With a Modular Design and Unmatched Battery Life, the Highdra Provides Value-Efficient Flexibility for Surveying, Filming, and Mapping Tasks
by DRONELIFE Employees Author Ian J. McNabb
German drone developer Starcopter not too long ago unveiled the Highdra, a 6-rotor commercial-focused UAV bought through an modern flight-hours pricing mannequin that makes it one of the vital cost-effective, highly effective options out there available on the market. DroneLife obtained up shut and private with the Starcopter at INTERGEO, the place the Braunschweig-based firm described the Highdra and gave DroneLife some insights into what makes them completely different from their rivals.
With a singular, automotive-inspired 6-battery array system and structure, Starcopter advertises its unmatched cost lifetime, retaining the Highdra airloft even after many rivals would flip their batteries into e-waste. Add in totally tool-less dis-and-re-assembly and a compact design that may match into the trunk of a automotive, and the Highdra appears completely designed for a variety of purposes, particularly contemplating its versatile, mission-driven modular payload system.
Whereas they’re nonetheless just a little cagey on technical specs, together with weight and flight time, DroneLife was advised the Highdra is able to a variety of surveying, filming, and mapping purposes.
Based on their web site, “We don’t solely develop the most recent drone know-how, but additionally supply a choice of state-of-the-art sensors because the payload. Whether or not the most recent lidar from CHCNAV or a 150MP digital camera from PhaseOne or an infrared digital camera from Workswell – your software defines the sensor.”
As a substitute of creating the German-made Highdra out there as a standalone product, Starcopter has honed in on a drone-as-a-service mannequin, pricing per-project. With their very own pilots, drones, and sensor pods, as an alternative of buying an (extraordinarily) costly business drone for a corporation, Starcopter took inspiration from airplane engines, which aren’t priced per-unit, as an alternative being priced by flight hour. This makes the Highdra a terrific resolution for firms that don’t at all times want a drone, however may use one for sure tasks.
Based on the workers DroneLife talked to in Stuttgart, they put their minimal pricing right down to round €100 per flight hour (round $110), placing a robust UAV into the arms of consumers at an unmatched value level. Extra particular venture pricing is obtainable upon request.
For extra info on Starcopter and the Highdra, click on right here.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, knowledgeable drone companies market, and a fascinated observer of the rising drone trade and the regulatory atmosphere for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles targeted on the business drone house and is a world speaker and acknowledged determine within the trade. Miriam has a level from the College of Chicago and over 20 years of expertise in excessive tech gross sales and advertising for brand spanking new applied sciences.
For drone trade consulting or writing, Electronic mail Miriam.
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