Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has launched the new DJI Matrice 400, replacing the Matrice 350, which it surpasses in every way.
The new Matrice 400 thus becomes the Chinese firm's flagship for technical work, capable of carrying a wide range of payloads for the most demanding specialized tasks. While awaiting the announcement of a new sensor or payload, these are the cameras or sensors it could carry: the Zenmuse H30/H30T series, Zenmuse L2 and Zenmuse P1, or the accessories Zenmuse S1 (drone spotlight), Zenmuse V1 (drone speaker), or the Manifold 3 (API calculation module).
Compared to its predecessor, the DJI Matrice 400 has increased its size and maximum takeoff weight to 15.8 kg, allowing it to carry a payload of up to 6 kg, or 3 kg via the quick-release port.
The class marking it will have under Delegated Regulation 945/2019 for flight in the EASA environment has not yet been announced, but everything points to a C3 marking.
The most significant new features introduced with this new UAS are (among others):
- Extended endurance of up to 59 minutes in ideal, windless conditions.
- New, improved DJI O4 Enterprise transmission system.
- New anti-obstacle sensors: horizontal rotating LiDAR, upper LiDAR, and lower 3D infrared ranging sensor, allowing it to operate more safely near power lines.
- IP55 protection
- Intelligent flight modes for programming automated flight paths using DJI Pilot 2 or DJI FlightHub 2, allowing you to design sloped or geometric routes (like its less modern siblings).
- A new open developer ecosystem that offers the model training tools and third-party developer certification process needed to access the built-in computing functionality, expanding new application areas for drones with AI or computer vision applications, along with the recently improved E-Port V2 and Mobile SDK 5, which simplifies the development of applications to control the Matrice 400.
A separate issue is the new TB100 flight battery that the M400 carries. In this case, unlike the dual flight batteries of the Matrice 300/350 series, it is a single, larger flight battery with a capacity of 20,254 mAh that can function as an external power bank for other purposes via a built-in output cable. We hope this battery will be robust enough to eliminate the need for duplicate batteries found in previous ranges, but at first glance, it seems like a step backward, as it could compromise flight safety.
According to the manufacturer, the starting price of the aircraft, without payload, is around €13,000.
All in all, the new DJI Matrice 400 is making a strong entrance, and we hope to have it in our hangar among our aircraft soon, so we can expand the specialized technical work we perform for the most demanding clients.
