Introducing
From May 24 to 26, 2024, the 9th World Drone Exhibition was held in Hall 1 of the Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian, Shenzhen. Below is my actual shot of the exhibition. Follow me to explore the latest developments in the drone industry.
As the leader of the drone industry, China has a very complete industrial chain. The following picture is an overhead view of the exhibition site. You can see that there are many exhibitors, and due to the problem of shooting angle, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
But it doesn’t matter, follow my lens and take you to see the latest developments of the World Drone Exhibition.
Drone Battery
First of all, I saw many drone battery factories participating in the exhibition, and they brought the latest battery technology and products; I saw many brands that I had not seen before, and solid-state batteries began to emerge, from batteries for micro drones to batteries for large drones, all series are available.
In the field of drone batteries, we have to mention Tattu, which is the leading brand in the industry; especially in large batteries, such as large-capacity and high-density batteries for agricultural drones, Tattu occupies an absolute market share. From the pictures I took, you can see that the TARBAE68K0605X battery has a capacity of up to 68000mah, uses 6CELLS, 23.7V voltage, and a power of 1611.6Wh; in addition, there are also large capacities such as 54000mAh, 41000mAh, and 38000mAh.
You can learn more about Tattu Battery products from here：
RC Helicopter
Remote control helicopters are relatively rare at this drone exhibition, and the audience for this type of toy drone is relatively small. We can see small drones such as children's toys, as well as large helicopters up to 80cm long for adults to play with;
The second booth that attracted me was a company that specializes in helicopter drones. Their helicopters are obviously larger than the drones we usually use for entertainment, and they look like drones for industrial applications. The staff said that their drones are more stable than multi-rotors in complex and severe weather conditions, and are suitable for use in high-reliability scenarios. This drone is about 2 meters long, 80 centimeters high, and weighs an estimated 25 kg. It looks of good quality.
More RC Helicopter Product: https://rcdrone.top/collections/rc-helicopter
Drone Motor
The third product I want to introduce to you is drone motors. Wow, there are so many drone power system suppliers participating in the exhibition this year. Well-known companies such as Hobbywing and T-Motor have participated.
T-Motor has the most extensive drone motor product line. Hobbywing is also very powerful, especially in terms of high power. Hobbywing is an absolute leader.
I really like T-Motor's slogan: the power to explore the world!
I believe T-Motor will bring us endless drone power in 2024.
Drone ESC(Electronic Speed Controller)
The ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) is an indispensable companion to the motor of a drone. It ensures precise control and stable flight of the aircraft by adjusting the speed and direction of the motor. Therefore, it usually forms a power package with the motor.
Pixhawk
Holybro is a company specializing in the development of hardware for drones and other autonomous systems. It provides a variety of high-quality hardware products, including flight controllers, sensors, communication modules and accessories. At this exhibition, it brought the Pixhawk 6 series of products, including Pixhawk 6X, Pixhawk 6X Pro, etc. In addition, there are two Pixhawk Baseboard: Pixhawk Raspberry Pi Baseboard and Pixhawk Jetson Baseboard, which have built-in NVIDIA's high-performance AI products to provide sufficient computing power support for the intelligent driving and navigation of drones. In particular, the popularity of ChatGPT has enabled AI to penetrate into all walks of life, and AI-enabled drones are also accelerating.
Drone GPS Module
Holybro also exhibited its drone GPS module series products; including Micro M9N GPS, M9N GPS Module, Micro M10 GPS, M10 GPS Module.
Regarding the positioning system of drones, I recently wrote a popular science article, which you can read. It explains the differences between GPS, GNSS, RTK, PPT, etc.
RTK, as a high-precision, centimeter-level positioning, has a wide range of applications in industrial drones and agricultural drones. It is also a highlight of this exhibition.
Compared with ordinary drone GPS modules, CUAV must be the industry leader in RTK GPS modules. CUAV RTK GPS module product line is very complete, such as CUAV C-RTK 9P, 9PS, C-RTK 2, 2HP; of course, CUAV GPS modules also perform very well, such as Neo 3, 3pro, 3x; in addition, CUAV Autopilot modules are also very popular in the market, and the purchase volume in both military and civilian markets is very large, such as CUAV X5+, X7+, etc.; At this exhibition, CUAV also brought 4 new high-end airspeed meter sensors. Currently, the airspeed meter sensors used in professional and large aircraft on the market are mainly provided by the CUAV brand.
VTOL
VTOL combines multi-rotor and fixed-wing aircraft, so it has the advantages of both. As a multi-rotor aircraft, it can provide convenience during takeoff and landing, without a runway, and can land anywhere, which is very convenient. As a fixed-wing aircraft, it can fly very fast with very low energy consumption, so that with the same battery capacity, its flight radius is greatly increased. Therefore, VTOL has advantages in large-scale reconnaissance, exploration, mapping, communication, photography, and even delivery. Many manufacturers such as CUAV , JOUAV and VOLITATION brought their own VTOLs to this exhibition. Their sizes vary from large to large, and the flight distance ranges from ten kilometers to 500 kilometers. It is really a feast for the eyes.
JOUAV VTOL:
Agriculture Drone
At this exhibition, I felt that there were fewer exhibitors of agricultural drones, which means that agricultural drones are beginning to move towards the top, and those who remain are the strong players in the industry. The largest exporter of agricultural drones should be EFT, at least it is the one we ship the most. EFT's exhibition hall is very large and impressive, which shows that the sales of EFT's agricultural drones are very good, the company is making money, and it is getting stronger year by year; EFT brought several new machines, such as the EFT Z20 agricultural drone; EFT E610M agricultural drone; both are new machines for 2024.
EFT E610M Agriculture Drone:
Today I looked for XAG, but I couldn't find it. Maybe I got lost. As a domestic competitor of DJI in the agricultural field, XAG is also one of the top manufacturers in the field of agricultural drones. Machines like XAG P100, XAG P100 Pro, XAG P150, etc. are selling very well on our website, and many people inquire about their purchases.
Today I met another agricultural drone supplier, AGR Agricultural Drone. AGR has a wide range of agricultural drone products, ranging from very small 6L capacity to very large 70L capacity, including the 6L AGR A6, the 10L AGR Q10, and the 70L AGR B70.
Industrial Drone
Compared with the decrease in agricultural drone exhibitors, this year there are many industrial drone exhibitors, and very segmented vertical industrial applications have begun to appear. It is no longer a simple frame that calls itself an industrial drone; instead, it is truly customized in all walks of life. For example, this firefighting drone is mainly for firefighting needs; there are also police inspection and strike drones; what surprised me even more was that I finally found the special gas leak detection drone that a European customer had been looking for some time ago.
As shown in the picture, the Matrice 350 RTK industrial drone integrates a high-power speaker, a high-lumen super-bright searchlight, a 55x optical magnification high-definition camera, an IP55 waterproof design, and a night vision shooting function without fear of the dark. This machine is definitely a good helper for the police and is definitely the first choice for police drones;
The Lingxiu TDLAS drone is specially designed for methane gas detection and can be widely used in the mining industry and energy field. It does not require personnel to enter, and it only needs to fly in to collect methane concentration. It is developed based on the DJI M300 RTK platform and is equipped with a biochemical sensor box specially used to detect methane concentration. Well, I can contact my European customer. He has been looking for a gas detection drone some time ago, and this is exactly what he wants.
Delivery drones are a sub-field of industrial drones; the ones that impressed me the most are DJI's transport drones and Meituan's express delivery drones. DJI's transport drone model is DJI Flycart 30. Its parameters show that it can carry a maximum load of 30kg, and can fly 28km when empty, 16km when fully loaded, and has a flight speed of up to 20m/s, which is very powerful;
FPV Drone
In this kind of professional drone exhibition, the performance of FPV drone manufacturers is not particularly eye-catching. Perhaps it is related to people's prejudice that FPV is a kind of aircraft for entertainment and the technical content is not very high. However, if we know the performance of FPV drones in the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, we will admit that FPV is the king; because it is cheap, has good performance, is resistant to falling, and is not afraid of bombing.I saw my other suppliers, such as Flash Hobby, GEPRC, Betafpv, Darwinfpv, RushFPV, iFlight etc., all participated in this drone exhibition;
Flash Hobby's slogan this time is "Professional Brushless Power System Manufacturer". It brought a lot of FPV drones, FPV racks, and FPV brushless motors to the exhibition; Flashhobby was originally a brushless motor manufacturer, and was a factory that often did OEM for others and acted as a behind-the-scenes hero. It gradually developed its own brand of motors. Now it has begun to launch its own FPV drones, which can be regarded as extending its product line and becoming a comprehensive manufacturer.
BetaFPV is a well-deserved leader in micro FPV drones; it provides the market with the highest quality FPV drone equipment; BetaFPV's Cetus series is impressive, providing almost the most complete series of products in the industry in the field of micro FPV, including Cetus, Cetus X, Cetus Pro, and Cetus Lite; in addition, the Meteor series provides users with larger FPVs; you can buy all of these products at rcdrone.top.
RushFPV has a short history and is a latecomer in the field of FPV drones, but this does not prevent its products from being popular with customers. RushFPV is particularly good at VTX, and its Tank series VTX is the most popular VTX in the market. Its Max SOLO VTX also has a large share in high-power image transmission, and is often used by ma
Video Transmission System(VTX/VRX)
The video transmission system of the drone is the part that affects the experience the most in the entire drone system, because if the picture is not smooth, then controlling the drone will be a nightmare, especially when the operator is equipped with an FPV Goggle device, the latency and reliability of the image transmission become particularly important; however, throughout 2024, if you ask me what is the most lacking in the drone field? I will answer that it is VTX, especially high-power VTX. The entire market is looking for VTXs such as 1.6W, 2.5W, and even higher 10W; these are all needed for long-distance drones.
As I mentioned earlier, RushFPV's VTX is very popular in the market, and the Tank series is so popular that it is often sold out. The picture below is a picture of the Tank family
Ultra-long-distance video transmission, such as V31 VTX/VRX, can reach transmission distances ranging from 20km, 30km, 50km, 80km to 150km, which is very far. This time, the manufacturer brought V31 Pro
Drone Pod / Drone Gimbal Camera
Drone pods are special modules attached to drones. There are many types, such as camera pods, sensor pods, delivery pods, communication pods, etc. According to the needs of different industries, the types of pods are also different. The most common one is the camera pod, which is generally a Drone Gimbal Camera, which is a must-have equipment for professional drones. At this drone exhibition, I saw a lot of Drone Gimbal Cameras.
The super-large pod is a pod that carries a variety of sensors, including cameras, infrared, laser and other sensors, so the pod appears very large;
These simple camera pods are much smaller in size, and are mainly composed of a three-axis gimbal and a camera;
Drone Thermal Camera
A camera, called a drone infrared thermal imaging camera, has a low resolution but a very high price. In 2024, like vtx, it is a device that has been out of stock in the drone market for a long time. The common resolutions of infrared thermal imaging cameras are 256, 384, and 640. It is very expensive, and a 640 infrared thermal imaging camera often costs three to four thousand US dollars.
FPV Camera / FPV Digital System
Today I saw the exhibition of CaddxFPV at the exhibition. Its main product is FPV Digital System with FPV Camera as the core.
Drone Transmitter / Drone Remote Controller
There are two main types of drone remote controllers on display this time. One is an industry remote controller with a screen, with Skydroid as the core, and the other is an FPV transmitter, such as Radiomaster.
Skydroid remote controller is the first choice for ultra-long-distance drone remote control. In the solutions of various industries, if a ground remote controller is required, it is basically Skydroid. Its transmission distance can be from 10km, 20km, 30km, 50km, and even 80km; it is very suitable for long-distance transmission.In the field of industrial drones and agricultural drones, Skydroid's remote control is basically standard.
As for the control of FPV drones, RadioMaster, FrSky, FlySky, etc. are good choices. They are suitable for entertainment, competition, and free-flying FPV drones.
Drone Servo
Drone servo is a small motor-driven device that receives signals from the flight controller to accurately control the rotation angle or position of its axis, thereby adjusting the control surfaces of the drone (such as rudders, camera gimbals, etc.). There were not many drone servo suppliers participating in the exhibition this time, and I only saw JX Servo.
Military Drone
Military drones. Some civilian drone manufacturers participating in the exhibition also brought some drone equipment with obvious military uses, such as this one, which is similar to the American AeroVironment Switchblade. The Chinese named it Little Fly Stick.
Anti Drone Device
There is an old Chinese saying that goes, "The devil is one foot high, but the way is ten feet high." With the rapid development of drones, countermeasures against drones have also followed. This is mainly due to the need for government control or the need for confrontation on the battlefield. Anti drone device is a type of equipment specifically used to attack and interfere with drones.
As shown in the picture, this is a backpack-type anti-UAV device. It adopts a backpack design, so that a single soldier can carry it to the battlefield without making the soldier feel too tired.
There is also this common gun-type anti-drone device.
The principle of these anti-drone devices is to interfere with the signal frequency band of the drone with high power; the greater the power, the farther the interference distance; each frequency band requires a corresponding interference module; therefore, if you want to interfere with various WiFi frequency bands, 4G, GPS and other signal frequency bands, it means that it has multiple frequency band interference modules inside; the power of anti-drone devices is very large, ranging from 10W to more than 100W. Generally speaking, the more frequency bands, the greater the power;
Conclusion
In summary, this drone exhibition was very grand and rich. Manufacturers from the entire drone industry chain came. It was a feast. We learned about the trends in the drone field in 2024, 2025 and the future. We saw the latest products in various sub-fields of drones. This was a fulfilling exhibition participation that is worth recording. I hope my record is useful to everyone.