Yamaha's RMAX - the worlds most advanced non-military UAV

The massive breakthrough of the RMAX though, was its Yamaha-exclusive flight attitude control system YACS, characterised by its vastly improved ability to hover stationary position, and that complete novices could fly the machine. Real helicopters are very hard to fly - we once heard it described as balancing on a golf ball with your eyes closed and radio-controlled model helicopters are equally as difficult to fly, though they have the added advantage of not being life-threatening should you fail.

The Yamaha YACS system is such that if you stop all input from the pilot, the machine stops dead still and hovers in one spot. This further lowered the cost of operation (no need for highly-trained personnel), but combined with an almost complete lack of vibration and a range of other sophistications the machine was suddenly suitable for things which had not been possible before. For example, by adding a GPS, Yamaha found it could take very high definition photos from the same spot, time-and-again, over regular time frames, and measure crop growth very accurately.

This resulted in a further upgrade and in Q2, 2003, Yamaha released the 'RMAX Type II G' with the G short for Global Positioning System (GPS). Since then, Yamaha's domestic rival in the UAV market, Yammar, has begun selling RMAX Type II G on an OEM basis, giving the RMAX a virtual 100% market share.

Now the RMAX is not cheap by any standard but that of full-scale aviation. The absolute base-model airframe suitable for agriculture, with a single GPS and the ability to fly only within sight, and no more than five metres above the ground costs US$86,000. The Aerial Photography version can fly up to 100 metres above the ground and costs between US$150,000 and US$230,000. There's a flight research model specced for universities with manual only flight mode, which sells for US$120,000 and none of the base stations and other niceties.

Then there's the 'hamburger-with-the-lot': the fully autonomous R-Max package which includes the ground station, antennas, computers, monitors and two complete autonomous airframes and a four camera system. The price tag is US$1,000,000.00.

The completely autonomous version enables the 'pilot' to watch what's happening from all four cameras at once while the RMAX goes about the flight plan it has been programmed with from the controlling computer. If the operator sees something they want to look at closely, they can override the plan to get closer and then resume the original flight plan or program a new one.

Operating at 10% the hourly rate of a manned helicopter means a whole range of new applications can be found for this new airborne capability.

Some people see an enormous future for the RMAX in surveillance. Because it lands and takes off vertically and does so in a small footprint, it can be used as an auxiliary capability for coast watch vessels, enabling the coast watchers to look at what's happening on islands, up creeks, on the other side of vessels under observation, and to see over the horizon. It has enormous application for the spraying of high-value crops, aerial photography, perimeter control, and even to usage by fire-brigades so they can get a clear picture of what's happening around, for example, a large building which is on fire, or where the heart of a bushfire is.

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