Sometimes a flashlight just isn't enough. The Flying Sun 1000 drone system was designed with that fact in mind, as it uses 288 airborne LEDs to light up the night like the alien mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Manufactured by Washington-state-based drone company Freefly Systems, the Flying Sun 1000 kit is built around the firm's existing Alta X heavy-lift quadcopter.
Featuring special vibration-damping propellers that fold in when not in use, the aircraft can lift payloads of up to 15 kg (33 lb). In non-Flying-Sun applications, one charge of its two 16-Ah lithium battery packs is claimed to be good for 20 to 50 minutes of flight time, depending on payload weight.
The Flying Sun 1000 package adds four 72-LED lighting panels to the undersides of the Alta X's propeller arms. Those 288 downward-facing lights have a combined output of 300,000 lumens, brightly illuminating the ground below for applications such as construction, security, search and rescue, emergency response, and film/television production.
Needless to say, the projected 60-degree spotlight gets wider but weaker the higher the drone is hovering. At an altitude of 316 ft (96 m), for instance, the illuminated area has a radius of 137,000 sq ft (12,728 sq m) but an intensity of just 1 foot candle. At the other end of the scale, though, an altitude of 100 ft (30.5 m) produces a 14,000-sq-ft (1,301-sq-m) spotlight at 10 foot candles.
Of course, all those LEDs draw a lot of power. For that reason, the package includes a reeled electrical cable that allows the drone/lights to be powered by an electric vehicle, portable generator, or some other external power source for as long as needed. We're told that the setup can alternatively run solely on the drone's own battery power if need be, for approximately five to 10 minutes.
Whichever the case, the whole shebang can reportedly be deployed by one person in just a few minutes.
The Flying Sun 1000 package is available now for preorder, and should ship in June. And with a price tag of US$59,995, it's definitely aimed at commercial and/or government use. A lower-specc'd Flying Sun 500 kit is also available, although it'll still set you back $49,995.
Source: Freefly Systems
