Vodafone Germany launches platform for commercial drones

Vodafone Germany and data collection company FlyNex have launched DroNet Hub, a comprehensive online platform to help businesses plan and manage commercial drone flights.

In recent years, drones have proved valuable in many commercial scenarios, from transporting packages on factory premises to monitoring difficult to reach infrastructure. But planning and implementing drone flights is often complex and time-consuming. The DroNet Hub aims to make commercial drones possible for any company within a few clicks of a mouse, and give them a simple way to plan, control and analyse flights.

Helping commercial drone flights take off

There are many considerations before any drone flight. These range from the approval of the flight and its trajectory to the quality of local network coverage to ensure control. After a flight, any images or data recorded then needs to be evaluated thoroughly and at speed.

DroNet Hub covers all these areas in a simple all-in-one platform, from planning and organising the flight, to automated data collection and reporting.

The new ‘DroNet Connect Stream’ tariff comes with a high-speed data volume of 500GB (gigabytes), optionally expandable to 1 TB ([SLV1] terabytes), ensures a consistent transmission of live data from the drone directly to the Hub. Data from the mobile network is also integrated, to help understand the connectivity and population density that lies ahead on a flight path.

And by having AI integrated into the system, any aerial photographs captured can be analysed more quickly to generate automated reports. These reports can then be used to create 3D models or digital twins of the area being monitored.

Early detection of infrastructural damage

Making commercial drone flights easier to manage promises to improve how companies monitor their infrastructure. For instance, industrial plants, electricity pylons and wind farms often require complex inspection and maintenance which are expensive and risky. However, without inspecting these buildings, undetected damage could instead risk the health and safety of the public.

Drones can become the solution for monitoring infrastructure for structural damages. They require no on-site presence and can quickly capture important building blocks for the creation of digital twins.