Image: www.prenav.com
Californian UAV company PreNav has announced they are bringing a new quadcopter to the market. The company aspires to deliver with its new drone a precision in flight henceforth unforeseen in the industry; and crucially the ability for its operation both outdoors and indoors. This offers the prospect of delivering to the industry a ‘game changer’ for UAV use to be a possibility beyond their largely exclusive-use prior in the outdoor setting.
How this shall be done indoors is in the main achieved via a two-step process in preparation. Alongside using the drone itself, a tripod-mounted ground station aka ‘ground control’ shall undertake a laser scan of the surrounding walls and shall then create a virtual map. This means once the scan is completed the communication between drone and ground control shall be consistent and ongoing - at the rate of 100 times per second - leaving the drone with a clear path and the chance of any collision or crash removed.
Yet, perhaps most impressive of PreNav’s claims - which we’ll need wait until official launch of the quadcopter in 2016 to see in reality - is that a flight precision of within 1 centimeter can be achieved. What this means for the quadcopter has applications not just for the indoor but outdoor area of operations. Already electricity and power companies - alongside telecommunications operations - have sought out partnerships with the firm. What this accuracy would promise to deliver these partners is a new ability to seek out via observation data from previously difficult or dangerous locations - such as atop of mobile cell tower - while reducing time and risk inherent in sending an employee up.
SOURCE: PreNav