cinemizer in Alps croing: ZEI cinemizer OLED aids record-breaking microdrone flight acro the Alps

OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 16.08.2013.

The ZEISS cinemizer has been used to set a new record by an unmanned quadcopter flight. The cinemizer OLED was used to help navigate a quadcopter on a 12-kilometre route from Hospental to Airolo, over the Alps.

A strategically positioned ground crew had a first-person's-view of the quadcopters flight, which was captured by a video camera attached to the microdrone and then streamed to the cinemizer via a video receiver. The team were able to look out for potential dangers during the flight and could step in and control the aircraft should an obstacle have arisen. The exercise was part of a campaign to champion how unmanned aerial vehicles can be useful in civilian roles of search and rescue. The crossing was organised by microdrones GmbH.

The flight over the Saint-Gotthard Massif took 18 months of planning. The journey took 25 minutes, with the quadcopter climbing to 5,000 feet to reach its destination. Although the flight was autonomous, it beamed live images to a series of ZEISS equipped ground crews driving by in Mercedes-Benz AMG support vehicles that Daimler AG had made available. A support crew was following in a helicopter as backup operators in case any event where human interaction would have been necessary. Watching through the cinemizer head-mounted video displays, they could get a copter's-eye-view of the route and watch for any problems.

This flight marked the first time the cinemizer has been used in a record-breaking mission. The cinemizer offers users a first-person-view of the flight as if they were on-board flying the quadcopter themselves. The first-person-view allows pilots on the ground to watch out for potentially treacherous or dangerous obstacles that could affect the flight. The benefits of viewing such video on the cinemizer is that a pilot can be fully immersed in the video stream as opposed to being open to distractions when watching from a traditional screen. The recently launched cinemizer eyeshield further reduces distractions by blocking out any stray light entering the cinemizer screens which could result in glare and a loss of vision for the pilot., product manager of the cinemizer said, We are proud that the cinemizer has been used in this record breaking mission. We believe that unmanned copters offer great potential for saving life, by putting a machine somewhere too dangerous to risk the lives of fire-fighters, mountain rescue personnel and many other scenarios. This crossing showed that the cinemizer development has built a product that can truly perform.

The company behind the journey, microdrones had already set a record at the start of 2012 when the company flew the md4-1000 for 88 minutes, without outside intervention. Microdones CEO Sven Juerss explained, "These endurance tests are very important. It is often forgotten that microdrones are often used to help in catastrophes or to further science. And in such cases, endurance, durability and reliability are of paramount importance."

)

The ZEISS cinemizer OLED with headtracker next to the microdrones md4-1000 before the historic crossing of the Alps.

The camera operator can remotely view from the on-board camera on the quadcopter, watching for obstacles and dangerous weather.

LINK:	http://applications.zeiss.com/C1256A770030BCE0/WebViewTopNewsAllE/498F...
	See more stories from zeiss

Most recent headlines