Elistair, a Lyon, France-based company designs and manufactures tethered stations for drones, bringing increased safety, unlimited autonomy and high-speed data transfer to drone operations.
Commercial drones are increasingly becoming popular across numerous verticals. Entry of several new startups and technological advancements have helped end users acquire UAVs that are tailored particularly for their industries. Hence we see drones in the security industry that can autonomously conduct surveillance over a specified area, those in agriculture that can survey crops and intelligently distinguish them as per requirements and even research fields that require drones for gathering information.
However, one of the major hurdles in the development of this industry has been the short life of drone batteries. On an average, the flight time of a commercial drone is limited to 10 to 20 minutes, making it useless in a scenario where extensive use is required. For instance, when used in the security industry, drones may be required to cover vast areas, but without adequate battery life, this would be impossible.
But as with most problems, this is not without a solution. Elistair, a Lyon, France-based company designs and manufactures tethered stations for drones, bringing increased safety, unlimited autonomy and high-speed data transfer to drone operations.
Speaking to asmag.com, Guilhem de Marliave, CEO and Founder of Elistair of explained that the company’s solution enables easy access to unlimited valuable aerial data. Their key markets are persistent aerial surveillance, popup telecommunications and industrial inspections in complex environments.
“Elistair’s flagship product, SAFE-T, is a smart tethered station for civilian drones, offering extended possibilities to operators and drone users,” Marliave said. “Thanks to its micro-tether providing continuous power supply and high speed data transfer, the solution enables unlimited access to a global aerial vision, in real time and in a secure manner. SAFE-T is the perfect solution for multiple applications in the areas of surveillance, inspection, telecommunications and TV broadcast. Designed to be easily transportable and deployable on any type of terrain, SAFE-T is compact, and operational in seconds.”
Thanks to its micro-tether providing continuous power supply and high speed data transfer, the solution enables unlimited access to a global aerial vision, in real time and in a secure manner.
- Guilhem de Marliave, CEO and Founder, Elistair
Of course, having a wire connected to it does limit the area that the drone can cover, but Marliave pointed out that providing direct and continuous power supply through a micro-tether to the drone brings endurance to the operations.
“Thanks to a redundant power supply, continuous and unjammable data transfer and a micro-tether armored to withstand more than 150kgs of traction, SAFE-T guarantees a full mastering of your drone operation, allowing safer missions in complex scenarios, and a complete protection of surrounding equipment and people,” he added. “The product includes a built-in Wi-Fi and can be remotely controlled from a smartphone or tablet device, giving access to live analysis and telemetry.”
The company expects several factors to drive demand for its solution. Naturally, the limited battery life of a conventional drone is a major concern to most drone users, and this alone could attract more customers to Elistair’s solution.
Explaining this further Marliave said, “Full automation (no pilot required), increasing the time of flight of tethered drone (reaching true persistence), a greater awareness of the main weaknesses of battery-powered drones, and democratization of aerial platforms for the security and telecommunications market,” could be some of the main drivers of demand.