Nokia, Swisscom to Deploy 300-Unit Drone Network for Safety, Industrial Use

Nokia and Swisscom Broadcast have teamed to deploy the largest drones-as-a-service network with 300 drone-in-a-box units in Switzerland. 

The project will support Switzerland’s public safety and Industry 4.0 efforts while highlighting Nokia’s expertise in modernizing digital infrastructure. It will leverage mission-critical industrial edge computing with 3GPP technologies to enable beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) autonomous operations, according to Nokia.

The drones will not only increase the safety of first responders but also optimize resources and play a crucial role in saving lives during incidents, Nokia said. The remote-operated drones will gather information in the first minutes during an emergency, helping enhance situational awareness for first responders.

Nokia’s drone-in-a-box is a turnkey system that includes a drone, docking station, ground control station, video and thermal camera payloads, along with software and service components.

It supports interfaces and APIs for seamless third-party integration with traffic monitoring systems, video management software, dispatch solutions and industrial inspection and process monitoring systems.

They will also be used to boost worker safety as they can be deployed to inspect tall or hard-to-reach infrastructure. 

Related:Nokia Unveils Drone Network for Industry 4.0

The nationwide drone network will be available for Swiss public safety agencies which can simply request a drone flight from Swisscom Broadcast, similar to a ride-sharing service. 

The companies also aim to advance industrial use cases, enhance drone automation, enable beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations and expand 3GPP technologies for drone applications in Switzerland.

Swisscom Broadcast CEO Dominik Müller said under the partnership together they can “speed up the go-to-market of our drones-as-a-service offering to our customers in the industrial and public safety landscape in Switzerland.”

“The integration of our existing People Density Tool and our Drone Operations expertise with Nokia’s industrial grade hardware in combination with an open and future-proof Software architecture is an important key to support such large-scale projects,” he said. 

Nokia’s president of cloud and network services Raghav Sahgal expressed pride in partnering with Swisscom Broadcast for this "important project to establish a nationwide Drone-as-a-Service network in Switzerland."

“Nokia Drone Networks solution enables large-scale projects as it incorporates our mission-critical industrial edge (MXIE) technology to power its advanced computing functions and software,” Sahgal said. “It will undoubtedly help Swiss enterprises gain access to a superior Drones-as-a-Service offering to enhance worker and public safety.”

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