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Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

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Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#151

> I would have to imagine it was larger than a quadcopter, and I guarantee you it was nothing like a quadcopter from how long it was up - it has to be satellite-driven because there’s no line-of-sight, there’s no cell phone coverage that could have dealt with that, so it has to be satellite-driven, which is pretty freakin’ sophisticated.” So, setting aside this claim that there’s no line of sight, my bet is these guy…

Most impressed by the camera tracking. Is that automated or is someone that good at pointing a camera? (First link I mean)

Probably head attached GoPro

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most impressed by the camera tracking. Is that automated or is someone that good at pointing a camera? (First link I mean)

I think the video was accelerated (look at cars in the background or wind in trees/on grass or the occasional bird/insect). Which means the drone may not have been as fast/manœuvrerabke as it looks. It would explain the crazy Camera tracking skills.

Definitely not accelerated, just ridiculous thrust to weight ratios on those mini quads. You can tell from the sound - the pitch corresponds to RPMs you would expect from those specs (which are listed in the description BTW)

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#153
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they use analogue video signals to avoid encoding/decoding latency

Not always, there are starting to be some good digital systems. Analogue is just cheaper and lighter.

“Starting to”? DJI FPV is two years old and naked Vista is negligibly heavier than analog (and it mostly matters for micros, anyway)

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#154

There are R/C model aircraft with more than enough performance to fly circles around a helicopter. Here's one going over 400MPH.[1] It's powered by a small jet engine that costs around US$6000. That's from 2017. Here's one hovering, standing on its own jet.[2] That's from 2010. These things are quite impressive. So is the piloting, by the way. The one in [1] is just being hand-flown with an ordinary Futaba R/C joysti…

Pretty sure those would show up on night vision easily. Also, how much fuel would you need to keep that sort of action up in the air for an hour?

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why even use drug mules if you can just drone everything over the border?

Their carry weight is absolute shit and ferrying over 10 doses isn't really worthwhile

There is this confusion over the word “drone”.

What you say is absolutely true about quadrocopters and octocopters. It is much less true about fixed wing drones.

You don’t have to go all the way to a Global Hawk to get reasonable carrying capacity. Even hobby sized stuff could be used for this reasonably well. Parts are easy to acquire, they are easy to conceal, you can launch them with a catapult like setup, they can drop off their load and fly back autonomously.

I bet that it is already happening or at least there are smugglers experimenting with the tech.

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, shielding electronics against EMPs is surprisingly easy. Just wrapping things in aluminium foil goes a long way.

Doesn't this also mean that they would not be able to receive comms?

If you folded the entire thing then it could mean that.

But you want to shield the parts which do not directly need to receive rf signals, like the mainboard.

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#158

There are R/C model aircraft with more than enough performance to fly circles around a helicopter. Here's one going over 400MPH.[1] It's powered by a small jet engine that costs around US$6000. That's from 2017. Here's one hovering, standing on its own jet.[2] That's from 2010. These things are quite impressive. So is the piloting, by the way. The one in [1] is just being hand-flown with an ordinary Futaba R/C joysti…

> CBP pilots say that it is hard to see on night vision goggles and has a low heat signature.

Yeah definitely not a jet powered one.

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#159
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, probably just Jupiter and a a confused pilot

Jupiter is a flashing green light that can change elevation and circle?

Yes, and please keep that little tidbit under your hat. You don't want Big Planet to know we're wise to them quite yet.

Re: Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why even use drug mules if you can just drone everything over the border?

Their carry weight is absolute shit and ferrying over 10 doses isn't really worthwhile

Check out pro broadcasting drones. They can carry 3-5kg cameras with power packs. Some go as far as 1h fly time. They are expensive as hell though.
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