Drone update

[JOhnGw]

We are going to have to be more demanding with politicians to make it clearly legal to be naked.  Otherwise we will be naked on video in court for "disturbing the peace" or some such charge if some idiot gets "offended."   I tend to ignore video because USUALLY nobody is watching or cares.  But the long term trend requires political activism.

Bob, I think you are probably right about that!
A silver lining of sorts?

Duane

Luckily, in the UK the Sexual Offences Act will probably cover you as the drone operator will have been guilty of voyeurism and probably also of contravening some of the air navigation regulations concerning unmanned aircraft.

[nuduke]

Perhaps if you can't beat 'em, join 'em? For example, Nuduke could scope out an entire area, ascertain that there is no none else in the greater vicinity and be free to have a nude drone session, or hike.
Jbee

Brilliant!  I hadn't thought of it that way!  An eye in the sky to check the coast is clear.  My interest is rekindled!
John

[nuduke]

Luckily, in the UK the Sexual Offences Act will probably cover you as the drone operator will have been guilty of voyeurism and probably also of contravening some of the air navigation regulations concerning unmanned aircraft.

Ah!  I hadn't thought about that either!!
But one can keep the drone below aviation height.  The voyeurism issue may be more food for thought.
John

[Peter S]

Interesting notion, John - is a naturist drone-spying on a textile a reverse-voyeur? An interesting conundrum, m'lud

[eyesup]

I wouldn't bother with all the gear for the same reason I never carried any kind of music device when hiking. It detracts from the reason I am there.

To get away from all that stuff!

Duane

[nuduke]

I wouldn't bother with all the gear for the same reason I never carried any kind of music device when hiking. It detracts from the reason I am there.
To get away from all that stuff!
Duane

Well quite so!  Well said.
John

[jbeegoode]

It is one thing to carry a burden when hiking. It is another to carry something a mile, give or take, stop and enjoy a spot, after parking the burden. So, I'd see myself lugging a super-light toy and its boxed guidance system, with a light bag for clothing and a snack, especially in a populous area, or one with trees. Remote controlled toys are fun.

Those drones can be weightless and with less bulk. There may be one that is a practical carry. One with a camera would make a kick-butt trip report video!
Jbee

[Peter S]

As they're all powered by rechargeable batteries, JB, you'd also need to be packing your solar-powered battery charger. And your laptop to download the video files of each flight. Super light is getting heavier, but you're right about the end result.

[eyesup]

The better the camera the more it weighs. The more onboard storage the more it weighs.
If you forgo the onboard storage and go for the realtime feed to a computer, you have to carry that.

As pjcomp said, it's getting heavier with more parts and devices to keep track of.

Duane

[Greenbare Woods]

The better the camera the more it weighs. The more onboard storage the more it weighs.
If you forgo the onboard storage and go for the realtime feed to a computer, you have to carry that.

Data storage keeps getting smaller.  The new 64 Gig chips are so small that they come with a larger holder that fits into the older ports.  64 G is no bigger than my finger nail, not as big as my thumb nail.  Its so thin and light its very easy to lose.  Probably now what I have one the industry is producing 250 G chips the same size.  That would record a lot of quality video. 

The realtime feed is another question.  Many drones need real time video feed to the controller for the pilot to manage the operation.  I suppose that is often separate from the direction changing camera underneath.  So that would be 2 real time video feeds.  I'm pretty sure that operation requires some kind of computer and video screen in the controller.  It could also be made to record. 

The market probably sells cheap toys without any video but you can't fly out of short range line of sight. 

As pjcomp said, it's getting heavier with more parts and devices to keep track of.
Duane

I'm not sure I want one.   If I was a professional travel video person it would be tools of the trade.  Not for a leisurely Saturday walk. 


Bob

[nuduke]

Yes indeedy, Bob, data is really tiny!


Consider the following digression:
What size is the data occupied by a suitable reference book? 
I have chosen the 1611 King James Bible for ease of getting stats

• In 1611 the dimensions of the newly published King James Bible (KJB) were 17.5 ins x 12 ins x 5.5 ins which translates to around 18.9 million cu mm.
• As you describe it, an SD card is 15 x 11mm (165 sq mm and for ease, lets say it is 1mm deep therefore also 165 cu mm).
• But the chip inside occupies less area/volume so lets speculate 1/4 of the 64 GB SD card is memory chip (42 sq mm) and lets just say also it is 1mm deep for ease of calulation and a reasonable approximation.
• I looked up the data for a download of the KJB and it was 13.84 Mb.  The KJB has 3,116,480 letters apparently, each 1 byte, but including spaces, carriage returns and what not, let us say an estimate of 6 Mb so lets average that at 10 Mb data for the bible.
• This means that the bible occupies just 0.016% of the chip (10 Mb/64000Mb and that equates to 0.007 cu mm - really tiny!  A Gb occupies 0.65 cu mm on these estimates.
• So you can get 148 bibles per cu mm of chip.
• So we can calculate that since 1611 we have been able to compress data by almost 2.7 billion!
• This is about a 6.7 million fold compression for each of the 406 years since the KJB was published - much better than Moores Law!  He started in 1965 when the compression since the Baroque period was already well under way!

So if you feel so inclined, on your mobile phone (in which, in mine, I have a 128GB card) you can download the KJB and find a suitable passage - say, Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd).  And you can marvel that, incredibly, it finds something sooooo tiny weeny in an instant and does it by magically detecting where your finger is on the screen to boot! 
I went to this trouble of boring you with my geeky calcs because it just shows one small (sic) instance of how far we have come technologically.  If printed words were are the things that, in 1611 gave you power to innovate and create change, today bits and bytes do the same for technological advancement.  Awesome!
Digression over  
John

[John P]

The realtime feed is another question.  Many drones need real time video feed to the controller for the pilot to manage the operation. ... I'm pretty sure that operation requires some kind of computer and video screen in the controller.  It could also be made to record. 

A big screen would be way too cumbersome and wouldn't be easy to see in sunlight. They use goggles:
https://www.dronezon.com/drone-reviews/fpv-goggles-for-drones-to-experience-the-thrill-of-flying/

FPV = "First Person Video".

[eyesup]

While the whole drone and spying phenomenon is gaining momentum, I am wondering about such a level of sophistication in technology making it easier and easier to experience life vicariously and/or virtually.

I find it puzzling and somewhat disturbing.

Duane

[eyesup]

Truly geeky, John! I’m impressed!
After being energized your enthusiastic response to, “our unremitting pedantry”, let’s take the analogy further.

Consider the phrase A picture is worth a thousand words. A inspirational painting or photograph may evoke endless streams of words. But digitally speaking, a hi-res image can push upwards of 5-6 mb of data on the low end. Higher pixel counts can up it to double that size. And that’s a photo. Not a movie!

So your estimate of 6 mb for the KJV Bible equates to one hi-res photo (not-movie). I can only imagine, having no experience, that a routine photo or short film from a surveillance of a random area would be boring indeed and unlikely to trigger torrents of inspirational phraseology. Probably less than a thousand words, unless you are a botanist, residential planner or high-rise engineer.

So, using your choice of example, the KJV Bible, how many pictures would be needed to generate the same inspirational, or controversial, content as the KJV. Text does use less memory space than graphics so it does appear that storing a text uses less space. Of course the traditional saying of a thousand words does not specify the type of words. Descriptive, technical or inspirational.

END of pedantic episode!

Duane

[nuduke]

Truly lateral (or perhaps Lateran!) thinking there, Duane!
Chalk one up for the bible then, in terms of depth of interesting content per cubic Megabyte!  Mind you, A Brief History of Time or The Lord of the Rings would be equally data : interest ratio positive, I suggest!
John