Choosing a drone

If the need is to get eyes airborne very quickly with a small, lightweight drone, to never lose communications or flight control, and to enable long-duration flights with a continuous power supply, then there are not a lot of drone makes out there from which to choose.

A tethered drone–or drone on a leash–offers a good solution. CyPhy Works, a leader in the tethered drone category, has five years of experience in building tethered technology. Tethered products like its PARC (Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications) drone as well as its newest, a tiny reconnaissance hexcopter, which recently won a U.S. Air Force contract, caught the investment eye of Motorola Solutions Venture Capital.

Although the exact amount of Motorola’s investment was not disclosed, Reese Schroeder, Motorola’s managing director, indicated that the typical initial investment in such a deal as the one with CyPhy Works is usually between $2 million and $5 million.

That size of the investment fits the CyPhy historical profile for investments going back to November of 2010 (company founded in 2008) when it received $1.8 million.

Utility of unique technology

Boston Business Journal’s David Harris caught up to Schroeder to get his take on the “why” behind the investment. “What we think is really unique and different about this company, offered Schroeder, is the “micro-filament tether” that they employ, which is used for both power and for communications.

“What that does that’s unique is it really gives them persistence, which means that they are able to keep that drone up in the air for much longer periods of time… [which] leads to very compelling use cases around situational awareness.

“Think about things like a burning building or a disaster of some sort has just happened. Or a large festival or a large event in the city. This is a quick way to very quickly and cost-effectively get eyes and ears up.”

Unhackable, powerful data stream, and immune to jamming

For CyPhy’s part, it claims the micro-tether system is patented and has ability to get power and communications through a tiny cable (see above photo). The novel electronics enable use of such a thin cable. “The tiny cable enables mobility. Mobility empowers users,” touts CyPhy.

Additionally, says CyPhy, “the microfilament enables the use of sensors that are far superior, with higher data throughput than what other micro UASs are able to carry as a payload. In conjunction with this, the microfilament enables high quality, full frame rate, unbroken, High Definition video.”

“This issue is especially sensitive in the military and rescue operations where the signal may be jammed deliberately or lost due to signal attenuation behind thick walls or in under piles of rubble.”

Drawbacks to tether: Every flight is limited by the length of the cable; and there’s always the possibility for a drone to snag while flying its cable over or through different obstacles.