The EVO II Professional Overview All the things You Must Know

The deep dive evaluate on EVO II Professional and EVO II Twin 640 T.

Enterprise Drones the (W)Proper Method

by Paul Rossi, DRONELIFE Contributor and Chief Operations Officer and Chief Pilot at 9 Ten Drones.

In September, Autel Robotics shipped the primary EVO II Professional and EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise Bundles to distributors and resellers throughout america of America. In 2021 Enterprise drones definitely noticed a lot consideration from producers however none stepped up and delivered in addition to Autel Robotics. I’ve had the chance to fly the EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise quite a few occasions with 9 Ten Drones and I’m most impressed with the Good Controller V2 and the standard of the 640*512 InfiRay thermal sensor which has change into the usual for integration into Thermal Enterprise UAS. 

EVO II Enterprise Fashions

EVO II Enterprise Professional (6K) – Video Manufacturing, Images, Mapping, 3D Modeling and Inspections

• Sony IMX383 1” CMOS Picture Sensor

EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise – Asset/Infrastructure Inspections, Public Security and Wildlife Administration

• Sony IMX586 1/2” CMOS Sensor

• • Mounted Aperture: f/1.8
  • 4x Lossless Zoom / 16x Digital Zoom
  • Shoot as much as 8K Video

• InfiRay 640×512 Thermal Core

• Vanadium Oxide Uncooled 
• Radiometric Capabilities
• 16x Digital Zoom
• Night time flight display recording

The Enterprise Drone

Each fashions of the EVO II Enterprise line leverage the identical plane physique with solely the digital camera payloads various between them. The “Professional” model carries a excessive decision 1” sensor nice for pictures and videography functions, the “Twin 640T” sports activities the side-by-side excessive decision 640 thermal sensor subsequent to the 1/2“ visible sensor making it a go-to for industrial/public security functions. The EVO II Enterprise remains to be light-weight, compact and shiny orange. (Over the previous couple months prospects have requested for a darker or lighter model that doesn’t scream “AUTEL’S BRAND COLOR IS ORANGE!!!!”) 

The plane physique is roughly the dimensions of your common grownup shoe when folded for transport. The arms and props have each seen a rise in total size nonetheless the drone itself nonetheless covers a really small footprint. The newly engineered arms are longer, fabricated from carbon fiber and formed like an airfoil or “teardrop”. Gone is the inflexible, “rectangular” form that most certainly created pointless induced drag throughout flight. Longer propellers have been built-in with the brand new arms as effectively which can have an extra optimistic impression resulting in the prolonged flight occasions.

Weighing proper at 2.5 kilos with the clever flight battery put in, this drone checks all of the packing containers for portability. The EVO II comes geared up with omnidirectional impediment detection which incorporates 12 visible sensors in addition to 2 ultrasonic sensors on the underside of the drone. Due to the drones small measurement you’ll be able to simply launch and recuperate it with no need very a lot house, if any in any respect when hand launching and recovering. The plane consists of 8GB of inner cupboard space for these flights once you fill your SD card however nonetheless must seize extra content material earlier than touchdown.

Included with the EVO II Enterprise Bundles are the Searchlight, Speaker and Strobe Gentle attachments which help an array of enterprise flight operations to incorporate evening ops, search and rescue missions, over watch and extra.

Battery Efficiency

Autel is constant to show their want to maintain pilots within the air longer by offering a drone that packs extra flight time per battery than every other COTS system, promoting as much as 42 minutes of flight with a single EVO II battery in no wind circumstances with out equipment connected. After a number of check flights on the 9 Ten Drones coaching facility in Fayetteville, NC we now have averaged a max flight time of 36 minutes and 48 seconds nearly all the time in circumstances with winds between 5-20 miles per hour. In every of our check flights we flew the EVO II battery all the way down to the purpose at which the EVO II Twin 640T was forcing a touchdown. This occurred frequently with 2:00 minutes of flight time left (all the way down to roughly 5-6% battery).

36 to 37 minutes of flight is roughly a 3 minutes improve when in comparison with the EVO II non enterprise version drones and this improve is due largely to the design adjustments made to the plane arms and propellers. With this prolonged flight time you’ll be able to examine extra utilities or search longer for a lacking or wished particular person. After flying the EVO II battery down to five% it took over 110 minutes to totally recharge the battery to 100%. 

The Enterprise Bundle consists of three(3) batteries and a battery charging hub that may permit operators to cost as much as 4(4) batteries directly utilizing a “trickle” cost methodology that’s good for in a single day however not best for fast charging within the discipline. Further batteries will price $219 with the Enterprise Bundle affording pilots the flexibility to fly effectively over 90 minutes with out the necessity for charging.

Good Controller V2

I fell in love with this distant from the second I first noticed it in Atlanta, GA at AUVSI Xponential, proper outdoors the resort the Autel staff was staying at. When the brand new enterprise case was wheeled up and flipped open it was unimaginable to not see the massively good V2 Good Controller staring me within the face. Really it was me staring me within the face as I used to be taking a look at my very own reflection on the enormous display. Primarily based on the dimensions of the distant I used to be anticipating it to be heavy, cumbersome and uncomfortable to function based mostly on earlier expertise with different equally designed merchandise. Upon greedy the distant I discovered the dimensions to weight to consolation ratio was good. The included harness makes prolonged flight operations simple on the pilots’ arms, shoulders, neck and again by lowering the stress and pressure that may create long run bodily well being considerations.

The EVO II Enterprise Good Controller V2 is probably the most ergonomically designed drone distant controller I’ve ever flown with. It comes with a built-in 7.9” display that may assist any operator examine finer particulars, find topics extra simply and preserve the motion in body. The inbuilt display is nice for these occasions when you find yourself making an attempt to get your drone up quick to answer an emergency scenario or your cellphone isn’t an out there possibility. Total in comparison with different drones out there the distant has probably the most business/enterprise really feel of every other available on the market and it takes the EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise Bundle to the following degree. For 99% of drone operators the Good Controller V2 will work very effectively. Autel is answering the requests of so many pilots by offering the best high quality distant as an ordinary within the Enterprise lineup.

This trade main good controller homes a 2000nit display that’s twice as shiny because the closest competitor’s distant controller. Drone operators should keep Visible Line of Sight (VLOS) always throughout flight operations underneath Half 107 rules whereas performing because the Distant Pilot in Command (RPIC) and will not have the flexibility to face within the shade, working solely on cloudy days or use a VO whereas flying. The super-bright display permits any pilot to function the EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise whereas standing in direct daylight on the brightest of days.

The good controller battery has an marketed battery lifetime of 4.5 hours. From in discipline operations we now have discovered the controller to run constantly for effectively over 4 hours on a single battery cost. Charging the good controller is completed in simply over 2 hours utilizing the supplied USB-C cable and energy brick that are rated for “quick charging”. If utilizing different USB-C cables you might discover that charging occasions take effectively over 2 hours.

Autel is advertising and marketing video transmission so far as 8.08 miles, similar to what rivals are presently providing. Throughout testing, 9 Ten Drones discovered a max transmission distance of 0.7 miles whereas working at 400’ above floor degree (AGL) in a suburban neighborhood close to a principal street lined with business companies. With that being stated we had no points with connectivity whereas conducting an array of economic and leisure operations inside visible line of sight. The operational vary of the distant will range relying upon the situation you might be working in.

With HDMI, USB-A and USB-C output ports customers have a number of choices to dwell stream video to a number of sources outdoors of the pilot’s fast space of operation. One other commonplace launched by Autel with the Good Controller is SMA connectors that permit for straightforward substitute or improve to 3rd social gathering options that permit elevated vary for command and management functions. 

128GB of inner reminiscence will permit you to retain essential knowledge for prolonged intervals whereas by no means lacking a chance to gather imagery or video that your group wants. A preloaded display recording software permits person to file hours of flight footage for retention and academic/coaching functions.

Distant Professional Tip: 1/4” threading has been designed straight into the bottom of the Good Controller permitting for very simple tripod mounting utilizing any commonplace 1/4″ fast launch plate or different mounting system. 

The Autel Robotics staff has definitely stepped up and introduced the EVO II distant to the following degree, worthy of the “Enterprise” product line label. Going ahead we are able to solely hope that producers is not going to observe the precedent of releasing new drones with the previous drones distant. With that being stated, throughout the writing of this evaluate, we did see the Sith Overlords launch their newest and biggest skilled sequence drone with a leisure high quality distant controller.

Dwell Deck V2 or Autel Skycommand Heart

To this point we now have been knowledgeable by a number of sources at Autel Robotics {that a} Dwell Deck V2 is within the works for the EVO II Enterprise line, nonetheless a launch date has not been set as a result of “Chip Scarcity of 2021”.

The Dwell Deck V2 by Autel will permit enterprise drone operators to show actual time video footage from the EVO II enterprise drones on a Home windows or Mac pc, smartphone, TV/monitor or over your native community. The Dwell Deck V2 might be an ideal addition for people working within the public security, business and training sectors. 

At present not one of the different UAS producers are offering a dwell streaming resolution to help UAS groups throughout bigger, extra complicated operations so the introduction of the Dwell Deck V2 or different dwell streaming resolution is a should… “Autel Skycommand Heart” has proven up on the Official Autel Robotics web site and will very effectively be the longer term for livestreaming with Autel drones. The corporate is infamous for posting content material on their web site months upfront of any formal announcement… ***Cough, cough, Dragonfish, cough***

Flying the EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise

The EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise plane is simple to function and you would even say enjoyable due to the 7.9” distant display. The Autel Explorer flight software is simple to navigate and overlays all of the necessary data wanted for protected flying, straight on prime of the digital camera’s dwell feed. Autel has launched this enterprise product with all the “Good” Flight Modes drone pilots have come to depend on. 9 Ten Drones flew the Twin 640T in all the 10+ clever flight modes, beneath are hyperlinks to some display recordings that showcase its capabilities:

Dynamic Monitor 

 

Viewpoint 

 

Good Orbit 

The EVO II Twin 640T flew very effectively in winds as much as 25mph in testing with no points holding place or having the drone function on its supposed course. This plane isn’t the one you can be utilizing to win your subsequent FPV race or to seize footage on your subsequent Hollywood movie. What it is possible for you to to do is seize the prime quality visible and thermal knowledge within the type of photographs and movies that may provide help to or your group accomplish greater than ever earlier than within the public security, development, utilities, roofing and different industries that depend on thermal knowledge units for fulfillment. 

The extra you fly the extra it would be best to see. The 8x digital zoom(4x loseless) functionality of the EVO II Twin 640 T will allow you and your group to see and determine stuff you beforehand missed in actual time. An enormous advantage of the zoom characteristic is permitting pilots to take care of a protected standoff distance from obstacles whereas getting a better take a look at the topic in body.

The “Image in Image” functionality that overlays the thermal picture on the visible picture is recreation altering when flying your drone throughout the day for the aim of capturing thermal knowledge. This superior imaging functionality has solely been out there on {hardware} exceeding twice the price of the EVO II Twin 640T up till now. 

When flying at evening the massive 7.9” show with adjustable brightness makes simple work of finding the smallest of topics within the darkest areas. On this video clip we had been capable of spot a small rabbit at an altitude of 190’ AGL:

Mapping & 3D Modeling

The photographs you seize with the EVO II Enterprise drones will be become excessive decision 2D maps and 3D fashions utilizing photogrammetry software program, SkyeBrowse or Pix4D are each working choices along with the native Autel software. With the mission planning software program included within the Autel Explorer software you’ll be able to simply seize the overlapping imagery required to create each maps and fashions. 

The Professional mannequin will produce a really excessive decision map or mannequin even at as much as 400ft above floor degree due to the 1” CMOS sensor that may seize excessive decision particulars with its 20 million efficient pixels. Whereas the 640T Twin mannequin carries the decrease decision 12 megapixel sensor it can nonetheless carry out very effectively when mapping and/or modeling at or beneath altitudes 250ft above floor degree.

Here’s a hyperlink to a 3D mannequin created utilizing photographs captured with the Autel EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise and processed with DroneDeploy by 9 Ten Drones – https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/frippin-research-house-autel-evo-ii-enterprise-3701136e2e9c4074ba098d4d872f40d7

Autel IR PC Software

The EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise carries a payload with the InfriRay 640×512 Radiometric sensor able to capturing excessive decision thermal pictures with temperature knowledge assigned to every pixel and saved for future evaluation both on or off web site.

Utilizing the free to obtain Autel IR PC Software (out there just for Home windows gadgets) you’ll be able to conduct detailed publish processing on all thermal pictures you seize. Add and examine the pictures an infinite variety of occasions and compile simple to export reviews that may enhance your workflow and enhance communication between all events concerned almost about repairs, upkeep and resolution making.

The Autel IR PC Software will permit you and your group to carry out higher on-site with the flexibility to verify, deny or additional evaluate nearly instantaneously within the discipline whereas additionally rising the capabilities of off-site personnel to help the organizations on-site efforts. 

This video walkthrough the capabilities of the Autel IR PC Software:

Obtain the Autel IR PC Software right here – https://auteldrones.com/pages/evo-ii-downloads

“Rugged Bundle” – The Normal

Autel has made the choice to solely promote the EVO II Enterprise line in a “fly extra combo” that features a complete of three (3) clever flight batteries, a battery charging hub able to charging as much as 4 batteries directly and a tough case. This transition to a extra strong enterprise product is 100% consistent with what we see our enterprise shoppers asking for, a drone with the equipment wanted to achieve success.

A profitable drone program requires batteries in an effort to preserve your drone within the air offering you and your staff the information you want. Having a complete of three batteries will preserve you within the air longer and the enterprise onerous case is right for safeguarding your organization’s property.

Pricing Breakdown (approximate, as of date of publication)

EVO II Enterprise Professional (6K) – $4,250

• EVO II Enterprise Professional Plane
• 7.9” Good Distant Controller
• Clever Flight Battery x 3
• Strobe Gentle
• Speaker
• Search Gentle
• Charging Hub
• Battery Charger
• Distant Harness
• Spare Propellers
• Charging/Machine Cables
• Enterprise Arduous Case

EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise – $9,200

• EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise Plane
• 7.9” Good Distant Controller
• Clever Flight Battery x 3
• Strobe Gentle
• Speaker
• Search Gentle
• Charging Hub
• Battery Charger
• Distant Harness
• Spare Propellers
• Charging/Machine Cables
• Enterprise Arduous Case

EVO II Clever Battery – $219.00

Grading the EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise

Autel Robotics has launched two nice platforms that may assist many people take their drone operations to the following degree and in addition assist extra people, companies and organizations start to leverage drones. The EVO II Enterprise Bundles are pushing the trade ahead with elevated flight time, excessive decision visible/thermal sensors at an inexpensive worth. In case you are presently seeking to choose up a drone for skilled, business and/or enterprise functions I extremely advocate you think about the EVO II Professional or Twin 640T Enterprise platforms.

My total grade for the Autel Robotics EVO II Twin 640T Enterprise is an A- based mostly on total flight efficiency, high quality of merchandise included, complete price and ease of use. There may be little room for enchancment and I consider we are going to see motion in a optimistic path from Autel  in 2022.