DrDrone's Verdict
Upon first unboxing, we were quite surprised by how small the case and the BS30 charging station are. The DJI Matrice 30T is a compact drone. Thanks to the folding arms, the drone is easy to pack in the carrying case that it comes in. Even after the arms are unfolded, the drone is still a lot shorter and smaller when compared to the Matrice 300 series. The arms have locks that self engage when they are unfolded, and the app throws an error if any of the locks are not properly engaged. The drone is IP55 rated so it can fly in rain and dusty conditions without issues. The RC plus, which is also IP54 rated, provides a nice interface and a large, bright screen to view the app and also a lot of customizable, physical buttons that the pilot can assign different functions to.
In our testing, we used the DJI Matrice 30T with dual DJI RC Plus controllers. The flight controls could be easily and seamlessly handed off between the controllers with the touch of a button. The flight is stable and smooth, as is expected from a DJI Enterprise drone of this generation. With obstacle sensing in all directions, the drone is able to fly safely in a wide variety of conditions. The camera unit is a multi-sensor, 4-in-1 payload with a 12mp wide angle camera, a 48mp zoom capable camera that supports 5x -16x optical zoom going up to 200x in hybrid zoom, a 640x512 resolution thermal imager and a laser range finder that works up to 1.2km.
The combination payload, along with IP rating and other Enterprise grade features let you use the Matrice 30T for a wide variety of applications including but not limited to inspections, search and rescue or surveillance purposes.
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DJI has just come out with its newest edition in the Matrice Series, giving you two enterprise drones with more power than ever before. The DJI Matrice 30 series combines the features of the Matrice 300 RTK and the Zenmuse H20 Series into a smaller platform. The all-new powerful, compact, and foldable platform is just as portable as the Mavic 2 Enterprise series drones, allowing you to take the M30 and M30T on missions in remote locations.
The Matrice 30T contains multi-sensor camera units featuring high resolution wide angle and zoom cameras combined with laser rangefinder to offer you high-quality video in low-light conditions. The Matrice 30T goes one step further with a thermal imaging sensor that can be critical for public safety missions. These two DJI enterprise drones represent some of the most powerful commercial drones on the market.
The Matrice 30T features upgraded flight performance capabilities that make your flight smoother than ever before. The enterprise drone provides an extended flight time of up to 41 minutes paired with a maximum speed of 82.8 km/h. This allows you to explore more area than previous drones could, extending your flight time and range to offer you greater flexibility in your mission. It can withstand winds up to 54 km/h and has an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance that ensures its safety from the elements no matter what the weather conditions.
Lastly, the Matrice 30 series has an operating temperature range from -20° C to 50° C and a maximum service ceiling of 7000m above sea level, making it a suitable choice for applications ranging from public safety to infrastructure inspections.
Whether you’re conducting surveillance or performing a search and rescue in a remote location, portability is one of the most important aspects of any commercial drone. The DJI Matrice 30T is lightweight and easily portable with a weight of only 3.77 kg. With its foldable arms and compact design, it’s easier than ever to store or transport. When the drone is folded into its compact size, you can easily fit the M30 inside a backpack and carry it on foot.
When unfolding the drone, there is an arm lock function on the hinges for the arms that notify you if the lock isn’t engaged correctly. This feature will prohibit takeoff until it’s safe to fly the drone. Thanks to this dynamic design, you won’t need to detach and attach payloads or landing gear, which makes the drone much simpler to deploy than previous models.
Both commercial drones in the DJI Matrice 30 series come with powerful cameras capable of filming videos at incredibly high quality. The DJI M30 features an integrated camera gimbal unit that contains a combination of three sensors, while the M30T contains a fourth sensor making it similar to the Zenmuse H20T.
On both the M30 and the M30T, there is a 48 MP zoom camera capable of 16x Optical zoom and 200x max hybrid zoom. Both drones also contain a 12 MP wide angle with a field-of-view of 84°. These sensors work together to shoot incredibly detailed video at 4K resolution at up to 30 fps. The FPV camera has low-light settings that make the ground and skyline clearly visible day and night, allowing you to fly safely no matter what time of day. You can also use Smart Low-Light Photo to further enhance your ability to capture bright, clear images in low-light situations.
The third sensor is a Laser rangefinder that can accurately measure distances up to 1.2 km away, which is incredibly useful for inspections and search and rescue missions. When you point the camera at an object within view, advanced sensor fusion algorithms will automatically provide you with its exact coordinates. The fourth sensor, which comes exclusively on the DJI M30T, is a high resolution 640x512 thermal imaging camera that allows you to find hotspots and heat signatures. This is incredibly useful for fire fighting applications or for finding lost persons during a search and rescue.
In addition to its superior weather resistance capabilities, the Matrice 30 series comes with 360 degree obstacle avoidance to enhance flight safety. The drone contains dual-vision and ToF sensors on all six sides, giving you a combination of visual and infrared sensors that can detect obstacles up to 38 meters away. In addition to these sensors, Redundant Dual IMU, Compass, GNSS, and the Intelligent Flight Batteries all ensure the M30 series is safe no matter what the flight condition.
Flight safety is further improved by DJI AirSense, which is powered by the built-in ADS-B receiver. A health management system works to monitor the status of critical components in real time. This means that in the event that a motor or prop fails during flight, you’ll be able to perform a three-prop emergency landing to keep the drone safe as you land.
DJI is continuously working to upgrade OcuSync, its dynamic transmission system, in order to enhance communication and extend range. Both the Matrice 30 and the Matrice 30T come with OcuSync 3 Enterprise, the latest edition of the Ocusync Enterprise communication system. OcuSync 3 Enterprise supports triple-channel 1080p video transmission and seamless switching between input feeds. The system is supported by four built-in antennas, two of which are removable, to ensure consistent transmission even in complex environments. You can even enhance your connection by using the DJI Cellular Module, which is an optional 4G dongle that allows you to keep video transmission stable in remote or other difficult work environments.
The DJI Matrice 30 series comes with the DJI RC Plus, a brand new remote controller designed to be useful for numerous commercial applications. The RC Plus has IP54 dust and water resistance and can operate in extreme cold and heat ranging from -20°C to 50°C. It has a long lasting internal battery in addition to a hot swap compatible external battery that allow it to operate for long periods of time without interruption. The combined battery system gives the RC Plus an impressive 6 hours of screen-on time.
The information on-screen for the RC Plus is viewable in all lighting conditions thanks to the peak brightness of 1200 cd/m2 and the high resolution of 1080p. The built-in tablet even runs a customized operating system developed by DJI Enterprise to ensure optimum performance every time. The RC Plus was ergonomically designed with six new physical buttons to allow pilots to learn how to operate the remote with muscle memory rather than relying solely on a touch screen. This makes it easy to seamlessly toggle through different camera views, drop PinPoints, and zoom in and out without having to move your hands away from the control sticks.
When traveling to remote areas to perform a mission, the last thing you want is for your commercial drone to run out of battery. The DJI Matrice 30 series comes with a charging station that can charge four pairs of TB30 Intelligent Flight Batteries and one pair of RC Plus batteries at the same time. Each pair takes only 30 minutes to charge from 20% to 90%, allowing you to get back up in the air without delay.
The BS30 Intelligent Battery Charging Station comes with three different modes to charge batteries. Standard Mode charges each pair of batteries to 100% one pair at a time. However, it can harm the batteries to keep them fully charged for a long period of time. Batteries will also charge at a diminishing rate, making that final 10% of the charge take quite a while. This is why it also offers the Ready-to-Fly Mode, which takes 30 minutes per pair to charge each pair to 90%, keeping it on standby while charging the next pair. The last mode is Storage Mode, which charges each pair to 50% and enhances the battery’s longevity.
One of the most dynamic new features of the Matrice 30 series is the DJI Dock. This feature provides the drone with a platform to carry out autonomous, repeatable missions that don’t require much operator oversight. The DJI Dock was designed for deployment in remote locations not easily accessed. Each dock can house an M30 or M30T dock edition aircraft, allowing the drone to land, recharge, take off, and carry out the mission as programmed without needing human intervention.
The M30 Series Dock Version has a max wind resistance of 15 m/s 6, IP55 ingress protection, and TEC air conditioning, giving you flagship-level performance in temperatures ranging from -30°C to 50°C. With TEC air conditioning, you can cool the drone batteries and charge them from 10% to 90% in only 25 minutes. It blows cool air through the batteries to cool them down and maximize the charge efficiency. This rapid charging helps with quick turnarounds, giving you round-the-clock availability.
The M30 Series Dock Version has a max wind resistance of 15 m/s 6, IP55 ingress protection, and TEC air conditioning, giving you flagship-level performance in temperatures ranging from -30°C to 50°C. With TEC air conditioning, you can cool the drone batteries and charge them from 10% to 90% in only 25 minutes. It blows cool air through the batteries to cool them down and maximize the charge efficiency. This rapid charging helps with quick turnarounds, giving you round-the-clock availability.
You can easily manage the DJI Dock through the new FlightHub 2. Through the application, you can set up flight plans and mission schedules, handle data storage and management, and collaborate on data processing with the rest of your team. The entire mission can be carried out remotely, giving you a never-before-seen level of cloud control and oversight. The DJI Dock also has a wide-angle security camera that monitors the dock itself and relays the live video back to DJI FlightHub. Its integrated weather station monitors weather conditions before and during the flight and the in-built LTE provides a 4G transmission link between the drone and the RC Plus.
The DJI Pilot App also gets an update with the DJI Pilot 2, a revamped flight app that allows you to access controls for the drone and payload with only a single tap.
Clear presentation of flight details and navigational information make the user experience and flight efficiency better than ever before. With screenside and customizable buttons, you can adjust camera views, drop PinPoints, and perform even more operations quickly.
The pre-flight checklist allows you to confirm the drones status and parameter settings before flight while alerts and notifications will tell you whenever conditions or scenarios change.
FlightHub 2 underwent another software upgrade, allowing you to integrate data storage and fleet management with user-friendly tools. FlightHub 2 provides countless collaborative solutions that increase the situational awareness of the whole team from mission live streaming to live annotation. Through FlightHub 2, you’ll see improved data sharing and communication that allows mission commanders to make better decisions and effectively deploy resources.
You can easily synchronize flight paths and missions between FlightHub 2 and DJI Pilot 2. Data from operations will automatically upload to FlightHub 2 Media Files for centralized management and analysis. FlightHub 2 also features an upgraded Live Mission Recording feature with an improved user interface, easy task recording, and target point marking that save 90% of operation steps. It even includes a 2.5D Base Map for fast terrain awareness, One-Tap Panorama Sync for a quick overview of the site, and Cloud Mapping for timely RGB or infrared mapping.
Whether you’re a fire fighter using the M30T to find hotspots in a building or you’re an inspector using the DJI Dock to perform autonomous missions in remote locations, the Matrice 30 series can provide you with more capabilities than ever before. Search and rescue personnel can use the thermal capabilities of the DJI M30T to find missing persons lost in foliage, while law enforcement can use the Intelligent Battery Charging Station to maintain round-the-clock surveillance.
With its ergonomic design, the new RC Plus remote controller can make it easy to develop muscle memory and navigate controls quickly and seamlessly. If you’re looking for an enterprise drone worth the money, then consider purchasing one of the powerful DJI drones in the new Matrice 30 series.
Dr Drone
Author
DrDrone is Canada's leading provider of drone technical services, with over a decade of experience and the distinction of being the first company in the country to offer drone servicing and repairs. As the largest drone vendor in Canada, we are also the primary supplier of Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) to the Canadian government. Our team members possess extensive knowledge of each drone's technical specifications and have a wealth of hands-on experience. For more than ten years, we have been dismantling and reconstructing drones, ensuring a deep understanding of these systems.