5-Pound UAV Flies For 50 Minutes, Streams HD From Over 3 Miles 115
An anonymous reader writes "Looks like those guys from Aeryon Labs are at it again. Today they announced the SkyRanger a bigger brother to their Scout drone (the one that the Libyan rebels used back in 2011). This one claims flight time of close to an hour, streaming 1080p30 HD video, a range of over 3 miles and a camera that can shoot 15 Megapixel stills and thermal video simultaneously. Not only that but it pops out of a backpack and is ready to fly instantly. It ain't cheap, but it can fly at 40 mph!"
Re:Bad guys (Score:2, Interesting)
And pretty easily trackable if they're broadcasting with enough power to send HD signals 3 miles.
Tracking down radio-frequency sources, especially low-altitude, low-power, mobile transmitters, is not so easy. Just look at the equipment and infrastructure used by the British to track the RF signal emitted by TVs (for licensing fees/penalties) and pirate FM broadcasting stations. Even with all that equipment, manpower, and infrastructure, their track record is far from stellar.
It's not something that most local or even most State police forces will have. The Feds don't have the resources and manpower to cover everywhere. The FCC has very limited resources to track very small low-power mobile transmitters, especially in a tactical situation. It's not like many military or paramilitary units have the capabilities, either.
All that is also assuming that the target transmitter's operator(s) take no countermeasures/precautions or try to make the search more difficult.
I expect that the authorities will simply pass laws & enact regulations forbidding private citizens from operating all but the smallest, most primitive, limited functionality and performance drones without a Federal anal-probe and a metric buttload of cash.
Myself, I want a fast (over 100kph), armored drone with a range of 10 miles-plus, a stay-aloft time of over an hour, equipped with targeting optics and a fully-auto weapon, like an AR-180-type high rate-of-fire small-caliber weapon (can carry more .22mag rounds than 9mm, .40 cal, or similar). Or maybe just a single or even a pair of small HE rockets.
Strictly for keeping the coyotes, etc, at bay on the back-forty, of course. :)
Strat