E-Drone Telephone Home

       New York  - Pilots of increasingly popular mini-copters (drones) have a tendency to crash into things like trees, houses, etc.  Drones require electronic (computerized) stabilization to remove some of what makes personal drones dangerous, or less safe. 
     Newer generation drones can do much of the flying themselves.  Applets (apps) can tell drones to take-off, follow flight plans, and land automatically, without human effort.  Drones require some practice to fly as a hobby and professional drone use is still in the future, but it is coming.  The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering rules that would require pilots of commercial drones to have a license, but that would not apply to consumers.  Some cities, and all United States national parks have banned drone flying, even recreational flight.  Piloting drones requires hours and hours of practice.  Autopilot drones can turn your smartphone into a joystick controller and can be told to fly to specific places.  Autopilot apps can also suggest manuevers, like having the drone circle a building while keeping its camera pointed at the building.  Without many hours of practice, that would be difficult to do using a traditional joystick controller.
     Some drones offer a feature known as 'Follow Me' mode.  When using Follow Me mode the drone tracks the location of your smartphone and will hover over you and your smartphone, wherever your smartphone is.  You select the altitude it follows you at.  Drones cannot sense and avoid objects and will crash into things that you have not programmed the drone to fly over.  Or, things that enter the drones flight path after the drone has launched and is on its way.  Follow Me mode still has some issues in the program that need to be improved.  Drones that leave the flight path you input are called rogues.  The phenomenon is known as 'fly-away'.  Smartphones transmit and receive with very low power.  If the GPS in the smartphone that is commanding the drone does not consistently track the location of the smartphone the drone can leave the flight path you put in.  When it leaves the flight path you input, the drone becomes vulnerable to crashing into objects it is not programmed to fly over.  Some drones have a feature that allows them to return home.  Return Home mode works, but flying in a crowded city is still very complicated. 
     Drones with Follow Me mode programmed into them are still expensive.  According to the WSJ, a good drone with Follow Me mode can cost as much as $2,900.  Some companies will not enable Follow Me mode until their drones can be programmed to avoid obstacles while flying on autopilot.  Drones that have autopilot take time to learn to pilot and drones that do not have autopilot take even more time to fly learn to fly.  See whole story, www.wsj.com.