answer: Beginning in 2016, the U.S. is
paying $15,000 annual bonuses to UAV

nine years. That sum stacks up to $135,000


for drone pilots willing to stick it out long
term, with half of that bonus available up


million into contracting instructors and
purchasing the simulators and ground
control stations those operators will need.

RPA pilots will always be in demand,
Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee
James said in a statement announcing the
bonus program for drone pilots in July
2015. Remarkable airmen have ensured
the success of the [Predator and Reaper]
programs. We now face a situation where
if we dont direct additional resources
appropriately, it creates unacceptable risk.
We are working hard to put solutions in
place to bring needed relief to our airmen
and ensure our actions show their value to
our mission.

single UAVs. The Air Forces former chief
scientist, Mica Endsley, envisions new
forms of warfare enabled by swarms of

together in formation, theyll share infor
or defense missions.
Other military minds see similar uses.

carried out test missions on its Low-Cost
UAV Swarm Technology (LOCUST) in
2015 using swarms of small, rocket-tube
launched Raytheon Coyote UAVs. The
agency plans to test launch a massive
UAV swarm made up of 30 aircraft from
a ship in 2016.
A team of students from the Advanced
Robotic Systems Engineering Laboratory
(ARSENL) beat that number in August,


the control of just one person. The drones


relied on computer algorithms and powerful Wi-Fi to communicate with each other.
ARSENLs next step in swarm testing is a


to small UAVs. DARPA recently called
for help developing the technology to
allow existing unmanned aircraft to work
collaboratively through its Collaborative
Operations in Denied Environment
(CODE) program. Just as wolves hunt in
coordinated packs with minimal communication, multiple CODE-enabled
unmanned aircraft would collaborate to

all under the command of a single human


mission supervisor, said DARPAs JeanCharles Led in a statement.
In the fall of 2015, the Armys
Autonomous Unmanned Systems
Teaming and Collaboration in GPS
Denied Environments program (AUSTC)
announced it would work to fund and
mature technologies that would bring
about revolutionary levels of drone
autonomy. Still, Endsley and others stress
the need to keep humans in the loop
to counteract mistakes made by future
autonomous systems.

GETTING TROOPS OUT OF HARMS WAY


OVER THE PAST DECADE, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), built for just a few hundred
dollars each, have killed thousands of American soldiers in Afghanistan, and dismembered tens of
thousands more. The U.S. has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in response. Much of that money
went to heavily armored vehicles and the new generation of Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain
Vehicles, which will eventually replace the Humvee. But what if you could avoid IEDs entirely?
That was DARPAs intention when it kicked off the Transformer program in 2009. Instead
of driving over the most dangerous terrain, this new generation of off-road military ground vehicle
would use electric-powered rotors to take to the air when things got rough. After a tepid response to
the flying car, DARPA took the concept a step further. The current Transformer, known as the Aerial
Reconfigurable Embedded System, or ARES, removes the pilot and crew, as well as the wheels.
ARES, a partnership between Lockheed Martins Skunk Works and Piasecki Aircraft, uses twin
tilting ducted fans that allow for vertical takeoff and landing. So it doesnt need much of an airstrip,
but it can still reach speeds typical for a small civilian aircraft. ARES could carry thousands of pounds
of cargo from home base out to field sites, ferrying everything from combat troops to supply pods and
medical equipment.
Lockheed is no stranger to unmanned helicopters either. In 2011, the companys K-MAX aircraft
began carrying supplies as part of a test mission in Afghanistan. That test mission was continued
indefinitely, and K-MAX has transported millions of pounds of cargo. And Lockheed is now pushing
its use in fighting wildfires, delivering humanitarian aid, exploring oil and gas resources, and even
construction.
ARES, now in its third phase, has that potential as well. It too can fly autonomously or under
remote control. But ARES brings the added practicality of safer enclosed rotors and interchangeable
cargo pods. The U.S. Marine Corps is taking the lead on developing prototype requirements, but
other operators are interested as well. The prototype begins three months of test flights this summer.

SOLDIERS THAT DONT SLEEP


Not everyone is excited about the
future of autonomy: These thinking robots
have sparked debate about whether
robots should be able to kill without
consulting a human. Human Rights Watch
lawyers have pushed the United Nations
to ban the practice before it even gets
started. The group says action is needed
now because killer robots, fully autonomous weapons capable of selecting and
shooting humans on their own, are only a
few decades away.
In response, the Department of Defense
issued a directive requiring that humans

yet, the Air Force chief scientist raises
questions about certain limited cases
where drones might be able to take over
when theres not enough time for humans
to act or loss of life is imminent.
Thats not enough for some opponents.
Human Rights Watch lawyers say there
simply couldnt be accountability for
autonomously operating killer robots, so
they should never be developed in the

Some proponents of fully autonomous weapons argue that the use of the
weapons would be acceptable in limited
circumstances, but once they are devel

LOCKHEED MARTIN

to restrict them to such situations, the


group says.
By 2035, the Army expects to have
advanced autonomous drones that can
steer clear of hazards, making them safe
to integrate into Americas airspace. The

working on an Autonomous Collision
Avoidance System to allow drones to
operate over U.S. airspace, keeping them
miles away from potential collisions. The
Air Force also plans to rely more and

more on robotics in the future but still


expects operators will have a strong role.
Most or all Air Force operations
conducted in the foreseeable future will
require a combination of both humans
and autonomy to get the job done in the
face of a broad range of operational conditions and a determined adversary, says

Chief Scientist.
The military plans to keep the
machines in check for now.
March/April 2016

63

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Drone360mag.com

Bringing order
to the

UAS rulemaking aint for cowards


By Tim Kidwell and Carl Engelking

Another journalist recently asked us


why hobbyists have to register UAS, but
gun owners dont have a similar federal
registration requirement for guns. Both
pose safety risks if used incorrectly, this

designed for one thing killing. So why


register the drones and not the guns?
There are a number of problems with
the analogy, not the least of which is that

a right in the U.S. Constitution. However,


it casts a hard light on the frustration that

to regulate the National Airspace System
in an increasingly crowded sky.
The model aviation community, as
represented by the Academy of Model
Aeronautics (AMA), has existed since
1936, two decades before the founding of
the Federal Aviation Administration. By
and large, the community self-regulated,
operating without much oversight from

the federal government. The barriers


to enter the hobby were steep: kits and
engines could prove quite costly, model
aircraft needed a sizeable time investment

took many hours of practice and often


involved crashing an expensive model
that had taken weeks to complete.
Although the rigors of the hobby

FAA felt compelled to draft voluntary


guidelines for model aircraft enthusiasts.
Advisory Circular 91-57 introduced such

within three miles of an airport.


In the more than three decades since
Advisory Circular 91-57, model aviation
and aviation in general has changed
more than the previous half century.

far more reliable and cheaper to manufacture. So have the aircraft themselves. The
burden of building a model airplane or
helicopter has become all but nonexistent


Illustrations by Kellie Jaeger

of powerful brushless electric motors and

engine maintenance into a choice, not a



ters without damaging the aircraft was
still a substantial hurdle, though.
And it disappeared with multirotor
helicopters.

US AND THEM AND THEM


The popularity of multirotor UAS
shouldnt come as a surprise. Drones allow
everyday people to do what once was

the drop in costs for gyroscopes, gimbals,
and cameras coupled with advances in


easy. Drones can be found in mass-market


stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, not to
mention all over the Internet. Whats more,

RED
R E GISTE

REGIS
TERED

REGISTERED

REGIS
TERE

D
TERE
EGIS

TERE
REGIS

REGIS
TERE

REGISTERED

March/April 2016

65

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, left, with Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, center,
and ALPA President Tim Canoll, right, fields questions about UAS registration.
AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK

there isnt an education requirement all


you have to do to get a quadcopter in the

Drones are a democratizing technology,


to be sure, and thats one of the most alluring aspects of the booming industry for
 
photojournalist and owner of New York
Buying a drone doesnt make one a professional, he says, but every pro has to get

the industry to remain open, with as few
barriers to entry as possible as long as


Gyokeres says he and other commercial operators essentially self-regulated
tions or rolled out its regulation recommendations: The professional operators
are obsessive about safety, because we



While the Wild West portrait painted



for TV ratings, stoking public interest,
and revving debate, its a reputation that




Weve been working to legitimize



else before we became drone pilots, and
I decided very early that my public focus


pilots see non-commercial users as the
culprits those who arent subject to
nearly the same amount of regulation
and scrutiny, break the guidelines while

But the categories arent as clear as


commercial versus hobbyist: Buying a

ing non-commercially doesnt make you a


hobbyist either at least according to the

We dont view new consumer users


resentative and a 40-year veteran of the
aviation industry, including service in the


as theyre interested in the tech or taking

The delineation between hobbyist and








from creating new rules for hobbyists so
lines of a community-based organiza

tion with an organization, as a violation of


its fair to say that not all hobbyists are



approach for enthusiasts: sign up with a
nationally recognized hobby organization,
paying dues and obeying its guidelines, or


Basically, become a member or deal with








and development of appropriate safety
guidelines [for model aircraft] to organiza

doesnt qualify as a model aircraft or who

Ultimately, both distinctions may be








on data collection for enterprise and


the operation, distance from [airports], and
payload are more precise indicators of the

PREVENTING THE INEVITABLE



 

REGIST

REGISTERED

D
REGISTERE
ED
R E GISTER

REGISTERED

REGISTERED
R EGISTERED

66

Drone360mag.com

TERED

A sign warns against the flying of remote controlled drones


at the entrance of Valley of Fire State Park in Overton, NV.

ED
R E GISTER

AP PHOTO/ALEX MENENDEZ

R EGISTERED

REGISTER

ED

ED
ISTER
R EG
REGIS
TERE

D
REGISTERE





 

















 





March/April 2016

67

private investigator, Sachs is the founder


of the Drone Pilots Association, and has
been a staunch advocate for use of drones
since 2013. Hes also a vocal critic of the








to a drone operator does nothing to edu
to Drone360.
Sachs also argues that slapping a regis

a person, and there is no statute on the


sons rather than aircraft. A single user, for

of drones under one registration, rather









ED
ISTER
R EG








its standards should be an alternative




REGIS
TERE

D
REGISTERED







to enhance their business.


tered would be available to the public






to the public, although addresses would


LAYING DOWN THE LAW


REGISTER

ED

REGISTERED




R EGISTERED

Out of concerns for safety, the FAA didnt let


Flirteys F3 hexacopter (top of page) and
SEESPAN Aerial Interactives 3D Robotics X8
(left) fly at the same time during last summers
medicine delivery test in West Virginia, even
though the X8 was tethered to the ground.
WALTER SCRIPTUNAS II

68

Drone360mag.com

ED
R E GISTER

to register and the FAA can assess civil


penalties up to $27,500. Criminal penal


powers, it doesnt have the muscle on the

FAA can only launch an investigation


tion is collected and studied. While police
can catch a criminal in the act and actively


reactive,
actively enforce
laws.

Police hats as the airspace gets more


ations. According to the FAA guidelines,

detect, immediately investigate, and, as




and training program manager with the


that much.


thing suspicious with a drone, or trespass


arent going to see the drone police out




regarding unauthorized drone use.




process the scene, conduct interviews,

ED
ISTER
R EG
REGIS
TERE

REGISTER

ED



dence up the chain to FAA regulators and


departments, the FAA may also launch




violation occurs, especially since local and



always an option, depending on the sever

FROM INNOVATION TO INTEGRATION




recently that the aviation industry was at


the greatest revolution in aviation since the












FAA Administrator Huerta reminded


However, the overall goal is total integration.





their way through the courts, total integra

Defining model
aircraft and
operating safely
ED
R E GISTER

ACCORDING TO SECTION 336(C) of the FAA


Modernization and Reform Act of 2012,
a model aircraft is an unmanned aircraft
that is:
Capable of sustained flight in
the atmosphere.
Flown within visual line-of-sight
of the operator.
Flown for hobby or recreational purposes.
IF YOURE FLYING A QUAD or other
R/C aircraft, for it to be considered a
model aircraft, it has to meet all of the
requirements above. Whats more, you must
follow specific FAA rules when flying your
model aircraft, which are listed in Section
336(a) of the Act. The section requires:
The aircraft is flown strictly for hobby
or recreational use.
The aircraft is operated in accordance
with a community-based set of safety
guidelines and within the programming
of a nationwide community-based
organization (such as the Academy of
Model Aeronautics).
The aircraft is limited to not more than
55 pounds unless otherwise certified
through a design, construction,
inspection, flight test, and operational
safety program administered by a
community-based organization.
The aircraft is operated in a manner
that doesnt interfere with and gives
way to any manned aircraft.
When flown within five miles of an
airport, the operator of the aircraft
provides the airport operator and the
airport air traffic control tower (when
such is located at the airport) with
prior notice of the operation. If youre
flying from a permanent location
within five miles of the airport, you
should establish an agreement with the
airport and air traffic control regarding
operating procedures.

March/April 2016

69

At Rice Universitys
Drone Camp, half
the participants
were girls by
their own choice.
RICE UNIVERSITY/
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
BY ROEN KELLY

HEADED

RIGHT
DIRECTION
in
the

Mind-blowing growth makes the UAS


industry the perfect place for women
to take center stage
By Liz Kruesi

etween Aug. 11 and 13 of 2015, 20 Houston-area


middle-school students converged on Rice Universitys
campus for Drone Camp. They learned about aerodynamics and sensing technology, they built drone
components, and they studied the social aspect of the
technology. And of course, the students also had fun piloting
drones for an hour or two each day. To wrap up the intensive
few days, they split into groups to brainstorm drone applications that hadnt yet been developed. Then
the students pitched their ideas to a board
of UAS and technology professionals from
Microsoft, BP, Trumbull Unmanned, and
Rice. Talk about a productive summer break!
Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects
of the camp, though, was the gender split. If

Dyan Gibbens
age with far fewer women than men. But
at Drone Camp, half the participants were
girls. I thought the number, that fraction, was going to be
a lot smaller, says Dyan Gibbens, who helped create the
Drone Camp program. I was surprised, but also motivated.
Gibbens is a leader in the UAS industry, and is the founder
and CEO of Trumbull Unmanned, a company utilizing UAS
in support of the oil and gas industry.
The drone camp gender split had nothing to do with a
biased application process. Before selection, organizers
removed names, gender information, and any socioeconomic
March/April 2016

71

TOTAL U.S. WORKFORCE


Men
52%

Women
48%

STEM WORKFORCE

Men
76%
Women
24%

SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


WOMEN IN STEM: A GENDER GAP TO INNOVATION AUG. 2011
ILLUSTRATION BY ROEN KELLY

RICE UNIVERSITY
AFTER A SUCCESSFUL first
year, the 2016 Drone Camp
will likely run as an extension
of a new Aerial Robotics
Club that the Rice Center for
Engineering Leadership is
launching at the university
in the spring. There has
been corporate interest
in expanding the camp
and requests from other
universities looking to model
the camp. To learn more,
contact:
CESARE WRIGHT
RCEL LECTURER / LEADERSHIP
& OUTREACH SPECIALIST

CESARE@RICE.EDU
WWW.RICE.EDU

72

Drone360mag.com

indicators from the applications. Still, half of




a fast rate, UAS women see opportunities to



women in those roles.

GET IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR




 





protect the public.









Lia Reich

Lia Reich is the senior









her career. While she notes that the numbers of

Diana Marina

Cooper


















Lisa Ellman














doors to enter the UAS industry, which is pre

THE TECHNICAL ASPECT














Debra Randall



policies, and procedures that are needed to


research to seamlessly





addition to the communicaLaurie Grindle










UAS JOB SALARY INFORMATION


POSITION

ANNUAL SALARY RANGE

UAS PILOT

$85,000-$115,000

SYSTEMS ENGINEER

$72,350-$127,000

INSTRUCTOR/TRAINING SPECIALIST

$74,500-$93,000

INTEL/IMAGERY ANALYST

$57,350-$84,600

MAINTENANCE SPECIALIST

$59,500-$67,500

SENSOR/PAYLOAD OPERATOR

$69,300-$89,450

MANUFACTURING

$45,700-$67,890

CONSULTANT

$70,500-$145,000

SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STATISTICS

 




Traditionally underrepresented in
STEM careers (opposite), women
have the opportunity to make
major inroads in the UAS field,
thanks to a variety of positions
(above) and an industry poised
for exponential growth.

OBSTACLES ARE NOT INVISIBLE


Even those women in UAS who have









Some of the most influential


women in commercial drones
talked about their experiences at
DroneWorld Expo last year. From
left: Lisa Ellman (Hogan Lovells),
Kristen Helsel (CyPhy Works), Lia
Reich (PrecisionHawk), Stephanie
Spear (National Association
of Realtors), Eileen Shibley
(Monarch), and Nancy Egan
(3D Robotics).
PRECISIONHAWK

March/April 2016

73

Intially drawn to drones as a way


for her to help the victims of
natural disasters, Lakin also turns
her talents to capturing the natural
beauty around her, like this shot of
Mount Hood in Oregon.

WWW.PRECISIONHAWK.COM

to follow their passions, ask questions, and


pursue support and mentorship.
Gibbens also notes how important it is to
pursue a career that one feels drawn to. Her
own path has, as she notes with a hint of
humor, not been a linear one. Her father was
in the FAA and so she was exposed to aviation at a young age. With an interest to serve
a purpose bigger than her and a passion for

Academy, she trained to be a pilot and studied
engineering to understand how the planes

Gibbens has spent much time in the male-dom
clearly succeeded in following
her passions. As individuals,
we must break our own glass
ceiling and stop holding ourselves back. Once I realized
this, it was a paradigm shift

she says. Her particular
outlook has served her well in
Rhianna Lakin
her career so far.

TRUMBULL UNMANNED

A BUZZING COMMUNITY

WWW.TRUMBULLUNMANNED.COM

The gender split among drone hobbyists


and enthusiasts echoes that among UAS professionals, but there are a few communities to
help promote women in UAS. One of those is
Amelia Dronehart, a community spanning the

drones and want to network and support one

RHIANNA LAKIN

WEBSITES
AMELIA DRONEHART
WWW.AMELIADRONEHART.COM

AUVSI
WWW.AUVSI.ORG

HOGAN LOVELLS
WWW.HOGANLOVELLS.COM

NASA
WWW.NASA.GOV

PRECISIONHAWK

74

Drone360mag.com

another. Drone enthusiast


Lakin started the group
over a year ago, when she
was involved in UAS sales.
She noticed the dearth
of women at expos and
conferences and wanted to
meet other females to connect with at those events.
To say that Lakin is passionate about
unmanned systems is an understatement. She
has spent the last 16 years traveling between
Oregon and Indonesia, spending months at

footage captured by a friends drone, she says,
I was automatically in awe. And then it hit
me, I thought, why couldnt you use this for


spent four months of last summer in Indonesia
and brought her DJI Phantom Vision+ to capture footage of the countrys incredible beauty,
as well as the terrible devastation and the

Lakin now works for an aerial photography,


video, and imaging company in Portland, OR.
She hopes that Amelia Dronehart and other
similar communities increase visibility of the

once more women start to see the connection of
how drones can be utilized in so many areas
that a drone can be used for their own interests
and passions more women will become
involved and excited about UAS.

BECAUSE ITS SUCH A NEW FIELD, WE HAVE A


LOT OF OPPORTUNITY TO GET WOMEN IN
LEADERSHIP ROLES RIGHT AWAY, KIND OF ON
THE GROUND FLOOR.
LIA REICH, PRECISIONHAWK SENIOR DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

THE YOUTH

HATCHING A PLAN
Its one thing to recognize the potential of

















Gretchen West

























STEM PROGRAMS
STEM RESOURCES LIKE THESE
CAMPS AND PROGRAMS
offer new opportunities
to girls and stimulate
interest in STEM careers.
GIRLS INC.
Three programs are offered
across the U.S. and Canada:
- Eureka!
- Girls Dig It
- Thinking SMART
WWW.GIRLSINC.ORG
GIRL SCOUTS OF THE USA
Imagine STEM engages girls
in a multitude of STEM-related
activities. Girls of all ages
can participate, and adults
can volunteer to assist in the
program. Program specifics
differ based on location.
WWW.GIRLSCOUTS.ORG
TECH TREK
Open to girls entering the
eighth grade, this summer
program is available at
eight California university
campuses.
WWW.AAUW-TECHTREK.ORG
TECHBRIDGE
With afterschool and summer
programs in California,
Seattle, and Washington, D.C.,
Techbridge also offers training
for adult role models and a
family resource guide.
WWW.TECHBRIDGEGIRLS.ORG

March/April 2016

75

A VideoRay ROV and an NPS


underwater archaeologist explore
and document the grand staircase
of the America shipwreck at Isle
Royale National Park.
BRETT SEYMOUR/NPS SUBMERGED
RESOURCES CENTER

Drones take underwater archaeology to new depths


By Elisa Neckar

March/April 2016

77

On Halloween night, 1780,


the HMS Ontario struggled
through rough waters on Lake
Ontario. Strong hurricanes
had plagued the Caribbean
throughout the month, and the
remnants of those systems had
spun north and turned into a
ferocious fall gale.
A 22-gun brig-sloop, the
warship had been built and
commissioned only months
earlier to aid British control
of Lake Ontario during the
Revolutionary War. Bound
from Fort Niagara to Oswego
for a raid, it carried an estimated 120 people onboard,
including British troops,
camp followers wives and
children of soldiers and
American prisoners of war.
The Ontario and those
120 passengers would never
make it to Oswego. Vicious
northeast winds rose rapidly
around 8 p.m., sweeping
down the lake. Similar storms
plague the Great Lakes each
autumn, producing whiteouts,
snowsqualls, and freezing
rain; waves cresting over
35 feet and wind gusts over
80 miles an hour have been
recorded. The Ontarios sails
probably blew out searchers found large sheets of torn
canvas on the lake days later.
The rolling waves and wind
likely caused the ship to list,
then take on water, the cannons and ammunition shifting

violently. A few lifeboats,


blankets, and personal gear

debris surfaced, suggesting


the ship went down rapidly.
Nine months later, six bodies
washed ashore; no other trace
of the Ontario was seen again.
Until 2008, that is, when
Dan Scoville piloted his ROV
Proteus 500 feet below the

Ontario where it sits on the

Scoville and fellow shipwreck enthusiast Jim Kennard


had been searching for the
Ontario for three years, using
archival research and side-scan

self-built Proteus to explore.



says. You look for that thing
for years, you spend days staring at the screen and driving
the boat back and forth ... [And

something thats 230 years old,


that hasnt been seen since the
day it sank, and it looks just
like it did on the day it went
Proteus video
shows the Ontarios twin masts
still standing, spearing out of
the inky depths complete with
crows nests. The ships bell is
still in its belfry, cannons askew
but still on the decks. The oldest wreck found in the Great
Lakes, its remarkably intact.
Conventional scuba diving is restricted to a depth of

ROV footage shows the bow of the HMS Ontario emerging from the
darkness 500 feet below the surface of Lake Ontario.
DAN SCOVILLE

78

Drone360mag.com

130 feet. Highly trained and


experienced technical divers
can exceed that by breathing
specialized mixed gases and
following a precisely calculated schedule of decompression stops while surfacing, but
even those divers rarely try
the depths where the Ontario

resting place and hundreds
of other underwater archaeological sites worldwide had
to be unmanned.

VEHICLES FOR THE


FINAL FRONTIER
Theres no shortage of
acronyms in the world of
unmanned vehicles. Those
that operate below the surface
of the water fall under the
umbrella term unmanned
underwater vehicles, or
UUVs; the most commonly
used UUVs are autonomous
underwater vehicles (AUVs)
and remotely operated
vehicles (ROVs).
AUVs move beneath the
surface of the water without
continual input from a pilot,
operating independently on a
preprogrammed course. Often
used for mapping or surveying, AUVs are not tethered to
a ship, and return to a pick-up
point once the mission is complete so data can be downloaded and processed. ROVs,
on the other hand, connect
to the surface via cables that
bring signals from the operator
and return data and images
in real time. (Why the cable?
While aerial technology like

tied to their pilots, radio waves
do not travel well through
water, necessitating the tether.)
ROVs like Scovilles Proteus

look at something under the


water navigation hazard

inspection, pipeline maintenance and may carry tools


far beyond a standard camera,
including arms or manipulators that can cut, repair, and
retrieve. Since the 1960s, the
military has used ROVs for
mine detection and neutraliza-

The ROV Hercules hovers near


the stern of the RMS Titanic
during a 2004 joint mission
to the wreck with NOAA and
Robert Ballard.
CENTER FOR EXPLORATION/
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND/
NOAA OFFICE OF OCEAN
EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH

tion, while they became essential to the oil and gas industry
throughout the 1970s and 80s
for line inspection and repair.

began to use ROVs in that
timeframe as well, largely for
observation and specimen

deputy chief of the National
Park Services Submerged
Resources Center (SRC), says


ROV was in the 1980s, when
National Geographic brought
one to Isle Royale National
Park. At the time, the technology was bulky and expensive;
since the agency mostly works

boats, they bided their time,


waiting for an ROV with a
smaller footprint. By 2000, the
platform had matured, and

observation-class VideoRay.
Kate McGarry, marketing

PA-based VideoRay, says the
company saw growth on a
similar timeline, entering the












 


 Titanic


Alvin
Jason Jr.
Titanic








Mary Celeste

 Arizona
Titanic


Star Trek

A DEEP DIVE



An NPS underwater archaeologist manages the tether as an ROV enters


a hatch to the second deck of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, HI.
BRETT SEYMOUR/NPS SUBMERGED RESOURCES CENTER

March/April 2016

79

The work-class ROV Hercules sits on the deck of the NOAA research vessel Ronald Brown during the 2004
joint NOAA-Ballard mission to the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
CENTER FOR EXPLORATION/UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND/NOAA OFFICE OF OCEAN EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH

The Hercules gently recovers a medicine bottle filled


with ginger, a seasickness remedy, from an early
19th-century shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico.

A team of scientists and technicians stand watch in


the shipboard control cab, directing the ROV more
than 4,300 feet below them.

OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST/TSU MEADOWS CENTER FOR


WATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT

ALAN FRANKS/OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST/TSU MEADOWS


CENTER FOR WATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT

capacity, and horsepower; as


with any tool, the right ROV
for the archaeological job is
dependent on the environment
and the goals of the project.
Going down like way,
way down? Work-class ROVs,
like the one used as part
of the 2007 Mardi Gras
shipwreck project in the
Gulf of Mexico, dwarf their
operators. Huge, heavy, and
expensive, the minivan-sized
ROVs can be equipped with
a variety of manipulators
and go to depths of 10,000
feet or more. A smaller ROV
80

Drone360mag.com

might sound more agile and


therefore easier to drive, says
Mark Gleason, an ROV pilot
and an assistant professor
specializing in marine
education at Michigans
Grand Valley State University.
But the heft of the work-class
ROVs helps keep them on
course when tugged about by
strong ocean currents in deepwater environments.
In the case of the Mardi
Gras shipwreck named after
the nearby oil and gas pipeline
system the mystery ship
rested 4,000 feet below the


Orleans. It was, at the time,
the deepest wreck explored in
the Gulf.
Led by Texas A&M
University with a team of more
than a dozen archaeologists,


Gras projects goals were to
record the site and recover
artifacts for analysis. Work
was underway 24 hours a day,
live-streaming to a bullpen of
monitors on the ship so several
sets of eyes were always on the
work being performed.

Because recovering artifacts


was a primary goal, the projects work-class Triton ROV

retrieval tools: a suction

and containers, shovels and


brushes, pincers, and claws.
It was painstaking work
archaeologists aboard the ship
relayed instructions to the
ROV pilots, who then had to
perform the delicate maneuvers to pluck, scoop, or suck

and even the ships stove from


destroyed, says Peter
Hitchcock, who was involved
as part of A&Ms Department
of Oceanography. Thats

consider the glass and china


we recovered.
Still, most archaeology
is tactile, notes nautical
archaeologist Ben Ford, part
of the projects team through
A&Ms Department of
Anthropology. You handle
artifacts, rotate them, squint
at them, look at them under
microscopes. To watch in 2D
as the artifacts were recovered
was tricky, he says, as was
relaying all his thoughts and
directions to the ROV pilots
rather than performing the
actions himself.
Hitchcock disagrees. Its

Every shipwreck has a story,


and you want to know what
it is. The ROV is simply a tool
to get to the artifact to get to
the story.
And the Mardi Gras ships
story?
The artifacts the ROV
recovered were traced to
manufacturers in Great Britain,
France, Mexico, the U.S., and
Germany, and dated; based on
the age and availability of the
items on board, researchers
placed the wreck between 1808
and 1820. More importantly,
the project gave the team an
opportunity to experiment
with the ROV as a deep-water
archaeological tool.

John V. Moran
365 ft.
Conventional
scuba
diving < 130 ft.

USS Arizona
40 ft.
SS America
80 ft.

Technical scuba
diving < 350 ft.

HMS Ontario
500 ft.

5,000 ft.
Mid-sized or
light work-class
ROVs < 3,000 ft.

Mardi Gras
shipwreck
project
4,000 ft.

Observation-class
ROVs < 1,000 ft.

Heavy work-class
ROV < 10,000 ft.

RMS Titanic
12,500 ft.

15,000 ft.

GET A FEEL FOR THE DEPTHS


TO WHICH ROVS DESCEND.

A VideoRay ROV examines the windlass deck machinery of the America


shipwreck located in Washington Harbor of Isle Royale National Park.
NPS SUBMERGED RESOURCES CENTER

As nautical archaeologists,
we realize more and more that
the tools ocean explorers were
using, we could use too,
Hitchcock says.

TIME CAPSULES ON
THE BOTTOM
Shallower waters call

Observation-class ROVs
rarely exceed depths of 1,000
feet. Lighter, smaller, and less
expensive than work-class
ROVs think 15 pounds,
rather than 300, and several
thousand dollars, rather than
several hundred thousand
observation-class ROVs
are more suitable for launch
name suggests, these vehicles
are generally intended for

Mark Gleason teaches a student to


pilot an observation-class ROV in
northern New Yorks Lake George.
LAURLYN HARMON

observation, rather than


retrieval, and while they may
be equipped with cameras,
sensors, and sonar, wield
fewer manipulators.
Observation is the name of
the game at the archaeological sites in the Great Lakes.
Big names like the Titanic and
huge ocean operations like the
Mardi Gras project get much

draw maritime archaeologists
and shipwreck enthusiasts
from around the world in
increasing numbers. The fresh
water and low temperature
even in the summer, the
water below the surface rarely
climbs above 40 degrees
preserve shipwrecks almost
perfectly, marred only by
zebra and quagga mussels, for
decades or even centuries.
You can explore a wreck in
Lake Superior thats been on

still see the name painted on


the ship, says Kevin Cullen,
president of the Wisconsin
Underwater Archeology
Association (WUAA). Theyre
time capsules.
On the SS Kamloops, one
of the graveyard of wrecks
that circle Lake Superiors
Isle Royale National Park in
Michigan, nearly 90 years in
-

25,000 ft.

THE DEPTHS CHARTED HERE ARE, in most cases,


averages or conventions. For example, technical
divers rarely exceed 350 feet,
but deep-dive records have been set more than
800, 900, and even 1,000 feet down. Similarly,
heavy work-class ROVs usually operate in waters
up to 10,000 feet, but that depth has been
exceeded by specific vehicles, too.

Nereus hybrid
AUV/ROV lost = 32,800 ft.

35,000 ft.

The Challenger Deep, the deepest


point in the ocean = 36,070 ft.

ILLUSTRATION BY KELLIE JAEGER

age: Crates of shoes and the


wrappers of Lifesavers candies
still look nearly new. That
level of preservation means
that while archaeologists and
ROV operators on the Mardi
Gras project sifted through
splintered remains of the ship,
recovering concretions
conglomerate lumps created
by natural elements forming around artifacts and
encrusted artifacts, wrecks sit
Lakes allow archaeologists to
study ships as a whole.
The goal is to document,
Cullen says, to look at a wreck

to leave the artifacts down


there. Unlike what we think
of with archaeology, theres no

excavation we document as
it lies in place. Simply moving artifacts is discouraged,
because not only what the artifacts are, but where they are
can tell archaeologists a lot.
While WUAA uses
observation-class ROVs to
document, other organizations

before divers are sent in. The


National Park Services SRC,
for instance, employs ROVs as
a precursor to diving operastand what the site looks like,
or to maneuver in spaces that
would be unsafe for divers. In
the wreck of the USS Arizona
in Pearl Harbor, for instance,
the SRC used an ROV with an

March/April 2016

81

NOT JUST SHIPWRECKS


UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY IMMEDIATELY conjures
the haunting image of a shipwreck sitting on the
bottom and its understandable, WUAAs Kevin
Cullen says. Shipwrecks are sexy.
But shipwrecks arent the only underwater
archaeological sites. For instance, the SRC and
VideoRay worked together in 2002 to explore a
U.S. Army Air Force B-29 bomber that crashed into
Lake Mead, and Lake Michigan holds a collection
of World War II aircraft as well, lost during aircraftcarrier training missions. Even relatively recent
cultural resources like docks, mines, and other
structures that were once above water may now be
below the surface thanks to damming and flooding.
Ashley Lemke, a doctoral candidate in
the University of Michigans Department of
Anthropology, is the primary ROV pilot for her
research team. They follow a pattern similar to
that used by shipwreck researchers: Large-scale
mapping, then choosing promising targets from
the sonar and sending ROVs down for a closer look.
But the underwater sites she flies her ROV around
are a bit older than your average shipwreck.
Like 40,000 years old.

to survey the interior compart










Ontario













82

Drone360mag.com

An ROV films a diver collecting samples from a caribou


hunting structure at the bottom of Lake Huron.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSEUM OF
ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Sea level changes over the last two million


years have significantly changed the landscape,
she says. Areas that were once coastal dry land
and would have supplied early hunter-gatherers
with thriving resources like fish, shellfish, and
seals are now underwater, offering preserved tools,
animals bones, and even wood boats, paddles,
and spears. Archaeological sites Lemke has
worked in Lake Huron include caribou hunting
structures long lines of stones once used to
channel caribou towards hunters and the
remains of a 9,000-year-old campfire.




John
V. Moran






opportunity to test its equip


Moran on the









TRAINING, TOOLS, AND RULES


An ROV with a 3D HD camera
package explores the Flag
Secretarys Stateroom on the
second deck of the USS Arizona.
BRETT SEYMOUR/NPS SUBMERGED
RESOURCES CENTER


































can in turn teach them much






to the carferry Milwaukee
the schooner Rouse Simmons

Tethered to and operating in tandem


with Hercules, the Argus (shown here
hovering over the Titanics stern) acts
as a stabilizing platform, supplies
extra light, and allows pilots to view
Hercules in the water.
CENTER FOR EXPLORATION/UNIVERSITY
OF RHODE ISLAND/NOAA OFFICE OF OCEAN
EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH

involving the public in


documenting the underwater
topography and creating photomosaics.
The impact of the public
seeing the bunkbeds inside
the Milwaukees crew quarters,
or the pine trees in the Rouse
Simmons, and sharing that
experience in real time, is
huge, Cullen says.
Other underwater explorers, maritime archaeologists,
and shipwreck enthusiasts
have known similar moments.
In 2012, NOAAs Delgado was
a member of the Monterrey
shipwreck survey in the Gulf
of Mexico. Their work-class
ROV, Hercules, retrieved about
60 artifacts from depths of
4,300 feet, including muskets,
gational instruments all
while a livestreaming feed was
available for public viewing.

recalls, that the public was
able to watch live and participate in such a project. That

because education is always a

focus might be.

TURNING ON THE LIGHTS


But the most exciting part,
Delgado adds, is whats next.
Wireless and acoustic
communication systems, not
limited by the impenetrability
of water to radio waves, allow
for untethered ROVs a
game-changer, if the technol
reliable and high-quality data
reporting without a cable.
Already hybrid AUV-ROVs
(HROVs) are being used

edge, like the Woods Hole


Oceanographic Institute. On
a smaller scale, Cullen and
van Heest are eager for higher
resolution cameras and other
elite features to trickle down
to the observation-class ROVs,
and hope for ROV-mounted
measurement and mapping
systems for surveying wrecks.

Watch ROV footage and see more underwater pics Drone360mag.com

The Nereus, a hybrid AUV/ROV developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic


Institute, explored the oceans deepest reaches. In 2014, it imploded in the
Kermadec Trench, under pressure as high as 16,000 pounds per square inch.
WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

And as prices fall, more


hobbyists will be able to purchase their own ROVs.
The growing number of
ROV hobbyists doesnt worry
Cullen. The more the merrier, he says. Recreational
users can be like an extra toolkit. With the proper advocacy,
theyll help create an archive.

Whether for documentation,


education, or artifact retrieval,
the utility of ROVs as archaeological tools is clearly
blossoming.
The technology is such
that were really seeing unparalleled access, Delgado says.
ROVs turn the lights on in a
darkened room.
March/April 2016

83

An essay by Faine Greenwood

Drones for Good

84

Drone360mag.com

A FEW YEARS AGO, most people thought of drones, if they


thought of them at all, as deadly military machines deployed to
rain stealthy death upon foreign enemies. Times are changing:
Drones, or UAVs, or UAS, or whatever youd like to call them,

Globally, civilian drones for benevolent, peaceful purposes are


here to stay, and while the U.S. has lagged behind the rest of the
world in UAS implementation due to regulatory struggles, they
will soon become a normal part of life here, too.
FEW PROFESSIONS HAVE EMBRACED DRONES as enthusiastically

money for aerial photography from a manned aircraft or for
expensive satellite imagery, researchers equipped with drones
can gather the data they need themselves. Danish researcher
Jason Box of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland


drones to monitor orangutan nests since 2012, while in Peru, the
Ministry of Culture funds the worlds largest drone archaeology
program, using drone imagery to create maps and 3D models of
hundreds of important historical sites.
Journalists and activists have taken to experimenting with
UAS as well. Back in 2013, many people

time when a Thai citizen journalist recorded


intense political protests in Bangkok.
Now, drone footage is everywhere, from
the YouTube video of the bombed-out
Donetsk airport posted by supporters of the
Ukrainian army to images of refugees crossing the border from
Croatia into Slovenia as the crisis escalated last summer.

left 8,000 people dead, UAS quickly captured photographs and

disaster satellite imagery marred by cloudy weather. Volunteers


uploaded the imagery to OpenStreetMap, a free editable map of
the world, helping create accurate photographic representations
of the damage.
Nepals drone response does highlight some pitfalls, though.
Reports said some drone operators failed to coordinate with
Nepalese authorities and aid workers, creating headaches (and
potential risk) for the manned aircraft crisscrossing the airspace.
By May, the Nepalese government had banned the use of drones
without explicit permission.

night operations or operations beyond visual line-of-sight all


restrictions that pose particular problems for groups like disaster
responders and reporters. The process to obtain a public COA

Restrictions aside, U.S. groups are forging ahead. Some large


news organizations have successfully received Section 333
exemptions, and CNN has entered into a research partnership
 
 ian group to secure a Section 333 for search-and-rescue work.

Lone Star UAS Center at Texas A&M University used drones to

The University of Vermonts Jarlath ONeil-Dunne and his



disaster photos, with funding from the U.S. Department of
Transportation and a Section 333 exemption backing them up.

turnaround aerial imagery of a derailed Amtrak train. Hes also
nities, delivering high-quality imagery of damage that isnt quite



has constructed a thoughtful drone program that should serve as
a template for the FAA and the use of benevolent civilian drones
in the U.S.: drones working in close concert
with federal and local authorities, and as a
particularly useful tool for small communities without the budget for manned aircraft
or satellite imagery.
This will likely be a watershed year for
public opinion on drones. Unfortunately,
while more people are beginning to see drones as potential
Christmas presents or innocuous hobby aircraft, the technologys
public image has also taken some serious hits, from the White

mer. With these negative examples in recent memory, more local


authorities are beginning to propose restrictive drone rules.

Its about building


stakeholder support at the
ground level.

THE UNCERTAIN REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT in the U.S. means


that non-hobby drones remain a relatively rare sight. While

permit limited commercial use of drones, the process is relatively

pilot. The pilot requirement is especially problematic for cashstrapped, aspiring UAS operators, like freelance reporters and
private search-and-rescue groups.
Private industry Section 333 holders must also adhere to a
blanket COA, which includes a 200-foot altitude restriction, main
FAINE GREENWOOD

WHAT CAN DRONE ENTHUSIASTS DO THEN, assuming they lack a




then average people who arent already drone owners need to




the drone is helpful thats a more powerful case.
Show your drone to your friends, your neighbors, your school,
and teach them what it does and how. Explain how drone imag
cerns about privacy and safety, and think about ways to come to a
compromise that suits everyone. Drone technology has the potential to improve the lives and secure the rights of people in the U.S.
and around the world, but to use drones to their full potential, we
have to ensure they are used responsibly and thoughtfully.
Drones are only as good as we are, but that means they can be
very good indeed.
March/April 2016

85

Cool. Curious. Bizarre.


By Carl Engelking and Leah Froats
FORGET JOYSTICKS,
TWEETS WILL DO
Users on social
media are known for
their responsibility,
rationality, and restraint.
So it makes sense that
wed want
a whirring
drone
controlled 140
characters at a
time.
In 2014, Twitter filed
a patent application
(No. 20150362917),
for a messagingenabled unmanned
aerial vehicle. It wasnt
until the final days of
December that the U.S.
Patent and Trademark
Office published YaTing Wang and Wayne
Robins idea.
Twitter users would
be able to control a
UAV with commands
embedded in messages
directed toward the
UAVs account. Tweets
could control the
aircrafts location,
camera orientation,
lighting, UAV-mounted
display, or other
onboard technology.
Basically, a Twittercontrolled drone would
give couch potatoes
with a smartphone
unprecedented abilities
to control their viewing
experiences. Who
wouldnt want to Tweet
the following:
#MTVAwardsDrone
follow subject
#KatyPerry?
Of course
this technology is
theoretical. Maybe it
should stay that way.

INTEL CORP.

LIKING FIREWORKS WILL


MAKE YOU LOOK OLD
In the not-too-distant-future,
children going to see the Fourth
of July show will have the following conversation with their

INTEL CORP.
86

Drone360mag.com

parents while waiting for the sun


to set in a city park:
Mom, Dad? What were those


paper tubes jam-packed with
gunpowder, and when you lit the

down from the sky along with


Your child just wont
understand your old-timer refer
illuminated drones will have

that captivated you as a child.


In November, Intel launched
100 drones equipped with lights
into the night where they
performed a coordinated
dance to a live performance of
Beethovens Fifth Symphony. The
performance, which took place
in Hamburg, Germany, set a
Guinness World Record for most

drones airborne simultaneously.


The drones, coordinated by
you guessed it Intel soft

lights programmed to a song,

formations in midair. Four operators each controlled a squad of


25 drones. In the end, the drones

Sure, it was a publicity stunt.
But to be blunt: The show put

INTEL CORP.

THINKSTOCK.COM

FIRST A GUN, NOW A


FLAMETHROWER

THE WORLDS FIRST


DRONEPORT

The drone communitys


infamous young provocateur is at
it once again.
Connecticut teenager Austin
Haughwout shocked rule-abiding UAS pilots, the FAA, and the
world at large when he posted a
video of a homemade drone

est irresponsible innovation? A

The video, posted in December, and sponsored by online


retailer HobbyKing, shows a
perfectly good turkey being incinerated by a drone that would
give even DARPA nightmares.
The drone itself was assembled
with HobbyKing parts, as well as
a number of 3D printed acces
purchased on Amazon thats
reassuring.
Strapping weapons to drones
lies in a somewhat gray area
in terms of the rule of law. The
FAA launched an investigation
into Haughwouts gun-drone,
but, as The Verge reported, the

law enforcement. The legality

Drones are here


to stay, and now the
infrastructural roots of
the nascent industry
are digging into the
fabric of the U.S.
In Boulder City,
NV (just outside Las
Vegas), nonprot
organization
Aerodrome is building

HOGWIT/YOUTUBE

of deploying a drone-mounted

is also cryptic. Local laws, again,


would likely regulate the use
of such a device. Maryland, for

Regardless of where it falls


on the legal spectrum, the use of

anti-drone crowd. Several comments on the YouTube post itself

AERODROME

went something like this one,



Thanks to the producers of
this video and others like it. This
is why the FAA and the Govern
down the RC hobby. Thanks for
your help... I for one will be boy

on [sic].

Haughwouts antics, this is likely
the worst way to cook a turkey.

the nations rst


commercial droneport.
Developers have
broken ground on
the project, and once
nished, itll be the
rst facility where UAS
take precedence over
manned systems.
The 50-acre
Eldorado Droneport is
one of only six FAAapproved UAS test
sites in the country,

THE AIRMULE IS A BEEFY


TRANSPORT DRONE
Drones are getting bigger, badder
and even more useful.
The AirMule, from Israels Tactical
Robotics Ltd., a subsidiary of Urban
Aeronautics, is an unmanned VTOL
(vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft
thats designed to rescue injured
soldiers in hard-to-reach places in
conict zones. The AirMule can be
controlled via remote control or rely on
its autonomous navigation systems.
And, unlike helicopters, the AirMule can
squeeze into crowded spaces because
it doesnt need room for large, spinning
propellors.
The prototype made its rst auTACTICAL ROBOTICS LTD. (2)
tonomous, untethered test ight at the
Megiddo aireld in northern Israel on Dec.
Skyways (another Urban Aeronautics subsidiary) is one
30, 2015. The AirMule can climb to an elevation of 12,000
company thats looking into developing this technology for
feet and reach speeds of 140 mph. It can also carry a
civilian applications.
payload of 1,100 pounds or two casualties and gear. The
You may wonder what the civilian uses are for this
downside, according to stats from Tactical Robotics Ltd., is
technology. There are rumors that, if successful, the AirMule
that it can only ferry a full load within a 31-mile radius.
could pave the way for autonomous ying vehicles for the
Future tests will challenge the AirMules cargo delivering
typical consumer. Well be ying like the Jetsons in no time.
capacities and its ability to y beyond line-of-sight. Metro

AERODROME

and itll be a onestop-shop for both


current and aspiring
professionals. The
public, but privately
operated, droneport
will offer FAA repair
service, UAS training,
pilot certication,
testing, and research.
Companies
with their Section
333s and hobbyists
will be welcome
andAerodrome says
there will be drone
racing on site.
March/April 2016

87

BLADE RUNNER
Blender afficionados
love to debate whether
Vitamix or Blendtec
is the more superior
blender technology.
However, it seems
as though a new
competitor has entered
the ring: drones.
Speed Motion Films
had the clever notion of
putting drone-blending
capabilities to
the test by
dropping
grapes, eggs,
carrots, and even a
cucumber, into the
whirring blades of a DJI
Phantom.
The slow-motion
video captures the
carnage in all its glory
as the produce is
thoroughly pulverized.
The anticipation builds
as the fruits and
vegetables fall to their
inevitable destruction,
followed by the
complete satisfaction of

NORTHROP GRUMMAN

OFF TO GREENER PASTURES


The MQ-5B Hunter still vividly remembers the
premiere of Star Trek: Voyager, the revelation that


ing through the hourglass, leaving nothing but




 
-

JAPANESE POLICE LAUNCH


DRONE DRAGNET
SPEED MOTION

effortless blade slicing.


At the end of the
video, the messy, foodcovered Phantom is run
over by a car, reminding
us all that even the
mighty must eventually
fall.
Ultimately, the
answer to Will It
Blend? is yes. Who
knows, maybe your
next juice cleanse will
be powered by drone
blending.

88

Drone360mag.com

Bad pilots, bad pilots, whatcha


gonna do? Whatcha gonna to do when
the drone police come for you?
In response to highly dubious aerial behavior, the Tokyo Metropolitan
Police Department in Japan deployed
a special drone unit to monitor the
skies near critical government buildings in the capital. The drone squad is
armed with an old-fashioned solution
to a high-tech problem: a net.
This unit scours the skies for
suspicious drone behavior. When they
see it, they issue a warning over a
loudspeaker to cease. If orders arent
obeyed, police launch a swift drone of
justice equipped with a nine-foot-long
net to ensnare the felonious aircraft



the Hunter moves into retirement, the Gray Eagle









and neutralize it. Based on initial attempts, it appears to get the job done.
Officials had good reason to launch
their dragnet operation. In April, youll
remember, a drone carrying a plastic
bottle filled with radioactive sand
landed on the roof of Prime Minister
Shinzo Abes office.
Several days later, Yasuo
Yamamoto, a 40-year-old man from the
city of Obama, turned himself in to the
Fukui Prefectoral Police. He said he
planned the whole flight to protest the
governments energy policy.
What Yamamotos stunt did to
advance his political cause is
unknown, but it certainly didnt
endear drones to government officials.
We hope to defend the nations
functions with the worst-case scenario

JIJIPRESS/YOUTUBE

in mind, a member departments


Security Bureau told The Asahi
Shimbun in December.
So watch out, rebellious UAV
pilots. Theyve got their eyes on you.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT


In the history of close calls with a
drone, world champion Austrian skier
Marcel Hirschers ranks near the top.
Hirscher was on his second run
during a World Cup slalom event at
Madonna di Campiglio in Italy when a
drone carrying a camera fell from the
sky and shattered into pieces just feet
behind him. The close call was any
responsible filmmakers worst nightmare. Thankfully, the 26-year-old skier
escaped unscathed, but the incident
upset many.
In a statement, the International Ski
Federation (FIS) strongly asserted that
an accident such as the drone crash
cannot happen again.
Here in the U.S., ESPN in January
2015 received special permission from
the FAA to fly camera-rigged drones in
Aspen for the X Games. The network
published a video in June touting its
pioneering use of drones to broadcast
live downhill events in 2015. However,

NICOLAS GARCIA/YOUTUBE

following Hirschers close call, ESPN


decided not to use drones for the 2016
event.
The accident in Italy makes it abundantly clear why safety is a constant
concern for any responsible professional working in the drone industry.

DITCH THE
SELFIE STICK

FLEYE (2)

THE WORLDS SAFEST DRONE?


You may call it a quad, a UAV, or a drone,
but anyone who has made contact with a
whirling propeller blade is familiar with

Thankfully especially for those

small company from Belgium developed


a drone that wont have concerned loved
ones shrieking, By God, be careful, itll put
your eye out!
The Fleye, billed as the worlds safest drone, is
essentially a soccer-ball-sized orb that can do everything a traditional

all its moving parts are entirely shielded the design is based on the




Fleye can also be switched into Autonomous Mode to execute missions


When the Fleye is in Hover Mode, it will automatically correct itself


midair if, say, an absentminded passer-by walks into it another


The technology
and art of the selfie
has come a long
way. From remotecontrolled digital
cameras to modern
front-facing camera
phones, people today
are always on the hunt
for innovative ways to
capture self-portraits.
Say hello to the
ONAGOfly: a so-called
selfie drone that
automatically takes
photographs after
detecting a smiling
face. The drones Auto
Follow function also
allows the tiny peeper
to record your every
move, allowing for
selfie opportunities
never before imagined.
Its easy to get
those sweet shots from
your drone to your
phone. Pictures sync
automatically through
phone data or Wi-Fi.

DRONE

ONAGOFLY

As a result of these
user-friendly features,
the demand for this
adorable drone has
been overwhelming;
ONAGOflys
crowdfunding effort
has already been
funded over 1,000
percent of its goal, with
thousands of units
preordered.
Best of all, this little
drone is small enough
that it doesnt need to
be FAA registered.
Instagram will
never be the same.

DJIS NEW HOME(S)


You havent made it as a cuttingedge gadget company unless you
have a cubist retail outlet that
embodies your innovative spirit.
By that measure, DJI has made it
to the upper echelon of tech producers. In 2015, DJI officially opened
its 2,600-square-foot flagship
store in Shenzen, China. The store
features a theater, a maintenance
desk, a lounge, and a place to fly
some drones. The buildings design
is meant to reflect the shape of a
drones blade.
DJI has announced plans for store
in Seoul, Korea, this March.
DJI

March/April 2016

89

MAY THE DRONE


BE WITH YOU
Fans of the Star
Wars series know that
the Millennium Falcon
is capable of performing the Kessel Run in
12 parsecs, but even
a drone version of Han
Solos famous ship
is capable of some
surprising feats.
In a video
uploaded by Ontario
native Ian Fisher to
theweathernetwork.
com, the DIY Falconlookalike drone begins
to hover over a snowcovered walkway.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KAIST)

HIGH-FLYING, FIRE FIGHTING

IAN FISHER

As the drone flies


over a scene akin to
a small-scale Hoth,
the snow beneath the
drone is blown clear
by the air expelled by
the quickly spinning
rotors.
Now all that comes
to mind is recreating the best flight
sequences from the
films, even perhaps
with a miniature Chewbacca to copilot.

AMAZON.COM

Imagine a robotic insect, roughly two feet in length, that can climb



 






DRONE FIELD ADVANTAGE


Strict drone regulations surrounding sporting events are understandable, what with risks of bootleg
game footage and potential injury to
athletes and spectators. However,
fans everywhere lament the loss
of dynamic sports footage.
Yet, there does seem to
be a loophole. Yankees
shortstop Didi Gregorius has
posted videos on his Instagram of both Yankee stadium
and warm-ups among teammates.
Shot from his personal 3DR
Solo, the videos are definitely those
of a hobbyist but give a unique
glimpse into the everyday experience of a pro athlete.

TERRENCE ANTONIO JAMES

Certain collegiate and professional


teams are also using drones to film
their practices. Steps like these
practice films, Gregorius videos,
and the NFLs FAA drone exemption
granted last year open the door to
amazing possibilities to make watching sports more immersive.

UAV, UAS, UFO the distinction is


minor. A mysterious green light in the sky
used to be a harbinger of extraterrestrial
doom, but in the drone age, it might just
be a well-meaning amateur pilot. The
FAA reported that a manned airplane
poised to land at LaGuardia Airport was
targeted by a green laser on a UAV.
It is unclear whether the laser was
from standard-equipped lights on the
drone or an actual laser pointer, but no
arrests have been made.
The drone pilot was identified and
questioned, but maybe someday what
we assume to be a drone will actually be
an interdimensional traveler.
Also in recent alien-related drone
news, the government has banned UAS
flight in and around the infamous Area
51. Concerns for safety were cited, as the
compound is a known testing ground for
military aircraft. But were smart enough
to know a coverup when we see one.
We want to believe.

ALIEXPRESS.COM

That being said, the pairing of


athletics and drones does not only
benefit the viewers. Both coaches
and players can gain from the new
perspectves provided by drone
photography.
New angles provide a better
understanding of players movements and positioning on the field,
potentially helping to decrease
injuries and improve player and
team performance.
While all-drone filming of professional sports games seems like a
distant dream, we can only hope
that more players will take up
Gregorius interest in drone flight to
allow us deeper looks into the world
of sports.

Drone360 (ISSN 2470-4687) is published bimonthly by Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI, 53187-1612. Application to Mail at Periodical Postage Rates is
pending at Waukesha, Wisconsin and additional offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Drone360, PO Box 62320, Tampa, FL 33662-2320. Canada Post Publication Agreement Number 40010760.

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Drone360mag.com

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