Unifly, Aeronyde to Build Advanced Drone Systems for Emergency Responders

Florida-based Autonomous Aerial Systems (AAS) company Aeronyde and Belgian Unmanned Traffic Management providers Unifly have partnered to bring advanced UAV technology to emergency responders. The companies will integrate Unifly’s Unmanned Traffic Management services, along with Aeronyde’s system for Autonomous flight which will provide registered and authorized drones, on-demand and will deliver real-time situational awareness from scenes of distress.

The UTM(Belgian Unmanned Traffic Management) system will empower emergency responders to customize drone systems to fit any mission profile and agency size. Emergency workers will be able to respond in real time for accidents, fires, crime scenes, active shooter incidents or rescues and enhance on-site situational awareness by deploying the dispatch of drones’ on-demand. Police can also create neighbourhood aerial patrols to spot problems before a crime can happen.

The intention manifesto was officially signed at the City Hall of Brussels, in the presence of Mr. Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General for Mobility and Transport Services of the European Commission (DG Move) on 16 July 2018. This makes the City of Brussels a pioneering city to develop solutions based on drones for emergencies, starting with the delivery of defibrillators to save lives.

The Aeronyde-Unifly partnership provides a user-friendly interface that allows drone operators to easily plan and validate their mission. Unifly’s flight validation engine not only checks compliance with all federal, state, and local rules and regulations, but also ensures zero clashes between drone operations. Thus local operators and central authorities can monitor and track the drones in real time. Post operation, specific tools like logs and the replay modes, allow for easy post-flight analysis and analytics.

“Unifly truly believes in building a global ecosystem of partners in order to advance the drone industry. In this way, we are very happy to support Aeronyde in implementing its ambitious ideas and proud that our technology will help public safety agencies to better serve and protect the citizens,” Unifly CEO Marc Kegelaers said.

Unifly are also collaborating with several Belgian cities in the Urban Air Mobility initiative of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-SCC), supported by the European Commission, which aims to accelerate drone application studies and implementation by bringing together cities, citizens, businesses and other stakeholders. The initiative is led by Airbus, while the institutional partners include Eurocontrol and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

In close cooperation with the emergency services in Brussels, the local authorities, the police and the city will define the feasibility of the project “Take Care Emergency” which aims to use drones to transport defibrillators in critical conditions when ambulances take too long to intervene. The impact of such air mobility solutions in urban areas will be life saving since the mortality rate following cardiac arrest with each lost minute sees the chances of survival reduced by 10%.