Billed as a commercial-level aircraft, the H520 will include what company officials call “industry-first commercial-grade cameras and applications for high-end commercial use.”
“With its suite of advanced features, the H520 is dependable, reliable and capable of fulfilling virtually any commercial need,” said Yuneec CEO Yu Tian in a company press release.
“Pilots can fly with confidence knowing they have an array of camera options for a variety of situations and industry-leading safety features including intelligent obstacle navigation with Intel RealSense technology.”
To keep the drone safe, the H520 is painted “high-visibility, hazard orange” and can operate in emergencies with only five of six rotors.
Users of the H520 will have three camera options – the CGO-ET dual thermal RGB camera, CGO-CI seven-element inspection-ready camera and CGO-3+.
The CGO-ET is not – as the name may imply – designed for extraterrestrial search but rather for law-enforcement, search-and-rescue and the solar inspection market. Yuneec states the CGO-ET will boast the “industry’s first thermal and residual light combination.”
Meanwhile, the CGO-CI offers a longer field of vision perfect for broadcast, cinema, and vertical inspection markets. “CGO-CI’s … edge-to-edge distortion-free lens captures sharp, high-contrast imaging, which meets the needs of filmmakers and broadcast producers as it is the industry’s first long-focal lens camera,” a Yuneec spokesperson noted, adding that the camera can be upgraded to panoramic shooting, burst, time-lapse and metering modes.
The H520’s Android-based, ST16 controller, features a 7-inch integrated display with 720p HD video downlink for real-time video reception, and an HDMI uplink for distribution to external monitors. The new model will be available for purchase within the next three months with prices ranging from $2,499-$4,499.
As is true for most large drone companies, CES serves as a high-visibility launching pad for Yuneec. At CES 2016, the Chinese company unveiled the Typhoon H, a six-rotor model that boasted preprogrammed flight patterns like Orbit and Follow Me, retractable landing gear, a 4K camera, and geofencing.
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
Beginning his career as a journalist in 1996, Jason has since written and edited thousands of engaging news articles, blog posts, press releases and online content.
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