At Microdrones, our two top goals are to develop the world’s best aerial solutions and provide our customers with the best support in the industry. For registered users, our website’s Clients-Only section provides various support forms to quickly resolve any issues you may have. Welcome, commercial drone users! Microdrones: Industry-Leading Commercial UAVs Microdrones® made the world's first commercial quadcopter and we still lead the industry with our cutting-edge aerial solutions for applications like surveying, mapping, construction, inspection, geospatial, precision agriculture, volumetrics, and so much more. Our turn-key packages integrate state-of-the-art aircraft with smart payloads and intuitive software, providing everything professionals need to make their work more efficient, safe, and profitable. Microdrones aircraft boast industry-leading flight times, impressive payload capacities, exceptional stability, and outstanding endurance when faced with environmental challenges like harsh weather, rough winds, hot temperatures, strong magnetic fields, and high voltages.

Microdrones has offices in Germany, Canada, and the United States and support staff throughout the world. Film & PhotographyMappingPublic SafetyFilm & Photography The Draganfly Draganflyer X4-ES and the Microdrones MD4-1000 both have wingspans that are larger than the average wingspan of 350 millimeters (13.8 inches). The Draganflyer X4-ES's wingspan equates to 42.1 inches, and the MD4-1000's wingspan is equal to 40.6 inches. Both of these drones possess flight times greater than the average of 9 minutes.It is important to take into consideration that the maximum flight times given are based on the drones carrying no extra weight. If you attach any amount of payload to a drone, its flight time will decrease, and it will continue to decrease as you increase the payload.While the MD4-1000 has a payload capacity above the average of 1000 grams (2.20 pounds), the Draganflyer X4-ES does not. The MD4-1000 has the ability to carry 400 grams (0.88 pounds) more than the Draganflyer X4-ES can.

Both of these drones are slower than the overall average of 15 m/s (30 mph). parrot ar drone carbon fiber hullThe Draganflyer X4-ES can fly up to 30 mph, and the MD4-1000 can fly at a maximum speed of 27 mph.parrot ar drone prix suisseWhile both drones can fly at altitudes greater than the 762 meter average (2,500 feet), the Draganflyer X4-ES can fly up to 1438 meters higher than the MD4-1000.ar drone 2 navdataKeep in mind that the maximum flying altitude is the height above sea level that a drone can fly, not the height above the ground. ar drone 2 gebrauchtThe operating range determines how high above ground level the drone can fly.parrot ar drone indoor hull repair

SONY RX100SONY QX100FLIR Thermal ImagingSONY NEX-7OLYMPUS E-P3SONY HDR-CX740VEPANASONIC HDC SD 909parrot ar drone oslo Both the Draganflyer X4-ES and the MD4-1000 can fly further away from you than the 100 meter (328 feet) average, but the MD4-1000 has an operating range 300 meters (984 feet) longer than the Draganflyer X4-ES. The application you plan to use it forWhere you plan to fly itFor more information about flying laws, visit our flying laws and regulations page.Show details  Hide details Regulating Drone Airspace Using 'Smart Markets' Photo by Frankhöffner/CC BY-SA 3.0 Commercially operated autonomous drones may be on the horizon, especially since Google and Amazon have announced plans to start drone-based parcel delivery in 2017. A policy problem is likely to follow: allocation of scarce airspace and preferred flight paths—an issue complicated by the need to ensure that each drone's flight is safe and that each flight-path segment stays within capacity.

The default solution to regulating drone traffic in the skies would be an open system much like the existing rules that govern roads. No limits are placed on participation, so flights are controlled by operating regulations and natural congestion, leading to an inefficient system that is oversubscribed, slow or even dangerous—or to one that is so heavily regulated few companies bother to fly drones. An alternative solution follows the mechanisms to allocate electricity—a smart market for drone airspace and flight paths. A smart market is an auction that relies on mathematical optimization to resolve complex rules associated with allocating a resource. Smart markets are already widely used, and include such diverse examples as how advertisers bid to place ads through Google's AdWords and the Australian government's BushTender, an auction for protecting and improving native vegetation on private land. In electricity markets, multiple power plants produce electric power, but the demand varies over time.

Electric smart markets use a computer program to allow the cheapest power to be delivered from the plants best able to offer it. They ensure there are no blackouts and that power flow doesn't overload power lines. Power plants and electricity providers can submit bids simultaneously. The market makes certain the allocation fits the needs and requirements of other market participants and regulators. These systems can also help markets self-regulate. Modern electricity markets incentivize companies to expand their generating capacity, assure users they can buy power and assure regulators that business practices follow physical constraints and legal mandates. Researchers have made similar smart-market proposals to determine airport landing assignments and regulate path-finding for autonomous cars. A smart market for drone airspace might work like this: Anyone could create a bid for a particular flight path and time slot to fly a specific drone. The computer-based market-clearing mechanism would ensure that each drone had a valid flight and that each path had enough capacity.

The smart market would be run as a public auction operated by airspace managers and used by those who fly drones. This market would be more inherently flexible than complex regulation, allowing for improvements without the need for new laws. It would likely be more transparent to users than mechanisms that allocate permits based on complex regulatory criteria, though it would require more ongoing management. The two key components of such a smart market are the initial rights (who controls the existing right to the airspace) and a model for allocation that respects physical and regulatory requirements. Airspace and permission to fly a drone are currently controlled by a confusing combination of landowners, the Federal Aviation Administration, the public and the county or city over which the drone is flying. Any solution, smart market or not, will first require clarification of these rights. The allocation model for drone airspace would work much like that in electricity markets—taking into account safety concerns, physical limits and the participants' needs.

For instance, safety regulations might dictate that drones be kept a certain distance apart. Noise ordinances for certain times of day could restrict schedules. A given flight might pass through a sequence of flight segments with varying degrees of congestion. Multiple time slots might be allocated to the highest sum of bids with non-conflicting flight paths. The bidders might be required to pay the lowest winning bid price for a slot plus some specified cost to provide flight control. The burden for ensuring that companies follow the established rules would rest on the flight controller, perhaps using an established system like NASA's Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management or common airspace models being developed privately. Companies that want to fly drones won't need to worry about the patchwork of local laws, because those laws can be incorporated in the market-clearing computer model. So the locals themselves can decide whether to have fewer drones overhead or less-expensive drone delivery.

After drones become widespread, capacity will diminish, making prices increase and resulting in revenue above the cost of providing flight control. This excess revenue could be allocated to the city or county over which the flights took place, which creates incentives for governments to reduce unnecessary restrictions. Yes, the smart market is complicated. Fortunately, the companies clamoring to use drones, like Amazon and Google, are sophisticated users who already operate similar markets for their own businesses. Designing a system and effectively implementing it will not be simple or rapid. This means that initial work on designing the system would need to start soon, preferably with the support of the drone industry and regulators, and with diligent monitoring and evaluation. Some people might worry that the smart market for drones could benefit a few users at the expense of others, but this might be worse in heavily regulated systems that create vested interests and lead to regulatory capture, where an industry gains control of an agency meant to regulate it.

Due to vested interests and bureaucratic momentum, smart markets have historically been nearly impossible to implement once a different system is in place. Both consumers and drone operators stand to benefit from a smart market for drone airspace, but if regulators opt to build a different system, the smart market opportunity will probably be lost. Waiting for problems to emerge that smart markets would likely solve, like congestion or over-regulation, is not the best path forward. Unless policymakers clarify airspace rights and act soon, the opportunity to establish a smart market will be lost, like a drone disappearing over the horizon. David Manheim is a Ph.D. candidate in policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. John F. Raffensperger is a senior operations researcher at RAND and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Jia Xu is an associate engineer at RAND and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.