Earlier today, 7th May 2020, DJI released their new commercial drone – the Matrice 300 RTK and the Zenmuse H20 Series – a hybrid multi-sensor camera. The drone manufacturer announced that ‘they have engineered this all-in-one, high-tech solution to expand possibilities and exploit areas of work that have never been explored before, for precise aerial inspections and data collection missions.
Christina Zhang, Senior Director, Corporate Strategy at DJI commented:
“With the M300 RTK flying platform and the Zenmuse H20 camera series, we are providing a safer and smarter solution to our enterprise customers. This solution sets an entirely new standard for industrial UAV solutions, significantly enhancing operations across public safety, law enforcement, energy, surveying, and mapping as well as critical infrastructure inspections”.
Matrice 300 RTK Features
In DJI’s product announcement the following features of the Matrice 300 RTK were released:
- Data Acquisition: Combined, the M300 RTK and Zenmuse H20 Series solution offers users two intelligent ways to collect data.
- Smart Pin & Track: Intelligent functions that enhance synchronization of aerial intelligence in coordinated missions. It includes PinPoint, a function that allows users to mark the subject of interest and instantly share the precise location data to a second operator or if necessary to ground teams via DJI FlightHub; and Smart Track, which allows users to automatically detect and track a moving object, even at extreme distances, while synchronising the subject’s dynamic location in real time.
- Smart Inspection: A new set of features developed to optimize routine data collection missions such as power lines, railway and oil and gas inspections. It consists of Live Mission Recording for recording sample automated missions in real time; AI-Spot Check which enables data collection from exactly the same location every time, greatly improving the accuracy of automated missions. After photos from a sample waypoint inspection mission have been recorded, operators are able to mark the subject of interest. During subsequent automated flight missions, AI algorithms perform a comparison between the marked subject and current live view, thus correcting the camera orientation accordingly to deliver accurate and consistent results; and Waypoints 2.0 – an improved mission planning system offering up to 65,535 waypoints, while supporting an array of consecutive actions, 3rd party payloads, and more.
- Aviation-Grade Situational Awareness: Inspired by modern aircraft, the M300 RTK features a Primary Flight Display (PFD) that merges real-time flight and navigation data into one integrated display. Besides standard telemetry data like altitude and speed, the M300 RTK PFD provides obstacle data for visualising nearby obstacles during flight, enabling pilots to adjust flight trajectory if needed. These enhancements allow users to keep track of the aircraft while further enhancing the pilot’s situational awareness.
- More Power: New to DJI’s commercial drone platforms and exclusive to the M300 RTK, is Advanced Dual Operator Mode – multi-pilot control protocols that enable the execution of missions with enhanced safety, reliability, and flexibility. The M300 RTK, when controlled by two pilots, gives each pilot equal access to gain flight control priority, the transfer of which is displayed by a series of icons on the DJI Smart Controller Enterprise. Now, if one pilot becomes compromised or their controller loses battery or connection, the other pilot gains full control over the M300 RTK and its payloads. Additionally, when training new pilots, the teacher/main pilot can safely take over flight control – if and whenever necessary.
- Safety and Reliability: The M300 RTK comes with new and improved safety and reliability enhancements, including:
- AES-256 Encryption: for secure data transmission of the command & control uplink and video transmission downlink.
- AirSense (ADS-B technology): for enhanced airspace safety.
- Anti-Collision Beacon: for increased aircraft visibility, especially in low-light conditions.
- IP45 Protection Rating & Self-Heating Battery: for adverse weather conditions (-20 to 50° C).
- 6 Directional Sensing and Positioning System: offers a maximum detection range of up to 40 m horizontally, with options to customize the aircraft sensing behavior via DJI Pilot.
- The M300 RTK also offers an integrated UAV Health Management System (UHMS) to optimize fleet maintenance. It records the aircraft’s flight data throughout its entire lifecycle and utilizes the drone’s hardware and software systems to understand current aircraft performance and determine when it should be serviced. Taking advantage of this new system, users can get a quick overview of all critical aircraft systems, manage firmware updates across an entire fleet, track pilot hours and review flight missions.
Zenmuse H20 Series Features
The Zenmuse H20 series offers DJI’s first every Hybrid multi-sensor solution, allowing to capture any kind of images for industrial applications and public safety missions where efficient time management and immediate access to multiple layers of visions are paramount. The H20 series is IP44 rated which protects enclosuers from splashes of water from any direction. To fit the new standards set by the M300 RTK, DJI has unveiled the following features to radically improved mission efficiency:
- User Interface: To enable pilots to operate so many sensors at once, the accompanying DJI Pilot app interface had to be completely rethought. In just a few taps the new User Interface lets pilots quickly switch between cameras and simplifies the process of zooming in and out by letting pilots preview the zoom FOV on top of the wide angle or thermal camera footage.
- Flexibility: Thanks to its multi-sensor integrated UI design, the Zenmuse H20 series allows users to smoothly switch between wide, zoom or thermal cameras. Furthermore, it includes features for maximum flexibility when used on time sensitive missions. High-Res Grid Photo captures in one snap detailed imagery of defined subjects with the help of a custom grid. The images can be stored for later detailed inspection.
Price and Availability
The M300 RTK and Zenmuse H20 series are available for pre-order from official DJI Enterprise dealers and will start shipping in Q2 2020.