ZENADRONE LAUNCH NEW COMMERICAL DRONE
ZenaDrone 1000 launch is a go!
Just last Thursday on June 8th, I arrived at the press release in north country Dublin Ireland with an expectation that this drone would be small and handheld. What I found was a commercial display model for the launch, which in its folded state would fit into a large estate car or a flatbed pickup truck.
ZenaDrone
After chatting with Dhairia Bhatt, Product Engineer and Founder Sean Passley, I was impressively wowed at the product’s initial specifications along with its feature extensibility. The commercial edition is lighter than its military variant due to no hardening or battle protection for the 4 propeller units. With an automated flight pattern capability based on geofencing, and a 1-hour flight time on the electric battery with a top speed of 80kph, the application of this drone is considerable for many use cases from farming to logistics distribution to industrial process management and more.
The cargo carry capacity of 40kg makes it useful for materials management, enabling distribution into inaccessible areas. With a flight ceiling of 50 meters, the Zenadrone 1000 is suitable for hostile area resupply given the drone can fit into a large estate car with the back seats down or on a pickup flatbed truck. It also has numerous medical applications such as helping out with field hospital resupply in inaccessible areas. Charging can be hardwired but wireless fast charging of the 4 interconnected batteries on one or more charging pads located in a geofence area automatically extends the drone’s range.
The drone can stop for power with its ability to land vertically when it’s running low on power shortage. The dual satcom/4/5g dual connection to ZenaDrone control is secured by layered security features that make it attractive to military bodies who have very high standards for very understandable reasons. ZenaDrone’s ‘Drone as a Service’ offering makes commercial setup and operation much easier for the smaller user expanding the target market, which is done in a way that seems to not detract from the core market value of the product.
The managed service offerings also include advanced data analytics based on sensory information collected by the drone, which can make for a huge competitive advantage in today’s world.
We chatted about the surveillance fittings with the snub nose camera slots which add large area security to its duty list. The heavier and even more advanced model has a hybrid power feature with fuel adding range and airtime for this variant. The military version has prop protection and hardening that makes sense as it increases crash resistance and is less likely to be shot down.
Its 50-meter ceiling makes it a good runner for resupplying frontline units where a driver can drive to a relatively safe location and dispense supplies to frontline units given the military version can be piloted from a central control station. My thoughts went directly to Ukraine when considering these use-cases. Sean tells me that they have talks open with many governments and expect good things to happen.
On reflection of what I saw and heard, the XenaDrone 1000 is a nice bit of kit to have on board if you have physical distribution or information gathering requirements that need a solution. The price point for this commercial drone is not unreasonable given its profile. The drone as a service offering for smaller scale needs that don’t justify the capital investment offers a range of customizable product offerings around the drone’s use.
If you need to run your business across distance and need physical transport that manages many access challenges, then this is something you should look at. If you are a personal user, then this will not suit your needs or your price point. As I headed home from the launch, the creation of Sean and his team struck me as one driven by a passion for drones and what possibilities they can bring to the world. They will be busy for a long time following up on this new entrant to the commercial and military drone market for some time to come.
John Mulhall @johnmlhll is a writer with Irish Tech News for over 5 years and also a DevOps and Infrastructure Engineer specialising in cloud-related technologies. You can learn more about John at https://maolte.ie
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Reporting: Irish Tech News