Flying longer and further

Discussion in 'Multi Rotor Helicopter General Discussions' started by egoli, Feb 18, 2013.

  1. egoli

    egoli New Member

    Feb 14, 2013
    Durban, South Africa
    Hi All

    I am interested in exploring the feasibility of monitoring wild game activity in African reserves with rc surveillance. This would mean prolonged flying times and the ability to fly far out of line-of-sight and leads to many questions I can’t answer. Which is the best flying platform? What is its maximum flying time and range? How bad do weather conditions have to be before they are grounded? What are the problems inherent in night flying? To what extent can a vehicle fly pre determined circuits by GPS and auto pilot? If one spots a situation that needs attention, will it send back coordinates so that a ground team can be dispatched? There must be myriad considerations that I don’t yet even understand.

    Is there anyone out there with any ideas?
  2. xvin

    xvin New Member

    Jan 6, 2012
    For electric platforms, fixed wing has much longer flight duration.
  3. smaris

    smaris Member

    Apr 25, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 18, 2013
  4. kloner

    kloner Aerial DP

    Jan 5, 2012
    San Diego
    You have a few options for s plank that'd do this for ya. one would be a wing, it will go faster, further, able to slow down to look around, etc. it'll do 60mph at 12 amp draws, fly like that for a half hour to 45 minutes, not as affected by wind as other types of aircraft. for cinema quality footage, 10 mph is the general line to cross, but a wing will fly in 4050mph winds without a whole lot of trouble if t has a stab system. There are a few systems out there that have the full fledged way point features your asking about. A common cheap one is APM..... OP revolution is suppose to cover a similar task.

    If this was mine, i'd look into RUBY. most of these units have osd and that transmits gps coordinates on screen. it is good to keep a dvr recording that info so you can review it and figure out where the plane is if it came up missing. Eagle tree osd pro has a fature on it's eagle eyes system that locks the last known coordinates on a led screen for review real time after the crash to locate it. the ezosd has some droid app for a similar deal.......

    The other option is more of a traditional layout like a big skywalker. it's more of an easier to fly rig, less speed and range. They would loose cam quality faster than a wing will.

    You would be better off flying it long range fpv like my stuff all is than any waypoint flights. Lets you control it, flies alot smoother, and use a system ike that more for return to home. RUBY thinks alot, calculates how far from home it is and can return to land. it would be the best hand on your shoulder learning to fly this mission especially in a wing, but they work in about everything. has self leveling, altitude locks, all kinds of goodies flying long range like this needs to make consistent and reliable.

    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 22, 2014

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