• Jocker@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    This is a loser’s game US is playing. Historically it used to innovate above the rest, now “we ban them, because their tech better”

    • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      5 months ago

      Oh no! The USA will fall behind in terms of expensive hobbies unless it can make their own plastic toys for lonely adults! /s

      • Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Yea, there is absolutely no reason to have a good drone industry at all. In Ukraine for example they don’t use any drones. /s

      • JayleneSlide@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        This “lonely adult” uses drones for aerial mapping and survey. This Summer’s huge project is a workflow I developed to map the extent of PacNW bull kelp forests in order to provide year-over-year health metrics. Using sUAS for this is way more automated, economical, repeatable, and granular than using airplanes and satellites, therefore within reach of those communities monitoring kelp health.

        DJI hits the sweet spot of capabilities, compatibility, and cost. Skydio (go USA!) has abandoned the consumer/enthusiast market that built their business. And even before they turned their back on the consumer market, Skydio couldn’t come close to DJI’s hardware. Additionally, Skydio, in true capitalist fashion, locked capabilities away behind software licenses, capabilities that are already built into the drone.

        It’s important for countries to have domestic drone manufacturing in the current conditions. But the USA’s actions here smack of protecting companies that just can’t hang.

          • JayleneSlide@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Oh, right! I forgot about all of the LIDAR-equipped planes in maritime communities! Those are way more economical to fly than any sUAS. /s in case that wasn’t obvious.

            In case you, or anyone else, were vaguely interested in learning:

            -kelp extent mapping needs to be done in repeatable fashion, specifically at low tide; we can put up an sUAS any time

            -the communities most in need of monitoring absolutely cannot afford to send planes up monthly

            -many of the kelp beds in the PacNW are in restricted airspace; it is much easier to get an FAA clearance to perform low-altitude surveys using sUAS

            -that restricted airspace I mentioned? Some of these kelp beds are on approach paths for the airspace. Even if a plane were the preferred choice for surveying, the planes are unable to fly in the pattern we need

            -(drifting a touch off your point of LIDAR-equipped planes) satellite imagery with the required resolution is prohibitively expensive

            -most construction projects wouldn’t use a plane for tasks such as volumetric or area analysis

            Consumer drones are quickly becoming the preferred, economical means for kelp health analysis, especially for communities that can’t afford planes or purchasing satellite imagery.

            • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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              5 months ago

              I am in fact not interested in the hobbies of people who defend companies like DJI, TikTok, Kapersky, etc.

      • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Capitalists hate competition.

        Competition for the labor market on the other hand? Hell yeah fucking let’s use slaves in a prison or other country!