We will have booth #600 set up for the duration of the event and will have Draganflyer X6 and X8 UAV helicopters on display. We will not be able to fly the helicopters at the event due to space limitations; however both helicopters there will be fully functional and we invite you to ask the Draganfly Innovations representative that will be present any questions.

For more information about the CACP 2011 conference you can visit their website. More information about the Draganflyer X6 and Draganflyer X8 UAV helicopters is available on our website.

This is exactly the kind of work that the Draganflyer UAV RC helicopters were designed to do. Using multiple rotors and an advanced flight computer, Draganflyer helicopters automate most of the tasks that pilots would usually have to perform. This frees users to focus on getting the aerial pictures and video that they need for their application and also greatly reduces the amount of training required to use the helicopter.

Draganflyer UAV helicopters use brushless electric motors to lift camera payloads weighing up to one kilogram. Custom designed lithium polymer batteries allow for flight times of up to 20 minutes which permits police, government and private industries to get outstanding aerial pictures with a minimum amount of downtime.

You can read the original leaderpost.com article and learn more about our UAV RC helicopters on our website.

Mesa County Sheriff, Colorado receives FAA approval to operate the Draganflyer X6 Helicopter County Wide

Mesa County Sheriff is the first Public Safety Agency to receive an FAA Certificate of Authorization (COA) to operate the Draganflyer X6 helicopter for law enforcement use over a 3,300 square mile area.

This is a significant development because in the past when there was a need to use the Draganflyer X6 helicopter, the Sheriff’s office was required to contact the FAA and request an Emergency COA (eCOA) for the incident at hand. This was time consuming for both the Sheriff and the FAA but even more so, it lead to critical delays in deploying the aircraft.

With this new County Wide approval, the Sheriff’s office is no longer required to contact the FAA each time the aircraft is deployed for use. And this type of approval didn’t come easy. The county wide approval comes after a year or more of in-depth aircraft flight experience, safety practices, program development, use by the agency and the proven solid commitment by the Sheriff’s office to adhere to the FAA practices and policies.

Draganfly is very proud to be one of the first, small unmanned helicopters to receive FAA approval for this use over such a wide area and even more proud of the work, dedication, professionalism and accomplishments of the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.

Read more:
Official Colorado News Article

There are no limits to your creativity using new payloads being offered with the Draganflyer X8 aircraft.

One of the many new camera payloads being offered this year is the Olympus Pen EP-2. The EP-2 is an interchangeable lens, micro four thirds, 12mp sensor with the TruePic V Image Processor. The Olympus processor offers excellent dynamic range, accurate color and reduced noise, all the way up to ISO 3200. Combining this powerful new payload with the recently announced Draganflyer X8 helicopter and the new auto-leveling camera mount, this system yields a very high percentage of “vibration free” images over lesser cameras.

The expanded artistic filters of the Olympus Pen opens the door to new innovative aerial shots and by simply pushing the shutter button expands upon your creativity.

Diorama filter:

The filter featured in this article is the “Diorama” filter, an integrated “tilt-shift” technique performed in real-time creating the illusion that your subject matter is that of a miniature model.

Benefit:

The ability to quickly get an aerial perspective and capture this high quality imagery in one single step is a tremendous benefit to Professional Artistic Photographers, Real Estate photographers, Wedding and event photography, architects and community planning/design.

How this was done:

To get the best effect often you need the right subject matter and as you’ll see lighting also plays a significant factor. In the example images you’ll see a shopping center cafe, new building construction and rail switch yard.

Lighting:

To get a flat lighting model, you’ll see that in many of the photos, the shots were captured just before sunrise. There is ambient light in the scene, but local lighting from signs and street lights plays a factor. The combined smooth flight characteristics of the Draganflyer X8 with the new auto-leveling camera mount yields excellent results even in these low-light conditions.

Subject matter:

If you’re going for that scale model look, it’s best to select a subject that can be realized by the viewer as a model. For example trains, buildings, trucks, cars or bridges that could be perceived as models. These are but just a few example shots using this technique.

Helicopter altitude and position:

The angle and altitude is also something that needs to be considered when creating this illusion. You want to position the helicopter and frame the shot in the same perspective as a viewer would see the model. For example, if you visited a friend with a scale train set-up – what is the angle and overall field of view you would experience. When you’re viewing an architectural model of a new building, how would you be positioned and in what type of lighting would you expect to view the model. The more you can closely create the same atmosphere and perspective of the shot the more believable it will be.

In most of these photos the helicopter was only flying between 14 and 35 meters AGL in an effort to find that viewing angle needed.

Please take some time to look through sample images below and if you’re interested in learning more, contact the team at Draganfly to talk with their experts and request full size image samples.

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High powered weapons are a danger to our public safety personnel. The video below illustrates a SWAT exercise by the Sheriff’s office to extend the reach of their armored vehicle using the Draganflyer X6 helicopter system. The helicopter provides real-time video back to the officers allowing them to safely search a given area, locate and apprehend the suspect.

The Draganflyer X6, helicopter system is a valuable asset to a SWAT scenario as illustrated above, set-up a perimeter and function as a force multiplier to public safety personnel by providing an aerial perspective.

On Tuesday August 24 2010 Draganfly Innovations unveiled the all new Draganflyer X8 at the annual AUVSI conference in Denver Colorado. Draganfly Innovations is demonstrating the Draganflyer X8 at their booth inside a 10×10 foot octagonal cage and also in the aviation demonstration area at the AUVSI trade show.

You can find Draganfly Innovations at booth number 2025 and flying in the aviation demonstration area each demonstration day from 11:00 to 12:00 am.

Along with the Draganflyer X8, Draganfly Innovations also unveiled the new hand held ground control station (GCS). The optional hand held GCS combines all the features of the Draganflyer controller and the Video base station into one ergonomically designed package.

The innovative hand held GCS is capable of displaying real time video from the helicopter on its 6.3 inch daylight viewable bright LCD screen. The displayed video can also be recorded with the use of the hand held GCS built in digital video recorder. Running a linux operating system on an Intel Atom Z530 CPU makes this new hand held GCS capable of running Draganview software right on the controller. All the features of the video base station and the controller right in the palm of your hands.

The new optional Handheld GCS (Ground Control Station) coming 2011 provides all the features of both the Handheld Controller and the Video Base Station in one compact and ergonomic package.

The Handheld GCS supports networking over the 802.11n wireless protocol, which allows it to connect directly to Draganflyer IP video cameras. Whether you are using the IP camera system, or a conventional analog camera, video is streamed live to the Handheld GCS and displayed on the built in 6.3” daylight viewable bright LCD screen. Video can also be recorded using the onboard DVR.

The Handheld GCS runs a Linux operating system on an Intel Atom Z530 CPU clocked to 1.6GHz. This processor gives the Handheld GCS the computing power to run a custom version of our DraganView telemetry software and a separate processor is included to control the helicopter simultaneously. The Handheld GCS features 1 gigabyte of ram and a 32 gigabyte solid state memory to store pictures and video.

Using both the Handheld Controller and Video Base Station functions at the same time has never been simpler with the Draganfly Handheld GCS.

Draganfly Innovations Inc. has recently launched several IP video camera systems for Draganflyer UAV RC helicopters.

Because the IP cameras use a digital protocol, they can buffer (temporarily store) video in their internal memory before it is streamed to the base station. This allows the cameras to take both uninterrupted video and still pictures at the same time. Using this feature is intuitive and simple: fly the Draganflyer X6 or Draganflyer X8 UAV over the location you need pictures and video of, and take as many still pictures as needed while the video is still recording. The ability to take simultaneous pictures and video makes the Draganfly IP camera systems perfect for police and law enforcement needing both pictures and video for evidence, because the video stream can be used to aim the camera and be recorded at the same time.

Digital video has a much higher signal to noise ratio than analog video because it is more resistant to random noise and interference. This means that you get a higher quality video stream than is possible with any analog camera sent live to your computer running the DraganView software. If you are flying the helicopter at maximum range, the image quality received will still remain constant (although the frame rate may decrease). This is because the IP cameras transmit individual frames over a digital protocol.

The IP video cameras operate over the 802.11n wireless protocol, so the connection between the camera access point and the wireless receiving station can be encrypted. This prevents unauthorized access to the video stream if your project is security critical, such as gathering evidence for law enforcement or military surveillance.

Using the Draganfly wireless IP camera video systems you can rebroadcast video to almost anywhere in the world over the internet. If you have a 3-G enabled cellphone or cellular modem that supports tethering, you can even broadcast to the internet from remote locations. This is perfect for applications that require real time video to be streamed from a remote operation back to a central location. Pictures and live video can be transmitted live over huge distances using this method, even across continents. Network response times typically create a delay in the video stream of less than one second.

Besides offering two color IP video cameras, customers can also use conventional analog cameras with the Draganfly analog to digital converter. The analog to digital converter works by taking the output from an analog camera (such as the FLIR infrared or low light models) and converting the signal to a digital one, streamed over the 802.11n protocol. The analog to digital converter gives you all the benefits of IP cameras with your analog camera, except for taking simultaneous pictures and video (because analog cameras lack a memory buffer).

IP video cameras and the analog to digital converter will be available for both the Draganflyer X6 and Draganflyer X8 UAV helicopters. Do you want to learn more about the IP camera systems? We have technical information on our website.