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Plastic bottle instead of a gas tank: UAV Orlan 10 Russian tech
- netsharc 5y agoI've heard that speed cameras in some European countries just have a DSLR in them, and whoever maintains them would have to go around collecting the memory cards once in a while. IMO the camera is fine, the bottle is a less elegant hack. On the flip side, how much does an F-35 cost again?
- throwaway4good 5y agoI am curious about the design. Is there an onboard computer that can send photos back to the operator? Or does the drone have to fly back and the operator collect the memory card.
- yetihehe 5y agoIt probably has a cheap camera with transmitter so that operator can se where the drone is flying and a dslr to capture high quality photos for further intelligence gathering.
- throwaway4good 5y agoHow does the operator control the camera? There has to be some sort of on-board computer and an interface between that and the camera.
- 2000UltraDeluxe 5y agoSome of the higher-end cameras have ethernet ports, Wifi and Bluetooth. Not sure what the remote capabilities are, but remote-controlled shutters should be fairly easy.
- throwaway4good 5y agoYeah. But it requires an onboard computer with USB and WIFI which is not shown, and actually is kind of interesting. How does the computer link back to the operator? Is there bandwidth enough to send hires photos from the camera back?
- 2000UltraDeluxe 5y agoThis sub-thread was about speed cameras. I'd assume law enforcement agencies have some network they can hook the cameras up to. As for the drone in the video, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Raspberry Pi with a 4G modem, or some other remote networking option connected to it, somewhere inside it (or something of a similar hacky nature).
- yetihehe 5y agoProbably the computer is on that stack of boards which presenter deemed "uninteresting".
- netsharc 5y agoThey're probably using the HDMI/analog video output of the camera, like some streamers do, and broadcasting that video, maybe using analog transmission on the clear. Or they could put in a Raspberry Pi-esque computer in there and have a WiFi antenna. There are aftermarket reversing cameras that are wireless that I imagine could be repurposed for the transmission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fen3nwtllEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fen3nwtllEU , although the quality would be lower that using a Canon DSLR doesn't make sense.
- thriftwy 5y agoYou can read about it on Wikipedia: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Орлан-10 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Орлан-10 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ЕСУ_ТЗ https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ЕСУ_ТЗ Yes, it can. I think the system is not nearly as sophisticated as whatever NATO uses for coordination of the military, but I assume it sort-of works, and judging by the cost of these you can allow yourself to lose a few of them.
- throwaway4good 5y agoI can see it is a part of a quite elaborate system. The last article mentions the ЕС1866 computer and Russian domestic chips. Is this whole system based on ELBRUS-computers?
- thriftwy 5y agoIt's just an industrial WIntel (LIntel?) laptop: http://www.nicevt.ru/ppevm-es1866-promyshlennyj-zashhishhennyj-noutbuk/ http://www.nicevt.ru/ppevm-es1866-promyshlennyj-zashhishhenn...
- throwaway4good 5y agoI thought it was this guy: https://rostec.ru/en/news/rostec-presented-a-heavy-duty-laptop-for-use-in-extreme-conditions/ https://rostec.ru/en/news/rostec-presented-a-heavy-duty-lapt... Rostec Presents Ultra-High Strength Laptop For Extreme Conditions The Ruselectronics holding company, a member of the Rostec State Corporation, demonstrated a production sample of the Russian-made protected laptop for use in extreme conditions at the Innoprom-2018 international industrial fair. The hardware core of the PC is based on the Russian-made Elbrus 1C+ microchip.
- rasz 5y agoMost likely Canon because of liveview support: http://www.gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php http://www.gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php https://www.crackedthecode.co/how-to-use-your-dslr-as-a-webcam-in-linux/ https://www.crackedthecode.co/how-to-use-your-dslr-as-a-webc... https://www.heandshephoto.com/canon-eos-rebel-xsi-450d-guide/using-live-view-with-tethered-shooting.html https://www.heandshephoto.com/canon-eos-rebel-xsi-450d-guide...
- stavros 5y agoIf it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid. A DSLR is much m cheaper than a custom camera and works about as well.
- 2000UltraDeluxe 5y agoYeah, the same goes with the plastic bottle petrol tank. Drones are made to be expendable. A cheap DSLR and other off-the-shelf components will cut costs drastically, and allow for higher production numbers.
- Schroedingersat 5y agoThat sounds like a terrible way to give the board of Boeing new yachts. This drone would never be useful in the west.
- throwaway4good 5y agoThey are not showing how the rest of the thing works ...
- 2000UltraDeluxe 5y agoI don't think it's intended for export. :D
- jacquesm 5y agoOn the contrary, it is exclusively for export.
- Schroedingersat 5y agoHey now. I'm sure russia has plenty of domestic threats like four scientists chained to a bank door too. Gotta have plenty of military hardware for that.
- deepsun 5y ago
- jzellis 5y agoWhen they send Viktor Bout to jail in America and you got to buy all your military equipment on Wish
- akmarinov 5y agoFree Cannon camera though!
- elromulous 5y agoThis is quite surprising. I'd expect this level of hacked-togetherness from a freedom fighting / terrorist org. Surely Russia has the means to make "real" UAVs? I mean, the migs are very much real and capable planes, in many ways better than their US counterparts (especially so with how the F-35 has turned out). Edit: I would sincerely like to know why this is getting downvoted
- arcticbull 5y agoThis is legitimately the kind of thing I'd expect to see out of ISIS, not the world's ostensibly 3rd strongest military. [edit] It's pretty embarrassing, and I think tells a bigger story. I strongly suspect that part of the reason the Ukraine invasion was so bungled is that the military procurement folks were getting cheap knock-off equipment and pocketing the difference. Leadership was told stories of cutting-edge tech while reality on the ground was very different. I suspect the whole army looks either like this - mixed in with whatever was left over after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I do agree that the PJSC United Aircraft Corporation [2] (a merger of Ilyushin, Irkut, Mikoyan, Sukhoi, Tupolev and Yakovlev design bureaus) has some decent, modern designs but I'd argue a lot of that is carry-over from the cold war too. Their F-35 competitor (Su-35S/Su-27M) are improved variants of the Su-27 which debuted in 1977. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-35 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Aircraft_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Aircraft_Corporation
- agumonkey 5y agoIt's possible that they didn't have enough production capacity and filled the voids with cheap hacks.
- spacemanmatt 5y agoOne of the predictable problems of military dictatorships is money directed to military readiness flows through too many fraudulent hands. Better salaries might have helped.
- sofixa 5y ago
- rishav_sharan 5y agoI'd say if the drone works well, despite the cheap components and hacked together nature, all the better for it. Drones are expected to be expendable. According to wiki, these are the specs; General characteristics Capacity: 6 kg (13 lb) payload Max takeoff weight: 15 kg (33 lb) Launch method: a folding catapult platform Landing method: parachute recovery Max. wind speed at launch: 10 m/s Operational temperature range: −30 to +40 °C Avionics Imaging: Canon EOS 750D digital SLR camera[40][41] Powerplant: 1 × Saito FA-62B single cylinder four stroke gasoline piston engine, 0.75 kW (1 hp) Performance Maximum speed: 150 km/h (93 mph, 81 kn) Combat range: 140 km (87 mi, 76 nmi) Ferry range: 600 km (370 mi, 320 nmi) Endurance: 16 hours Service ceiling: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) if the UAV is able to have such specs despite using a plastic bottle for fuel tank, then i think its doing something right.
- dimitar 5y agoThey reportedly cost between US$87,000 and US$120,000
- throwaway4good 5y agoThat price is for the whole system; which is quite a bit more, if you look at the Russian wikipedia page.
- fest 5y agoI have seen a price of 55M roubles for the whole system (~600k EUR): https://zakupki.kontur.ru/0195400000221000058 https://zakupki.kontur.ru/0195400000221000058
- agumonkey 5y agoMeanwhile Ukrainian enrolled 20yo drone racers to monitor city outskirts and locate hidden russian position in the woods. Probably 500-2000 (max) devices. That said range is minimal.
- Gatsky 5y ago
- ben_bai 5y agoHere is an Orlan-30 for reference, https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1512489626367557633 https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1512489626367557633 The engine seems to be a Saito FG-61TS. Fuel tank, not much better. Now, the communication-electronics would be interesting.
- Gravityloss 5y agoI wonder where is that sensor ball turret from?
- jacquesm 5y agoIt looks like a commercial movable camera mount for building security.
- Gravityloss 5y agoI think it's a bit more sophisticated looking. I'm wondering if it's from. This is the finest I could find on a quick aliexpress turret camera search and looks quite different. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002956968928.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.6b203dcfdh1QLK&algo_pvid=cf63e7ba-5f62-4ca7-87fc-ee4af4d9bc29&algo_exp_id=cf63e7ba-5f62-4ca7-87fc-ee4af4d9bc29-15&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000022970233755%22%7D&pdp_pi=-1%3B1051.04%3B-1%3B-1%40salePrice%3BEUR%3Bsearch-mainSearch https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002956968928.html?spm=a2... It looks a bit more professional, maybe not like a Wescam but anyway: https://www.l3harris.com/all-capabilities/wescam-mx-series https://www.l3harris.com/all-capabilities/wescam-mx-series
- Ancapistani 5y agoThe L3Harris turrets are almost definitely restricted by ITAR. They’re a US company. Some of my IR imaging equipment is made by them. Elbit is the other leader in that industry.
- Gravityloss 5y ago
- northernexposur 5y agoI visited eastern Europe for several months years ago and this was my experience: it’s wacky, but some of it works. I’ll never forget my little borrowed Skoda’s windshield wipers getting stuck together because I had the gall to set them to max people’s speed. Slava Ukraini.
- lnsru 5y agoWhen the engineers have choice between going to gulag or disappearing completely or delivering such elegant duct tape, spit and glue based solution… No general will ask for shaker or temperature chamber test results. These things must just fly couple times. I bet, that same machine made in Germany would be at least 20x more expensive.
- fest 5y agoAlso note the presence of US made FLIR Tau2 thermal imager. Reportedly, it can also be equipped with Israeli made payloads: http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bpla/orlan10.html http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bpla/orlan10.html