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sanrensho
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 835
Location: North Vancouver8/20/15 10:08 PM |
Reminds me that horses love a good race!
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JohnC
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 1939
Location: Glastonbury, Ct8/20/15 10:22 PM |
Cheaper than a helicopter, and it can fly lower and closer to the riders safely. The video is tremendous. I hope it catches on. Should be the wave of the future for big race coverage.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19083
Location: PDX8/20/15 11:06 PM |
Correct use of the drone copters if you ask me. That is awesome, I agree.
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sandiway
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 4902
Location: back in Tucson8/21/15 12:46 AM |
How fast can these drones go?
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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2626
Location: Canberra, Australia8/21/15 1:31 AM |
Have a look at this video - of the tourist version of the Taiwan KOM challenge - which has a fair amount of drone coverage in it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwrbe6C41wI&hd=1
The ride might be only just over 100km long, but it starts at sea level and finishes at almost 3300m (10800ft).
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Dave B
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 4511
Location: Pittsburgh, PA8/21/15 8:04 AM |
Fast Enough
quote:
How fast can these drones go?
Apparently more than fast enough to keep up and even pass the peloton. It seemed to have no problems overtaking the line of riders when starting from the back.
I agree these things have great potential as they are cheaper, safer and more maneuverable than a helicopter. I just wonder about their flight time. Can they cover an entire race or would the broadcaster need a bunch of them?
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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area8/21/15 8:31 AM |
lily
they'd need to rotate several of them in/out.
have a follow-truck with a flat-bed as your mobile drone-carrier to follow the peloton. as each one gets low on juice, launch another and the one rotating out just lands to swap-out batteries.
it would make life in the peloton much nicer, as it is right now the riders cant hear anything above the chopper's rotor...and that contributes significantly to crashes and other mishaps. drones are almost silent in comparison.
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/meet-lily-camera-drone-follows-you-automatically-n357811
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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven8/21/15 8:53 AM |
Surely, in time. I will miss the chopper background noise though.
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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven8/21/15 10:42 AM |
I've often wondered why they don't kill the chopper noise. They have me confused with someone that wants to hear it.
Maybe they will include the more obnoxious noise of the drone motors.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19083
Location: PDX8/21/15 11:11 AM |
Isn't the rotor buffeting getting picked up my the mics on the MC feed? A drone HAS to be less DB than a Jet Ranger...
As to cost and multiple units:
Bell 206 Unit cost. approx. US$900,000 to $1.2 million.
Average fuel consumption - lb/hr (kg/hr) 177 (81) 245 (111) [206B3 206L4]
Drones ?$?, but less. ;)
---
My question is this. Are we looking at the contents of the memory on the drone after the fact? Juice to broadcast live, and to where? [a helicopter?] for a live feed in the drone might make for some logistics issues..
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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area8/21/15 4:43 PM |
live feed drones
will need to be bigger, but the xmitter need not be too big as it only needs to xmit to the follow-truck or maybe an orbiting acff for re-xmitting elsewhere, similar to how we get live feeds from the motos.
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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real8/21/15 7:10 PM |
A GoPro will live feed to an iPhone right now but the range is short. It sets up it's own WiFi network, it is not a bluetooth connection so using the juices should not be to hard.
I often set up my GoPro remotely when deer hunting but it I can always see the camera, it is not like I am using as a spy device, it does not have the range for that at all.
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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5101
Location: Nashua, NH8/22/15 5:21 AM |
You guys are all assuming...
...that a drone must be electric. It doesn't have to be (the choppers certainly aren't). Depending on size and fuel capacity, a drone could potentially stay airborne for hours and perhaps could also generate the electricity needed by the camera(s).
In addition to reducing the noise and rotor wash from choppers, they may be able to replace some of the motorcycles, which seem to be an increasing menace these days, causing some high-profile accidents.
One serious safety concern is what happens if a drone hits a power line or other obstacle above the peloton, or if there is a mid-air collision between multiple drones. Since they can potentially fly much closer to the riders than a chopper can, there is a real possibility of a drone crashing into the peloton. I imagine that each drone will need to have both a pilot and a camera operator, much like choppers do today, the difference being that they'll be on the ground rather than onboard.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19083
Location: PDX8/22/15 11:12 AM |
"I imagine that each drone will need to have both a pilot and a camera operator, much like choppers do today, the difference being that they'll be on the ground rather than onboard."
Agree, and I 'was' thinking electric..
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sandiway
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 4902
Location: back in Tucson8/22/15 11:39 AM |
Do you need training and a license to fly a drone like that?
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19083
Location: PDX8/22/15 11:41 AM |
License? Just think about US/FAA VS what ever governing body in EU where 'some' races are. ;)
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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real8/22/15 2:59 PM |
Size is a safety concern. With size comes more speed and altitude. This can lead to safety issues for the airspace much like a manned aircraft. In addition if a fuel powered UAV goes down there is much greater risk to the folks and things on the ground due to fire etc. When a little electric goes down, they just fall and you put them back together. Cheap, safe and easy to do. The last thing we nee is motorcycle sized UAVs buzzing around a bike race in the mountains and smacking people by accident.
I am all for small (under 3 kilos or so) UAVs that are electric powered being used as this video shows.
I should also point out that the situational awareness for the pilot on the ground sucks in any form of remote and crashes will happen much more often that in manned aircraft. Hell, even birds attack the things and knock them down.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19083
Location: PDX8/22/15 3:13 PM |
" Hell, even birds attack the things and knock them down."
Can't wait to see a VID of the bird of prey in close pecking at the camera... ;)
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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2626
Location: Canberra, Australia8/22/15 3:15 PM |
quote:
One serious safety concern is what happens if a drone hits a power line or other obstacle above the peloton, or if there is a mid-air collision between multiple drones. Since they can potentially fly much closer to the riders than a chopper can, there is a real possibility of a drone crashing into the peloton.
This actually happened last year during a triathlon in Geraldton, Western Australia. A female competitor was hit on the head by a drone that was filming the event and crashed:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-13/drone-operator-at-geraldton-marathon-fined/5887196
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19083
Location: PDX8/22/15 3:18 PM |
CASA said there were clear rules covering the operation of an unmanned aircraft, including the requirement to fly a minimum of 30 metres away from people.
The ABC understands CASA has now fined the operator $1,700 for flying the drone within 30 metres of people.
___
And buying a new bike and paying any/all bills incurred presumably ??
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sandiway
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 4902
Location: back in Tucson8/22/15 4:24 PM |
I think it makes sense to have licensing and regulations for different classes of drones. Maybe drones can have license plates too so we can see which ones might be interfering with california fire fighting...
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sandiway
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 4902
Location: back in Tucson8/22/15 4:28 PM |
quote:
When a little electric goes down, they just fall and you put them back together. Cheap, safe and easy to do.
I saw some people using them on ski slopes last winter.
I was surprised since you've got lots of trees not to mention the lift lines...
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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal8/22/15 5:33 PM |
I was starting to think that our firefighters would be given the equipment and the ok to "take out" any errant drone interfering with the water-dropper's flight schedules.
An assassin drone could be programmed to eliminate or possibly impound any observed flying menace.
One might suspect the military already has such equipment they could perhaps loan.
As for the sports drones, perhaps a drone could be GPS pre-programed to avoid all obstacles along a race route, eliminating one operator and with the other left only to advance or retard progress along the course, move and zoom the camera at will and heckle the riders.
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