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There's so much potential for drones.. for example, I'd love to see traffic monitors that use drones. What I mean is, on top of having color-coded maps, I'd li

There's so much potential for drones.. for example, I'd love to see traffic monitors that use drones. What I mean is, on top of having color-coded maps, I'd like to see a bird's-eye view just by clicking on the map, that'd be sweet.

asynchronous13 15y ago
i'm working on it ;-)
- Atrus6 15y ago
  Would you care to elaborate how you'll be able to power a drone for an extended amount of time? I was doing some minor research (I was curious about the pirate bays 'server drone' idea), and the best that I could personally come up with was flight times of about an hour. That doesn't seem all that useful to maintain a constant server, or traffic cam, presence.
  - andrewflnr 15y ago
    For the traffic cam application, where people aren't trying to shoot it down, it would be pretty simple to switch it out regularly with one from a nearby charging station. You might even be able to use a balloon to take off a lot of the weight, so you can just use the rotors for altitude adjustment. You'd be slower, but would probably last a lot longer.
    - sammyo 15y ago
      I wonder if anyone is looking at a hydrogen balloon/drone hybrid. Small so it's not a Hindenburg bomb, lots of failsafe, but the power/lift ratios might give it a significant mission duration.
  - arjunnarayan 15y ago
    The same way they do satellite coverage at non-geostationary orbits: You have a group of drones that swap in and out. Depending on how far/how long it takes to refuel and get a drone back into the air, you could provide continuous coverage of a single area with as little as 2-3 drones.
stevenrace 15y ago
I don't think drones would be any more helpful than well placed static sensors* (say, atop existing lightpoles). Or a tethered mylar baloon w/ a wireless camera. The total time of flight is limited by battery capacity - and adding video transfer [and/or basic CV] is going to obliterate whats left of the charge. I think for survey, emergency services, and short distance deliveries [burritos] are easier targets for drones. *our startup is firmly in the 'ubiquitous, cheap sensor' camp of traffic monitoring.

asynchronous13 15y ago

i'm working on it ;-)

Atrus6 15y ago
Would you care to elaborate how you'll be able to power a drone for an extended amount of time? I was doing some minor research (I was curious about the pirate bays 'server drone' idea), and the best that I could personally come up with was flight times of about an hour. That doesn't seem all that useful to maintain a constant server, or traffic cam, presence.
- andrewflnr 15y ago
  For the traffic cam application, where people aren't trying to shoot it down, it would be pretty simple to switch it out regularly with one from a nearby charging station. You might even be able to use a balloon to take off a lot of the weight, so you can just use the rotors for altitude adjustment. You'd be slower, but would probably last a lot longer.
  - sammyo 15y ago
    I wonder if anyone is looking at a hydrogen balloon/drone hybrid. Small so it's not a Hindenburg bomb, lots of failsafe, but the power/lift ratios might give it a significant mission duration.
- arjunnarayan 15y ago
  The same way they do satellite coverage at non-geostationary orbits: You have a group of drones that swap in and out. Depending on how far/how long it takes to refuel and get a drone back into the air, you could provide continuous coverage of a single area with as little as 2-3 drones.

stevenrace 15y ago

I don't think drones would be any more helpful than well placed static sensors* (say, atop existing lightpoles). Or a tethered mylar baloon w/ a wireless camera. The total time of flight is limited by battery capacity - and adding video transfer [and/or basic CV] is going to obliterate whats left of the charge. I think for survey, emergency services, and short distance deliveries [burritos] are easier targets for drones. *our startup is firmly in the 'ubiquitous, cheap sensor' camp of traffic monitoring.