DJI's latest enterprise-grade drone, the Matrice 400, is seriously specced for all kinds of heavy-duty tasks. Aimed at construction crews, infrastructure planning agencies, and emergency response teams, the flagship model can fly for a whopping 59 minutes, and boasts a payload capacity of 13 lb (6 kg).
That's up from the previous Matrice 350's 55-minute flight time and 6 lb (2.7 kg) capacity. The updated drone manages speeds of up to 25 m/s (56 mph). The max payload will naturally reduce the Matrice 400's flight time to about 31 minutes, but that's still plenty impressive, especially given that the drone itself is heavier than the 350 at 21.4 lb (9.7 kg).
As with the older model, this baby can soar through the skies in dust and rain thanks to an IP55 rating, and it will survive temperatures from -4 °F to 122 °F (-20 ° C to 50 °C). An array of LiDAR and vision sensors helps it detect a range of obstacles in the air even in darkness – including power lines – and hover stably near buildings without bumping into them.
Drones like this one are built for a variety of tasks, including surveillance, search and rescue operations, and monitoring crowds. In industrial settings, it comes in handy for inspecting power lines, wind turbines, and oil pipelines, as well as surveying construction sites and locations for infrastructure like bridges and cell towers.
As such, it supports a bunch of accessories, like a multi-camera module, a mapping camera for collecting geospatial data, and powerful lights and loudspeakers. It can beam video to a base station 25 miles (40 km) away or act as a relay for another drone.
The Matrice 400 can automatically follow power lines for inspection, use a thermal camera to detect ships in the water and measure the distance between them, and take off or land on moving vessels. Search and rescue operations that take longer than an hour can be aided by a tethered battery for extended hovering.
DJI hasn't revealed what this will cost in the US, but a basic combo that includes the drone and the RC Plus 2 Enterprise Enhanced remote control works out to £11,250 (about US$15,200) in the UK. That's actually a few hundred bucks less than the Matrice 350's currently listed price. Of course, expect to shell out plenty more for accessories: the Zenmuse P1 gimbal-equipped video camera for aerial surveying costs an extra $8,235, for example.
Check out the Matrice 400 over on DJI's website.
Source: DJI