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DJI, the company best known for its drones, has announced its first unmanned platform with automatic battery swapping called the DHI Dock 4. The system is part of a kit that includes the Matrice 5TD drone and a DJI O4 ground station.
The hardware alone costs 167,999 yuan (~ $25,100) in China, while software subscriptions, installations in non-standard environments, and additional support services cost extra. Pre-orders are now open through DJI’s official industry partners.
The main advantage of the Dock 4 is how quickly it gets a drone back in the air. DJI says the system completes a battery swap 25 seconds after landing, allowing the drone to take off again within 45 seconds.
The drone stays powered on throughout the process, essentially avoiding the downtime associated with docks that need to recharge batteries between flights. DJI claims it has the fastest battery-swapping system among unmanned docks.
As for the drone itself, the Matrice 5TD can fly for up to 59 minutes on a single flight. Combined with the dock’s automatic battery swapping, the system can keep missions running with much shorter interruptions.
The Dock 4 also supports what DJI calls “open-and-fly” operation, allowing the drone to respond to alerts without an operator manually controlling it. It can travel to a location at speeds of up to 21 meters per second, even at night or on holidays.
DJI says the drone can reach an incident before ground crews arrive and immediately begin streaming aerial footage to help them assess the situation.
What the Matrice 5TD carries
The Matrice 5TD combines six sensing modules, including telephoto, infrared, laser rangefinder, and thermal imaging capabilities. This allows the same drone to handle daytime inspections, nighttime security work, and mapping. Its mapping accuracy reaches 10 centimeters at 12 megapixels.
For closer inspections, the 11x telephoto lens can read license plates from 400 meters away and identify small defects, such as damaged bolts and pins, from 100 meters. The infrared camera works alongside the visible-light camera to show both a target’s outline and its temperature distribution, making it easier to identify potential problems.
Moving on, the drone’s 4K full-color camera can also capture color footage without an external searchlight, while a black-and-white mode with near-infrared fill lighting provides another option for low-light conditions.
The Matrice 5TD supports a maximum effective payload of 450 grams across up to three mounting positions that can operate without interfering with one another. It also comes with a warning light that supports custom colors and flashing patterns, which can be useful during public safety operations.
AI detection and flight safety
The Matrice 5TD runs AI models directly on the drone, allowing it to identify 17 types of targets in live video, including vehicles, ships, and fireworks. Drone operators can also install third-party AI models for more specialized investigation tasks.
Furthermore, its obstacle-avoidance system combines three-direction millimeter-wave radar, ring-scanning lidar, and a six-direction full-color vision system. DJI says these sensors help the drone avoid obstacles at night, including guide wires.
The drone can take off and land in winds of up to 12 m/s. If wind speeds exceed this limit, it can automatically return to its starting point. A parachute is also included as standard equipment and can deploy automatically or through a manual command.
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(Via)
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