$13-14K TO SPEND IN POLICE UAV

licensed pilot · Apr 3, 2017

I'd like your input, and I am also posting in general discussions to get max coverage (if moderator allows

).

I am consulting, as a volunteer, with a local police department (I am a retired cop-32 years and operate a part 107 business) to purchase and start a UAS unit.

Their general requirements ($13-$14k budget):
1. Hexacopter
2. 35-40 mins flight time
3. FLIR (336x256 slow lens)
and conventional camera
4. Encrypted video (?)
5. 10X optical zoom

Appreciate any suggestions.

bluelight.support · Apr 3, 2017

I think your only options here would be the M600 and get lenses as you go along, or self build. The second you go along the encrypted video (at least in the UK) for law enforcement use, their specs for encryption are far in advanced of any commercial solution and unfortunately have a premium. For example there ia a solution for video encryption in the UK which costs £3k for the commercial version or £8k for law enforcement / government. As much as Id love to help and I also get involved with the emergency services sector, I dont think you will get a branded solution for this price. The M200 would be an option however no prop redundancy

Also you as re saying about the low resolution thermal, would that be admissible in your court system, or would the higher version be required for evidential purposes.

I hate to say it - self build!

licensed pilot · Apr 3, 2017

Thanks for your quick response. I am also leaning towards the M600 and am trying to alleviate the encryption concerns (they coming from IT, of course). Personally I fail to see the need for it. How easy is tapping off the video link? I am recommending IT pays for encryption if they want it.

Can't get steak on a hamburger budget!

FLIR would more often than not be used to locate people (lost, suspects) not sure that there will be much of an evidentiary concern. But good point.

Self-built is a good option if you have the geeks on staff with the knowledge to build it and maintain it.

Public Safety agencies this size (80 employees) want turn-key solutions and have no time or desire to “grow” experts.

All good points; am taking notes J

Luis

bluelight.support · Apr 3, 2017

The differences between the low and high res images on flir for search and rescue and massive. where the low res cant pick up a small heat signature from a human suffering hyperthermia, the high resolution camera can detect - ideally see if you can speak to your local flir rep to help you our with demos on these as they are massively different.

in regard to encryption, unfortunately, i spent 10 years in the emergency services sector in the UK and was involved with command and control vehicles, etc, and I'm afraid they will be interested in encryption regardless of what you say as thats a massive issue currently with the terror levels etc. even the though that video feeds or indeed gps could be hijacked is a concern. The second you provide consultancy to police / government / military, assume the worst - and triple your budget. Its like medical - normal grade £1, medial grade £3 - you wont win!

bluelight.support · Apr 3, 2017

as a side note, you might also want to confirm with your local law enforcement colleagues, and potentially homeland security to confirm there is no security issues using something like DJI which is a Chinese manufacture, incase there are any security concerns with the current security threats going on. Think FLiR and export restrictions, etc

licensed pilot · Apr 3, 2017

bluelight.support said:
as a side note, you might also want to confirm with your local law enforcement colleagues, and potentially homeland security to confirm there is no security issues using something like DJI which is a Chinese manufacture, incase there are any security concerns with the current security threats going on. Think FLiR and export restrictions, etc

I'm in the US, no export issues. Since there are a very large number of public safety agencies flying DJI birds, am pretty sure there are no Chinese "issues." A very large (no names) "public safety" UAV supplier builds their bird on an S1000 platform (DJI) , they don't seem to be worried ...

licensed pilot · Apr 3, 2017

bluelight.support said:
The differences between the low and high res images on flir for search and rescue and massive. where the low res cant pick up a small heat signature from a human suffering hyperthermia, the high resolution camera can detect - ideally see if you can speak to your local flir rep to help you our with demos on these as they are massively different.

in regard to encryption, unfortunately, i spent 10 years in the emergency services sector in the UK and was involved with command and control vehicles, etc, and I'm afraid they will be interested in encryption regardless of what you say as thats a massive issue currently with the terror levels etc. even the though that video feeds or indeed gps could be hijacked is a concern. The second you provide consultancy to police / government / military, assume the worst - and triple your budget. Its like medical - normal grade £1, medial grade £3 - you wont win!

Thank you. FLIR is a concern and the agency will not be purchasing anything w/o looking at what others around are using.

Bri Guy · Apr 3, 2017

The Editor · Apr 4, 2017

licensed pilot said:
I'd like your input, and I am also posting in general discussions to get max coverage (if moderator allows ).

I am consulting, as a volunteer, with a local police department (I am a retired cop-32 years and operate a part 107 business) to purchase and start a UAS unit.

Their general requirements ($13-$14k budget):
1. Hexacopter
2. 35-40 mins flight time
3. FLIR (336x256 slow lens)
and conventional camera
4. Encrypted video (?)
5. 10X optical zoom

Appreciate any suggestions.

I think the PD100's will do pretty much what you are after and they have the advantage of being virtually silent and invisible due to their size.
They also will do thermal.

Some emergency services are already utilising them but might be out of the price bracket you are after.....

http://www.proxdynamics.com/home

Thatius Dudeson · Apr 4, 2017

licensed pilot said:
I'm in the US, no export issues. Since there are a very large number of public safety agencies flying DJI birds, am pretty sure there are no Chinese "issues." A very large (no names) "public safety" UAV supplier builds their bird on an S1000 platform (DJI) , they don't seem to be worried ...

Those people aren't very smart, typical Americans.... wouldn't know the real enemy if they were standing next to them with a noose.

bluelight.support · Apr 4, 2017

The Editor said:
I think the PD100's will do pretty much what you are after and they have the advantage of being virtually silent and invisible due to their size.
They also will do thermal.

They are great -but from memory they would work out at around $65k, and I know to bring them in the UK required MOD approval, so expect a large number of hoops to jump through!

The Editor · Apr 4, 2017

bluelight.support said:
They are great -but from memory they would work out at around $65k, and I know to bring them in the UK required MOD approval, so expect a large number of hoops to jump through!

The OP is in the States.

bluelight.support · Apr 4, 2017

The Editor said:
The OP is in the States

Indeed - but there are still export restrictions on these as they are military grade, so the OP would need to go through official federal channels to get it approved to bring in for law enforcement use

Eskin_Drones · Apr 4, 2017

licensed pilot said:
I'd like your input, and I am also posting in general discussions to get max coverage (if moderator allows ).

I am consulting, as a volunteer, with a local police department (I am a retired cop-32 years and operate a part 107 business) to purchase and start a UAS unit.

Their general requirements ($13-$14k budget):
1. Hexacopter
2. 35-40 mins flight time
3. FLIR (336x256 slow lens)
and conventional camera
4. Encrypted video (?)
5. 10X optical zoom

Appreciate any suggestions.

Suggest you check out the products at: www.dronexpert.nl (I am a dealer).

Happy to help with questions / concerns, but (IMHO) your general requirements are going to put you in the upper 5 figures, unless you can build it yourself. I think you'll get at your price point the following:

1 - quad
2 - 20 minutes
3 - yes ($2000 on FLIR site)
4 - unencrypted (my S&R prospects appreciate that any first responder can see this stream - they prefer unencrypted)
5 - tbd.

licensed pilot · Apr 4, 2017

The Editor said:
I think the PD100's will do pretty much what you are after and they have the advantage of being virtually silent and invisible due to their size.
They also will do thermal.

Some emergency services are already utilising them but might be out of the price bracket you are after.....

http://www.proxdynamics.com/home

Cute bird, and a game changer for LE. It should surprise a few terrorists. Thanks. At 65k not likely, an M600 or 200 (if it ever gets released) may be the best way to go. I think the video signal encryption is not necessary or the IT dept. should pay for it out of their budget! This mod looks interesting. DJI Matrice M600 Pro Dual Camera

For the experts; how worried should the agency be about the potential for an unauthorized individual to "hack" the Lightbridge video signal? From a real world perspective, I expect the bird will spend more time searching for missing persons/children, and crime/accident scene imaging than surveillance of high risk scenarios...

Thatius Dudeson · Apr 5, 2017

bluelight.support said:
Indeed - but there are still export restrictions on these as they are military grade, so the OP would need to go through official federal channels to get it approved to bring in for law enforcement use

Welcome to America, where we mostly trust our citizens aren't babies and can handle their own crap.

licensed pilot · Apr 5, 2017

licensed pilot said:
I'd like your input, and I am also posting in general discussions to get max coverage (if moderator allows ).

I am consulting, as a volunteer, with a local police department (I am a retired cop-32 years and operate a part 107 business) to purchase and start a UAS unit.

Their general requirements ($13-$14k budget):
1. Hexacopter
2. 35-40 mins flight time
3. FLIR (336x256 slow lens)
and conventional camera
4. Encrypted video (?)
5. 10X optical zoom

Appreciate any suggestions.

MAXSUR SEEKER Search Drone with FLIR 640 (nothing like a hamburger budget to modify your appetite,they''ll settle for a quad now)
Anyone knows if this is built on a DJI platform? (yes we are going to contact Maxsur, doing research....)

AMGPilot · Apr 5, 2017

Canon just released it's drone using the ME-20 camera that has a 4MILLION ISO and will also shoot HD IR. The camera was developed for the FBI for surveillance and can see your shadow on a moonless night.

Canon Industrial Drone PD6E2000-AW-CJ1 Coming

bluelight.support · Apr 5, 2017

If you check the video on

MAXSUR SEEKER Search Drone with FLIR 640 Res Imager

they say its based on DJI - looks like a Nazza controller from pic

licensed pilot · Apr 6, 2017

Thank you, bluelight. I saw the video and heard dude refer to DJI flight controller. I was curious to learn which platform they were building the Seeker on.
Tried to identify specific platform, best guess was Matrice100.