Airborne Research and Innovation

Unmanned Aircraft Systems - Fleet

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

Image of the DJI M300 RTK drone in flight
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 3 Multispectral

Mavic 3M drone in flight with snow covered mountain behind
The DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral (Mavic 3M) is an extremely portable, highly sophisticated platform with built-in high quality 20Mp photogrammetry and 4-band multispectral sensors, supported by cm-level RTK positioning.

DJI M600 Pro

M600 pro drone in flight
The DJI M600 Pro is an advanced heavy-lift unmanned aircraft capable of supporting a wide range of third party sensors.

DJI Mavic 2 Pro

A black quadcopter drone on a table
The Mavic 2 Pro is a lightweight multi-rotor UAS with a high-quality built in camera and sophisticated flight safety features.

DJI Mini SE

Mini SE drone on a desk
The Mini SE is a sub-250g drone and as such is exempt from the majority of the separation requirements within the UK regulations. It is equipped with a 12Mp stills / 2,7K video camera system.

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

cinestar 8 UAV drone on the ground
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

A white fixed wing drone on a table
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.