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Flock's fastest-growing business is 60 mph police drones that can read license plates from the sky (www.techspot.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
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Privacy groups warn that flying plate readers could expand surveillance far beyond roadside cameras.

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[–] 11 points 1 month ago (5 children)

eBay has drones for like $12. It’d be a bummer if they accidentally bumped into each other.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

    Those 12 dollar ones are less than 100 grams and are using WiFi and would not really put a dent in that drone. Maybe you fan fly it at the props of the survalience drone, but I doubt you can even reach the altitude the survalience drones where meant to run on. Micro drones are actually the best to learn on because they're so light its much harder to crash them. Once you are over 100-250 grams the force of the impact of a crash is much higher.

    You need a 5 inch frame, something that can use 4s, or 6s batteries that pull more amps. and you're gonna want fpv if youre doing dog fights. A decent 5 inch frame you build yourself is around 400 with the camera, transmitter, flight controller, motors, props, battery, etc. The radio and fpv head set you can get for maybe 200, but you really want spend around 600 for those. Youre gonna be over the 250 gram flight limit before you gotta start doing legal shit, but fuck the FAA.

    That and most of the "real" drones that arent just some bullshit dji consumer friendly drone don't fly easily. You get horizon, level, and acro. Acro is the mode you will actually use to fly, and you want at minimum a good 10-20 hours to be proficient enough to just hover/puts around without crashing. I'd say hitting another moving target is some where between 40-80 hours.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    But a small 100g drone can carry quite a bit of high tensile strength string... Let's see the big drone fly without it's propellers.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    You cap out at a very short range. Those police drones are meant to hover really high up, and they'll often have permissions to fly them above 400ft.

    I don't know the flock ones much I imagine they're very similar to the dji drones our police force have. They have a lot of power but its not for flying in acro mode or spending a lot of throttle to zip around its using its energy to fight massive winds you encounter the higher up you go.

    It can be a mildly windy day in your back yard and it dramatically changes your battery time. Most of any of the 100 or sub 100 gram tiny whoops get 3-4 minutes tops when you fly aggressively. I imagine flying full bore just to approach the survalience drone is going to drian the battery to the point its unusable before you reach it. You'll get major voltage drop and won't be able to fight the wind which absolutely bullies you.

    And all that is with a 580 battery which those drones kind of cap out at before weight becomes a issue. Most fly best in the 350-480 range which have 2-3 minute flight times. Even if you used fishing line that weighs nothing and try to tangle the props I still think you will have a hard time even reaching it. Just to ensure you have reliable video and ample range on your radio you probably end up spending 600+ dollars you might as well upgrade the drone too.

    I just don't think its pheasable. I'm sure there's someone that is god like on the sticks, and knows every single motor manufacturers and their specs could pull off something like this.

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