Mission Based Drone Selection Criteria

Chaosrider · Jun 9, 2022

Suppose someone wanted to do video surveillance of construction sites in a mountainous area, and range and endurance are two of their biggest concerns. Relatively rapid launch is also important to them.

What drone would you folks recommend for that? Not a Mini, for sure, but what are some of the factors to consider in selecting a drone for that mission?

Thx.

Phantomrain.org · Jun 9, 2022

Put your money into a stronger signal strength by getting the Alientech Dual Antenna system to work with the Air 2S or the Mavic 2. Both works with software that support missions.. and provide you with the best signal strength to negotiate Mountain areas. You will need the SC .

I would get a used SC as many jumped ship to the newer one.

Although you might be thinking of the Mini 2 to use with it as well , consider the Air 2 before that if your on a budget

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly y our Air 2/S in the Rain, Land on the Water .

Chaosrider · Jun 9, 2022

Phantomrain.org said:
Put your money into a stronger signal strength by getting the Alientech Dual Antenna system to work with the Air 2S or the Mavic 2. Both works with software that support missions.. and provide you with the best signal strength to negotiate Mountain areas. You will need the SC .

I would get a used SC as many jumped ship to the newer one.

Although you might be thinking of the Mini 2 to use with it as well , consider the Air 2 before that if your on a budget

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly y our Air 2/S in the Rain, Land on the Water .

View attachment 149741

The person I'm talking with is relatively indifferent to price. Capability is what matters to him.

I'm sure he'll want to get his own drone.

I'm thinking one of the larger commercial drones might be best for his needs, but I know very little about that drone segment...which is why I'm asking!

Speed, endurance, practical range, and time-to-launch are probably the most important factors. Large payload may or may not matter much; we've just started this conversation.

Thx!

Mavic Merrick · Jun 9, 2022

Chaosrider said:
Suppose someone wanted to do video surveillance of construction sites in a mountainous area, and range and endurance are two of their biggest concerns. Relatively rapid launch is also important to them.

What drone would you folks recommend for that? Not a Mini, for sure, but what are some of the factors to consider in selecting a drone for that mission?

Thx.

I know you said no mini but that may actually be the best path for you. The best battery life comes out of the mini 3 and it’s specs are as good as or better than a bigger drone, the price is also substantially better even with the upgraded batteries. You don’t have to take my advice but I would highly recommend mini 3 for your situation.
Enjoy the drone!

Meta4 · Jun 9, 2022

Chaosrider said:
What drone would you folks recommend for that?

The Mavic 3 ticks all your boxes.
It seems that the previous posters haven't read the specs for the M3.

Mavic Merrick · Jun 10, 2022

Mini 3 is light, compact, easy to deploy, smart controller compatible, tons of wind resistance (less surface area for wind than larger bird), more gimbal features, tons of camera features, affordable price, best battery life of any other dji drone (with upgraded batteries)… honestly probably the best drone for you but if you are truly against Mini that’s your decision.

Meta4 · Jun 10, 2022

Mavic Merrick said:
Mini 3 .. tons of wind resistance (less surface area for wind than larger bird)

Less surface area is irrelevant.
The speed of the drone is all that matters in dealing with wind.
And the Mini 3 is the slowest DJI drone currently available.

MavicAir2Marc · Jun 10, 2022

If price is no object and you want a surveillance drone, then tethered would be the best option depending on the area size that needs to be covered. This can be adapted to Matrice and Inspires as well as an old S-900

Ligh-T Drone Tether Station

The Ligh-T tether station can be rapidly connected to police drones and extend their endurance for continuous aerial surveillance missions.

elistair.com

Chaosrider · Jun 10, 2022

Meta4 said:
The Mavic 3 ticks all your boxes.
It seems that the previous posters haven't read the specs for the M3.

I was wondering if that might be the case. I'll take a closer look at that.

I'm wondering what the Mavic 3 might lack, that some of the larger commercial drones might have? People select those for a reason...I just don't know what those reasons are!

Thx!

MavicAir2Marc · Jun 10, 2022

Chaosrider said:
I just don't know what those reasons are!

Higher resolution thermal comes to mind

Meta4 · Jun 10, 2022

Chaosrider said:
I'm wondering what the Mavic 3 might lack, that some of the larger commercial drones might have? People select those for a reason...I just don't know what those reasons are!

To carry heavy professional cameras etc

Chaosrider · Jun 10, 2022

Meta4 said:
Less surface area is irrelevant.
The speed of the drone is all that matters in dealing with wind.
And the Mini 3 is the slowest DJI drone currently available.

Speed per se, not even considering wind resistance, is an important factor for this application.

Thx.

Meta4 · Jun 10, 2022

Chaosrider said:
Speed per se, not even considering wind resistance, is an important factor for this application.

What DJI calls "wind resistance" is meaningless.

Chaosrider · Jun 10, 2022

MavicAir2Marc said:
If price is no object and you want a surveillance drone, then tethered would be the best option depending on the area size that needs to be covered. This can be adapted to Matrice and Inspires as well as an old S-900

Ligh-T Drone Tether Station

The Ligh-T tether station can be rapidly connected to police drones and extend their endurance for continuous aerial surveillance missions.

elistair.com

Interesting. Tethered drones came up when I was scoping out a different application. I don't think they'll work in this case, because there are a number of scattered sites, and the need is for a somewhat closer view, on demand.

This is for use in a canyon, which is 10 - 15 miles long for this purpose, and about a quarter mile wide at the base (bottom). there are a lot of canyon wall...protrusions. Mini-mountain ranges that run perpendicular to the direction of the canyon itself. With a max tether height of 70 m, as this site suggests, you'll frequently not be able to see over most of those ridges, from any fixed location.

This reminds me of a question that I've had in the past. If a drone is tethered, does it still count as an "aircraft", for FAA purposes?

Thx!

EpicFlight · Jun 10, 2022

Chaosrider said:
I was wondering if that might be the case. I'll take a closer look at that.

I'm wondering what the Mavic 3 might lack, that some of the larger commercial drones might have? People select those for a reason...I just don't know what those reasons are!

Thx!

I would also recommend the Mavic 3 for this application. In addition to meeting all the stated criteria, it has an optical 7x second camera that will be very useful doing construction observation.

Chaosrider · Jun 10, 2022

MavicAir2Marc said:
Higher resolution thermal comes to mind

That would make sense. I have no reason to believe that this will be a requirment in this application.

Thx.

Chaosrider · Jun 11, 2022

Meta4 said:
To carry heavy professional cameras etc

Makes sense. I don't think that will be a requirement for this supplication.

An OP mentioned that the Mavic 3 has two distinct cameras. Is that right? If yes, do you manually select which one to use, or...?

Thx.

Meta4 · Jun 11, 2022

Chaosrider said:
An OP mentioned that the Mavic 3 has two distinct cameras. Is that right? If yes, do you manually select which one to use, or...?

It has a double camera .. two lenses and two sensors in the same housing.
A wideangle and a tele lens that you can swap between by touching a screen button.
It's all here: DJI Mavic 3 - Imaging Above Everything - DJI

EpicFlight · Jun 11, 2022

Chaosrider said:
Makes sense. I don't think that will be a requirement for this supplication.

An OP mentioned that the Mavic 3 has two distinct cameras. Is that right? If yes, do you manually select which one to use, or...?

Thx.

Yes, two cameras, selecting "explore mode" activates the 7x camera, I believe.

I don't have one.

Curious what your OP abbreviation is... it's almost universally used to mean "Original Post(er)" on discussion boards, so I'm not understanding what you're referring to. It was me that mentioned the two cameras, and I wasn't the OP

Chaosrider · Jun 11, 2022

EpicFlight said:
I would also recommend the Mavic 3 for this application. In addition to meeting all the stated criteria, it has an optical 7x second camera that will be very useful doing construction observation.

This is looking like the right answer. I'll be meeting with him sometime this coming week, and I'll try to pin down his requirements a bit better.

He hasn't been holding back...he doesn't know! His requirements are evolving as we talk.

And, counter-intuitively, drone noise can sometimes be a good thing! It turns out he'd been somewhat interested in drones for a while, but the sight and sound of my FPV zipping down the canyon at 80 mph threw him over the edge. He left a gathering of people at his house, jumped on his golf cart, and zapped up to my house to see what was going on, and ask me if I could give him a drone demo.

Does a bear (self-censored to save the moderators the trouble)...?

When he saw that I was using the FPV goggles, he thought that was cool beyond description.

He's a fairly substantial person in this canyon, so it looks like my ability to keep flying drones here, is likely secure! This may even evolve into a little drone community.

Updates as developments warrant!