The Chinese company Heisha Tech has developed a docking station with which a standard Mavic 2 Zoom from DJI can be deployed as part of a fully automated drone-in-a-box system. To this end, the DNEST has a facility to charge the drone between flights and the drone can be controlled remotely via a cloud solution.

Ready-to-use dronebox

The system has been developed for users who want to use drones to perform various automated tasks, such as inspection flights and security applications. “However, finding qualified drone pilots is becoming more and more problematic. Especially when it comes to remote locations, it is expensive to hire pilots. Docking stations are a good way to reduce operational costs,” said Heisha Tech Director Ling Lu.

The system Heisha Tech has developed consists of a drone box with an integrated charging system. The docking station must be connected to a power supply and network cable and is then immediately ready for use. The box is rain and dust resistant, so that it can be installed on the roof of a building, for example. The drone itself is equipped with a modified battery and a special landing gear.

Control and data processing To

control the system, Heisha has partnered with FlytBase, a developer of the FreeSky cloud solution to support mission planning, flight execution and data processing. The system can be accessed via any web browser, including from a different location. In that case, the operator must be qualified to perform drone flights out of sight (BVLOS).

The user can easily create waypoint missions via a map interface. and have it run by the drone. It is also possible to control the drone manually or send the drone to a specific coordinate by 1 click. For safety, a geofence can be set up, where the drone cannot fly outside. The flight can be terminated at any time, after which the drone automatically flies back to the box and deploys the landing.

Images from the drone can be viewed live from a distance. It is also possible to shoot. As soon as the drone is back in the box, the files are automatically uploaded to the cloud solution, for further processing by the user. Heisha is still working on software with which the recordings can also be analyzed automatically.

Distributors

Heisha wants to roll out the system internationally and is looking for distributors to do so. In addition to the DNEST drone-in-a-box solution for the Mavic 2 Zoom, the company also offers other drone boxes that can be used with various commercially available drones, such as Yuneec, Parrot, Skydio and DJI.