Xoar

As the popularity of drones and the piloting of them as a hobby, and for commercial purposes, continues to grow, pilots and operators are increasingly looking for ways to increase the power, efficiency, speed, height, and general performance of their drones. One of the most common ways in which pilots and operators hope to enhance their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is by upgrading their drone propellers . It’s a sound strategy as a prop upgrade can improve a drone’s performance, particularly if a pilot is still using the plastic propellers that so often come with new drones. Following are four of the most important considerations drone operators should keep in mind when buying new propellers. Length of the Propellers There’s assumption that can accompany the performance of drone propellers: bigger is necessarily better. Not so. Longer propellers move more air and therefore create more lift, but that’s not always what’s best for a drone’s performance depending on ...

That science is best left to the professionals and experts has been the conventional wisdom for decades, if not centuries. This is changing, however, thanks to some scientists, a whole lot of drone propellers , and groups of committed citizen scientists. Thanks to drones, people without scientific training can now contribute to scientific research in a number of fascinating capacities. Those contributions, however, aren’t without some unique challenges.  The Contributions For the sake of transparency, it’s worth noting that this is not the first time that scientists have employed citizen scientists, and the information they gather, as important contributors to our collective scientific understanding. In fact, this has been taking place well before drones ever existed. Two good examples are involvement in the Cooperative Weather Service, which began in 1890, and the Christmas Bird Count, which started in 1900.Interestingly, drone-assisted research today is in s...

Anyone familiar with drones is no doubt aware of their military use and their burgeoning popularity among hobbyist unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilots. While most are likely aware that they’re increasingly employed for commercial applications as well (cinematography, delivery, agriculture, etc.). However, less well-known is that drones are becoming an increasingly invaluable asset to scientific research. That value is proving to be an impressively prolific one, too. In fact, drones are being taken advantage of by biologists (micro, marine, terrestrial, etc.), climatologists, geologists, ecologists, volcanologists, and meteorologists—so scientists in pretty much every branch of natural and life science are benefitting from the use of UAVs. Drones are demonstrating an ability to reach places with more agility, easier access, and (extremely important for virtually all scientific studies), far lower cost than other research media are capable. The following is a record o...

The popularity of piloting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), drones, is growing increasingly popular for commercial, artistic, and exploratory purposes, and for the enjoyment of amateur hobbyists. As is the case with so many other pieces of mechanical equipment, the more devoted you are to the care and maintenance of your drone, the more consistently, efficiently, and dependably it will operate for you.   For the most part, the maintenance of a drone is pretty basic. They should be given a pre-flight check before use and a post-flight cleaning and examination. Doing so generally doesn’t take all that much time but proves to be an excellent investment of time. The following is an overview of basic drone cleaning and maintenance tips that don’t require any specialized technical knowledge of the drone motor or its function, but will keep your drone in the air longer and performing better when it’s up there. It will also almost certainly save you a good bit of money...

If there’s a hierarchy of drones, the octocopter is at the top. That is not to say that the eight-rotor octocopter is therefore the most prudent and practical choice for every unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hobbyist, but it is certainly the most. As in, it has the most thrust from the most propellers, often on the most booms; the most mass; the most carrying capacity; the most powerful drone motor , etc. Whether or not an octocopter is a prudent and practical choice for you depends on several factors. Among those is whether you are a hobbyist or plan to use the drone professionally. Every drone represents an investment of time, money, and energy, and that is particularly true of octocopters. So before you spring for or build an octocopter, there are some considerations to keep in mind. Why Octocopters for Hobbyists? The short answer: An octocopter is the ultimate UAV experience. With double the rotor power of the average hobbyist drone, octocopters are considerably ...

Like all other technological platforms, drones are just going to keep getting better. For drones, “better” means: stronger, lighter, faster, more efficient, more accessible, and more powerful. Additionally, their real-world applications are going to broaden out as more drones get involved in the delivery of packages, disaster relief, and more. Right now, those applications have been largely limited to the use of commercial and hobbyist drones. However, an entrepreneur and inventor from New Zealand named Chris Malloy has taken drone technology the next level with his aerial vehicle, the Malloy Aeronautics Hoverbike. The Malloy Aeronautics Hoverbike is basically a scaled-up quadcopter, but a few steps beyond the RC propellers you may be used to. It is lifted by two sets of two offset or staggered turbofan propellers. Essentially, similar tech that gives propulsion to a helicopter or hobbyist quadcopter. One main difference, however, is that the Hoverbike is made to b...

With massive corporations like Amazon, Wal-Mart, eBay, Domino’s, UPS, and Google staking huge sums of money on drone delivery, a future with drone delivery is a virtual inevitability. The challenges of drone delivery, however, make what that future is going to look like for both corporate and hobbyist drone users less certain. Those challenges can be broken down into three broad categories: natural, man-made, and technological limitations. Natural Something as basic as a thunderstorm presents a number of hypothetical logistical issues. How well would drones fare when buffeted by wind and sheets of water? Would an electrical storm interfere with the communication or guidance systems? And if the drone, the drone motor , its electronics, and the package were all engineered to be weatherproof, how well would those deliveries stand up to consumer expectations? Would customers trust a delivery of electronics (or takeout) that would be flown through a gale? Birds ha...