The tens of millions of drones show "folly dance"
Experts: The safety risks of thousands of drone formations are a high probability event, which may affect national and public safety.
Dajiang: Suspicion of Sustainability of UAV Formation Market
"The drone is not like the rumored 'direct fall', but because of the interference caused by the data anomaly, in fact the aircraft landed at the normal airborne descent speed, did not slow down to zero, and finally automatically returned to the wall and landed. â€
On May 1st, Yihang carried out a drone formation flight performance in front of the ancient city wall of Xi'an. Although on April 29th, 1374 drones successfully won the Guinness World Record honor "the most drones flying at the same time", but in In the performance on May 1, 496 drones were affected and “garbled†appeared. The public bidding announcement shows that the funds for the "Spring Dance Grand Xi'an" City Wall Thousand UAV Light and Shadow Festival activities are divided into two parts, one is the drone performance project, and the other is the light and shadow dance performance project. Among them, the turnover of the drone project is 10.5 million yuan.
In the eyes of the industry, the drone performance is only a nascent thing, there are still many problems in terms of stability and intelligence, and whether the business model can continue is still to be investigated.
“Not necessarily human interferenceâ€
"This is an industry that is both glory and glory. Because of the performance accident of Yihang, when we talk about customers now, the other party puts more emphasis on safety and fears of encountering similar situations. I have to explain the company's technical strength over and over again. Dispel customer concerns." A company staff member engaged in the development of drone flight control systems and formation flight control technology told the IT Times reporter that because the company also provides drone formation performance services, it is safe when facing customers. Has become the customer's most concerned issue.
On May 6, nearly a week after the performance accident, Yihang apologized for the failure to fully display the performance of the drone formation and released the results of the investigation. According to Yihang, on the night of the show, the UAV equipment, communication system and flight system were normal, but some of the UAV's positioning and auxiliary positioning systems were subjected to directional interference after take-off, resulting in abnormal data in their position and height.
What are the interference factors encountered during the formation of the drone? Yu Jingbing, vice president of the Shenzhen UAV Industry Association, told the IT Times that the flight positioning of the UAV formation relied on satellite positioning and RTK differential technology (a GPS measurement method) with a positioning accuracy of centimeter. During the flight, the clouds become thicker, and there are high-rise buildings nearby, or high-voltage lines, which may affect the reception of satellite signals and control link signals. Directional interference is also divided into various situations. For example, some people use anti-UAV technology to send electromagnetic signals with electronic jammers, block the communication links between satellites, drones and ground stations, and let the drones get out of control.
"Directed interference is not necessarily human interference. For example, there are radio stations in the performance venues. The radio stations just send out signals during the performance, which may affect the positioning of the drone formation." Yu Jingbing said that if the formation flight encounters directional interference, it is difficult. First aid, unless the location of directional interference can be identified.
On May 9th, the reporter entered the “anti-UAV jammer†in Taobao. There were many jammers and jammers of the counter-machine drone. One of the jammers installed the four-band interference antenna in the frame of the simulation gun. In the above, the directional antenna is used to transmit the interference signal and the navigation deception signal, so that the drone can be separated from the operator's control, and then forced to land, return, and even capture the drone. Such interference guns are more expensive, ranging in price from a few thousand to more than a hundred thousand dollars depending on functional differences.
Uncontrolled drones affect national and public safety
"Now the performance of the drone formation is not as smart as people think, just put a light in the sky, everyone only sees hundreds of planes flying to the sky, but do not know how much may fall. Once the problem occurs It is difficult to control, and drone formation flight is not enough in terms of stability and intelligence.†The head of a Shanghai Flying Club told the IT Times that the development of the drone is still in its infancy and the product line will be constantly updated. Dajiang responded to the "IT Times" reporter, Dajiang does not have a drone formation business, and whether the business model can be sustainable remains to be seen.
In the past two years, the performance of the drone formation has gradually emerged, and many times on the CCTV stage to dance. On Weibo, a well-known aviation blogger bluntly said: “It is better to sell drones than to drones. This is a big invention of Chinese drone entrepreneurs.†Yihua CEO Hu Huazhi also interviewed the media. It is said that the development of the flight formation has completely exceeded the company's expectations, and even reversed the unprofitable trend of the Yihang consumer-class drone. The performance of the performance in 2018 may exceed 100 million.
In 2016, the drone company that received the investment from Xu Jingping, a real fund, once stood on the edge of the cliff and laid off more than 70 people, involving multiple departments. Although Yihang also released a consumer drone, the reporter found that on May 9th, Taobao found that the store with the highest monthly sales had three transactions, which was only one more than the one on the 25th of January. Said that only one sold in more than three months. On the Jingdong platform, the data viewed by reporters in January was only two evaluations of the drones of the official flagship store of Yihang UAV. Now, this flagship store has not been searched.
The drone formation performance provided a new way for Yihang, but the safety of the drone formation performance is a common concern of the industry. Yu Jingbing bluntly said that in the drone industry, practitioners must put national security first, followed by public safety and flight safety. The formation of drones should also put safety on the first element, not being greedy, blindly pursuing quantity, and ignoring the quality of safety and performance.
“A successful test does not mean success. It has to be tested hundreds of times to verify flight safety and control in a variety of complex environments. We support the technological innovation of drone formations, flying in open fields and deserts. Pursuing the advancement of technology and the stability of formation flight." Yu Jingbing warned, "This is a limited and unsustainable market. Under the current technical conditions, the safety risks of thousands of UAV formations are high probability events, such as Some drones are out of control and even drone formations are hijacked, which may threaten public safety and even national security."
In this regard, Yihang told the IT Times reporter that it will further strengthen system security measures and strengthen external signal monitoring to prevent the occurrence of performance accidents. Whether the performance accident on May 1 will affect the follow-up drone formation performance orders, Yihang said that it will continue to bring drone formations to Xi'an citizens in the future.
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