There's a lot of debate around the economic suitability of drones for the delivery of the goods as a direct competitor to traditional trucks and delivery vans. There's an article written by Flexport which highlights two crucial factors that makes drones delivery of general goods not feasible, even in the near future: (1) route density and (2) drop size. Route density is the number of drop-offs you can make on a delivery route and drop-size is the number of parcels per stop on that delivery route. Given the strict airspace regulations on drone size and weight, it has become quite evident, particularly in the African context, that the delivery of general goods will not be an economically viable option even though the obvious need might say otherwise.  However, further analysis and demonstration have shown, from companies like Matternet and others, that the transport of the time-sensitive and high-value parcels (legal-documents, medicine samples, high-value spices...

So i took the challenge of setting up the Tarot gimbal not just for inherent stable video footage but also the flexibility of controlling it from the radio control. However, I encountered quite a few challenges which made me aware that I'm not the one only in this battle . It's quite clear that the setup of the Tarot gimbal using its own software is completely different from how it's been described in the Ardupilot/Arducopter webpage and in mission Planner. In Mission Planner and it's associated site makes one believe that it should be done through software, only to realize that in actual fact the setup is more complex than that.  After two evenings of trying various combinations, I realized the getting the pixhawk Aux channels to communicate with the T4 gimbal requires the following steps: - The Pixhawk Pin9 (Aux1) needed to be activated to pass through user-chosen channel from the transmitter. For the Dx6 Gen2 it was the channel 6, which can assigned the ...

We stumbled on the organization that's making head waves around the globe called Drones for Good Award . Although the coveted prize money is not openly advertised, various companies have participated over the past few years such as: PrecisionHawk , LoonCopter , Drones against Tsetse and many more. We were pretty impressed especially with LoonCopter. This is drone which is capable of air, surface and underwater navigation. The aim is mainly for search and rescue and the proof of concept was demonstrated at the award. But what's more fascinating is the culture and ethos this organization promotes. The idea that drones CAN be used for good and SHOULD be used for good. This is something we at Uav4africa believe immensely . The notion that you can use technology, whether in the air or under the sea, to uplift, educate and empower underprivileged communities is beyond a nice gesture, it's calling all of us should respond to. One of our projects is to investigate...

So I've decidex to try out something I've been meaning to try out for a while now. Which is to setup my Gopro camera for some aerial photography. Eventhough I've been looking at getting a more polished system like a Dji Phantom drone, I thought there's a lot of mileage I can get just using what I already have. So having studied the best layout for the camera and battery, once the weather clears out, I'll be trying out this system. I'll need to get a Fatshark system to get into proper FPV flying although the aim is not for that at all.  The mass of the Gopro with casing is about 140g with means the all up weight has increased by 26% which means less battery life although one would not need 4min of video anyway.