Top Gun – Drone Mission Blog and Aerial Services

Drone Camera Zoom for Constructions

When you need a detailed aerial view of a proposed construction site to use for logistics and production planning that may include land surveys and insurance, a drone with a camera zoom lens is the best option. Drone photos can also be used to create 3D models within a BIM application. Building Information Modeling is a collaborative process for the planning, design, construction and management of a building.

Optical zoom gets up close and personal by using an actual lens adjustment while digital zoom adjusts the image in the camera itself. When you use a digital zoom, the camera enlarges the image area at the center of the frame and crops away the outside edges of the picture, the same way as when you open an image in your photo-editing program and trim. If you are taking a lot of photos from far away subjects, be sure that the camera you buy has an optical zoom. An optical zoom is a true zoom lens, and they produce much better-quality images. Some cameras use a combination of both optical and digital scaling, to make editing easy and at the same time manage the lens limitation. You will notuce when it starts enlarging digitally, you begin to lose the resolution.

FrSky Taranis X-LITE Review Spring Unloaded

Introducing the FrSky Taranis X-LITE, the ultimate gaming radio transmitter. Made to match the ergonomic modern design of a gaming remote control, this radio transmitter has all the capabilities of a traditional radio and more.

One advantage of this FrSky radio is I can switch out to a R9M 900MHz frequency system for long range, low latency, going as far as 10 km.

First impression is good, it is more refine than anticipated. The speaker sound is so much more superior than the Taranis X9D . Equipped with the latest M12 Lite hall sensor gimbals. Hall sensor gimbals are more precise and durable than traditional gimbals using potentiometers. The switches may feel a little too small, but for casual flying (not competitive racing), this radio does just fine…

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FXT Mars S T71 Micro FPV Camera 1000TVL

Introducing the FXT Mars S T71, easy to setup 1000 tvl fpv camera. In a nutshell, it shows me the voltage and that is a big win for me. The color production and sharpness not so much.

This little camera comes in various colors and displays the voltage balance on screen. Orange and red color is an added advantage to help me locate a lost camera in an open field. Wide-angle, as I can see the cockpit from the wing, on a plane.

Input voltage DC4.8V to 36V allows me to safely power up from the main flight battery or a secondary battery. This camera is super small, about a size of a penny, and lightweight. It is wired ready with a standard JR transmitter signal, ground and power cable. The power cable is separated, so you can power your camera in various ways. However way you decide to power up, keep in mind the screen will display the voltage, a useful feature that is built-in…

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F2S Autopilot GPS OSD RSSI All-In-One Flight Controller

Amazing F2S all-in-1 flight controller, I think this is worth sharing. The F2S coverts your fixed wing planes into a drone with GPS return home. In addition, it adds all the telemetry information on your screen. Best of all, no tuning needed.

We configure the F2S on an Eachine Mini Skyhunter Racer for this episode with a Mobius Mini. It does a nice turn on Return Home and circles in a 8 formation upon returning and begins to climb that 328 ft (100 m) preset. I have been flying this plane without Gyro, so at Manual mode, I still retain the full experience and know I can bail out at any time. The Mini Skyhunter is a fast plane, I noticed the Heading Mode seem to zigzag-drift occasionally, other than that, the rest is good so far. I get the most 11 GPS satellites so far. Here is a video of everything you need to get setup.

Configurations: You can get to the setups menus, by holding down the Aileron stick to the right for 3 seconds and the menus will pop up. Please note that if you have any weight (trims) adjusted to the ailerons inputs, you may not be able to reach the menus. If you flying a 3 or 4 channel airplane, make sure you set the type to plane icon on the F2S, if needed connect your Rudder directly to your receiver. You can connect Ailerons by using a Y connector on to the PWM Out #6.

If you are flying a Delta Wing, connect one Aileron to PWM Out1 and the other Aileron to PWM Out #7, set the type to Delta Wing icon. The F2S will configure them as Elevons.

Pros – can be installed and tested under an hour, multiple flight modes and comprehensive OSD
Limitations or maybe good – little customization or tuning available or needed. Setup by radio, no computer required…

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Fire Fighting Drone Walkera Zhun FE15

Happy 4th of July and we are not here to talk about a cannon for fireworks but a cannon for Fire Fighting, called the Zhun. Walkera has began developing and testing with their local fire agency to secure a bid for a full scale deployment. The Zhun has an ultra strong load capability and anti tremor design, folds up ready for a fire fighter’s deployment. The quadcopter carries a high magnification telescope and the high frame rate night vision camera. With high precision, it can launch the fire extinguisher projectile accurately in a complex fire weather environment. I had the privilege to preview the testing and edited this video.

It is amazing the Zhun is able absorb the amount of force created from the cannon. The real-time target control points are displayed on the ground control points, which greatly improves the accuracy of shooting and improves the efficiency of rescue…

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Eachine Mirage E500 VTOL Vertical Take-Off Landing

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can hover, take off, and land vertically. Eachine recently released a budget Mirage E500 VTOL Wing, and this is great venture into the next generation of radio control aircrafts. When I can take-off and land vertically, I don’t have to worry about a runway.

We received a bind and fly sample to test, and with it includes a basic 3rd party FrSky receiver to complete the tests…

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ZEROTECH Dobby 2 Pocket Selfie Drone

The highly anticipated DOBBY is here and in our lab, compact and optimized for photography, taking pictures by voice control and gesture control, assisting users to capture the perfect selfie “Kodak” moment of this generation.

DOBBY Pocket Drone is an AI-powered drone using Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, piloted with GPS and GLONASS, featuring object tracking and facial recognition. DOBBY can take off by voice control and one click on APP. Selfie lovers can enjoy creative photos from unique perspectives rather than taken by other shooting tools like cell phone cameras.

If you are into smartphone technology Qualcomm comes to mind; anyone who uses Wechat or QQ knows what Tencent can do. Known to few, the two giant firms are among the core influence to bring ZEROTECH to the limelight with Dobby. However with all that investment backers and publicity behind it, there seem to be an underlying issues uncovered as we take it for several tests.

Eachine Touch T100 100W Balance Charger

You can’t beat that, a Touch Screen computer balance charger for $69, Eachine Touch T100 at a 100 watts, is everything you need for beginning RC. The AC/DC charger carries a microprocessor controller that allows you to charge or discharge batteries. With built-in lithium cell LiPo balancer to meet most Radio Control charging needs. This charger has a 4.3 inch color LCD touch screen and supports AC/DC dual input, an easy and convenient travel charger that strikes a balance in safety and security. You can limit the temperature/time/peek to forcibly shut off when the limits are reached

First Impression, impressed that all the details are all layout in one screen and absolutely love the graphical interface. I am a big fan of not having to scroll through menu to check the charging status. If you are familiar with computer chargers, this touch screen menu system is easy. The user manual does not explain in detail what the benefits of each safety settings, but they are the same and commonly available in all computer chargers. The default recommended settings are acceptable if you do not have any specific preferences. Here is a help chart we created.

Eachine ProDVR Mini Video Audio Recorder

Eachine ProDVR is a useful mini digital DIY video recorder recently added to the long list of Eachine innovation. You can probably find a dozen applications yourself to put this little DVR to good use; some usage include using it as a micro Security CCTV DVR or recording video footage on a model aircraft. This mini DVR us especially popular among hobbyist.

First Impression, this mini dvr is an innovative digital image capture card, leveraging the use of micro Secure Digital (SD) storage memory card. It does require a user to have some basic experience in wiring and soldering. Once you have installed the cables, you can determine the compatible connectors needed to receive video and to output video to a monitor.

A few issues has been identified. The current firmware is not able to record in (720*480) or (1280*480) resolution. It is only compatible with NTSC and not correctly recording with PAL cameras. A new firmware is expected to be released to correct these issues.

Walkera Voyager 4 Police Drone

The Walkera Voyager 4 quadcopter drone is scheduled to arrive in the USA for it’s final circuit tests and media evaluation July 2016. Capable of broadcasting over 4G LTE or WIFI, this is a new and exciting solution to kickoff the newly approved FAA Part 107 certification for commercial drone broadcasting starting this summer. Here are some of the recent photos, a peek at the Voyager 4 along with the latest Devo F18 radio transmitter that will be paired with the next two quadcopter drones. The Voyager 4 that uses the PX4 flight controller, was recently demonstrated at a Police event.

What separates the Voyager 4 apart from other quadcopter drones is the design surrounding broadcasting and social media. Live video is streamed via WIFI or the first 4G LTE drone application, an IOS application. Production stations can have as many as six camera views from six Voyager 4 in the air at one time. With 4G LTE, distribution of real-time video has never been easier; the media files can be shared over the two supported networks and multiple social media platforms.

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