Yanqing district to build Beijing's first drone theme town

A drone safely landed on the morning of Oct. 17 at Badaling Airport, after navigating a cruise alongside the Guishui River in northwestern Beijing's Yanqing district. This test flight marked the first successful demonstration application of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the area, as Yanqing prepares to build the first drone theme town in Beijing.

The core area of the drone theme town is located in Zhongguancun Yanqing Park, with a planned area of 150 mu (10 hectares). A whole industrial chain of UAV including R&D, testing and demonstration applications will be deployed to provide technological support to the upcoming Beijing Expo 2019 and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Chen Ruixia, deputy director of the Yanqing Committee of Economic and Information Technology, said that two companies have set up offices in town.

During the test flight, the drone flew to a height of 200 meters and cruised on the banks of Guishui River at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. The airborne camera system offers a real time panoramic view in the 30-kilometer range, and the 30 times HD magnifier can quickly lock on specific objects and people, with main characteristics of the targets clearly identifiable. "The drone has a 1.5-hour battery life and can withstand moderate gale of 50-62 kilometers per hour. It can also work in the rain and snow," said Shi Shengqing, deputy general manager of Beijing Yuandu Internet Technology Co., which provided technical support for the test flight.

According to Chen, UAV technology will play an important role in supporting security work, monitoring weather changes, reporting earthquakes, mud slides and other emergencies during the Beijing World Expo and the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In order to promote high-quality development of the drone town and to provide brainpower and resource support to the UAV industry, the Yanqing district government invited 11 industry experts to form an expert advisory committee. Yanqing will feature its UAV industry in three aspects: a drone flight test base, a drone theme town and integrated drills for UAVs, and cultivate a group of R&D and manufacturing enterprises.