Drones (Advanced)

Drones (Advanced)

IT STEM Standard 12 8 hrs Drone Programming AI

This Level 2 drone course continues from the Level 1 drone course and is flown manually with the remote controller. Across five lessons students work on a marked flight zone with a Home point and three targets, and complete measured flying drills: precision landing on A4 paper targets under manual control with no screen, straight-line directional flight between the targets, camera-assisted precision landing using the down view, and a timed route flown for repeatable results rather than raw speed. Every drill uses fixed team roles of pilot, observer, safety officer and scorer or recorder, the standard calls OK, STOP and ABORT, and a stated scoring method, so that landing error in centimetres, leg marks and run times can be recorded and compared between runs. The course also covers remote pilot and visual observer responsibilities, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department small unmanned aircraft categories under Cap.448G, the flight log book and the emergency reporting procedure for an uncontrolled drone. It closes with a classroom lesson on how AI is combined with drones for perception, mapping, change detection, prediction and autonomy, with case studies in slope inspection, building facade inspection, emergency response, policing, medical logistics, agriculture and delivery, and the safety, privacy and data retention rules that apply to them.

Course Enquiry

Learning objectives

  • Fly a camera drone manually with the remote controller, including a stable hover, straight-line flight legs and a two-stage precision landing using the camera down view.
  • Measure flight performance fairly using landing error, leg marks and run times, and improve consistency by controlling variables and changing one thing at a time.
  • Apply team roles, the standard OK, STOP and ABORT calls and Hong Kong remote pilot duties, and describe how AI is used with drones in real operations.

Lesson plan

Precision Landing Practice | Recap drone and UAV types, flying principles, the DJI Neo 2 and the RC-N3 remote controller, and learn the classroom, propeller and flight-zone safety rules | Hands-on: i) Take off, hover and land manually on A4 paper targets using the remote controller only, with no screen ii) Measure landing error in centimetres and record flight time with a stopwatch iii) Rotate the pilot, recorder, safety officer and timekeeper roles, then compare accuracy against consistency using the recorded data
Directional Flight | Understand lift, thrust, drag and weight, the hover, pitch, roll and yaw movements, and the align-then-lock method of flying a straight line | Hands-on: i) Take off from the Home point and fly a ten-leg route out to three targets and back ii) Hold a steady height of 1.5-2.0 m through each scored leg using only forward and backward pitch iii) Confirm the target directly under the drone with the camera down view and score each leg 2, 1 or 0 marks
Camera-Assisted Precision Landing | Learn the two-stage landing of align and stabilise followed by final descent, the standard OK, STOP and ABORT calls, and when to abort and re-align instead of forcing a landing | Hands-on: i) Use the camera down view to centre the target and hold a stable hover before descending ii) Fly six takeoff and landing legs between the Home point and the three targets iii) Score each landing 2, 1 or 0 marks and record the results on the score sheet
Consistency: Smooth Is Fast | Understand remote pilot and visual observer responsibilities, the Civil Aviation Department categories A1, A2, B and C, the flight log book, and the reporting procedure for an uncontrolled drone | Hands-on: i) Fly the ten-leg route against a stopwatch while keeping the route order, height, calls and landing procedure unchanged ii) Record time, total marks and one note on what went wrong for each run iii) Change one variable per run, such as approach speed or the point of re-centring, and compare the results
Drones and AI: Real-World Applications | Describe how AI adds perception, mapping, change detection, prediction, autonomy and decision support to drone operations, and the safety, privacy and data retention rules that govern them | Hands-on: i) Study drone and AI case studies in slope inspection, building facade inspection, emergency response, policing, medical logistics, agriculture and delivery ii) In groups, propose a new drone application and present the problem it solves, its main challenges, how it handles safety, privacy and data collection, and how it differs from existing projects

Prerequisites

  • Drones (Level 1) or equivalent experience flying a camera drone with a remote controller
  • A flight zone of about 12 m by 3 m per team, with an operator area outside it

Hardware

  • DJI Neo 2 drone (one per team)
  • RC-N3 remote controller
  • iPad and connecting cable
  • Charged spare batteries (3-4 per team)
  • Second iPad for stopwatch and calculations
  • Coloured A4 paper targets and tape
  • Measuring tape or ruler
  • Score sheets and pens

Other requirements