Nokia has registered “OVNI”* with the European Union Intellectual Property Office as a name for its drones, which are classified as telecommunications devices for civilian and military use.
Nokia has big plans for drones, having announced early in the year that it was using them for search and rescue operations. A set of drones, flying in formation, can be used very effectively to search for people in a disaster area, or if they are lost in a remote area.
The company also pairs these drones with its own Ultra Compact Network system. This can be used from the ground – either in a backpack, on a vehicle or mounted to a balloon or even flown from another drone. These portable LTE networks are then used to get video feeds back from aerial search drones where no existing infrastructure exists or has been knocked offline due to a disaster.
In Dubai, Nokia announced a so-called “Ultra Compact Network” base station at the UAE Drones for Good Award Event. The base station establishes connectivity between video camera-equipped drones and a control center via a fast 4G LTE connection.
Due to the addition of LTE network support, Nokia OVNI drones can also be of great assistance during rescue operations, when fast communication is a must.
Source: LetsGoDigital
[* In French OVNI stands for ‘Objet Volant Non-Identifié’, or UFO in English – Ed.]