The Flying Sun 1000 changes the game for nighttime operations, suggests Freefly Systems, which announced the new drone system with the observation that “Sometimes a flashlight just isn’t enough,” Featuring a luminous characteristic that leaves other searchlights in the dust with a mind boggling 300,000-lumen of lighting power, this flying beauty is designed to transform the darkest scenarios into broad daylight, enabling the perfect solution for search-and-rescue efforts, construction sites, emergency situations, and more!
Enter Freefly Systems’ Alta X heavy lift quadcopter, a stout workhorse with a reputation for versatility and efficiency. One key feature to note about the Alta X is its inches foldable gimbaled, vibration-damping propellers that absorb shock during flight, thereby improving flight stability that allows users to mount payload of up to 33 pounds (15 kg) on it. The type of drone is highly practical to operate by a single person, taking just minutes to deploy, a stark difference compared to traditional crane-mounted floodlights.
The Flying Sun 1000’s unusual lighting configuration is what makes it stand out. It consists of 288 downward-facing LEDs, arranged in four panels of 72 lights each. These LEDs emit a focused 60-degree spotlight, and its brightness and coverage increase with altitude. Flying at 100 feet (30.5 meters) lights about 14,000 square feet (1,301 square meters) to an intensity of 10 foot-candles enough for most night outdoor work. However, at higher altitudes like 316 feet (96 m), the coverage extends significantly to 137,000 square feet (12,728 square meters), but with a lower brightness level of 1 foot-candle.
The engineering brilliance continues beyond lighting. Freefly Systems also included a neat cooling feature: The airflow generated by the drone’s rotors helps shroud the LEDs, keeping them from overheating and extending their life to thousands of hours. This capability is essential for missions that require high reliability and minimal downtime.
But powering such an intense of lighting is no easy task. The Flying Sun 1000 burns about 10 times as much energy as the Alta X, which will do 20 to 50 minutes of flight time on its dual 16-Ah lithium-ion battery packs. The system can run at full brightness on battery power for just 5 to 10 minutes. To reduce that constraint, Freefly Systems added a tethering option to the drone to connect it to some outside power source (think portable generators or electric vehicles). When in tethered mode, the drone can hover indefinitely, thus effectively acting as a persistent overhead floodlight a capability that could potentially be beneficial for long-running rescue efforts or involved nighttime repairs in out-of-the-way places.
The Flying Sun 1000 is more than just purely functional; it also addresses many common problems with ground-based lighting fixtures. Conventional portable lights create contrasting glares and exaggerated shadows, which can impede workers’ vision. Conversely, with the overhead perspective of the Flying Sun 1000, diffuse illumination minimizes distortions and enables much simpler tasks like providing assistance on the road, performing infrastructure assessments or just general construction.
Yet with a $59,995 price tag, the long-range system’s found its home in the commercial and government sectors, but Freefly Systems also sells a stripped-down Flying Sun 500 for $49,995. While the Flying Sun 500 lacks some power, it still projects a lot of light, making it a perfectly acceptable option for budget-sensitive teams.
The Flying Sun 1000 already has industries buzzing. Its portability, rapid setup and ability to be powered from multiple sources make it a useful tool for professionals from search-and-rescue to filmmakers. Furthermore, its capacity to hover over any landscape without interference may change the game for nighttime operations in rugged areas.
The potential to transform nighttime operations is becoming clearer, as Freefly Systems prepares shipments of the Flying Sun 1000 kits this month. A revolutionary new drone that can illuminate disaster sites and extend additional security lightingThis airlight has a massive leap to the next generation of drones. The Flying Sun 1000 is not only a tool for tech enthusiasts and industry professionals alike, but also a peek into the future of persistent overhead lighting.
Flying Sun 1000 is a great example of how design innovations may help solve challenges in the actual world. As Freefly Systems saltily put it, “Sometimes a flashlight just isn’t enough.” In fact, this drone is showing that sometimes you just need to turn night into day.
