Greetings, I hope I am posting in the right section, so please bear with me. I am looking for suggestions as to finding the ideal drone, mostly for recreational purposes (at least at the moment), but being disabled and having limited movement and strength raises many concerns which I'm hoping some of you can assist me with. Being in a wheelchair, it's difficult to reach certain areas which are of key interest to me, most notably the beach and forested areas. I would like to find a quadcopter/drone that can travel long distances safely, without fear of running out of range and power, as reaching out in case of an emergency is nearly impossible. For this, I am almost certain I would have to find a radio based connection, as Wi-Fi has limited range. I would also be interested in something that can carry a camera, as taking pictures and videos (long-range preferably) would be pretty awesome. I know there are some systems where GPS information can be submitted for automatic flights, which also piques my interest. In short, I need something that is already built out of the box, or needs very little modifications, is able to reach long distances safely (either by GPS or radio, ~half a mile or so?), and is sturdy enough to support a decent camera. Thanks for any help and suggestions in advance!
Commercially available, not yet.....and I doubt any will be made as FAA and AMA rules (as well as most local laws) state that personal use (hobbyist) requires line of sight flight. This limits your range legally to as far as you can see the aircraft. But, I like your idea. I know most of the 3D Robotics products can do what you want, but you have to program the flight path via PC or in some cases by a tablet / smart phone. Yes they use radio flight controllers, but can be programmed for autonomous flight. Even with a good R/C radio system your going to be limited in range, 2 miles (3 Km) is about the absolute max range (all conditions being perfect), but there are add on systems that can extend the range up to 18 miles (30 Km)...Dragon link is one http://www.dragonlinkrc.com/v2/ Your range requirement of a half mile is easy to do with current offerings from 3D Robotics, DJI, and others.........its the legalities that may be a concern. Something you will have to ask your local authorities about, given your situation you may be able to get them to allow you to do this. You might be limited to a set flight path and or time allowed, you will have to insure personal and private damages if your UAS crashes too.....
Thank you for the reply! Maintaining line of sight is not a problem, so I should be good there. Is there a good 3D robotics product you suggest? I do have a tablet, smart phone, and a laptop I can bring around with me for programming GPS locations, and that actually sounds pretty sweet. Controlling a radio might be difficult, so pre-programming a flightpath/locations sounds very attractive to me! I figure I would slap on a video recording camera, program a start/end location, hit record and go.
Hmm...slapping on a camera is going to get you terrible video! For stable video you need a gimbal - which levels the camera and takes vibrations out of the shot. Let me back up a bit. I think you can get to many places where you can fly LOS from your chair. Flying over beaches and forested areas is very likely to cause you problems because ALL drones make "unscheduled landings". So when your machine goes down in the trees or on the beach you'll be out of luck! The hobby is not yet to the point where you - if you are not experienced with quads or other R/C stuff - can just buy and fly and hope to keep your machine for many months. You have to spend some time learning. Speaking of that, both of our ebooks are free for downloading today and friday: https://www.droneflyers.com/2015/04/free-ebooks-on-drones-3-days-only-wed-fri/ I'd say to start by reading those....and then maybe even start with a lower priced model which may be missing some features, but will teach you a lot. You can get lower priced GPS models which at least have the RTH (return to home) GPS feature, so you can fly them around and they will come back on your command (hopefully). Examples include the old Phantom 1 and Blade 350qx2 and 3. By the time you learn those machines you will have much more of an idea of exactly what is possible and what you want for your dream machine. 3DR is introducing a new model within a month or two (the Solo) which you can watch...if it does what they claim it will wash the dishes along with making a crepe
I will definitely be sure to check out the e-book. It is probably a good idea to start off with a lower-priced model as you suggested, so I will do just that! Big thanks for all the information. Believe me, I really appreciate it!
Yes, the 3DR Solo is one heck of a flying machine......production units will be out in a few weeks. And as Webman says, get a less expensive one for now and learn the basics.....by the time the Solo is released you should be up to speed for the more complicated (but easy to fly) Solo. Meanwhile have a look at what the Solo can do by going to http://3drobotics.com/solo/........and https://store.3drobotics.com/products/solo?taxon_id=66 Pre-orders are being taken, first units expected to ship at the end of the month.
