Increasing Drone Visibility?

[Gahan Haskins]

Aside from adding strobes, has anyone experimented with reflective tape or painting their drone to get more contrast when viewing it?

My Air2S is grey and it I think a Black belly would be easier to see in daylight hours. Or the Neon Greens/Oranges.
Anything to help with VLOS.

Any thoughts?

 

[Alex Lynch]

I've added red/silver reflective tape. About 25% coverage, didn't help mush.
I'm going to try 50%.

 

[BigAl07]

Keep in mind that once the aircraft is a few hundred feet away color and reflectivity don't do anything what so ever. I learned this years ago trying to make large R/C aircraft more visible. Without an actual light emitting device it becomes a dark silhouette and then just a dark blob and then just a dark spot.

 

[GFields]

Aside from adding strobes, has anyone experimented with reflective tape or painting their drone to get more contrast when viewing it?

My Air2S is grey and it I think a Black belly would be easier to see in daylight hours. Or the Neon Greens/Oranges.
Anything to help with VLOS.

Any thoughts?

Yes, but didn't help.

 

[RGB]

Tried the orange tape and as mentioned, a few hundred feet away no view. I just added two Ulanzi $15 strobes for the arms, one looking forward and one looking back. This helped greatly especially when I don't have a VO.

 

[Chicagolanddroneflyer]

I would think strobes would be the only way to make it more visible, especially considering they kinda blend into the sky after about 150 feet up. I've noticed depending on sky conditions, the light grey overcast coloured sky it is easier to spot for some reason, and clear blue skies its harder, course that could be because of the brightness of the sun as well. Looking for some kind of strobe to put on my Holy Stone HS-720 just for that reason, plus it would look cooler.

 

[HigherPerspectives]

Green is supposed to give the best contrast against a blue sky. There are a few places to get 'skins' for your drone. I've used decalgirl.com and also looked on eBay. The last one I got for an Air 2 was from an Australian place. Most are high quality 3M stickers. I've had both pressure set and heat set versions in Day-Glo Green and Day-Glo Yellow.