Gwen Marie C.

Patan
MAST
Latest Gadget: DJI Mavic Air Drone , Standard Package
Description:

DJI has announced what is maybe its most impressive achievement yet, the Mavic Air. They
announced the Mavic Air despite the fact that DJI is already dominating the consumer drone
market with their existing lineup that includes the best-selling Mavic Pro, top-performing
Phantom 4 Pro, and small cute quad, the Spark. With the release of the Mavic Air, DJI has once
again upped their game, seemingly always one step ahead of their competitions,

Product details of DJI Mavic Air Drone, Standard Package ₱47,400.00

32.0MP sphere panoramas – In addition to horizontal, vertical, and 180° panoramas, Mavic
Air stitches 25 photos together in just eight seconds to create crystal clear 32.0MP sphere
panoramas.

Lightweight and compact foldable design – You can take it anywhere with you.

Supports 4K video at 30 fps – The 12.0MP camera with Adobe DNG RAW support is ready to
shoot. The three-axis gimbal is capable of stabilizing the camera even during high-speed motion
for smooth video and sharp photos.

Control your drone from up to 6562′ away – The Mavic Air Intelligent Flight lithium battery
provides up to 21 minutes of flight time per charge.

Dedicated remote controller- Features a foldable, low-profile, ergonomic design to hold

your smartphone for maximum convenience. The detachable control sticks store inside the
remote controller to pack more comfortably on the go.

Fly by phone – Set up tracking to shoot a friend, or head skywards for a quick flight using
your smartphone instead of controller.

Share with your friends – Shoot an incredible scene and edit it with just a few taps in the DJI
GO editor, and share it instantly for everyone to see.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Air Drone

Advantages
MILITARY USES OF DRONES
Drones have found a number of applications in the military and defense world. This is especially
true in the case of the defense of the United States of America. In fact, the US Government was
first known to start its experiments with the unmanned aerial vehicles way back in 1917.

BOMB DETECTION
Owing to the small size of the drones, they can usually penetrate into constricted spaces. Add to
that, effective cameras and this makes the drones suitable for purposes of bomb detection. Thus,
these aerial vehicles are apt for making us aware of unexploded bombs and save lives.
SURVEILLANCE
The defense of any country usually tends to conduct regular surveys in order to ensure
protection of the people and the place.
AIR STRIKES
These unmanned aerial vehicles are also used for the purpose of air strikes. It had once been
confirmed by President Obama that they used drones regularly to attack militants in the tribal
areas of Pakistan. They hover around suspected areas, as controlled by the defense personnel
and they can be operated in particular areas in order to fulfill military operations.
NON-MILITARY USES OF DRONES
FILMING AND JOURNALISM
The world of media has really conquered the idea of using drones to their fullest extent. A lot of
movies these days are shot using quadcopters and other drones.
This idea has given the movie industry a completely new look and some of the names that come
up when we talk about filmography with drones are James Bond’s Skyfall, the well-acclaimed
Leonard Di Caprio’s The Wolf of Wall Street, the evergreen Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets, the popular television series Game of Thrones and the likes.
SHIPPING AND DELIVERY
Even though the shipping and delivery applications of the drones are still under process, this
idea could be revolutionary for the world. This could significantly improve delivery times and
reduce human labor. Be it delivering pizzas, letters, or even small parcels, these programmed
drones could do the work for you.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
One of the most important applications for these unmanned vehicles lies in disaster
management. It is often seen that there is utter chaos and mismanagement of resources soon
after a disaster, be it a man-made or a natural calamity. Drones could help you significantly here.
RESCUE OPERATIONS AND HEALTHCARE
Usually, a rescue operation is a fight against time. You need to get the work done fast and
smoothly. This is where drones come in handy. With the help of thermal sensors, drones can
locate lost persons and are especially useful at night or even in challenging terrains.
ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEYS
Over the years, a lot of people have spent a lot of time and energy over archeological surveys.
Now, drones have made this work easier since they can bring us important footage and essential
details about these archeological sites.
GEOGRAPHIC MAPPING
Drones also have had an enormous effect in the field of 3D geographic mapping. There are
regions on the earth that are not easily accessible to humans. This might include some
dangerous coastlines or unattainable mountain tops. But for the purpose of studying the terrain
and preparing 3D maps, drones have been put to use.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Drones have a lot of potential in terms of law enforcement – these devices have the innate
ability of hovering around locations without drawing much attention from the people. Thus, this
can be used for surveillance or for public safety.
SAFETY INSPECTIONS
Some companies need to carry out regular inspections in order to ensure safety of their
infrastructure. This includes surveying power lines, oil and gas pipelines, wind turbines, bridges
and buildings under construction and the likes. Drones are being put to use for these purposes.
AGRICULTURE
Drones have also found applications in the field of agriculture. This is especially true for large
scale farmers who have reported significant improvements in crop yields with the use of these
drones. Regular aerial monitoring of agricultural lands can provide us with a more in depth
analysis of crop performance.
WILDLIFE MONITORING
Just like how drones are working on agricultural lands to improve their yields, these unmanned
aerial vehicles are also striving towards monitoring the fauna of the regions. There are two
specific advantages of this. Firstly, wildlife monitoring could lead to the prevention of poaching,
which is one of the reasons why a lot of animals are getting endangered these days. Secondly,
the footage from the aerial devices could help us study animal behavior and analyze their
patterns.
WEATHER FORECASTING
One of the most important uses of drones lies in weather forecasting. This has, once again, given
new light to the concept of predicting the weather conditions. With exceptional cameras and
effective sensors, these drones can collect important information that could aid in weather
forecasts.
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
This is indeed one of the first known applications of drones. Because of improved technology,
more and more drones are now well equipped to carry heavy camera gear that could really help
enthusiasts in delivering aerial views of the specific regions.

Disadvantages

Poor Range and Radio Signal Quality

DJI didn’t implement the Lightbridge and OcuSync radio link technology on the Mavic Air.
Instead, the drone comes with a so called “enhanced” Wi-Fi link. Marketing aside, the range is
similar to the DJI Spark which is not so great. On the country side free of any radio interference,
a quick range test gave me more than a mile. However, the situation is considerably worst in
urban and suburban neighborhoods where you may struggle to reach as little as 1,000 feet.
Switching between 5.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz band won’t help much. In any case, remember that the
FAA regulation requires to fly the drone within visual line-of-sight. On the side note, lags on the
DJI Go application and on the video feed may come from an under-powered smartphone or
tablet. Make sure to use a recent device to handle the load.

Short Battery Life

As usual with most drones, the 21 minutes of flight time advertised by DJI is very optimistic
to say the least. In real life on planet earth, expect to fly for about 15-16 minutes before reaching
20 percent of battery (normal cruising, no sport mode). You may drain the battery down to
critical level for another two minutes or so but don’t expect to fly more than that.

No Log Curve
Unlike what was said in certain early announcements, there is no log curve on the Mavic Air.
Instead, DJI offers a Cinelike-D profile that can be customized with the usual picture settings such
as sharpness, contrast, and saturation to create a flat mode. Unfortunately, the dynamic range of
the sensor is limited and noise appears in the shadow very quickly if you lower the contract too
much (even at 100 ISO). As for sharpness, the “plastic lens” is soft on the image corners.

Video Crop
That’s another bad habit among camera manufacturers: the complete omission of the crop
factor on the specification sheet. First, you’ll notice a little bit of horizontal crop when switching
from still to video mode. But the main crop comes from high frame-rate video formats. Anything
above 30 fps will crop significantly both in 2.7K and 1080. Strangely, the 1080 at 120 fps doesn’t
crop but the video quality is so bad that I would never use this setting. Finally, the video is not
recorded in 120 fps but converted to 30 fps (like the Variable Frame Rate on the GH5).

Physics Application of DJI Mavic Air Drone

These frequently overlooked concepts will improve overall performance of your quadcopter.
Having a basic understanding of the physics involved with your quad will show you the impact of
cross sections, center of gravity/thrust alignment, and air drag have on the speed and
maneuverability of your quad.

The best lessons to learn in this series is that drag is important (extremely important) when
it comes to speed (see the #1 failure of frame design) AND that thrust does not correlate to
faster top speeds.

Time is limited at the moment, but I hope to eventually add a section on weight AND weight
distribution (currently working on the calculations). These two aspects are very important when
it comes to a quad’s responsiveness but not so much when it comes to top speed.

Basic physics such as the definitions of momentum, work, kinetic and potential energy,
power and Newton’s laws of motion tells us how drones work, without knowing any
aerodynamics. I’m keen on trying to understand things using basic physics. Newton’s laws are
simply stated; they are correct but interpreting them in context can be the tricky part.
Aeronautic engineers have got to get all the detail exactly right. I’d just like to get a feeling for
what’s going on and estimate some ‘ball park’ figures for the power needed for different aspects
of flight: hovering, climbing and travelling horizontally, though ‘estimate’ is an important
qualification. Over and above these estimates are all sorts of practicalities such as the drag of the
rotors and the turbulence produced that all do need aerodynamics to get the answer exactly
right. There’s also the efficiency of motors and battery, etc., none of which I’ll go into. ‘Going
where angels fear to tread’ is a phrase that comes to mind but nonetheless the power figures
derived later are at least an estimate of the minimum power needed.