For the first time, Shenzhen hosted the International Unmanned Vehicle systems fair and we were lucky enough to be invited to attend. It is geared towards governments and industrial companies and it is amazing to see the differences between consumer-grade multicopters and big-budget corporations.
Things we were excited to see.
Our sourcing team still found value in the few consumer-grade booths and they were straight into talking business. We found;
- The Walkeria Runner 320
- Yunecc Gimbals and Quads
- A self-folding quad
All of these are highly likely to be stocked by us.
Awesome things we will never sell
We are not the main audience for this tradeshow so we found a ton of big stuff and brands we have never heard of before, surprisingly still many are battery-powered. Filter through the sections below to see the latest ways UAV’s help us work better.
Car launchpads
Who needs a runway when you can launch your plane from your roof
Simple crop spraying multicopters
The concept is simple and the designs are also simple, these carry liquid chemicals and allows you to spray your fields similar to how a real manned crop sprayer operates, there were not any visible signs of controllers however I did spot a Futaba receiver on one of them, so they are electronically operating on familiar ground.
Beyond consumer video
The cameras on offer here span from standard HD video to laser scanning 3D geographic cameras that actually map out the area in 3D.
Real “Drones”
The military and spy style drones were available here, sadly only miniature models were on display tho so we never saw the real deal.
Insanely light inflatable Planes
We are not too sure on the application for these or if they are even really working, this barebone booth had 3 inflatable planes, we did see servos on the ailerons so are curious if we see this company further developing their air concept.
The controllers
Flying these larger machines requires a lot more precision, not only are they easily able to chop your hand off they also are going to cost a lot to fix. Advanced UAV controls are closer to a pilot’s cockpit than the usual transmitter and would require a lot of training prior to flight. Some of the booths were dedicated to controllers only and some had various options for their own multicopters, Ewatt even had a van command station that two people can operate.
The pros use 433mHz
Forget 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz, the way these UAV’s get really long-range is through 433mhz frequency control systems. One of the systems by Garrett claims up to 10km range with their extended-range 433MHz interface.
How much do these cost?
We asked a few booths on prices of some of their items and I gauge about $15,000, for most of these standard low-end ones, on the high end we didn’t ask but am sure it easily creeps up to 100,000 and beyond for those ones with fancy control stations and thermal vision video.
Not many if any were flying out the door, it looked like a tiny crowd actually attended when we were there and for a Chinese trade fair, it seemed dead.
If you are looking to add some big boys to your portfolio you are going to have to go next year and smuggle one into your country, for the latest easy to grab flying machines browse our multicopter hangar.
English 
Français 
Español 
Deutsch 