Draganfly Innovations has announced that they have signed an agreement with SureFire LLC to integrate and test their LED technology as a complete system with Draganfly’s UAV’s.
With both companies deeply rooted in serving the public safety space for decades, it is a natural progression to combine Draganfly’s drone technology with SureFire’s superior optical lighting platform to provide night time operational solutions.
Draganfly will assist in preparing SureFire’s dual beam optically enhanced 2000 Lumen unit for commercial release by integrating the system onto the Draganfly Commander. Draganfly is incorporating the lights on their ASM (active stabilized mount) gimballed camera mount. One of the advantages of Draganfly’s ASM design is that there is space to fly multiple accessories. Various flight testing exercises have been conducted by placing SureFire’s LED unit adjacent to a high quality Sony camera. It has been successfully used in search and rescue exercises and for general night time videography.
Currently, the industry tends to use infrared sensors at night for various missions. However, infrared sensors do not always provide information that can be rapidly communicated to the field which is critical in a search and rescue or pursuit of a subject. Now with SureFire’s LEDs, lighting the night sky presents the data to the pilot in a manner they are accustomed to during daytime operations.
Having a powerful light on a UAV also allows for better situational awareness by targeting the subject that has been discovered with the light during an operation. Further, during search missions, responders can move to where the light from the drone above is pointing to locate subjects quickly and benefit from the illumination of that area.
“We are pleased to partner with Draganfly in demonstrating the value of applying our patented MaxVision™ optics in UAV applications that benefit Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, and the public they serve”, said Alex Soo, Vice President of Engineering at SureFire. “Our continuing focus is to deliver world-class lighting solutions in unique low light environments, so we see our collaboration with Draganfly as paramount in proving both our technologies in areas that enable us to protect the public and also save lives.”
“We are ecstatic to be working with SureFire on this initiative,” said Draganfly CEO, Cameron Chell. “Helping our customers extend their ability to perform critical operations during the night is very compelling.”
Source: Press Release