Sharing Good Practice
DRONES Continued from page 19
• Payload: Depending on the design
and the material used to build the
drone, they are capable of carrying
loads of varying size and weight.
• Manual or Automatic Controls:
The drones are always remotely
controlled, but some drones come
with the autopilot capabilities based
on GPS coordinates that can be
configured before flight.
For civilian or commercial use,
cost effectiveness maybe the most
attractive feature of the drones. Yet,
with all the features listed above, there
are also some related limitations that
need to be considered.
• The sizes of the drones limit the
distance, flight time, and payload
that can be added to the drones.
The smaller the size, the more the
maneuverability, but then this limits
its payload.
• Depending on the type of
connectivity the flying distance
is limited for manual control. RF
controlled drones are the most
common type and are available
as toys or hobbyist models that
can be controlled to more than a
km with very limited payload. On
the other hand, Wi-Fi controlled
drones are becoming more popular
because they can be connected
using computers, smartphones, or
tablets, with built-in Wi-Fi. However,
flight range usually is limited to 100500 meters.
• Power source limits flying time.
Battery-powered drones are the
most common type. Flight time is
about 15 - 30 min before the battery
needs to be recharged or replaced.
Higher capacity battery can be used,
but heavier battery affects distance,
payload and maneuverability.
• Drones as flying toys do not post any
privacy issues. However with the
remote sensing add-ons like audio/
video capabilities, and GPS tracking
introduces some privacy concerns.
In UAE, it is illegal to photograph
or video-record people or locations
without prior permission.
Fly the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0
The AR.Drone 2.0 can be bought off
the shelf or ordered online. It has a
720p HD camera built in that shoots
video on the fly, and the video streams
straight to a handheld device where
it’s saved. The Parrot is a quadcopter,
which has a maximum range of 50
meters and it is maneuverable from
any smartphone, with an autopilot
feature that makes taking off and
landing quiet easy. The AR.Drone
can be controlled using any Android
or iOS smartphone that has built-in
Wi-Fi connectivity. The AR.FreeFlight
app has to be downloaded to the
smartphone from the respective appstore to fly the AR.Drone . Flying the
drone is an interesting and enjoyable
experience but programing it, is a
whole new experience that we would
like to share with our readers.
Conclusion
This article introduced the Drone as
a flying robot and discussed basic
features and some application areas.
The many uses of the technology
are yet to be unveiled and we hope
the article would kindle the interests
of teachers and students to work
together and create interesting
applications with the drones.
Our future articles would provide
step-by-step guidelines on how to
program the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0.
This will help initiate ICT teachers and
students to have a hands-on approach
with programming the drones.
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