UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS

UAS DOCKS & AIRCRAFT

Drone docks and aircraft rebuilt in 3D from their published specifications, airspace data, and our own survey and inspection flights in the UK and the Philippines.

< 25 SDock 4 battery swap (DJI)
±1 MMmodel checked against both dock envelopes
58 MINairborne per hour at 20 min flights (our model)
NEW · 3D VIEWER DJI DOCK 4 + MATRICE 5TD The 25-second battery swap, reconstructed in Blender: Solid, X-ray and Cut-away views, Dock 2, 3 and 4 compared, and operator screens with sample data. OPEN THE 3D VIEWER →
DOCK 4

DOCK 4 BATTERY SWAP IN THREE STEPS

Seen from behind the dock in X-ray. Each step opens the 3D viewer at that moment of the swap.

Rear X-ray: the hook pulls the used battery out of the aircraft's tail into the cradle
STEP 1 · 3.5 S

Battery pulled out

The cradle turns up behind the aircraft; a hook on a lead screw takes the battery by its rear handle and draws it 185 mm out of the tail.

 Rear X-ray: the rotor has turned to a free compartment and the battery is pushed in to charge
STEP 2 · 8.5 S

Battery stored

The rotor turns to a free compartment and pushes the battery in; one of the two charging channels starts on it.

 Rear X-ray: the cradle pulls a charged battery from its compartment
STEP 3 · 13.5 S

Charged battery fetched

The rotor turns to a charged battery, pulls it, swings back to 12 o'clock and inserts it into the aircraft. The swap ends at 25 s.

Unofficial reconstruction, not affiliated with DJI. Dimensions, battery count, charging channels and swap time are DJI's published figures; the mechanism is read from DJI's launch film and dealer footage, and the sub-step timing is estimated. Source: github.com/budotsmediaph/uas-dji-dock4-matrice5td.

VIDEO

DOCK 4 VIDEO: DJI'S X-RAY CG AND OUR RECONSTRUCTION

61 seconds, no sound: DJI's launch-film X-ray of the battery swap, our Blender X-ray of the same three steps at 2× speed, the case-study flight with simulated LiDAR and RTK, and airborne minutes per hour for Docks 2, 3 and 4.

DJI launch film footage © DJI, shown with credit next to our reconstruction for comparison. All other footage is our own 3D work.

DOCKS

DOCK 4 CASE STUDY AND DOCK 3

The Dock 4 flight as a scroll-driven page in pixel art, and the generation before it: Dock 3 with the Matrice 4D, which recharges its one battery in the aircraft.

Simulated LiDAR point cloud around the hovering aircraft, coloured by height, with the beam fan in pink
CASE STUDY · SCROLL

Cover, take-off, LiDAR, RTK, landing

Six chapters driven by the scroll position, with simulated telemetry. The LiDAR returns and the site are simulated; the dock and aircraft follow DJI's published dimensions.

 DJI Dock 3 reconstruction with the cover open, inside its published dimension envelope
3D VIEWER · DOCK 3

DJI Dock 3 + Matrice 4D

The mission from launch to induction charging, weather conditions and the problems DJI's manuals warn about. Dock and aircraft checked to ±1 mm against DJI's spec sheet.
FLIGHTS

DRONE WORK ON THIS SITE

Aerial overview of south-east London from a survey flight
OPERATIONS

Drones

Aerial mapping and photogrammetry, Gaussian-splat scans of London and Riyadh, facade inspection, drone-show design and airspace research.

 CCLEX cable-stayed bridge between Cebu and Mactan, rendered from a Gaussian splat
3D CAPTURE

Aerial data

Drone photography, photogrammetry and Gaussian-splat digital twins in the UK, the Philippines and Thailand, viewable in the browser.

 Night drone view over London
AIRSPACE

London airspace twin

Restricted zones, flown spots and a 3D gallery of London flights in one airspace digital twin.

 Hadsan beach from the air: the reef flat, the beach and Cebu's mountains in the haze
PHILIPPINES

Drone & 3D

Aerial filming, photogrammetry and 3D maps across the Philippines, and the game worlds built from them.
← BACK TO INDEX