Book Image

Building Multicopter Video Drones

By : Ty Audronis
Book Image

Building Multicopter Video Drones

By: Ty Audronis

Overview of this book

Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Building Multicopter Video Drones
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Experiencing an autonomous flight


First, I don't advise anyone to do this if they value their multicopter. Relinquishing the control of your multicopter is certainly a pucker moment, to say the least. DJI makes a few Datalink modules that connect directly to the CAN bus for autonomous flight and telemetry. The 2.4 GHz Bluetooth Datalink lets you control your multicopter with an iPad and even set waypoints on a predetermined path to turn your multicopter into a true drone. The following image shows the iPad interface and the Datalink module:

This tech is completely inappropriate for professional videography or cinematography. So why would anyone use it? There can be several applications, but one I can think of is a farmer wanting to inspect his fields. A multicopter can be set to patrol his farm slowly and return home. He can view the HD footage and look for any watering issues, brown patches, or inconsistencies in the crops—all without the need to learn to fly and while sipping an iced tea...