System allows drone/camera combination to fly for six hours at up to 200m

Drone Evolution has launched a new, milspec drone tethering system at DSEI 2019.

The system allows any drone/camera combination to fly for six hours at a height of up to 200m, whilst transmitting data securely via a fibre-optic milspec cable. The military system is 24V, running off a military vehicle battery and is controlled via a portable ground station which fits neatly into a 40mm ammo can.

Line of sight capability to be added

The Dragon Tethered Drone (civil) version of this system has been proven over the past year and interest from the defence establishment has driven the development of the military prototype version. The civil system currently offers large-scale event security, monitors ingress and egress, crowd behaviour response, long-term traffic counting, emergency response and air quality monitoring. Other features can be added, such as thermal imaging, loudspeakers and a wifi hotspot. Development work is underway to enable beyond line of sight capability in the future.

Toby Townrow, Communications Director at Drone Evolution, said: “Development of our secure tethering system has been a natural progression for us and the interest we have had, both in UK and abroad, tells us that there is an urgent need for this equipment as drones are used more in security and defence roles.

“We are delighted to take Drone Evolution to its next level both in business and technology. I am particularly looking forward to a hush hush development we have been working on and will be announcing during DSEI.”

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