The Pattaya City Expats Club opened its meeting at the Holiday Inn with a tribute to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 1927 – 2016. A moving video was shown of the tribute given in Pattaya last November in memory of the King who passed away on October 13.
After the tribute to His Late Majesty, the regular program began. The club was educated about the current and future developments in Drone Technology and Camera Stabilization Technology by Ray Whitley in his “Droning on About Drones” presentation. Ray spoke about his experience with drones and how this new technology is being used today and how it will continue to evolve. He also talked about the associated camera stabilization technology that he uses in his real estate promotion company here in Thailand.
Ray, a thirty-five-year-old entrepreneur, has a background in Information Technology (IT) and utilizes that expertise within a new real estate business he and a partner have developed here in Thailand. The company, Sell My Property, is a western-managed boutique real estate agency offering quality marketing to the high-end, select, customers. His business model involves an exclusive and limited number of properties for sale, no rentals, and provides the best possible promotion utilizing the latest drone and camera stabilization technology. He featured one of his listings, a stunning 5 bed-room, 6-bath mansion with two guest houses, set on a 6,000-square-meter park-like garden with a 25-meter swimming pool. This property cost 60 million baht to build. Ray has an exclusive listing for this property and uses it to demonstrate his use of drones with the camera stabilization system.
A drone is currently defined as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or an aircraft without a human pilot aboard (but that may soon change). UAVs are part of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), which includes the UAV, a ground-based controller, and a system of communications between the two. Today drones are cheap enough for anyone to own and are used everywhere, from tracking and filming athletes at the Olympics, to changing modern day warfare. Within the last decade soaring popularity and rising technological advancements have enabled new innovations to become viable, making science fiction a reality.
A video was presented showing pilots wearing point-of-view goggles, flying drones a few feet above the ground at speeds of around 60 mph. The National Drone Racing Championships already exist and are likely to be huge in the future as is the ‘game of drones’ combat league. It will be interesting to see if augmented reality becomes part of these races.
The use of surveillance drones for military and law enforcement are commonplace and have been around for years. Drones, such as the Watchkeeper, Reaper and Black Hornet Nano are already in service, but more advanced drones are being developed. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Tiny bionic winged drones, nano drones or micro air vehicles are on the horizon and DARPA is responsible for most of these amazing developments.
Most drones are a cause for good. Teams have already built amazing drones to help in times of emergency, to reach potential survivors in stranded locations. Ray talked about specially designed drones, equipped with medical devices, such as a defibrillator, that can be quickly dispatched to isolated areas when needed. Drones are being designed to carry additional weight so that rescue food and water can be dispatched in times of disaster, worldwide.
Other videos depicted camera equipped drones which are in use today to inspect all types of infrastructure, including powerlines and bridges at a much-reduced price and much safer. Drone use in the agricultural industry greatly improves crop evaluation and is even used to apply insecticides and other chemicals.
Fishermen use drones to spot schools of fish, then drop the bated hook in the middle of them, which seem a bit un-sportsman like unless it is for commercial purposes. There are even underwater drones that can be controlled remotely.
Ray spent time showing how drones can be used to present real-estate property in a most unique way. No other technology can show a perspective buyer a more encompassing view of the listing and the surrounding areas. For interior video, he showed the use of Camera Stabilization Technology, which greatly enhances the quality of a video. A person can walk from room to room and the system eliminates the jerkiness normally seen in close-up video. He showed how his 3-axis, handheld gimbal stabilizer produces super smooth, home interior videos.
Ray concluded the program by effortlessly flying a medium sized drone around the room. After the presentation, MC Roy Albiston brought everyone up to date on upcoming events. This was followed by the “Open Forum” portion of the meeting, where questions are asked and answered and comments made about expat living in Thailand. For more information on the Club and their activities, visit www.pcec.club.
