World Leader in Professional UAV Autopilots
Most people who run a business love that business. It’s like one of your children. Running a business is pretty demanding; it would be hard to rise to that challenge if you weren't deeply invested in that business. Unfortunately, when you care very deeply about something, it’s hard to judge it objectively. More unfortunately, it …
Design to Requirements: Starting your design by developing a set of requirements will help keep your team on the same page. If you don't have a written description of your drone then you run the risk that each member of your design team is working on a slightly different drone. Another benefit of requirements is …
From time to time, I run into companies that refuse to sell their products to China for fear that their products will be copied. MicroPilot has been doing business in China for well over a decade. The first time we shipped autopilots to China was a bit worrisome but in the end, I decided …
The Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver on board any drone is a critical part of the systems that allow a drone to fly. Only the very simplest of drones don't include a GPS receiver. All drones rely heavily on their on-board GPS receiver to determine their location. Without a GPS receiver, features such as …
Some time ago, there was a fly away in Australia that was reasonably well documented in the online media. Given that there is always something to learn from every accident, I will provide my thoughts on this one. I will apologize in advance for any incorrect conclusions I have drawn from the limited facts …
In all the hype about how drones are revolutionizing our world, we forget that aerial data collection predates drones. We forget that most of the aerial data collection applications suitable for drones can also be accomplished with a piloted aircraft. Take collecting agricultural data as an example, piloted aircraft have been carrying cameras for …
There is still some controversy about the threat represented by a collision between a drone and an aircraft. There have been a number of these collisions reported in the media, and although some turned out to be bird strikes, some are real done collisions. I believe the researchers investigating drone / plane collisions can tell …
There have been plenty of blog posts and tweets recently about the FAA granting CNN a waiver to fly drones over crowds. "Critical step forward", "unprecedented", "this is a first", "important milestone" are just some of the phrases used to describe this news. The drone CNN will be flying over our heads is the …
At AUVSI's annual trade show this year, the number of exhibitors increased slightly in comparison to last year, from 668 to 687. I'm not sure if AUVSI releases official attendance numbers. Of course, everyone on the show floor had an opinion about the relative size of this year's show versus 2016. The opinion of the …
Managing is a challenge but doing is also a challenge. Prior to starting MicroPilot in 1994, I was managing a software development department and while I liked managing, I missed doing. When I earned my degrees in Engineering, and in Computer science, what I enjoyed most was making things work but as a manager there …
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