2. OBJECTIVE
• Drone and its history
• Understanding modern drone
• Flight Mode and Safety Measures
• Mobile apps used in drone
• Advantage of using Drone in Broadcast
• What kind of camera we can fly
• List of Broadcast Drone
• List of wireless uplink/downlink transmission Vendors
• Technical Terminology
• Drone workflow in Broadcast
3. DRONE AND ITS HISTORY
• Also known as UAVs/UGVs unmanned aerial/ground vehicle.
• Flying Model Aircrafts started to emerge in the 1970-80s powered by a two cycle
piston engine.
• Even if small TV cameras and receiver or transmitter available then, these
machines weren’t suitable platforms because of the engine oil coating and the
vibration was fearsome.
• Major challenge was, using the narrow band transmission so interference from
receiver and transmitter can crash the aircraft if operating on the same channel.
• The first US government-approved drone delivery has successfully transported
4.5kg of medical supplies to a rural health clinic on July 17th 2015.
4. UNDERSTANDING MODERN
DRONE
• Equipped with geo-located high-definition video cameras, drones are emerging as
important new tool for broadcasting media and film-makers.
• Operates on intelligent flight battery which powers the Rotary Motor which can
be DC Brushless Motor and other controlling unit.
• Equipped with GPS, Propeller, Obstacle Sensing System, Vision Positioning Sensor.
• Equipped with Camera Gimbal for controlling the movement of cameras. In the
same way as we are using Pedestal for Camera in Studios.
• Heart of Drone is IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) which sends control signal as
in aircraft altitude, force and angular rate etc. to flight controller and also to
power management unit, they all are connected together and drives the drone.
• Able to provide complete status of Aircraft using LED unit combinations of Red,
Green and Yellow both on flight and its remote control, Also having Bluetooth for
real time communication with mobile device e.g. iPhone.
5. FLIGHT MODE AND SAFTEY
MEASURES
• Flight modes which can be used but not confined to are :
– P-Mode (Positioning) : Works best when GPS is strong and automatically position itself by using
obstacle sensing system.
– S-Mode (Sport) : Enhance the motility of craft and speed gets increase by 20 m/s
– A-mode (Altitude): When neither the GPS nor the Obstacle sensing is available, the aircraft will
use barometer for positioning.
• RTH : Return to Home function brings the drone back to last recorded home point
in the following situation:
– Failsafe RTH : It activates when Remote signal lost for more then 3 sec.
– Smart RTH : By pressing this button on remote controller, Aircraft returns to its recorded home
point using GPS.
– Low Battery RTH : This is triggered when intelligent battery is drained to a level that may cause
problem in returning of Aircraft.
6. MOBILE APPS USED WITH DRONE
Periscope: Owned by Twitter, It is the easiest
way to broadcast live from your mobile phone.
Periscope lets you broadcast live video to the
world. Going live will instantly notify your
followers, who can join, comment and send
you hearts in real time. The more hearts you
get, the higher they flutter on the screen.
Facebook Live: Mark Zuckerberg, demoed a
new option for its Facebook Live feature
live-streaming video from a drone. A DJI
Phantom 4, to be specific. The drone maker
has integrated Facebook Live into its Go
mobile app (used for controlling and
viewing video from the camera among
other things) and is now available to the
public
7. ADVATANGE OF USING DRONE IN
BROADCAST
• Drones have the capability to deliver high-quality shots that are suitable for live
television.
• Covering fast action using broadcast-quality HD cameras and real-time HD video
downlinks, makes razor-sharp accuracy in live sports broadcasting.
• Its flexibility in allowing the operator, the option to change the location of the
shot and providing different angles that too closer tracking of the action was
difficult with individual fixed cameras.
• Moving the shot based on the action rather than the producer to switch cameras
displaying the shot.
• It can actually combine dolly and crane functionality to deliver previously
impossible shots.
8. WHAT KIND OF CAMERA WE CAN
FLY ?
Basically any camera under 12 lbs is supported, here is the list of cameras which is
used in Broadcast Application :
These are FPV (First Person View) camera
which are small, lightweight and cheap and
are Mounted onto Aircraft to send real
time video back down to you via video
transmitter.
FPV system can ensure that you are getting
the shot you intended without trying to
guess at the shot setup from a position on
the ground and some distance away
The downside of using action camera is
they all will have latency issue
9. LIST OF DRONES USED IN
BROADCAST
1. DJI Phantom 3/4
professional
2. YUNEEC Q500
4K Typhoon
3. 3D Robotics Iris+
4. Parrot AR.Drone
2.0
5. DJI Inspire 1
PRO
6. 3D Robotics Solo
7. Syma X5C-1
8. Cheerson Hobby
CX-20
9. Blade Chroma
Nano QX
10. Syma X8G
11. Skyjib X8 Titanium
Cinema Combo
12. DJI S900
Hexacopter
10. VENDORS FOR UPLINK SOLUTION
• Vislink Herocast (joint project with GoPro) Transmitter and PROceiver.
• Dejero Live+ Platform.
• LiveU
• Mushroom Streamer/ Teleport
• Teradek Bolt pro
• Aviwest
• Minicaster
• TVU Network
• Amimon
11. TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY
• S-BUS : Named as Smart Bus/Serial Control Bus, It uses digital serial data
communication technology to transmit control signals between your receiver and
servos, The camera operator can use a gimbal remote control to control the
drone camera’s gimbal through the S-BUS port of the Air Unit
• CAN bus : It is controller area network bus, developed by BOSCH as a multi-
master, message broadcast system that specifies a maximum signaling rate of 1
megabit per second (bps), designed specifically for automotive applications, it is
present in the Air Unit and provides connection to PMU and IMU.
• MAVLink : It is Micro Air Vehicle Link is a protocol for communicating with
small unmanned vehicle and the ground control station.
12. DRONE WORKFLOW IN TV
BROADCASTING
Showing general fixed camera mounted in Drone it can be any professional suitable
camera with Gimbal and its lens based on the demand
Air Unit Transmitter
Ground Unit
Receiver
The Ground Unit connects to various
types of monitors, video goggles or
a portable video monitor via the
HDMI port. This enables the pilot
and/or camera operator to monitor
the video transmitted from the Air
Unit
The Air Unit is connected to a drone
in order to capture video from the
drone's camera and to transmit it to
up to four Ground Units
simultaneously (multicast), thus
creating a wireless video link
Camera ControllerFlight Controller
There can be only one remote controller for
controlling both Camera and Drone
Telemetry Signal
Camera Gimbal Control Signal
SDI/HDMI Out for Transmission
OB Van
In House TV Production
TV Receiver
GPS
GPS
ENG