Red Cat 4-Ship system allows multiple drones to work together
DRONE LIFE Function Editor Jim Magill
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The future of commercial and military drone use may depend on the development of technologies that allow simultaneous flight of multiple drones. Each UAV communicates not only with ground operators but also with their peers for missions.
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Red Cat Holdings recently announced the release of a version of the multi-drone system. According to the company, 4-Ship software is the first commercial company to bring such a system to market. Expected to go on sale this fall, the product is expected to be widely used in military, police and even future applications in the commercial market.
Developed by RedCat’s subsidiary Teal Drones and working closely with its strategic partner, autonomous system developer Autonodyne LLC, RedCat offers a multi-vehicle package in two configurations: 4Ship and 4-Ship +. In both configurations, one pilot can control up to four teal Golden Eagle UAVs at the same time. The Golden Eagle is the first drone mass-produced entirely in the United States under strict guidelines from the US Department of Defense.
The four-ship system allows one pilot to control multiple drones and work in concert with each other, significantly reducing the time to complete a mission and reducing the downtime required to replace the battery. It disappears.
“The actual cost of government or commercial activity is the cost of the pilot. It’s people’s time and we’re very sensitive to it,” RedCat COO Allan Evans said in an interview. “What we always want to do is not to unleash the potential of the aircraft, but to unleash the potential of the operator.”
While waiting for FAA approval for a commercial multi-drone application, the new system allows operators to explore the field in less than a quarter of the time it takes to perform the same task on a single drone. According to Evans, in military and police use, the four-ship system is invaluable in situations where the scene needs to be constantly monitored, such as hostage conditions.
If one drone in the configuration is nearing the end of battery life, the system will automatically notify the activation of a replacement UAV with a new battery, and the first drone will automatically land for recharging. increase. Ground operator. “In this way, we can build a drone system with unlimited battery life and no need to functionally leave during a set mission,” he said.
Many drone-related entities have experimented with multi-drone systems, but RedCat is the first company to develop this technology on a commercial scale, Evans said.
He compared the transition from experimentation to commercial production to how to bake cookies. “You can bake a dozen cookies, and they can be pretty good,” he said. “And for us, the idea of moving from research to production, like making a dozen cookies, is,” Well, I made a dozen cookies, so how do you make 12,000 cookies? ” I’m saying.
A true interactive multi-drone system is also different from the multi-drone light show display often seen at large public events such as the Olympics. On this display, each drone operates independently of all other UAVs in the display. “I call it blind ballet,” Evans said. ” [the drones] I’m aware that the rest is there. They only follow their own routes. “
In a four-ship system, on the other hand, the operator designs the mission and the software divides the mission into individual tasks, allowing the individual drones to collaborate and autonomously execute with each other.
Growth through acquisition
CEO Jeff Thompson is a tech entrepreneur with a long track record of establishing and leading companies, from start-ups to successful exits and early public offerings, and several small US-based drones a few years ago. Established RedCat as a means of incorporating companies. According to Evans, a drone and software company large enough to compete with reputed international market players such as DJI.
“The idea was to buy various parts of these small businesses. For example, they may have problems getting up on their own, such as poor finances or lack of easy access to capital,” Evans said. Mr. says.
RedCat, a publicly traded company, provides products, services and solutions to the commercial drone industry through a wholly owned subsidiary. FatShark Holdings is a leading provider of first-person view (FPV) video goggles. Rotor Riot LLC sells FPV drones and equipment through the digital storefront at www.rotorriot.com. Red Cat Propware is also developing a software (“SaaS”) platform as a solution to analyze and store drone flight data and provide diagnostic products and services.
Recently, Red Cat acquired Teal Drones, the manufacturer of Teal Golden Eagle, one of the first seven Blue UAS certified commercial drone manufacturers to improve its exposure to the military and security drone market.
Teal, along with Skypersonic, another subsidiary that provides secure distributed storage, analytics, and software to the drone industry, forms the enterprise segment of RedCat. This corporate segment focuses on serving the government drone market, which consists of military and public security customers such as police stations.
Evans said he expects demand from this market segment to increase as states such as Florida adopt provisions requiring public service agencies to stop using Chinese-made drones and components.
“We are trying to fill some of the gaps left by DJI being on the entity list and withdrawing from the market,” he said.
Read more about Red Cat, Teal Drones, FatShark:
Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with nearly a quarter of a century of experience covering the technological and economic developments of the oil and gas industry. After retiring as Senior Editor at S & P Global Platts in December 2019, Jim began writing about emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones and how they contribute to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a Forbes.com contributor, and his work appears in the Houston Chronicle, the US News & World Report, and the publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems, Unmanned Systems.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE, Chief Executive Officer of JobForDrones, a professional drone services market, and a fascinating observer of the emerging drone industry and drone regulatory environment. She has written over 3,000 articles focusing on commercial drone spaces, is an international speaker and an industry-recognized figure. She has a degree in Miriam from the University of Chicago and she has over 20 years of experience in high-tech sales and marketing of new technologies.
For consulting or writing in the drone industry, send an email to Miriam.
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