“am -~ EVERYTHING VOU NEED FOR ALL QUADCOPTERS, DRONES AND UAVS Edition ni O WITH YOUR DRONE HB DigitalRAD AAD AD oD AD DD (AAAAAA Ad WVVVIV IVT WV IVIVIIT 44444444 AAAAsAAdsd AAAsAaAaad (AAAAAsdd AAAAssaad AAAALAAS Assssaaa “4444444 s4444444 hk Ok a a a es es | es es es eeWelcome to BOLK Drones are everynhore. And while the term drone’ may havepikedup negative connotations dustoits use by the mecta when repertingan the role thay playinthe military nowadays droneshave become partof everyday life for mary people. Asprices have dropped and availablity has increased, the rangeot afordable drones on offerte ope has skyrocketed, meaning anyane can getinvolved and star fying, Inthisboak well take youthroughallthe basi, and examine some of thebest dans and accessories on themarket. You then Find inspirational, \shatyou can do with your drone, and even build your awn, On topo that, iscaver uides to show you the amazing ways drones are being sad today and how they are changing the woe from protecting wife to mapping the wer, Youwil fina that throughout this book vee also referredto quadcopters and UAVs, butin ganeral weveincluded everyting under the umbrella termofadrons, Ard ona final thing tobear in ind: it’simpertant to always stay safe and know the laa related to fing drones, so wehaveincluseda featureon that very subject inside. So at'sget started and unco world of drones has to offer so youcan start fying today + what the wonderfulThis bookoine sprinted on recycled paper. Itsimportant that we care obaut our planet and make a difference where we can, Tor usand every generation that fellows.IG) === baer8 DRONECAM Inspiratonalimages taken by drones and fn 20 GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR DRONE Understand the basics and find out how to buy, tyand maintain your drone 32 ESSENTIAL DRONE ACCESSORIES ‘The must-have kit that everyone needsta investin 34 TOP10 DRONES Discover the Fantastic range cranes eurtentiyon the market 46 BUILD YOUROWN DRONE Get hands-on and find out how true your very own quadeopter 52 HOWNOTTOGET INTO TROUBLE Understand the rulesand make ure you don't breakany/lawswen fying THINGS TODO WITH YOUR DRONE 58 FLYINGFORFUN Masterthe basics of fying teach others and get the whole famiyinvolved 64 PHOTOGRAPHINGS: FILMING Learnhow tocreate professional-looking videos and photos wth your drone 70 EXPLORE WITH YOURDRONE Get a whole new pe explore the world like never 76. GETTINGSTARTED WITHFPV Upgrade to first-person view and fy yourdronein style 82 RACING WITH DRONE! ‘Superchargeyour drene ‘uttofind out wha'sthe fast atten rt ‘eons EO $0) R aR (08) 33 OWN DRONEHOW DRONES ARE CHANGING THE WORLD 90 10 AMAZING WAYS DRONES ARE CHANGING THE WORLD bare deployed for 32 be aninerodblerangs oasis 94 FIGHTING WARS ESSENTIAL : pow UAVS are used to eee a oa rrilitary 100 MAKINGFILMS Filmmaker ways they apy 106 DELIVERIES, ERRANDS oe neingthe t Frnosthow dense nmake 1112 PROTECTING WILDLIFE Drones take tothe skytoassit vationists andhelp inthe fight against poaching 118 AIDINGINEMERGENCIES Emergency help naw comesin 1122 REPORTING THENEWS Breaking the latest story without Fiskinglives 126 MAPPING THE WORLD a Producing detailed and Up-to-date maps HACKER DRONE: 112 PROGRAM ARASPRERRY PIQUADCOPTER starSeb . cSraprooionasegon WIT your owndrone 148 PROGRAM A DRONE'S FLIGHT PATH Rasgbory #rpowored crane THEFUTURE SELFDRIVINGRCCAR OF DRONES Google's ‘WeanOS0C7sm eomesemnCons preaneere ery prieerienserety Brera ee, erentTLCrat megeteee Bremer Peete er erty SEOeee ae ere Pret pera Pereira Peering OnOar es Roca port ROCenre ti DEGETTING STARTED how to get involvedinoi lou might have heard of drones inthe Peano ee See oars Peres eon ere Cer ear etree are een eee eee eed See emer ‘commercial ad private aieraftareheavly een See ea eee pert erate eines theme rae peter rretn ound ms( ~ veils =WITHYOURDRONE @) THE TYPES OF DRONES PRON ens ones arernw common enough that there are stores that stock them and, of course, online shops that sell different types. ‘The ifferneas can be apobvious agcost anc antly affect howmuch werk you have todo, Youre not likely ‘manufacturer, but mare im BNF ‘© This stands for Bind-N-Fly. These drones are always sldas complete quadcopters (UAVS, but they don't usually include the contrellr That's the key difference between anRITFand a BNE With thistype,youneedto separately buy your awn handset controler Youcould interpret this as beinga wayof makinga one cheaper I'snot necessarily ideal foracomplete beginner, buts you get mmoreexoerianced and try outaifferent models, A BNFishandy I's usually always acomplete a EOS toever beable toftyadronehomestraignt fromthe shop. Thereare some that need assembling and some that ust need their batteries charged upfirs. Drones ar highly complex devices that ‘onsomany diferent parts. Themore your RTF (© RTF means Ready To Fy. t means that you canbe upand yingveryquichly indeed. ‘loser quits mean thatthe droneis ready to flyoutofthe box, though. yourbus homeis elayed, you cannot simolyfyit home total yourloved ane, Nor can it deliv itselft0 you ‘iroet rom Amazon. What it does mean is that youllbeableto ty tore or less as soon as youhave removed its packaging. More ily, you will nesd to charge crane, and you mightbe able to use your old controler. Thats not guaranteed but, n theory, you could keep the same controller forever and se itwith many diferent drones. In practice, ratallcontrollerswork with all ronea, but you couldeasiybuyalterative onesifyou find you reedtt Aryone can buya BNF bu, gven thats big benefitis yourre-use of analdconteolir it's probably for someone whohas already own ARF (@ As RTF stands for Ready To Fly, ARF means = you guessed it- Almost Readyto Fy. The ‘nly problom with his termisthatthe wore ‘atmost can be quite subjective. Teone thing that youcan guarantoe i that youilineed to worker tha drone before youcan get runeingandairborne. Beyondthat it reedingto sssembieit. You dont usually get ‘acontrllerar the transmitterreeiver forthe shone tobe contvalable Intorestanchobby develops, and the mare ‘experience you gain, the more youre goingto beaware ofthese components. Yuli nodoubt startoffbuyinga complete drone, butlateron yourmight prferto assemble ane yourslfin ‘orderto get precisely what younees Uunthe drones batteries fist You'll perhaps rneedtoputontherotor blades and bind the cone with thehandset. Bindingistke the piringyoudowith Bluetooth devices, Nonetnless, ATF drones area good choice forbogirnars, because they moan youcan flytheUAV sooner ratherthan ater. Thaycan bbemore expensive, though because theyre aimed ata broader rangeof usersandare capable of doinglots of things. So, anARF kit might ntinelucethe ight control computer that makes fvingthedrone prystcaly posse, and it might aso eave out the motor, butyou do getarice box. Thisisntreally aimed ata beginner Youre more iklytochacee.an ARF drone ifyoure hobbyist who wil enoylearning how to assemble and plot ayingmachine. You'd al optforan ARF ifyoure anexistingdrone user and thereforealready havepartsand know how totransferthemtethe new machineCa Oa ‘ou could go on Amazon right row ‘and take your pick from mare than 700 ifferent drones. However you might ‘encounter problem when teomes to choosing which one tlbuy asyou willbe ‘swamped with jargon and revens, oes ines between ist productsand,n some cases, oven toys So, high-street stores that sel any ofthese coudao sellcrones. The Fetal store Argos, for example, offers a number of Us, butrot every store will necessarily haveevery product ‘Onceyau havean idea ofthe type ofcrone you want, and the amount of moneyyoucan afford to spendonit.use online sitesto narrow downyour search, Read the rviaws on these reacthem witha pinch of salt; cheap UAVs might get poorer revi fornotbeingtopof te range, while state-of ne-art.drones mightalsoreceive criticism sites, butre BUYING YOUR FIRST DRONE forbeingespensive. t's nt entirely the case that you get what you pay fr, butyou need to naw that otal buyers willbe as prepared and eeearchod asyauare. Many ecple buy the irsterone they ean afford, anddon't appreciate that there ae ferences in terms of what each type i useful for. ‘Youalso need olook atwhattypeof camera comes with thecrona, fany, The cheapest Arone not only wor'tcome witha comers, butyoualso and even ow-price drones ileus basic cameras, but mary people will want the same Picture qualty that you see on YouTube's collection of drone videos this is thease, it means getting more expensive camara, iit beabletofitonetit. Mic ettingadrone witha gimbal This isa mourt ikea miniature version of the ones usedin aerial photography. Iroffersthe camoraa wide range of movement, and also enables itto move smooth Al rotoccraft vibrate, and eleopters have tall rotocs specially to stop the entire machine being lurgaroundin the opposite rection to the main rotors. Gimbals eventhat out LUNs arecheapin the sense that hey are affordable, out nat cheap inthe sense that you canttcasuallykeep buyingthem untilyoufind one thatyou tke. Take your time thinkingabout whatyou ill actually use onefor.and atthe veryleasttry totalkto some cnn and ives drones aha already M4THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN TERMS OF WHAT EACH IS USEFUL FOR ‘HERES_ ANATOMY OF A DRONE SHELL (© Unies youcrash your done very neat. youll usualy ustsee this, shellitisthe casing the fuselage of ‘the UAV.sright colours eal help you spotthisfromadistance ROTORS © Youliseethey'e twisted lightly Rotors arerot straight they are shapedexaciyikeairraft wings andfrthesame reason. Thel shape affects air flowingover them and that swhat preducesift, BATTERY (© Yourdrone sit going anywhere without acharged battery. This perhaps themost limiting element you face Fully ‘hargedones wil typically en power thedronefr 2O minutes LANDING GEAR €@ Inthisexamplethelanding gearisan extersion ‘af the boom but yuan havemoreesborate ‘ones. They atthe draneset down an the ground ‘withoutarythinghittng therotes or boy a EOS EOBODY (© Thecoreof yourdronelsthis rutvallthe physical elements ‘connect tothis whichisalwaysat thecentreof gravity of your UAV. Booms © Thearmsof your roneare ‘rua They have tobe light but strong nd thin enough to notgetin the way of therotors downdraft Length determines stability andimanoeuvrabilty too \ «GPS KNOWS , WHERE YOUR DRONE IS, AND WILL MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON THAT FLIGHT CONTROLLER (© Youhave positive ightcontra jouchaose where thedrane goes isunithandles the conflicting ressuresand strainstokep the fight stable speed andin wind GPS AERIAL . Hopefully yucanalways sce where your rone's butwrth GPS nowsexary. end ‘rilmake decison based on that may a0 {eenrdGPSdata log wth your vio Essential OL ircessyeunever yeu ‘drone anywhere near people's bodies and faces, SR remo tarreyos wen ot the controller handset or remove batteries, 0. i unless you see feather conditions are good, and you know that this i going to continue, OD Fim hmerbarees ty” need greater care than regular ones, HDRESBEFORE YOU GET STARTED @ ENSURE IT'S LEGAL {° THELANS SURRGUNEING croesarecontanty changing toning redone. nao thenat pata thingatc Sobetee yee ak your cre fre att ih todosomereseartnandunsersta fyngacroneinyurcouey rea poise youn wart ogetonthe wang te oftela before youve tren ithe rst outcyou dove, Tee arelitstowhre Joven epecialy near peopl sports anc mar bases, tocheckbeforeyou Mad otandabout Ue your common torsoand chee reyes shiny toni. Po KNOW YOURBOUNDARIES & (© THERE'S A REASON so many stunning drone videos are of landscapes: you cannot fly one within 150 metres fabout $00 feet ofa congested area Similarly, you cannot fly one within 50 metres around 160 feet) ofan individual. There's also a weight limit: the drone must be loss than 20g (lbs). Also ifyou are doing any fying for commercial reasons, like fling pop Video, for example, youl need alicence from the Civil Aviation Authorty. could biow away nthe wind. fyour some unexpected ob you and the drone, you could lose signal and therefore contro Totnes eet!pyle el Geel AT elas are ern en in een ee eet erent i een eerie eat ta cn Sr re ee eee an ead ee hea ee oe aT 40mph (6Skin/h) winds, but o matter what drone youhave, youll strugele'to get decent \WITH ALL THE concentration on b ‘power for the quadcoaters themselves, youcan forgetthatyour controler actually needsitas well fyour controller fils while your draneis alot, that drone is going to tery video when fighting against strong winds. beep on going untlits own battery digs and itfals fom the sy. Granted, that's worst-case scenario, butavoidany potential problems by takings portable charger or spare battery. You could alsopractise changing them quickly, 50 you're confident shaula you evernead to ‘YOU KNOW YOU can use drones to do many things now, but perhaps one ofthe best is for aerial vidoo, and that is completely wasted if your recording doasn't work. Some UAV eameras wllusttransmitvideo back to your phone to record there, However, high-end ones stream back go you can see what they're filming, as wells record up to “4K quality video on board. Make sure you have a completely empty SD card, then test itto checkit's working before you pul off a fantastic aerial flyby that doesn't get recorded, YOURE CONSTRAINED ONowt long youcan keep a dre alot butit's not due tolegal conceens isin fac thelimitsof battory technology. We coulda'tdo without ther, but batteries are alsoholdng backUAVS Batteries powerful enough for adcrones rotors areheavy,soyouneed more power to ifthe drone, Atpresent, youcan expectogotaround of 20 minutes ying time por charge Professionaiskaep tt arourdten and carry many,mary sparebatteris that they ‘swapin forthe restofthe shoot. Thebest at present are Lithium Polymer iP) ” ‘eons IO 2Hover your drone Sener See eer eee nee ea rene cr ere practise holding stil. This known as ee tetas mare ea Pret etic Payiprrsonmoeym ar Care err ae irvmepemenenevrerierts Peeters Take short hops Serine sree pone tetas eel ety Benenson eee) shorthops. ee nO Sed roa Cs ed Cee ay Pere rer et ny eee ae ia Ce nee Sa eee era] pons Ty Crash occasionally ST ee getit right by letting the drone crash from Saar ao) CT ers Bo omen straight away. pee ee aeons Con ree arty ue ny Cen Sess ee et eee oes OR CN Dien =r ees ‘of movement. fyou get your UAV to ttt Pee reas See ed Ce er eee eet ners sn eres Cesc) Pt Ce mae Ty ee Sears Cet eed Reet a ros Beat the wind Se eT eo) Ae oie Dee ar cra) Cree teeny eee Ty should fly tothe right; lyinto the wind eer oe Sonn rene Ee eee reer cn ts pers eens Reece Know your equipment Sea ret err eet Foor ene ser ett pope ees rceeninern orem) Cer etre Peet eek ery error ees kareena sere Paseo enemas ero treet ted Seer Hf possible,eae) Pee ee ee tg Ct ey challenges youl have to learn to handle. Cerner et oad Cr eer) ‘camera is) facing away from you. pee coer teat ret the ground, Justtakeit afew inches off the Pome nal camera crews, However, selfies eee ete ee! Seen eee rages ey ees self it left and rightare the opposite econ Ceetaens ets See een “ MAINTAINING YOUR MACHINE our drone) ‘subjectto enormous stresses. Each iterotorsisreally ing to spin the entre machine and «although having four or more of them Cancels thatout it strains theentre airframe, Drones have tobe light to, there are limits ta how strong they canbe, and fyou wantto keep working wall need ta knawhaw to maintain There are two things youshould always do: check the batteries and bring spares. Batteries decline in power over time andif they arenothandled well, so gotusedto having spares when you canand making sureyoutuse them fully. Thats harder ina drone than, say, ‘a mobile phone because leaving thar ‘on means leaving the device fying. 0 wwhatyoucan, though, and thetincludes ‘egular cleaning ofthe contact pads etweenthebattenyandthe UAV, Bring spares of anything you can. There’ littlepoint keepingspare shells or bodies because, if they are damaged rash, then the evarythingelse. Rotor biadas are an essential spare, becaus ough several of those. dsarasois wiligat i's going to be obvious when abiade has broken offinacrash, buttheycan also develop cracks, Test for those by feeling across them, and also by flexing the blades between your fingers ‘Before you fly, inspect your UAV. Every pilot in the world does walk-arour inspection of ther aircraftbefore fying iit consider Inyourcase, you'e locking for ary damage tothe landing oar, or waming LED lights onthe fight computar or GPS ‘equipment. Youre also looking for any damage tothe gimbal mount that holds the camera's not alotof use ying 2 cone it's going todrop the carers, Keep atrackothowleng youfly the crane fo. Again, aircraft and helicopter pilots do this andarerequiredte, but i’salso an important guide for your ‘maintenance, Your battery willbe at nei responsibilty for so mary uses and, while typically every battery lasts for many more than that, the usable fying time youll getwil decrease. ‘Atregularintervals, suchas every ten flights or few weeks, open up the drone ‘and cleanin the rotorsby handwithaut ary iiculty orfaeloftheblades catching Then, whan your fingers are clea, ire up the 08 ifyou! ‘motor andlisten for any unusual sounds that could reveal wear and ter, HREOC