A drone flying through the forrest avoiding trees and obstacles all on it's on. This is the dream.

With this kind of functionality you can capture footage lower to the ground. You can send the drone on a mission to fim and object 1 mile away and return, unscathed.

My concern is in order to truly accomplish this feat you need more sensors...sensors that give a 360 view to the drone.

I am going to buy the Phantom 4. It is the most advanced consumer electronics device since the iPhone which means..I have to have it.

Still in order to be truly autonomous more sensors are required. I am impatient so I must buy..but for those who have more patientce I anticipate the next itteration of the DJI Phantom willl come with more sensors AND 1 hour flight time...yes. 1 hour flight is the holy grail of consumer drones. Coupled with obstacle avoidance I can send my drone to explore San Francisco and return...or travel around angel island and come back for example. ..


What are your thoughts? As good as the P4 is what's missing from this ground breaking drone.

Will I be able to add on extra external sensors on the sides and back, or is this an impossibility?

ryanderemo@gmai Posted at 2016-3-13 12:28
Will I be able to add on extra external sensors on the sides and back, or is this an impossibility?

No the P4 cannot have sensors added.

The FAA law for hobbyist says "Keep the aircraft within visual line of sight at all times". How will you do all of those things and remain within sight of the DJI at all times?

pcm2a Posted at 2016-3-13 12:33
The FAA law for hobbyist says "Keep the aircraft within visual line of sight at all times". How will ...

It's so small sometimes it goes out of sight at a distance so I am forced to fly FPV.

waynepj3@gmail. Posted at 2016-3-13 15:34
It's so small sometimes it goes out of sight at a distance so I am forced to fly FPV.

Which in itself is illegal.

The FAA is not likely to allow an autonomous flight like that anyway. In fact, I would suggest no aviation authority in the world will allow autonomous flight for any consumer device, outside of military applications.

The drone in the clip is a development platform, it is devoted to that task, look at the ugly ring of cameras around the top of it, would you want that on your drone? I know I wouldn't.

Take care of predicting the future in this technology, and if you are compelled to do so, don't put your name to it, it will most likely come back to bite you in the arse in the future.

I am not convinced that a 1 hour flight time is the 'Holy Grail', frankly even with the longer flight time the P4 has, it is verging on exceeding the attention span of most people

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-13 13:02
The FAA is not likely to allow an autonomous flight like that anyway. In fact, I would suggest no av ...

I of course was just joking. I can always SEE my drone when I fly it...who would be stupid enough to fly FPV...puh-lease!!!

Not everyone is restricted by USAmerican laws and regulations.

Gregory80 Posted at 2016-3-13 16:14
Not everyone is restricted by USAmerican laws and regulations.

Quite true, but I can tell you that the UK, Europe and Australia have all prohibited autonomous flight. So where would you like to fly?

waynepj3@gmail. Posted at 2016-3-13 16:06
I of course was just joking. I can always SEE my drone when I fly it...who would be stupid enough  ...

Heaps of people already do, they just won't admit to it.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-13 13:15
Quite true, but I can tell you that the UK, Europe and Australia have all prohibited autonomous fl ...

The rest of the world. Thanks

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-13 15:16
Heaps of people already do, they just won't admit to it.

Not to get too pedantic about it, but both Autonomous and BVLOS are permitted in Australia with appropriate licencing and approvals.

ryanderemo@gmai Posted at 2016-3-13 12:28
Will I be able to add on extra external sensors on the sides and back, or is this an impossibility?

Sure, you can stick all kinds of sensors all over your P4.  Nobody is keeping you from doing that.  Good luck - you will need to download the SDK and code up your own flight software though.  It's only a matter of typing in the right commands......
Oh, forgot.  You'll need to brush up on your soldering skills as well.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-13 00:02
The FAA is not likely to allow an autonomous flight like that anyway. In fact, I would suggest no av ...

Actually waypoint flight IS autonomous.  Definitions and such....

Mike_fnq Posted at 2016-3-13 19:02
Not to get too pedantic about it, but both Autonomous and BVLOS are permitted in Australia with ap ...

Yes, I am aware of that, my original post said:

"In fact, I would suggest no aviation authority in the world will allow autonomous flight for any consumer device, outside of military applications. "

" I anticipate the next itteration of the DJI Phantom willl come with more sensors AND 1 hour flight time..."

The P3 flies for a maximum specified time of 23 minutes.
The P4 flies for a maximum specified time of 28 minutes.

You might want to change the model in your computer forecast software.  Do you also predict the weather?

Phantom 4 doesn't need more sensors. It is an amateur flying camera platform which goal is not to send it far away (or not) to run some missions.
Like the P3, the goal is to capture nice vids or pictures where you fly. Nothing more, nothing less.
Compared to the P3, the P4 has some features the previous version don't have : front obstacles avoidance, dual IMU and compass, and some other features mentionned on the spec on DJI website.

If anyone here want to drop objects  from a quad (missile, lollipop, ...),  have full spherical obstacle avoidance, 100 hours flight to go from east coast to west coast and put a Red Epic cam on, the Phantom is not a good choice.
No need to have a high degree in electronics to understand the Phantom is a "closed " platform with non upgradable hardware. If it doesn't meet your requirements feel free to choose another quad.

Inspire 2 ???

Realize that kind of tech will require more processing power.  Intel has that capability to do that.  DJI would have to align with some chip maker that could do that as well as Intel will.  Problem is Intel is already heavily invested in Yuneec.

Along with a chip/chipset that can process that type of data comes cost.  It will drive the price up of the Phantom line.  IMO,  DJI needs to keep the Phantom line (new products)  to ~1500 USD mark to stay successful.  I do think a truly reliable 360 degree collision avoidance at an affordable price isn't too far off.  A year or so.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-13 18:11
Yes, I am aware of that, my original post said:

"In fact, I would suggest no aviation authority  ...

Doesn't need to be military, can be a consumer device, can be for recreational, just need the right licencing. Haven't gone into it but I'm not sure there's any restrictions or special licencing for autonomous flight as long as you have "control" of the aircraft and it is VLOS.