Aeryon’s brainier, brawnier drone
New SkyRanger R80 can carry two kilograms
WATERLOO — It’s bigger, brawnier and brainier than its predecessor, with advanced computing power and the ability to carry a heavier payload.
For Dave Kroetsch, the cofounder and chief technology officer for Aeryon Labs, the company’s new SkyRanger R80 drone represents greater flexibility and capabilities for customers in the military, public safety, and commercial sectors.
“What we wanted to do was make a multi-mission asset,” he said. Clients looking to use advanced, unmanned aerial systems for different tasks are looking to field as few different types of aircraft as possible.
Enter the R80. Want to fly higher? Use different arms.
Need to carry a high-resolution camera or sensing equipment, or deliver small but critical payloads like medical supplies? The R80 can carry up to two kilograms, about three times that of the smaller R60, which Kroetsch notes is still a “fantastic platform” with more than 100,000 hours of flying time logged by customers.
Want to provide round-theclock surveillance without worrying about battery life? Use a tether module — “a pretty fancy extension cord,” Kroetsch said — that allows for missions such as overwatch at a military base.
Aeryon drones are also becoming smarter, billed by the company as “flying supercomputers.” From a technological point of view, autonomous flight powered by artificial intelligence is very much within reach, Kroetsch said.
If anything, it’s the regulatory environment that can hold them back, he said. For example, in most cases, a pilot can only operate a single drone at a time. But new Aeryon software enables a single pilot to fly multiple R80s in co-ordinated semi-autonomous flight plans, ideal for uses such as large-scale reconnaissance or mapping.
In the R80, Aeryon has also pulled back the curtain a little bit, in that the latest model allows
users to build their own solutions and incorporate them, Kroetsch said. “We’ve created more of an open architecture.”
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Waterloo, Aeryon now has about 205 employees, and offices or personnel in a handful of American cities as well as overseas. Further work in artificial intelligence means the company will be adding specialists and expanding the engineering team. Kroetsch expects Aeryon’s head count could reach 300 over the next 12 to 18 months.
“We’re adding high-tech jobs in the region,” he said. “What’s great about the products we build and the markets we serve — it’s an exciting application.”