Unlike most other drone manufacturers, AIRBORNE ROBOTICS puts great value on open systems and open programming allowing for a large variety of cameras, instruments, and other equipment to go airborne. The company manufactures high-quality drones for professional applications. These include manual and automated flights for surveying / mapping / measuring, cinematography, agriculture & forestry, inspection / surveillance, disaster response and various industrial tasks.
One of their strength is industrial developments, research and customizations. Confirming this Alexander FRAESS-EHRFELD, CEO says that, “We are open for any projects with African partners. Typically industrial or sector specific partners with grand, “pushing boundaries” ideas come to us. We then mutually assess how these ideas can be made marketable within the current and foreseeable technological constraints and how they can be integrated into their own or their customers’ day-to-day business. We have specific integration managers for this task”.
Thriving infrastructure development in Africa is viewed as a crucial ingredient to foster the growth of tech trends in construction industry. Attesting to this Alexander says, “We see great potential in the African market. Not only with regards to growth rates of certain national economies but also with regards to general acceptance of drones and the very broad range of possible drone applications in Africa. Less densely populated areas means more need for aerial – short & medium range – drone coverage. Construction / Surveying / Mining are the most important vertical segment for us and where we see largest potential in Africa. Our drones add most value when task s are complex and require utmost reliability”.
Based on long-term experience in manufacturing professional drones they have optimized manufacturing processes and results to arrive where they stand today. “Our AIR8 drone is the ultimate technology bundle and the “power package” in the airspace reserved for UAV traffic: highly accurate aerial LiDAR data are made accessible – environmentally & cost efficient – and can be performed for small and large projects. Multiple sensors can be mounted and deployed at one and the same flight. The AIR8 represents the maximum performance you can get with a small rotor drone. Our customers win tenders and mandates because they can convince through our state-of-the-art UAV equipment, in particular through:
- REDUNDANCY (enhanced fail-safety from two electronic circuits; essential for Operating Safety Case)
- PERFORMANCE (payload, flight time, power reserve, stability)
- OPEN PLATFORM (ability to mount any sensor or payload)
- CUSTOMIZATIONS (systems tailored to your specifications)
Besides our flagship drone AIR8, we cover a very broad applications spectrum with our other products”.
Alexander concludes as he advises clients that,” Plant the tree early – ie. The earlier customers start operating drones and integrating them into their core business the more advanced their business will be in the future. Drones are more than the eye-in-the-sky. They can enhance ground-based workflows and procedures through aerial information for inspection, analysis and documentation. But collecting meaningful data can only be done in a professional way and with professional sensors. In order to fully exploit the potential of aerial imagery for site overview, zone mapping, 3D photogrammetry or inspection of critical assets mount the highest quality camera you can afford. Increasing the resolution of an image decreases its ground sampling distance (GSD) and thereby increases the accuracy of the map or the 3D model. We recommend using a 24.3 MPix camera or higher for drone mapping and surveys. We frequently suggest 100 MPix. Thermal inspection of buildings, power lines, pipelines, infrastructure or other critical assets is only meaningful with highest quality cameras”.
