Draganflyer X6 helicopter wins the Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 award in the Aviation & Space category. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter is a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to carry a wireless video camera.

For 20 years, Popular Science’s Best of What’s New awards honor the innovations that make a positive impact on life today and change our views of the future PopSci’s editors evaluate thousands of products each year to develop this thoughtful list, there’s no higher accolade Popular Science can give

The Draganflyer X6 RC Helicopter has just been announced as a winner of the Best of What’s New 2008 Award in the Aviation & Space category. This award acknowledges the Draganflyer X6 as a breakthrough product representing a significant leap forward in technology in its class. Each year thousands of new and innovative products are considered for this award. Winners are selected based on the potential to improve our way of life or to change the way we think about the future.

Why the Draganflyer X6 Won:
The Draganflyer X6 is a six-rotor electric helicopter designed to carry a high-resolution wireless video camera for uses such as industrial inspection, military reconnaissance, and aerial photography. Measuring 36 inches (99cm) across, the Draganflyer X6 helicopter weighs 2.2lb (1kg). What makes the Draganflyer X6 helicopter special is the advanced technology that controls its flight and allows it to be piloted with minimal training. Unlike conventional remotely operated helicopters, the Draganflyer X6 will hover stably even with the pilot’s hands removed from the controls. A conventional remote control helicopter would crash under the same conditions, requiring constant user input for stability (flying a conventional RC helicopter has been described as being similar to balancing a basketball on the end of a broomstick). The advanced technology used in the Draganflyer X6 helicopter consists of eleven sensors monitored by an onboard processor running over 10,000 lines of code. The sensors include three accelerometers, three gyroscopes, three magnetometers, one barometric (air pressure) sensor, and a GPS receiver. The Draganflyer X6 determines its orientation and position, easily moving where the operator directs it, handling all of the complex attitude and altitude adjustments on its own.

Draganflyer X6 Helicopter, Best of What’s New Winner, Aviation & Space

About Best of What’s New:
Best of What’s New awards are presented each year to the top 100 products in 11 categories. “For 20 years, Popular Science’s Best of What’s New awards honor the innovations that make a positive impact on life today and change our views of the future,” says Mark Jannot, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Science. “PopSci’s editors evaluate thousands of products each year to develop this thoughtful list, there’s no higher accolade Popular Science can give”. Other Best of What’s New 2008 award winners in the category of Aviation & Space include the NASA Mars Lander and the Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser.

Draganflyer X6 Helicopter Features:
The Draganflyer X6 helicopter features an optional GPS hold function that allows it to maintain its position in the air, freeing the pilot to focus on other tasks such as aerial photography. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter uses interchangeable cameras: A 1080p high-definition video camera, a low light video camera, a thermal infrared camera, and a high-resolution digital still camera. A viewfinder signal is transmitted wirelessly from the helicopter, received by an embedded video receiver in the handheld controller and displayed on video glasses, allowing the user to see what the helicopter sees. The camera mount can be tilted by remote control.

How to Get the PopSci Best of What’s New Issue:
All of the Best of What’s New 2008 winners can be viewed in the December issue of Popular Science available now.

Industrial 6-Rotor Unmanned Helicopter Provides High Definition Wireless Video and High Resolution Photographs

Draganfly Innovations releases the Draganflyer X6 helicopter. This remotely operated, unmanned, miniature helicopter is designed to carry wireless video cameras and still cameras.

The ease with which this helicopter can be piloted is the most revolutionary feature of the Draganflyer X6

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (PRWEB) August 27, 2008, Draganfly Innovations announced the launch of the Draganflyer X6 helicopter, a miniature aircraft for commercial/industrial aerial video and photography. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter is easy to fly, capable of operating autonomously, and has an appearance that is nothing like a conventional helicopter. The unique design utilizes six main horizontal rotor blades and allows the Draganflyer X6 helicopter to hover efficiently and maneuver rapidly using differential thrust.

Draganflyer X6 Helicopter

Remotely controlled aircraft are available for many purposes, and most fall into a class somewhere between toys and the high quality models piloted by hobbyists. Beyond this class is a large gap approaching the point where full size aircraft must be used to achieve tasks such as commercial photography and industrial inspection. In the past this gap was filled by model aircraft with additional equipment grafted on, which required skilled and trained pilots to operate. Draganfly Innovations has created a better alternative; a purpose built self-stabilizing multiple rotor helicopter specifically designed for filming high definition video and photographing high-resolution aerial pictures.

The Draganflyer X6 is a fully functional miniature unmanned electric powered helicopter. Aimed at industrial and commercial use, it provides reconnaissance and inspection information using on-board wireless video and still cameras. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter is able to fly autonomously or can be flown manually by remote control. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter achieves its stability by using an on-board processor running more than ten thousand lines of code and receiving data from eleven on-board sensors (three gyros, three accelerometers, three magnetometers, one barometric pressure sensor, and one GPS receiver). It can be piloted by users with minimal or zero training. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter determines its own orientation and motion and moves where the operator instructs it, automatically handling the complex attitude and altitude adjustments that would ordinarily require a practiced pilot. “The ease with which this helicopter can be piloted is the most revolutionary feature of the Draganflyer X6″ says company president, Zenon Dragan.

The Draganflyer X6 helicopter can be put into GPS hold mode where it will maintain its position without any user input. This means that after activating GPS hold, the pilot can set the handheld controller on the ground while the Draganflyer X6 helicopter flies itself. This mode will allow the user to focus on other tasks such as aerial photography from the Draganflyer X6 helicopter.

The Draganflyer X6 helicopter uses interchangeable cameras, covering different areas of use. A high definition video camera provides 1080p resolution. For dawn and dusk use, there is a low light (0.0001lux) video camera. For night use or search and rescue, the thermal FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) camera provides heat vision. High-resolution photographs can be captured with the 10.1 mega-pixel digital still camera. When using any of the camera modules, a viewfinder video signal is streamed wirelessly back to the operator for real-time viewing on video glasses. The camera mount tilts by remote control, and the helicopter can pan side to side or in a circle.

The Draganflyer X6 helicopter uses six custom designed high efficiency carbon fiber rotors and direct drive brushless motors which result in a quiet and maintenance free helicopter. The Draganflyer X6 helicopter weighs 1kg and has a payload capacity of 500 grams.

Durability and safety have been incorporated into the design of the Draganflyer X6 helicopter. With dual motors on each of the three arms, even if an in-flight collision causes one of the motors or rotors to stop working, the Draganflyer X6 helicopter will still be able to keep flying using the remaining five motors. This ability to fly with a missing motor or rotor is not found in any other comparable helicopter. Other safety features include bright LED navigation lights for safe flying at a distance or in darkness, and automatic self-landing if the radio link controlling the helicopter is lost. An on-board flight recorder (black box) stores telemetry and flight data in a removable memory card, and can be used for post flight analysis.

The Draganflyer X6 helicopter is flown using a custom designed handheld controller with a 2.8″ color OLED touchscreen that displays telemetry and flight data. The handheld controller also receives streaming video sent by the Draganflyer X6 helicopter and passes this to the video goggles, enabling the operator to view what the helicopter is seeing while also keeping an eye on the helicopter itself.

Additional information, pictures, and videos are available from the Draganfly Innovations web site: www.draganfly.com

Hacker has recently revised the design of their popular A20 series of brushless electric motors. The new Evo series features several interesting modifications, listed here:

• Revised Can Design - Hacker has revised the motor’s external case to allow for better airflow and cooling towards the back of the motor.
• New Stater and Magnet Material - Hacker has re formulated the material used for the stater and magnets in their brushless motors. The new material has a lower internal resistance, which gives the motors more power and efficiency.
• Collet Style Adapter - The new evo motors use a new style of prop adapter, which is more secure and easier to use than the previous versions. The new adapter also allows the motos to be more easily mounted either in front or behind an RC model airplane firewall.
• New Mount - All of the A20 series motors now feature a new type of mount which allows the new can design to work.

All of the Hacker A20 brushless motors except the A20XL incorporate this new design, including the A20, A20S, A20M, and A20L.

All of the A20 brushless motors we sell will be revised to this new design, so why not get one for your electric RC model airplane today?

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© Draganfly Innovations Inc.
Phone: 1-800-979-9794 / 306-955-9907
Email: info@rctoys.com
Web: www.rctoys.com
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The rolling loop is a challenging aerobatic maneuver to perform with your RC model airplanes. This article will show you how to do it safely and precisely.

Like all new aerobatic maneuvers, perform the rolling loop at a high altitude when you first learn it. This ensures that you have sufficient altitude to recover from most mistakes. Try the rolling loop in the direction that you’re most comfortable rolling. After you become more familiar with it, you can roll in any direction you want.

Follow this procedure to perform a rolling loop:

1. As with almost every aerobatic maneuver, begin by climbing to sufficient altitude and facing into the wind.
2. The objective of this maneuver is to execute a round loop and a 360 degree roll at the same time, so increase throttle to full and begin climbing.
3. As you’re RC model airplane climbs, use a small amount of rudder to hold it in a vertical position.
4. Continue to use up elevator and aileron to roll and climb. Control the roll rate so that the RC model airplane’s wings are level at the top of the loop.
5. Decrease the amount of rudder input so that the RC model airplane “falls” over the top of the loop.
6. Decrease throttle, and continue using aileron and rudder to maintain a constant roll rate.
7. Aim to have the wings level again at the cardinal point (the point at which you first started the maneuver.)

Congratulations! You now know how to successfully perform the rolling loop!

Are you interested in some cheap, fun RC model airplanes? Foamies have been built by DIY modelers for years, who have created an abundance of free plans and patterns on the internet. Most of the time all that you need to build a great foamie is a sheet of wall insulation, some radio and engine gear and a printer. This article will show you a general procedure that you can follow to construct foamies using common household and hobby supplies.

1. Download and print one of the free patterns available on the internet. The one that you choose largely depends on your personal building experience, the supplies you have, and the amount of time that you are willing to put into the project. Some plans need to be scaled up or down. If you don’t want to do this yourself most print shops will reproduce and scale images for you.
2. Transfer the paper pattern to the foam core you obtained earlier. There are several ways to do this, but if you want to preserve the plan you can lightly score over the outline with a ball point pen. This indents the foam below and creates a pattern for cutting.
3. Cut out the pattern that you made with a sharp hobby knife, being careful to follow the lines accurately. If you make a mistake round it out using medium grit sand paper and a sanding block.
4. Round out the leading edge of the wind a fuselage by first using medium, and then fine grit sandpaper.
5. Give the wind an airfoil by making three bends along it’s length. Some patterns include the desired airfoil section – so if yours does use it as a reference.
6. Sand some dihedral into the wing and glue the wing halves together using either foam safe cyanoacrylate or hot glue (available in most craft stores.)
7. Assemble the model using your adhesive of choice.
8. Unless your model’s pattern was meant to be glued to the foam – you will probably want to add some color. Spray paint is a great way to decorate your finished model, but be sure to use satan paint – not enamel. Most enamel paints react badly with foam.
9. Mount your servos by cutting rectangular holes in the wings and fuselage, and pressing them in.
10. The brushless motor is usually mounted by on a wooden dowel glued to the fuselage, and the radio and batteries can be secured to one side of the fuselage with velcro.
11. As a last step add the control surfaces and hinge them with clear packing tape.

If you want some free patterns and instructions, check out this RCGroups.com thread. Many foamie fans have contributed great models and posted them for everyone to use. Have fun with your foamie RC model airplanes!

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© Daganfly Innovations Inc.
Phone: 1-800-979-9794 / 306-955-9907
Email: info@rctoys.com
Web: www.rctoys.com
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Like with RC model airplanes, RC helicopter transmitters have different modes of operation, which determine which stick does what. This article will show you the four different transmitter modes.

Mode 1 RC Helicopter Transmitter

Mode 1 RC helicopter radio transmitter: the left stick controls fore and aft cyclic and left / right yaw, and the right stick controls the throttle and left / right cyclic.

Mode 2 RC Helicopter Transmitter

Mode 2 RC helicopter radio transmitter: the left stick controls the throttle and left / right yaw, and the right stick controls the fore / aft cyclic and left / right cyclic.

Mode 3 RC Helicopter Transmitter

Mode 3 RC helicopter radio transmitter: the left stick controls fore/aft cyclic and left/right cyclic, and the right stick operates the throttle and left / right yaw.

Mode 4 RC Helicopter Transmitter

Mode 4 RC helicopter transmitter: the left stick controls the throttle and left/right cyclic, and the right stick controls the fore/aft cyclic and left/right yaw.

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© Draganfly Innovations Inc.
Phone: 1-800-979-9794 / 306-955-9907
Email: info@rctoys.com
Web: www.rctoys.com
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Slope flying is an easy and fun way to fly your RC model airplanes. This article will show you what slope flying is all about, and how to do it with almost any RC model airplanes.

Choosing a Flying Slope

As it’s name implies, slope flying involves launching an RC model airplane from the top of a slope. Slopes are great flying locations, because wind blowing up the slope causes updrafts which RC model airplanes can use to fly.

If you’re interested in slope flying, the first thing to do is to find a suitable place to fly. An ideal slope has an elevation of at least 100 feet, a gradient of 30 degrees, and is relatively free of trees and other obstacles. Most nearby slopes are unlikely to be perfect, but any slope that is relatively high and steep should do. Almost any RC model airplane with a large wing area will glide well enough for slope flying. Both the Multiplex EasyStar and the Vortex Extreme are well suited to slope flying, and can glide for large distances with their motors turned off.

Launching and Flying the RC Model Airplane

After you’ve found a suitable flying location you can begin slope flying. Most RC model airplanes are hand launched for slope flying, so you may want to read our other article: Hand Launching An RC Model Airplane for some pointers. When hand launching your RC model airplane face into the wind and apply full throttle (if the RC model airplane has an engine). Toss the RC model airplane overhand, and use up elevator to enter flight.

Immediately after takeoff, turn the RC model airplane so that it flies parallel to the slope. This puts the RC model airplane in a position where it can catch the maximum amount of upward airflow. If sufficient wind is present, the RC model airplane should begin to climb gradually. After the RC model airplane has gained sufficient altitude, begin a gradual turn away from the slope. Continue the turn until the RC model airplane is parallel to the slope, and continue climbing. This circuit can be repeated as long as the wind remains constant, and the batteries powering the radio components are charged.

Landing the RC Model Airplane

Landing after you’ve finished flying is challenging due to the sloping ground, so follow this procedure when landing your slope flying RC model airplanes:

1. Approach the top of the hill at an altitude of about 10 feet.
2. Make one wide turn into the wind, and begin your descent so that the plane will land near the center of the hilltop.
3. Continue flying into the wind, and gently let the plane settle on to the ground. Have fun slope flying with your RC model airplanes.

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© Draganfly Innovations Inc.
Phone: 1-800-979-9794 / 306-955-9907
Email: info@rctoys.com
Web: www.rctoys.com
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