Cool New Products
Can AeroVironment Compete in the Commercial Drone Market?
AeroVironment’s new drone and cloud-based analytics platform squarely targets the commercial sector, but are they targeting the wrong vertical, too late in the game? THE FACTS: Earlier this month, the military and tactical unmanned aircraft systems manufacturer AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) proudly unveiled its new QuantixTM drone and a cloud-based analytics platform called the AeroVironment Decision Support … Read more
Is Esri’s Drone2Map a Game Changer?
Features should appeal to Esri users, but will they appeal to non-Esri users? THE FACTS: In June 2016, Esri released an application called Drone2Map for ArcGIS. Drone2Map (D2M) takes raw image data from drones and creates digital surface models, orthomosaics, 3D-point clouds and 3D PDFs that can be shared. Data processed by Drone2Map can also … Read more
Six Trends Driving the Commercial Drone Market in 2016 and Beyond
“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” – attributed to Yogi Berra I was recently asked in an interview to discuss four or five trends that I see as major drivers in the commercial drone industry today and what manufacturers and service providers might focus on in the future. That sounds simple enough … Read more
Five Observations about the Camera Drone Market from NAB 2015
By Steve Maller for Drone Analyst My brief but productive visit last month to the 2015 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Las Vegas showed me just how fast the camera drone market is heating up. More than 97,000 people in media and entertainment attended this year, and the show featured for the first time … Read more
Does DJI’s New Drone Hit the Target Market?
I think it’s futuristic – the drone that is. The camera, on the other hand, is another story. The drone For a guy like me who not only follows the commercial market for drones but is also an avid photography and multirotor enthusiast, the new DJI Inspire 1 is, well, inspiring. It’s chock full of … Read more
Drone Delivery: How much would you pay?
I love the look of the Tesla Model S, but I’d never get one. Somehow, the opportunity to pay $100K to drive only 300 miles before spending 4 to 9 hours recharging does not appeal to me. I also love the idea of Amazon’s drone delivery initiative Prime Air. But, like the Tesla, the opportunity to … Read more
Drone Tech Winners and Losers at the Precision Aerial Ag Conference 2014
Last week my colleague Mitch Solomon and I were privileged to be in the company of more than one thousand farmers in rural Decatur, IL, for the two-day Precision Aerial Agriculture Show 2014 (PAAS 2014). Mitch covers five key takeaways from the show in his post about the event – including the most salient one: … Read more