Elios 3 vs. Elios 2: How do the Flyability drones compare?

Are you considering buying an Elios drone or upgrading to the latest generation? In this article we highlight the differences and key benefits of the two drone solutions to help you guide your choices.

What Elios 2 and Elios 3 have in common

Designed with the same purpose in mind

Elios 2 and Elios 3 are both designed to perform remotely operated close-up inspections in hazardous and confined spaces. In line with the Flyability vision, those two solutions deliver common benefits:

• Keep workers out of dangerous places to perform the most demanding inspection tasks.

• Empower critical maintenance decisions with outstanding data quality.

• Reduce inspection cost through reduced downtimes and more efficient operations.

A patented collision-resilience technology

Elios 2 and Elios 3 are both designed against Flyabilty's patented collision-resilient technology. It allows the Elios drones to bump into obstacles around their operational area and recover from a collision that would put them upside down. This is achieved through a unique combination of intellectual properties in motors and flight controllers that can reverse the thrust of each motor independently in a fraction of a second.

A deemed close-up inspection payload

Both Elios 2 and Elios 3 are equipped with a unique built-in inspection payload that comes with the following features.

4K cameraThe Elios camera is optimized for rendering images with a resolution of 0.18 mm/px at 30 cm, providing the level of detail professional inspectors would get by standing at an arm's length of the area to inspect. This resolution is very close to what the human eye can detect except that the data captured with a drone can be analyzed, filed and remain accessible any time. On the other hand, data captured manually relies on the attention of the inspector and his assessment as to whether or not the visual information is worth being captured.

The most powerful and intelligent lighting system ever built on a commercial droneElios provides the ideal lighting conditions whether you're navigating in large spaces or inspecting all types of surfaces looking for cracks and pitting. Elios 2 and Elios 3 both feature the industry's first oblique lighting system allowing the user to reproduce the technique of inspectors playing with their flashlight to cast shadows in small asperities to reveal them.

Automatic distance lock
Both drones also feature the distance lock functionality which lets inspectors perform smooth, consistent, and precise inspections of welding or beams at a set distance.

The differences between Elios 2 and Elios 3

Elios 2: A reliable inspection tool

Elios 2 when it launched was a massive step up from the Elios 1 and is still a great inspection drone today. Elios 2 features a dedicated inspection payload with a 4k RGB camera, thermal camera, distance, sensor, and powerful lighting system. 
Today, Elios 2 keeps a spot in the Flyability portfolio mainly because of its form factor. Elios 2 is slightly smaller than Elios 3 and has a spherical shape. With an overall dimension of 38 cm (13.8 in,  Elios 2 fits into standard manholes and can enter any space where an inspection is needed. 

Elios 3 is bigger and has an ovoid shape with a height of 38cm (13.8 in) and a width of 48cm (18.9 in). 

This can be an important factor depending on the application. For example, in case your inspection would be constrained by the size of a manhole, Elios 2 might be your best ally. For all other applications, Flyability pushes the use of the Elios 3一a new generation of confined space UAVs that brings indoor capabilities to the next level.

Elios 3: Greater performance, greater versatility and greater stability

While Elios 2 remains a proven solution for confined space visual inspections, Elios 3 clearly makes another quantum leap forward, adding to the Elios 2’s body of technology more data capture capabilities, unprecedented ease of use and the ability to integrate additional payloads. In other words, as the 3rd generation of Flyability drones, Elios 3 brings indoor capabilities to the next level.

Elios 3 is the outcome of four years of extensive engineering work. Its technology has been qualified through over 200 missions and refined based on clients’ feedback. The result? The integration of FlyAware™, a proprietary SLAM engine that works in combination with a brand-new LiDAR payload - enabling significant upgrades in terms of performance, versatility, and stability.

Elios 3 boasts

Elios 3 builds on the success of Elios 2, incorporating all the best features of Elios 2, while offering a number of new technologies and enhancements:

• Easier to pilot - allows pilots to perform complex mission with close to training

• Easier reporting - all data are visualize on a 3D representation of the asset

• Live situational awareness - the drone position and its trajectory is available real-time

• Mapping capabilities - create highly accurate point clouds of the most remote areas

• Modular payload - supporting a robust development roadmap

Survey-grade mapping of hazardous, GPS-denied areas

Powered by an Ouster OS0-32 LiDAR sensor, Elios 3 allows inspectors to capture shadowless, highly accurate point cloud data for the creation of survey-grade 3D models. Mapping hazardous areas as big as 80 cm diameter now becomes possible, enabling professionals across industries to perform the most demanding inspection tasks. Used in combination with GeoSLAM Connect, Elios 3 delivers survey-grade point clouds and georeferenced maps of the most inaccessible places with a mapping accuracy of +/- 1.5 cm and a drift of +/- 0.2%.

Real-time situational awareness

With its onboard LiDAR and proprietary SLAM algorithm—FlyAware™— Elios 3 instantly creates a 3D map of its surroundings and renders it real-time in the piloting app, empowering the pilot with exceptional locational awareness. On that map, the drone's position and trajectory inside the asset is located precisely enabling the pilot to:

• Easily decide on the optimal route to follow to safely return home

•  Instantly assess the inspection coverage

3D live reporting

With Inspector 4—Elios 3 companion software—inspectors can now visualize Points of Interest found during an inspection and locate them in a high resolution 3D map. This feature lets stakeholders navigate from POI to POI in a digital representation of their assets, providing a clear visualization of the defects found within them to support planning, monitoring, and maintenance efforts.

Ease of piloting

Elios 3 is designed to be used by anyone on your team indoors, in complete darkness, and no matter the dust. Its SLAM-based stabilization algorithm, powered by the fusion of three VIO cameras and the LiDAR, catches the tiniest unpredictable movements of the drone and instructs the flight controller to compensate for it, allowing for the drone to float in the air still as a stone even in the toughest conditions. This stability and other ease-of-use features make the Elios 3 incredibly easy to operate, so pilots from all skill levels will succeed at performing complex missions with close to no training. 

Designed with the future in mind

Elios 3's payload bay features two ports, one dedicated to the LiDAR sensor and one for auxiliary payloads. Elios 3 is built to be a drone platform that has the ability to expand operations with additional payloads made to address specific needs of industries with capital intensive assets. The RAD for radiation sensing, released in May 2023 was the very first modular payload integrated on the Elios 3. In the upcoming months, Flyability will be releasing more payloads allowing for a broader range of applications. 
Net, Elios 3 is a long-term investment that will enable enterprise drone programs to evolve as new technology and sensors become available.

• For more detailed information, have a look at the comparison chart below.

New use cases for the Elios 3

The Elios 3 will bolster any application you currently use an Elios 2 for. However, with its SLAM engine, built-in LiDAR payload and additional software integrations, there are lots of new use cases for the Elios 3 in which you will experience unique benefits.

Mapping and surveying of hazardous areas

Mapping areas that are out of reach or too dangerous for humans to enter is critical yet often impossible. Whether you are in underground mines, surveying inaccessible infrastructures or mapping indoor stockpiles, Elios 3 enables GPS-denied flight and collision-resilience capabilities to produce shadowless, high resolution scans of any inaccessible area, without exposing workers to hazards.

Indoor volume tracking and reconciliation

Elios 3 and its mounted LiDAR payload can measure large volumes and quantities down to millimeter accuracy in just a few minutes improving inventory management and reducing industrial safety risks related to stockpile collapses that can cost companies dearly in terms of production delays. Using Elios 3, site operators can have better control on stock shortages or excesses and on ever-changing size and form of a stockpile, without having to expose workers to the heavy machinery and constant stream of vehicles found in a stockyard.

Georeferencing and data alignment

The versatile and easy to deploy Elios 3 LiDAR scanning solution is opening new opportunities to quickly obtain high-resolution 3D data of complex environments. At post-processing, this data can be overlaid onto existing maps and aligned with GPS coordinates, to provide accurate georeferencing - enabling professionals to precisely locate and identify potential hazards, such as cracks, corrosion, or structural damage, in hazardous areas. Additionally, this data can be used to track changes over time and monitor the condition of critical infrastructure, further improving safety and efficiency.

Comparison chart - Elios 2 versus Elios 3

This chart is meant to highlight the main differences between the two drones. Complete versions of the technical specifications can be found on Flyability knowledge base.

So, which one should you choose?

Ultimately the choice will depend on what you are going to be using the drone for. But in short, if your applications are constrained by the size of a manhole, Elios 2 will remain your best ally. On the other hand, if you are new to the world of drone inspection, if you plan to onboard multiple pilots or if you want more than RGB visual data, there is no question - the Elios 3 is the drone to choose! The Elios 3 makes a true quantum leap forward in terms of ease of use and data capture capability providing unprecedented value to industrial users.

A last point that many of our clients are concerned with is budget. Obviously, the Elios 2 is built with older technology bricks which means its price point is lower versus the Elios 3. But, both the Elios 2 and the Elios 3 are here to solve problems with up to 6 digits and most of our clients recover their investment in less than a year.

For more information on the Elios 3 capabilities per industry, please get in touch. We have a team of specialists available to assist you regardless of where you are in your drone adoption journey.

We look forward to speaking with you soon.