A few things we saw at CES 2016...

DJI provided us with the chance to visit the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas in early January. We have had a number of questions from customers in regards to some of the new releases from DJI so we hope to cover some of these questions in this post. We also had the chance to visit a few other interesting manufacturers and have some exciting news as to a new product line we hope to carry soon!

1. The new thermal XT camera from DJI/FLIR: We spoke to Randall Warnas at the DJI booth who heads the development team for the thermal XT camera for the Inspire 1. He stated they expect to release the XT in the next few weeks along with final pricing. He stated that Canada is lucky in that we do not have the tight import/export rules that many other countries are subject to in regards to high frame rate thermal imagers, so we should be among the first in the world to have access to this great new tool. A few things he mentioned:

-This camera will have high sensitivity (50k) infrared scanning at 640 lines of resolution at 30 frames a second or 336 lines of resolution at 60 frames a second. This translates to a near HD thermal image at  great frame rates

-It will store the video to an SD card in MP4 format for video or JPEG/TIFF files for still images.

-The camera has 2x, 4x, and 8x digital zoom along with 4 different lens options for different fields of view from wide to tight. Depending on the subject you are imaging and the ambient environment it should have an effective range of around 100-200 meters.

-It has a spot meter at the centre of the image. Although you are not able to read different parts of the image from your video downlink the image stored on the camera will have all the temperature data for the entire image stored in the files' metadata. 

-It will be compatible with the new Lightbridge 2 video transmission system, the Matrice 100 and the Inspire 1 drones. 

2. Inspire 1 Pro Black Edition: The Inspire 1 Pro is now available in both a white and a black version. This was released due to the high number of requests of those that work in the film industry, where black equipment on set is fairly standard (for things like reflectance etc). Those that simply want an aggressive looking pro-level machine will love the looks of this unit. If you are doing a lot of work in direct sunlight (i.e. farmers mapping fields) the Inspire 1 Pro White edition is recommended for better heat dissipation. We now have both in stock! Customers looking to upgrade their current Inspire 1 to the Black edition should be able to purchase a conversion kit soon as well.

3. Osmo with the X5 camera: One of our most requested items ever, the Zenmuse X5/Osmo adapter was on display and in use at CES. They expect to release this adapter in the next week or two and we should have it in stock shortly thereafter. The Osmo with the X5 camera makes for an incredibly versatile and affordable stabilized camera that will easily output pro level quality at great price point.

4. Yuneec Typhoon-H: We plan to carry the Yuneec Typhoon-H as soon as it becomes available. This latest offering from drone manufacturer Yuneec offers real-time obstacle avoidance (less than 7ms response time), retractable landing gear and a 4K camera at a $2000 price point! The demo at CES was incredible, and even with follow-me enabled the Typhoon would dodge out of the way of trees, poles etc before continuing on its way. Very exciting technology to say the least!

5. The eHang 184 Manned Drone

One of the most popular attractions at CES was the eHang 184 autonomous manned aerial vehicle.  eHang is probably most widely know for their popular Ghost Drone. This team has now built and tested an autonomous manned aerial vehicle which they hope will allow for the average person to quickly grab a short ride to the other side of a big city or a quick jaunt into the country, bypassing often congested traffic. As it is fully autonomous and monitored from a central dispatch centre they hope to bypass the need for a pilots license. Although flight times in current configuration are said to be fairly short, the future possibilities for this system are amazing. For more details visit www.ehang.com/ehang184/specs/.