Unmanned Aircraft Systems - Fleet | The University of Edinburgh

We operate a fleet of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) of various types in support of internally-held research projects and teaching programmes, with some platform development ongoing.

DJI M300 RTK

The DJI M300 RTK is the flagship of our UAS fleet, providing a state of the art platform for the latest commercially available sensors for drone survey.

DJI Mavic 2 Pro

The Mavic 2 Pro is a lightweight multi-rotor UAS with a high-quality built in camera and sophisticated flight safety features.

T680 Pro

A side view of a T680 hexacopter drone (Unmanned Aircraft system)

The T680 Pro is a mid-weight multi-rotor UAS with a useful payload of approximately 1 kg.

3DR Iris+

An Iris Plus drone on an orange launchpad with the Scottish mountains in the background

The Iris+ is a lightweight multi-rotor UAS for training and survey with a variety of sensors up to approximately 0.4 kg.

Cinestar 8

The Cinestar 8 (or C8) multi-rotor UAS is a mid-heavy lift system with a maximum useful sensor payload of approximately 4 kg.

Bormatec Explorer

A black fixed wing unmanned aircraft system on the grass

The Explorer is a twin-motor fixed wing platform with a payload of up to ~ 1-2kg. In development.

FX-61

The Zeta Science FX-61 is a lightweight fixed wing platform with a payload of a few hundred grams. In development.

Training Systems

In addition to the above we operate a number of systems dedicated to training. These include very small multi-rotors for indoor use, and an e-Flite Apprentice S15e fixed wing trainer – a relatively low cost platform, available ready-to-fly (and with spare parts easily available), and featuring a very useful system known as ‘Sensor Assisted Flight Envelope’, or SAFE, technology. The SAFE system is able to provide auto-stabilisation or attitude limitation (i.e. preventing the aircraft from entering extreme attitudes), and can be switched between modes mid-flight.

This article was published on 31 May, 2022