HANDHELD GCS V3.0

HANDHELD GCS V3.0
Draganfly Innovations
unveils the all new
GCS. Two years in the
making the ergonomic
design and powerful
applications are breath
taking
The Draganfly handheld Ground Control System (GCS) is truly a work of art. The sculpted ergonomic design,
powerful computer, direct sunlight readable screen, mapping and verbal alarms create a completely new flying
experience. Close your eyes and you might think you’re holding a high quality DSLR camera. It’s not just good looks,
it’s the power of the system that is so amazing. GCS software was designed from the ground up in parallel with the
amazing hardware system creating an exciting, new, and unique offering to our Public Safety customers.
Precision control:
Some might think flying a helicopter can be difficult but
by engineering every component from the ground-up
we’re able to make flying an enjoyable experience and
it all starts with something as simply being comfortable
at the controls. The new GCS uses premium grade
gimbals and
components to provide
precision control of the
aircraft. And because
we’re displaying video
directly on-screen and
providing verbal audio
alarms there are fewer
distractions. All the
information you need is at your finger tips with the spin
of a dial or click of the mouse.
Intuitive controls and software:
At Draganfly we believe it’s important to have the skills
to fly the aircraft while at the same time, provide
valuable tools, an amazing system, and excellent
aircraft to bring this capability to many people. The new
GCS is a big step in that direction because it rolls a
tremendous capability into one controller. For example
a scroll wheel allows you to quickly move between
screens and the unique D-Pad works like the clicker on
a mouse to quickly access to more information.
Digital video down-link:
Digital video is wonderful. With digital we get much
better range, no longer is there static in the picture and
because the digital system works over the spread
spectrum it reduces the chance of systems interference.
Video latency is
less than 400ms
only because we
worked very hard
developing our
own software
drivers and
worked hard on
systems
integration to
make it happen. Video is streamed in real-time to the
GCS where it can be recorded, a single frame snapshot
can be taken and easily transfer to a USB drive.
Alarms and limits:
It’s always great to have someone looking over your
shoulder but why not let the new GCS be your eyes and
ears. It’s always a good idea to be scanning telemetry
data and keeping an eye on the health or the aircraft but
now, with the new GCS it talks to you and let’s you know
when there is a status change or warning message.
Besides a powerful tool it’s a wonderful companion.
A Vision based system:
The most common method of waypoint navigation is to
sit down and plot the flightpath waypoints, then define
controls the camera system and examining the live video
feed from the aircraft. Because the aircraft and
controllers form a network, in the future other devices
may also be allowed to join. This open architecture
provides many possibilities for future capabilities.
Buttons and switches:
At first it might seem a bit overwhelming but once you
have the controller in your hands it all makes good
sense. The controls on the frontside provide the joystick
flight controls, trim tabs, computer mouse, scroll wheel,
D-pad, camera tilt position and motor engage/disengage
switch.
the action at each point. Draganfly provides this
capability but our experience proves that this might be
good when you have the luxury of time on your side
but quite often, when it comes to matters of public
safety, there isn’t time and you need to get flying.
On the rear of the GCS there are switches at the tip of
your fingers for the camera zoom control, flight mode
switch and linear plungers that at this point have no
immediate application for the aircraft but it has to make
you wonder .... what do the engineers at Draganfly have
in mind.
Along the topside of the GCS there are stereo speakers
and four buttons for the camera shutter, alternate motor
The Draganfly vision based approach allows first
responders to quickly get in the air, visually inspect the
area, and quickly set/store visual points of interest.
And honestly it doesn’t matter if it’s a quickly
developing incident or the team is out documenting a
serious traffic accident or crime scene; the visual points
of interest feature is simple, fast, and effective.
To compliment this feature the GCS system also has
the ability to set a “stare-point”. Through an easy to use
visual based interface the pilot in command can quickly
set a stare-point on the target within the scene. Once a
stare-point is set the helicopter can easily be
commanded to orbit around the point, decrease the
aircraft radius and all the while, the image stays
centered on the screen.
Vision based navigation is the way we think, it’s simple
and it’s very effective.
Internal GPS:
The GCS system has an embedded GPS system in the
controller so the helicopter is always aware of the
distance between the aircraft and the pilot.
Wireless training:
Like our original system two controllers can be
wirelessly linked together for flight training or splitting
tasks between two operators. For example the pilot is
focused on flying the aircraft while the observer
disengage and trainer functions with a spare button not
named at this time. Along the bottom it’s pretty much
what you would expect... the USB plugs, external power
plug, battery charging plus and a push-button battery
meter to check battery health before powering on the
system.
Summary:
This is an amazing piece of work. The new GCS is
powerful, comfortable, it talks to you and it provides vivid
high quality streaming digital video. It has a mapping
system, real-time data and the ability to store or recall a
flight plan so you can pilot the aircraft back into the same
spot.
The new GCS combined with the power of the new X4ES or X6-ES package is a powerful, simple and easy to
use combination. It takes a lot of work to make
something appear to be so simple.