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eBee

Details

eBee is an ultralight fixed-wing drone designed for aerial imaging, mapping, and inspections. Just give the eBee an area to survey and it will plan, fly, capture images, and return to you—all by itself.

Creator
senseFly
Country
Switzerland 🇨🇭
Year
2012
Type
Aerospace, Research, Drones
Creator
senseFly
Country
Switzerland 🇨🇭
Year
2012
Type
Aerospace, Research, Drones

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Did You Know?

eBee has been used around the world, from Haitian villages to Swiss mountains to Australian bush lands.
eBee's pitot tube sensor lights up in different colors to indicate when it's running tests or ready for takeoff.
eBee is one of the first fixed-wing drones to extensively use optic flow sensors to follow terrain and land with precision.

Specs

FEATURES
Easy-to-use interface for planning mapping missions. Integrated ground distance sensor for precision landing. Fits in a carry-on suitcase.
HEIGHT
6 cm | 2.4 in
LENGTH
40 cm | 15.7 in
WIDTH
96 cm | 37.8 in
WEIGHT
0.67 kg | 1.48 lb (including battery and camera)
SPEED
65 km/h | 40 mph (top cruise speed)

SENSORS
Autopilot: three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope (for inertial stabilization), three-axis magnetometer, barometer, differential pressure sensor and pitot tube (airspeed), optic-flow-based ground sensor, and GPS. Payload: 16-megapixel camera.
ACTUATORS
Brushless DC motor for thrust, two servos for controlling ailerons.
POWER
1800-mAh lithium-polymer battery, 45 minutes of flight.
COMPUTING
On-board ARM Cortex M4 32-bit microcontroller. Full duplex 2.4-GHz wireless communication for telemetry and data logging (range of 3 km). Backup 2.4-GHz remote control (range of 1 km).
SOFTWARE
On-board: Custom software written in C for embedded microcontrollers. Ground station: eMotion 2 flight planning and monitoring; Terra3D image reconstruction software.
DEGREES OF FREEDOM (DOF)
N/A
MATERIALS
EPP foam body and wings, carbon fiber reinforcement.
COST
$20,000 (including drone, ground station software, imaging and mapping software, accessories)
STATUS
Ongoing
WEBSITE
http://www.sensefly.com

History

The technology behind senseFly's robots first emerged in 2001 at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), when researchers began investigating the control and navigation strategies of flying insects. This pioneering research led to the development of a highly integrated autopilot that used sensors and control strategies similar to those found in flies and bees. In late 2009, the researchers teamed up with a land surveying engineer and a test pilot to found senseFly. Their first product was the swinglet CAM, a 500-gram fully autonomous drone for high-resolution aerial imaging and mapping. The eBee is senseFly's latest ultralight drone. It can fly faster and with more precision, and fits inside a carry-on-sized suitcase.