Nokia Drone Networks drone-in-a-box solution

Nokia is offering a turnkey drone-in-a-box solution, designed to meet the growing demands of organisations including public safety agencies, smart cities, construction, energy and defence. CE-certified to meet safety requirements of the European Union, the Nokia Drone Networks solution connects over public and private 4G/LTE and 5G networks to enhance situational awareness for first responders and other professionals.

The product is manufactured in Europe and comprises Nokia drones, a docking station, dual gimbal camera and edge cloud processing using Nokia MX Industrial Edge (MXIE). Using cellular connectivity technologies offers high data rates and low latency, enabling more data to be streamed than over Wi-Fi.

Beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations with real-time kinetic (RTK) positioning improves situational awareness. Dual modem connectivity allows the drones to simultaneously connect to multiple networks, complying with system redundancy that is commonly required by aviation regulatory bodies.

The product can be operated remotely for search and rescue activities, and to assess damage in a hazardous environment. The drones can also be programmed to manage autonomous scheduled flights for applications like additional security at large events or to manage regular remote equipment inspections. The docking station protects the drone and payload, such as the sensor devices or dual gimbal camera, from external hazards and harsh weather while it remotely charges the drone to prepare for the next flight.

When used in conjunction with Nokia MXIE, data from the drones can be collected and processed in real time at the edge cloud. An open API framework allows agencies and enterprises to onboard pre-integrated Nokia and third-party applications and systems and take advantage of a growing number of public safety and Industry 4.0 use cases for drone automation, including object identification, tracking and network measurements.

Depending on the deployed configuration, the drones offer more than 50 min of flight time and cover distances of more than 30 km due to the hardware architecture, integrated software innovations and 4G/5G connectivity.