User Manual eBee and eBee Ag Revision 13 / November 2014 Copyright © 2010-2014 senseFly Ltd
GENERAL INFORMATION READ THIS USER MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE USING A SENSEFLY LTD PRODUCT. senseFly Ltd products are intended for professional use only. Applicable Regulations senseFly Ltd products are subject to Civil Aviation regulations. Regulations may vary depending on the country where you intend to operate your product. ANY USE OF SENSEFLY LTD PRODUCTS IN BREACH OF THE LAW OF THE COUNTRY WHERE YOU OPERATE THE PRODUCT IS UNDER YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY. INFORM YOURSELF BEFORE USING THE PRODUCT.
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This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003. This equipment complies with FCC’s radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment under the following conditions: 1. This equipment should be installed and operated such that a minimum separation distance of 20cm is maintained between the radiator (antenna) and user’s/nearby person’s body at all times. 2. This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.
Address senseFly Ltd Route de Genève 38 1033 Cheseaux-Lausanne Switzerland Website: http://www.sensefly.com Technical support If you have questions about any of your senseFly products: • Try our Knowledge Base. You can find it within my.senseFly (http://my.sensefly.com). • Send an email to support@sensefly.com.
Welcome to your eBee Congratulations on your purchase of the eBee, a complex and powerful yet intuitive autonomous mapping system. We take great care to develop and design the best possible hardware and software tools for quick, high-quality and easy-to-use 2D and 3D aerial mapping. Note: This manual refers to the version 2.4 of eMotion and version 3.2 of Postflight Terra 3D software.
The standard eBee package contains the following items: • 1x carrying case with foam protection • 1x eBee central body with built-in autopilot • 1x pair of detachable wings • 1x spare propeller • 10x spare propeller attachment rubber bands • 2x Lithium-Polymer battery packs • 1x Lithium-Polymer battery charger (including cables) • 1x 2.4GHz USB ground modem (FCC ID: 2AC2VGMEBEE) for radio data link (including USB cable) • 1x 2.
Hardware features data link antenna battery compartment pitot probe, status LED central body camera compartment servo connection mechanism propeller wing Top face of the eBee aileron winglet ground sensor wing struts camera lens hole Bottom face of the central body Detachable wing The eBee is an autonomous flying drone comprised of the following components: • Central body: This is the core of the eBee and includes all the electronics, actuators and communications hardware on-board the drone.
• Winglets: These structures add aerodynamic stability to the drone while it is in flight. • Ailerons: Used to control the eBee while in flight. • Servo connection mechanism: The ailerons are connected to the servomotors within the central body of the drone through this connection mechanism. • Propeller: Used to generate thrust while it is in flight. Caution: When attached to the motor the propeller spins at high speeds and can be potentially dangerous if it comes into contact with exposed skin.
• Ground sensor: The ground sensor, composed of a high-speed optical sensor and lens assembly, is used to detect the proximity of the ground.
Software features The eBee package allows you to download and use eMotion∗ and Postflight Terra 3D ∗† at no extra cost. eMotion is the integrated software package that allows you to interact with your eBee. Its easy-to-use interface allows you to plan a mapping flight intuitively from the comfort of your office or directly in the field.
Contents I Quick start guide 17 1 Planning and simulating a flight 19 1.1 Installing eMotion, Postflight Terra 3D, and the ground modem drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 1.2 The eMotion interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 1.3 Creating a new flight plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1.4 The mission phase of a flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 1.5 Simulating your flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
II Specifications 55 1 Software requirements 56 2 Drone specifications 57
Part I Quick start guide The first part of this document introduces you to the eBee and contains the basic information you will need to plan and execute a simple mapping project. A typical mapping project can be divided into three main phases: 1. Planning and simulating a flight: Every project begins with careful planning, whether it is a quick flight over a small area or a multi-stage flight in complex terrain.
Quick start guide Note: eMotion contains many advanced features, including 3D flight planning, multi-drone mapping, oblique imagery and many more. All advanced features are described in the eBee Extended User ManFile menu in eMoual that can be found directly within the tion. You can also find technical FAQs in our Knowledge Base, part of my.senseFly¹.
Planning and simulating a flight 1 Planning and simulating a flight Goal of this section: This section introduces the eMotion software used to interface with the eBee. It describes the steps required to plan, simulate, and save a simple mapping flight. A more detailed description of eMotion and its advanced functions is presented in the eBee Extended User Manual. 1.
Quick start guide 1.2 The eMotion interface Thanks to the powerful tools available within eMotion, designing a mapping flight for your eBee is a simple process. To get started, launch eMotion and choose what you would like to do... • To run a simulation, select the simulator, choose the drone you want to simulate and click OK. • To fly a drone, connect your ground modem to your computer and select Drone.
