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The Prenav High Precision Drone


Image: www.prenav.com

Californian UAV company PreNav has announced they are bringing a new quadcopter to the market. The company aspires to deliver with its new drone a precision in flight henceforth unforeseen in the industry; and crucially the ability for its operation both outdoors and indoors. This offers the prospect of delivering to the industry a ‘game changer’ for UAV use to be a possibility beyond their largely exclusive-use prior in the outdoor setting.

How this shall be done indoors is in the main achieved via a two-step process in preparation. Alongside using the drone itself, a tripod-mounted ground station aka ‘ground control’ shall undertake a laser scan of the surrounding walls and shall then create a virtual map. This means once the scan is completed the communication between drone and ground control shall be consistent and ongoing – at the rate of 100 times per second – leaving the drone with a clear path and the chance of any collision or crash removed.


Yet, perhaps most impressive of PreNav’s claims – which we’ll need wait until official launch of the quadcopter in 2016 to see in reality – is that a flight precision of within 1 centimeter can be achieved. What this means for the quadcopter has applications not just for the indoor but outdoor area of operations. Already electricity and power companies – alongside telecommunications operations – have sought out partnerships with the firm. What this accuracy would promise to deliver these partners is a new ability to seek out via observation data from previously difficult or dangerous locations – such as atop of mobile cell tower – while reducing time and risk inherent in sending an employee up.

SOURCE: PreNav