• tal@lemmy.today
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    3 months ago

    considers

    So, I dunno how long those FPV drone batteries last. It’s landed, which probably extends its run, but it’s still only gonna able to run for so long.

    If this becomes a regular thing, “sieging” people in bunkers, they could probably introduce – if it doesn’t exist already – a low power “lurk” mode that extends the life of the drone’s run.

    Like, slash the framerate to 1 fps or something. Hell, could even go radio silent for a period of time, and only flip back on in N minutes or after the drone detects motion in its field of view or noise or something.

    If the operator end permits multiplexing a number of feeds to a smaller number of operators and monitors, so that operators are just looking at “active” feeds, then instead of having to wait intently for something to happen in a given FPV feed, they could just toggle “lurk” mode and then go deal with another until this feed goes active again.

    Another use of such a “lurk” mode – it also might be possible to pre-fly FPV drones out to the general combat area in question, to reduce the response time if a recon drone identifies a target. Leave them in “lurk” mode, just checking for radio traffic periodically. If a reconaissance drone sees something, one of the lurking FPV drones gets activated by the operator, leaves “lurk” mode, and can be flown straight to the target.

    Another “lurk” mode application – could also pre-place ambushes along appropriate routes, like dirt roads that one knows are being used by the enemy. Someone drives by, and now one not only knows that there’s a vehicle/group of soldiers there, but the drone is already there and ready for use. If it’s some random civilian, no problem – just send it back to lurk mode, and the person in question travels on safely. If the operator deems it a target, they just lift off and hit the target. Given enough drones, a low-power-enough lurk mode, and sufficiently-sized batteries, I imagine that one could exert a high degree of control over movement in an area.

    One additional tweak: permit the operator to specify that only a given region in the camera’s field of view be polled by the drone for detected movement. For long-running “lurk” use like the ambushing above, that permits more freedom in drone placement, since one doesn’t have to physically place the drone somewhere where the field of view exactly fits the area that one wants to monitor – the drone could be moved significantly further back, like behind a bush a long ways away, in a field, and ignore things like movement from trees waving in the wind off to the sides…just monitoring the road for activity.

    • KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Depending on how power efficient this mode is, a solar panel on the back might actually be able to extend the lurk time too. Pointless for active flying but if it’s just sitting in the sun somewhere…

        • Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 months ago

          Wouldn’t even tiny panels help to some degree? My calculator has a tiny strip at the top that doesn’t add a significant weight and powers it.

          Presumably with lurk it would just be sitting there for days so even a small not heavy panel could be of some use.

        • NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          What about landing the drones in a hung position between exposed electrical power transmission wires? Like lurking death bats.

          Unlimited lurk time, and they could just activate and be flown off home if the power goes out for too long.

          They would need a way of lowering the input voltage, but it can probably be done.

          • reddithalation@sopuli.xyz
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            3 months ago

            there is a demo for powerline maintenance that does just that! it only needs to hang on to one wire too. quite a bit bigger than the fpv attack drones ukraine is using though.

            • NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              That’s awesome confirmation. It’s able to pull 50 W of power just off of one wire. The clamp mechanism is a bit big, but it can probably be left behind when it goes after a target.

              The future is going to be scary.

    • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Vast majority of battery drain comes from the motors. The camera could run for hours

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      LOL, while you’re dreaming up evil ideas, some simple brown camouflage would help as well.

      White on the bottom so it’s hard to see from underneath, brown on top so it blends with the ground from above. Like a fish,