Unmanned aerial vehicles: where drones fly. A small drone causes major chaos at Gatwick

Initially, this article was intended as a guide to the most beautiful places for traveling with a copter, but having delved into the material, we realized that not everything is so simple.

It turned out that in addition to numerous rules and restrictions on shooting from above that exist everywhere, there are countries where a traveler with a drone will not be allowed even outside the airport.

The most annoying thing is that information about new laws changes every day, and is updated on the Internet infrequently, so sometimes preparing for a trip with a drone takes several times longer than the trip itself.

Safety regulations

And yet there is constancy in the world. Here are a few basic rules that apply in any country in the world:

Always keep the drone in sight.
Do not fly above the permitted altitude. IN different countries it fluctuates, but averages 120 meters.
Do not fly your drone closer than 10 km to the airport. This distance also varies depending on the country, but it is better not to take risks and stay as far as possible.
Do not fly in areas of strategic objects: military bases, prisons, power plants, etc. It’s good if your copter’s firmware contains this information - in this case, it simply will not take off near the forbidden territory or will automatically descend upon reaching it.
Stay away from private property- villas, farms, houses.
Don't fly close to people. Most countries set the standard at 50 meters, but not everyone will be pleased even with such proximity to a drone.
Do not approach wild or domestic animals. If the fact that the drone's buzzing makes them nervous doesn't seem compelling enough to you, watch the numerous videos of copters being damaged by animals and birds.
Most countries prohibit flights in cities of any kind. public places ah and national parks.
Use the copter only when daylight hours days and in good weather.

If you agree that the rules are justified and aimed at protecting not only others, but also yourself, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Morocco is one of those countries that prohibits entry with a drone. At the same time, you can shoot with it if you bought a drone in the country. Therefore, if you have not yet made a purchase, but are just planning, then there is a chance to kill two birds with one stone and do as those who managed to buy before traveling to Morocco would dream of:)

How to transport a drone on an airplane?

The first thing you need to do is make sure that private copters are generally allowed to be used in the country of arrival. If the answer is yes, be sure to find out about the restrictions: in some places they will be kept to a minimum, in others the drone must be registered online, and in others even for amateur photography a paid license will be required. Here's a good one map with constantly updated information about the rules of many countries, but it should also be carefully checked.
When the first issue is resolved, all that remains is to find a bag or backpack where the copter will not only fit, but also where it will be securely fastened. A special backpack with a dense but not rigid frame, compartments for batteries and free space for other equipment. There is no need to buy an expensive branded backpack - a recognizable logo will not add functionality, but it may attract someone’s unwanted attention. Size matters: your backpack must meet carry-on luggage standards if you don't want to check it in as checked luggage.
Before purchasing tickets, carefully study the information about baggage allowance on the airline's website. Drones are usually allowed to be carried in the cabin, but there are exceptions - for example, Emirates obliges passengers to check drones in their luggage. If the website does not have the necessary information, do not be lazy to call or write a letter to avoid sad situations at the airport.
Lithium batteries and accumulators are carried exclusively in carry-on baggage unless they are installed inside the aircraft as checked baggage. The standards are different everywhere, but generally batteries with a power of no more than 100 watt/hour are allowed for flight. If you take spare lithium batteries with you, pack them according to airline regulations or buy special cases. And yes, the batteries should be charged between 30-50%.

It makes sense to take extra propellers with you, but you need to check them in your luggage, otherwise they may be considered weapons and not allowed on board.

When transporting a copter on an airplane, you need to understand that not all security officers treat it as calmly as you do. Problems often arise at customs when entering the country. There is no need to be indignant at what you think are stupid questions and inspections. Demonstrate that you understand the importance of verification, calmly explain that you need the drone solely for beautiful photos as a keepsake and show all the documents required for its use in that country.

* All these rules apply exclusively to non-commercial flights and drones weighing no more than 20 kg.

Where to go with a drone?

If you really want to, you can take the copter with you to any country where its use is allowed. This will require a lot of time, money and patience to sort out all the bureaucratic issues, especially when it comes to countries with strict political regimes.

For those who don’t want to decide anything, we have prepared a list of places where it is not only very beautiful, but also where you can film with a copter. Each of them has its own nuances, but most likely you won’t have to waste time on completing numerous documents.

Switzerland - here you can and should shoot absolutely everything, but only during the day and away from people. A very popular place among “pilots” is Mount Fronalpstock. For non-commercial flights, permission is not required.
Malaysia - it will be difficult to fly in the capital due to numerous bans on filming public places and government agencies. It is much more pleasant to photograph the expressive nature of the country: the undulating tea plantations of Cameron Highlands, the outskirts of the city of Ipo with rock temples and deserted beaches.
Iceland is one of the most popular countries for drone photography. There are few people here, not many settlements and an amazing space for creativity. All you need to do is register your drone and keep a close eye on the weather.
Montenegro is great for flying in the low season, when tourists leave and photogenic landscapes remain. The Bay of Kotor looks especially good from above. There are incidents when bringing a drone into the country, so it is better to declare it immediately.
Armenia is not far, very beautiful, and for now, to take pictures you just need to follow the flight rules that we wrote about above.
South Africa is one of the few African countries, where you can fly copters without any problems, and the flight rules are similar to European ones. There are many ideas for shooting: from the panorama of Cape Town to the savannahs. One important nuance: Your drone may be attractive to someone else, so we do not recommend using it in crowded places or carrying it in a branded backpack.
USA, California - after registering the copter You can shoot almost anything. The main thing is to keep your distance and not disturb anyone’s peace (including the peace of animals, which is why drones are prohibited in national parks). California is beautiful everywhere, so we recommend thinking through your travel route in advance.
Ireland - just remember the landscapes from Harry Potter to understand why you need to come here with a copter. For more inspiration, watch videos filmed on the Cliffs of Moher. If the drone weighs more than 1 kg, then it must be registered .
Argentina - on this moment(June 2018) permission is not required for non-commercial flights, however political situation the country is complex, and the rules change with escape velocity. But the landscapes of Patagonia are definitely worth checking with the country’s consulate for information.
Namibia is a completely deserted country with Martian landscapes, dunes and a long line of ocean. The official website says that non-commercial filming requires a permit and a fee of $93, but unless you film illegally in national parks, there will simply be no one to see your drone. To clarify the rules for importing a copter, try writing here .
Russia - in our country they still can’t decide on the rules for using a drone, but one thing is certain: it needs to be registered. And if you are a citizen of the Russian Federation with a successfully registered copter, then one of best places for shooting from above - this is Kamchatka.

In 2017, it's easy to buy a drone with a camera. While you are reading this article, your neighbor's quadcopter may be filming the contents of your balcony and looking into your window. And if you live in the Moscow region, then according to rumors, the tax office is already preparing drone raids to identify illegal buildings on your property.

The article will talk about the problem of spy drones and possible ways fight them.

What are the benefits of drone photography?

The drones were able to photograph many places where entry is only possible as part of excursion groups or not possible at all. In the gallery above you can see several video examples: Apple Campus 2 under construction, Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Auschwitz concentration camp (corners hidden from museum visitors), Niagara Falls. There is also a “vineyard movie”, but I think you’ve already seen it.

Closed objects can also be filmed from helicopters, but drones have three advantages:

The shooting turns out to be more detailed and interesting, because objects can be photographed much closer.
Drones are many times cheaper.
With the right approach, shooting from a quadcopter may go unnoticed.

How much do video drones cost?

Professional drones for aerial photography can cost several hundred thousand rubles or more, while “semi-professional” ones, for example, representatives of the Phantom line from DJI or Go Pro Karma, fit into the price range from 60 to 120 thousand rubles. And at the same time they shoot high-quality video and stay in the air for 15-30 minutes.

There are also Syma drones for 3,000-10,000 rubles, which are enough for a few minutes of flight and they shoot video of the same quality as phones from ten years ago. But this functionality is quite enough to see what is happening on your neighbor’s property. And YouTube is full of video instructions “How to attach a normal camera to a cheap quadcopter.”

The exact number of drones in the world is unknown, but according to various analysts, about 10 million have already been sold and more than a hundred thousand of them in Russia. IN last years Personal mini-drones have suddenly become an affordable thing for the public and we will encounter them more and more often.

Drones are cool, but we are defenseless against them

On the one hand, mini-drones bring benefits to humanity: they deliver goods without traffic jams, help the police maintain order, and make live broadcasts from sports competitions, making a movie.

On the other hand, they can distribute biological weapons, engage in espionage, and unsuccessfully land on people and animals. And people need some way to control these devices and protect themselves from them.

Over the past couple of years, news has been increasingly coming out about new methods of protection against drones. But they all have drawbacks. So, suppose you need to hide territory X from being photographed by a drone. What, purely theoretically, can you do?

Option #1. Knock it off the ground with a gun

When news appeared in January that the tax office was going to remove dachas with drones, comments immediately poured in: “I’ll take out my grandfather’s gun and sit in ambush on the drone. The enemy will not pass!. But such reasoning is overly optimistic.

Yes, there are drones that fly low and make everyone turn around when they hear the noise. But for covert shooting they use those who fly unnoticed. higher altitude. In the first video, spy drones (Texas) disguise themselves as stars. In the night sky without close-up photography, they look quite organic, and most importantly, they are not audible at all.

The second video shows an American military drone that disguises itself as a crow: it imitates the sound of wings and is invisible in daylight and at low altitude. For now, this cannot be ordered in an online store, but it is unknown what will happen in a few years.

But even a simple Syma X5SW Drone from the year before last for five mowers (third video) can fly by unnoticed if people at the observation sites do not peer intently into the sky and listen to music on headphones.

Option #2. Automatically prevent all drones from flying in certain areas

This is the most reasonable and economical method of protection that manufacturing companies use to protect socially significant objects. Let's look at how this happens using DJI as an example.

So, on the official website there is a No-Fly Zones map. There are marked areas over which drones cannot fly and when approaching which the pilot sees a danger message.

First of all, these are airports. But also on the map there are military installations, stadiums, National parks, fire departments. Here are the places in Moscow that are already in the DJI database:

Lokomotiv and Otkritie Arena stadiums;
Embassies of China, USA, UK, France and Germany;
Kremlin, buildings State Duma and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As you can see, the replenishment of the Russian part of the base has just begun. In the United States there are tens of times more inaccessible zones for flights than in Russia. In America, some government employees have access to the database and can add new locations to it, including temporarily if there is an emergency (for example, a forest fire). Most likely, over time, other countries will have such an opportunity.

This great anti-drone method has two downsides: simple people So far they cannot protect their areas in this way and it does not work on home-assembled devices.

Option #3. Distort GPS signals

Last fall, news about the distortion of the Kremlin’s GPS signal spread throughout the RuNet. Muscovites began to notice that from time to time, navigators and smartphones in the very center of the capital began to “glitch” and convince users that they were at Vnukovo airport.

Grigory Bakunov from Yandex conducted an investigation, during which he walked around the Kremlin with GPS and GLONASS receivers and measured the signal level. As a result, he made an assumption about the location of a device that imitated the operation of a navigation satellite and sent fake GPS signals (indicated by an asterisk in the picture).

Blogger Ilya Varlamov suggested that it is located next to the presidential helipad and is turned on to protect against drones (as mentioned above, they cannot take off near airports). But government officials did not comment on this phenomenon. Therefore, there is some possibility that the reasons for the distortion of the GPS signal may be some other reason.

GPS signal distortion devices can be purchased in most countries, including Russia, for several thousand dollars. They are used for testing navigation systems ships.

The topic of GPS spoofing is quite popular at conferences on information security. Using a device assembled from freely available components, you can not only prevent a drone from taking off, but even steal a yacht (fourth video in the gallery).

Option number 4. Buy a “radio frequency jammer”

The picture shows a Wi-Fi and RF jammer in the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands. It operates within a radius of 300 meters, costs just over 200 thousand rubles and is positioned as a “jammer for drones.” Russian company Jammer started selling it last year.

A variety of “jammers” are freely sold in online stores. But before purchasing them, you should carefully read the resolution “On the registration procedure radio-electronic means and high-frequency devices." And think about protecting your health.

Option number 6. Purchase a special system for neutralizing drones

At the beginning of January 2016, AirBase introduced the Drone Killer system; it not only jams the signals of drones detected using video cameras in order to neutralize them, but also calculates the location from which they are controlled. The system operates within a radius of 5-10 kilometers.

Option No. 7. Buy a gun to neutralize drones

The device in the video is called Drone Defender. It cannot automatically detect the presence of drones, but it can be carried with you (4.5 kg) and deprive drones of communication with the pilot from a distance of up to 400 meters.

DroneDeploy, a company that creates tools for collecting and analyzing data using drones, provided statistics on the industry and forecasts for its development for the coming year.

2017 was the most significant year for commercial drones, which were used in a wide variety of fields: from archeology to agriculture. The FAA alone has certified more than 66,000 remote pilots. So, the trends:

8. Focus on the consumer segment will continue

Transition high technology The rise of consumer products, driven by simplified operation and easy-to-learn user interfaces, is seen in almost every industry, and drones are no exception.

To control many unmanned vehicles, deep knowledge and engineering skills are no longer required. Successful example demonstrates the leader of the segment - the Chinese company DJI, which, according to Skylogic Research estimates, owns 72% of the global consumer market. And just a year earlier the company controlled 50%. And this growth will continue until the competition comes from stronger and more experienced manufacturers than current rivals, who will continue to offer predominantly niche solutions.

DJI's growing monopoly means that hardware solutions will be offered in 2018 smaller number companies. And the main growth of the industry will be provided by manufacturers software and services. However, the United States has already begun to use protectionist measures to curb the expansion of DJI.

7. The involvement of external players will increase

In 2017, large companies like Intel and Facebook showed interest in the drone industry. The number of third parties entering the industry will continue to grow through new partnerships and deeper integration of industrial solutions. All this is supported by interest in using aerial data with tools like CAD, BIM, GIS and others.

6. Independent use of drones by companies

Today, Skylogic Research estimates that the use of third-party services for drone-related tasks has dropped to 10%. Two thirds of companies cope with these tasks on our own, and just under a quarter resort to a combined approach. In-house drone piloting departments are growing like IT departments in the era when large firms embraced computers.

This approach will continue in the future. At the same time, contract services will not disappear completely, but will become more specialized and niche, and the demand for third-party services will come from small and medium-sized businesses rather than from the corporate sector. Many providers will expand the scope of their activities from the regional to the national level. And large companies will create their own specialized teams, familiar with their tasks, production processes and ready to constantly respond to the needs of the organization.

5. First large-scale deployment of air fleets

2017 saw a significant shift in the use of commercial drones. IN next year more companies will expand their operations in the air, relying on the widespread deployment of drones. DroneDeploy expects fleets of 100 to 1,000 drones to operate around the world, constantly collecting data to solve business problems. Some companies will make more than 100 thousand flights in a year.

4. New era automation

As more and more enterprises resort to using unmanned aerial vehicles in their operations, we can expect an increase in the need for flight and workflow automation systems. New APIs and deeper integrations will connect drone data to industrial tools, enhancing collaboration between organizations. Automation is the key to industry growth. As businesses rely on drone data grow, there will be more frequent launches, which in turn will require improved automation of data transmission and analysis around the clock.

In 2018, it is expected that advanced tools for automatically creating flight plans and planning routes in the air will appear. This will make drones applicable in more difficult conditions and will ultimately lead to the creation of fully autonomous drones in the coming years.

3. Better data will enable deeper research.

Currently, machine vision and photogrammetry solve most drone mapping problems - this will change in 2018. Companies that gain access to the largest drone data sets, with the ability to analyze millions of flights, will have a chance to gain a stronger position in the industry. They will be able to explore the most pressing issues facing drone owners and offer effective solutions, including using machine learning algorithms.

2. MachineeducationAndAI

In 2017, the terms " artificial intelligence” and “machine learning” have been heard very often in the IT industry, but in the field of commercial drones these technologies are not yet particularly widespread. In 2018, AI will become even more widespread and will help solve serious problems facing industries such as agriculture, construction, surveillance and testing the operation of various systems.

With the growth of flight automation, the frequency of data collection will also increase - solutions will be needed for more qualitative analysis collected data, and here it will be very important to use machine learning to minimize human participation in the processes. Computers will take more and more bread from drone pilots and even offer solutions to certain problems identified in the process of analyzing data from automatic flights. For example, drones will be able to independently report safety problems at a construction site or determine in one flight the volume of crops, the number of weeds and watering problems in the fields.

1. Data collection and analysis will become more common in real time

Fast is better than slow, especially in data analytics. And the drone industry will follow this path: data from drones will be analyzed in real time, eliminating the need to wait for hours or even days. The development of edge computing technologies will allow mobile devices and drones to conduct everything more tasks real-time data analysis. In 2017, the technology just appeared, and in 2018, the era of instant data analysis will begin, which will make it possible to understand what is happening on the ground right during the flight in order to immediately make decisions. This will help not only agriculture and construction, but also when searching for people, emergency situations and in other areas.

You can buy (or assemble yourself) a quadcopter of almost any size. Some of them, others will not fit into a backpack. Have you noticed that the flight duration of a drone directly depends on its size? Tiny pocket-sized quadcopters rarely fly for more than four to five minutes. Larger drones (for example) can stay in the air for about half an hour. Why do larger, and therefore heavier, drones fly longer than smaller and lighter ones?

Imagine a drone with rotating propellers. In fact, it doesn’t matter at all how many there are: one (like a helicopter), or four (like a quadcopter), or even eight (like an octocopter). The important thing is that the drone's propellers capture still air above the aircraft and direct it downward. By acting in this way on the air, the propeller takes on the force from its increased momentum. If this force is equivalent to the weight of the aircraft, the drone will hover in the air. Thus, when we arrive at the following equation to determine the air speed required to hover the drone.

IN given equationρ is the air density, m is the mass of the drone, g is the gravitational constant (9.8 N/kg), and A is the area of the propellers. As can be seen from the formula, increasing the size of the propellers will reduce the air speed. This is important for power, which can be expressed by the following formula:

Here you can see why bigger propellers are better. By increasing the screw area, you reduce the speed air flow– and power depends on air speed to the third power. If you want your drone to consume less power, you need as much lower speed air flow.

It remains to add one more thing - the definition of power. Power is the rate at which an object uses energy. This can be expressed by the following equation:

If energy is measured in Joules, and the time period is measured in seconds, then power will be expressed in Watts. Thus, the drone would O more power would be needed O A larger battery to stay in the air long enough.

Now let's move on to the most interesting part. Let's compare the size and power of the two drones' batteries. For example, we will take the tiny Syma X20 and DJI Phantom 4. And we will start with the “Phantom”.

Climate change is a vast, complex problem. But there is a surprisingly simple way to change this: plant more trees. Trees clear air pollution, reduce erosion, improve water quality, provide homes for animals and insects, and improve our lives in countless other ways.

It turns out that ecosystem restoration is also a new business opportunity. A new report from the World Resources Institute and The Nature Conservancy says governments around the world have committed to restoring nearly 400 million acres of desert—more than South Africa. As countries look to develop forests, startups are dreaming of new, more quick ways tree planting. For some innovators, like NASA veteran Dr. Lauren Fletcher, that means using drones.

Fletcher said his conversion from stargazer to Eco-warrior was prompted by his concerns about climate change, which has been dramatically worsened by deforestation. To solve this problem, he created BioCarbon Engineering, which he describes as an ecosystem restoration company. Working with colleagues, he came up with a 30-pound drone nicknamed "Robin." It can fly over some of the most rugged landscapes on earth, planting trees in precise locations at a speed of 120 per minute.

Fletcher thought he could do better, so he assembled a team of 12 experts with backgrounds in engineering, community development, ecology, biology and remote sensing. The first step was finding the right kind tree. “ It's about on ecosystem restoration, full stop. If you don't get the biology right, then you're not the solution,” Fletcher said. The second step is to create robots for planting trees.

BioCarbon Engineering's fleet of drones flies ten feet off the ground, carefully blowing seed pods into the ground at a rate of 2 per second. It's fast, but what's most promising is the scalability potential. Fletcher says his goal is to plant 500 billion trees by 2050.

To achieve this goal, he will need more than just drones. “Our solution is not a wholesale replacement for manual planting. There are times when manual landing is absolutely the right decision, and sometimes the only solution,” said Fletcher, who wants to use airplanes and ground vehicles for landing, in addition to drones.

BioCarbon Engineering is not the only player in this area. Firms such as DroneSeed in Seattle, Washington, are developing plans to use drones to plant seeds and are already using UAVs to distribute fertilizers and spray herbicides. And the UK's aerial imaging startup does the same, but instead of deploying drones, it relies on military transport aircraft. These and other firms are responding to a growing global push for forest restoration outlined in a new report.

Fletcher is optimistic about the future of forests. “This is not just a convergence of technologies,” he said. “This is actually a convergence of social will and political power that are focused on this global issue.”