eBee

A black fixed wing drone with yellow accents and a small spinning propellor.
The eBee has a different kind of buzz. Photo: senseFly

eBee is an ultralight fixed-wing drone designed for aerial imaging, mapping, and inspections. Just give the eBee an area to survey and it will plan, fly, capture images, and return to you—all by itself.

Creator

AgEagle

(Originally developed by senseFly, acquired by AgEagle in 2021.)

Year
2012
Country
Switzerland 🇨🇭
Categories
Features
Watch eBee map a valley in the Swiss Alps. Video: senseFly

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Did you know?

eBee has been used around the world, from Haitian villages to Swiss mountains to Australian bush lands.

A person in a snowy landscape wearing winter gear tosses a black fixed wing drone with yellow accents and a small spinning propellor.
Be free, eBee! Photo: senseFly

History

The technology behind senseFly's robots first emerged in 2001 at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), when researchers began investigating the control and navigation strategies of flying insects. This pioneering research led to the development of a highly integrated autopilot that used sensors and control strategies similar to those found in flies and bees. In late 2009, the researchers teamed up with a land surveying engineer and a test pilot to found senseFly. Their first product was the swinglet CAM, a 500-gram fully autonomous drone for high-resolution aerial imaging and mapping. The eBee is senseFly's latest ultralight drone. It can fly faster and with more precision, and fits inside a carry-on-sized suitcase.

Aerial view of a green landscape.
Here's eBee checking out a golf course. Photo: senseFly
Three layers show a multi-dimensional map.
Images captured by eBee can be used to create 3D maps. Image: senseFly

Specs

Overview

Easy-to-use interface for planning mapping missions. Integrated ground distance sensor for precision landing. Fits in a carry-on suitcase.

Status

Ongoing

Year

2012

Website
Width
96 cm
Height
6 cm
Length
40 cm
Weight
0.67 kg (including battery and camera)
Speed
65 km/h (top cruise speed)
Sensors

Autopilot: three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope (for inertial stabilization), three-axis magnetometer, barometer, differential pressure sensor and pitot tube (airspeed), optic-flow-based ground sensor, and GPS. Payload: 16-megapixel camera.

Actuators

Brushless DC motor for thrust, two servos for controlling ailerons.

Materials

EPP foam body and wings, carbon fiber reinforcement.

Compute

On-board ARM Cortex M4 32-bit microcontroller. Full duplex 2.4-GHz wireless communication for telemetry and data logging (range of 3 km). Backup 2.4-GHz remote control (range of 1 km).

Software

On-board: Custom software written in C for embedded microcontrollers. Ground station: eMotion 2 flight planning and monitoring; Terra3D image reconstruction software.

Power

1800-mAh lithium-polymer battery, 45 minutes of flight.

Cost
$20,000 (including drone, ground station software, imaging and mapping software, accessories)