I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics, and my consideration has been drawn to the drones used for chasing proper behind the skiers as they shoot down the mountains. They’re capturing extremely immersive footage of occasions like downhill snowboarding, snowboarding, luge, and skeleton — giving viewers visuals that really feel like they’re proper alongside the rivals as they velocity down the course. Whereas many spectators complain concerning the buzzing noise, these watching at house are admiring the superb digicam work delivered by the drones and pilots. Let’s check out what sort of FPV drones they’re utilizing and why.
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Advantages and Downsides of Utilizing FPV Drones
In contrast to conventional digicam drones, which largely hover or cruise slowly, FPV drones are tremendous quick, and extremely agile and maneuverable. They’re flown utilizing FPV goggles, so pilots see precisely what the drone sees in actual time. This permits for terribly exact flying. Pilots can chase athletes down slopes and tracks, capturing close-up, dynamic angles that conventional broadcast cameras merely can’t obtain — typically flying simply meters behind the athlete.
Advantages:
- Provides velocity and immersion to broadcasts
- Creates a “video game-like” perspective
- Captures angles unimaginable with cable cams or helicopters
Downsides:
- May be very noisy, annoying to viewers, and making reside audio tougher to seize
- The buzzing might distract athletes?
- FPV drone cameras are fastened to the body and usually haven’t any mechanical stabilization, which might trigger shaky footage
- The footage might not be comfy for viewers susceptible to movement illness
FPV Drones Used within the Olympics
Apparently, round 25 drones have been used throughout the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina.
From the photographs I may discover, there look like 3 primary sorts of FPV drones. After trying extra carefully, they’re fairly typical custom-built drones, nothing significantly particular about them actually — most parts can be found on-line, any hobbyists may construct one thing related.
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Digicam & FPV System
The FPV programs used look like completely DJI. You may inform from the cameras mounted on the drones and the goggles worn by the pilots throughout interviews.
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The DJI system is used for piloting the drone, nevertheless, the footage broadcast on TV comes from a very separate skilled video transmission system. That’s why some drones carry two cameras — one for the pilot (DJI Air Unit) and one other devoted broadcast digicam, together with a cumbersome reside transmission system mounted on the rear.
Sub-250g Micro FPV Drone
I used to be most within the small sub-250g drone used to comply with luge and skeleton athletes down the icy monitor partitions.
These drones aren’t as quick as bigger 5-inch builds, however they’re smaller and might squeeze by means of tighter areas. In keeping with the pilot, they will attain speeds as much as 140 km/h — which sounds about proper for a high-performance micro construct in my expertise.
This specific drone reportedly weighs solely 243 grams, which is impressively gentle for a 4S setup. I’m unsure whether or not that weight contains the published digicam mounted on prime. If it does, that’s an unimaginable feat of weight optimization.
I don’t have the precise specs or components checklist, however based mostly on obtainable pictures, right here’s my greatest guess on the parts:
- FPV system: DJI O4 Air Unit (Lite)
- Motors: RCINPOWER GTS V2 1207 6000KV Titanium Crimson
- Props: 2.5-inch tri-blade
- Battery: 4S LiPo
- Radio hyperlink: 900MHz (both Crossfire or ExpressLRS). They didn’t use 2.4GHz, which is smart, as a result of the decrease frequency gives higher sign penetration and vary, which is smart in mountainous terrain. Perhaps to unencumber the two.4ghz band for the broadcasting unit as nicely?
- Broadcast setup: Proton Digicam + Domo PicoTXR COFDM transmitter for real-time TV transmission
The body seems to be flipped the wrong way up, working the motors inverted (pusher config). Which may sound unconventional, and makes takeoff and touchdown more difficult, however it provides two massive benefits:
- Frees up area on prime for mounting the published tools
- Retains propellers out of the digicam’s area of view
The drone itself most likely prices underneath $400 in components, however the skilled broadcast tools possible prices many instances that.
5-Inch FPV Drones
5-inch FPV drones have been used for chasing snowboarders and skiers out of doors. These usually weigh round 600–800g together with battery and might simply exceed 180 km/h. Folks use these drone to chase race automobiles, so skiers are piece of cake.
Pilots have been seen carrying DJI Goggles 3, so they’re utilizing DJI FPV programs. Additionally you may see the pilot is holding the Radiomaster Boxer radio (Max version in Gold colour). There are two antennas protruding from the again of the radio, probably an ExpressLRS Gemini-X module just like the Nomad.
These are extraordinarily highly effective builds able to maintaining with world-class athletes.
Cinewhoops
Picture credit score: © Olympic Broadcasting Providers (OBS)
Cinewhoops have been additionally used, on this image it’s carrying the Blackmagic Micro Studio Digicam G2 digicam. Cinewhoops are FPV drones with prop safety, making it safer to fly close to folks and indoor. The pilot flying this cinewhoop seems to be utilizing first-generation DJI FPV programs (Goggles V1 or V2).
Conclusion
FPV drones on the Winter Olympics symbolize a brand new chapter in sports activities broadcasting — mixing cutting-edge drone expertise with artistic digicam work to convey viewers nearer to the motion than ever earlier than. It’s additionally a fantastic alternative to reveal most of the people to FPV drones and present that not all drones are intrusive or unfavorable. In some ways, that is unbelievable promotion for the FPV passion.
