What’s the Smart Flight?

The utilization of the term “Smart” has been trending upward in a dramatic way in recent years. Smart phone, Smart TV, Smart home, Smart appliance, etc. you name it. The key of the “Smart” technology can be attributed to the sensor technological advancement, both in design and manufacturing, which enables devices to interact more with human users. As the sensor technology keeps evolving, there is no doubt that the “Smart” technology will keep reshaping our life more and more.   

Now, it is the time to bring the innovation to the RC aircraft world! What does it take to achieve “Smart Flight”? The key is to successfully integrate these elements together: motor, ESC, Gyro, GPS, receiver, stabilizer, servos, sensing system and transmitter. With advanced computer technology both in hardware and software, including data processing, autonomous control, video sensing system, dual-direction communication, “Smart Flight” can be brought into reality. Imagine this: the onboard GPS sends the location information to your transmitter on a real-time basis and your transmitter is able to voice out the information accordingly, so you are fully aware of your aircraft flight status; If the algorithm senses that the aircraft is about to out of range, it will prompt you to actuate the “one-click” function on your transmitter so the aircraft can be brought home automatically!

Smart Flight can bring significant benefits to every hobbyist. It can effectively reduce the risk of aircraft crash, make the RC flight more joyful, which in turn, brings more people into the RC hobby with easier learning curve. A “Smart Flight” era is about to begin!

We have explained the “Smart Flight” technology, how can we get there?

1. A transmitter with dual-direction data transmission capability. The transmitter with single-direction data transmission capability can only send signals to the receiver so a user can directly control the aircraft. With dual-direction data transmission capability, the transmitter is also able to send the data back to the user in real time. In this way, the user not only can control the aircraft, but also able to receive the feedback from the on-board sensing system to monitor the aircraft flight status. With these feedback signals, the user can better control the aircraft in case of urgent situation or the signals can be utilized for automatically flight control.

All Detrum Transmitters are dual-direction transmission capable. Once the upgraded software is ready, the transmitter can be upgraded electrically for next level of “Smart Flight”.

2. The  first level of “Smart Flight” is gyro assisted flight stabilization, which means a receiver with integrated gyro and basic flight control system. Take the Dynam’s SRTF configuration as an example: it includes the Gavin 6A 6-channel transmitter and MSR66A receiver. With this configuration, 4 flight modes can be selected for different level of hobbyists, including: Gyro off, Normal, Aerobatic and Auto-Balance. The Auto-Balance Mode (ABS) is very helpful for entry level hobbyist or First-Person-View (FPV) applications: when the aircraft flying unstable or you are at the edge of losing control, a one-click switch will stabilize the aircraft and recover it to the level flight automatically.

The above two items are required for the basic level Smart Flight system, which is illustrated in the below figure.

3. To experience the next level of Smart Flight, the flight control system with one or more of following modules such as barometer, GPS, Compass is required. These devices provide the additional functions such as altitude hold mode, fix-route mode, home-return mode. Take the Detrum MSR66A-G series as the example; it integrates the GPS module and barometer based on the MSR66A sport receiver. Together with updated flight control software, advanced flight control can be achieved.

4. Imagine you are flying in the field and need to make flight parameters adjustments, a mobile APP enabled flight control system is right there to let you quickly and easily adjust parameters at your finger tip. This mobile APP capability will surely bring you the next level of Smart Flight experience.

5. All above 4 items set a solid foundation for the Smart Flight platform. For various applications, whether it is recreational FPV or professional aerial photographing, users can add camera, video transmission and head mount display to enjoy the smart RC flight or perform the demanding tasks with a peace of mind. The comprehensive solution for Smart Flight will bring the amazing experience to you!

We have been in the industry for 12 years. Starting from model airplanes, gradually, all components required for Smart Flight have been developed by us under three brands: Dynam, Detrum and TomCat. As we are entering a new era of Smart Flight, we are set to deliver better, more affordable products to lead the RC trend.

Our goal is to engage more people into the RC hobby to enjoy flying. To make the aircraft safer, easer to operate and most importantly, smarter, is our core value commitment to our customers.

Stay tuned for the new product announcement!