Evolve Dynamics is a British unmanned aerial system (UAS) manufacturer. Recently, the company secured an Innovate UK Smart Grant from UK Research and Innovation to support the development of the company’s Drone-in-a-Box (DiaB) technology for enhancing emergency response operations, to be launched in 2025. 

Drone as First Responder (DFR) system

The company is currently developing its Drone as First Responder (DFR) system, which is meant to capture data on the origin location of an incident and inform police forces, fire brigades, or rescue organizations going out to the site. The use of drones has multiple benefits for emergency response operations: not only can they move quickly to an incident origin “as the crow flies”, but they can also confirm if there is an incident or not, therefore saving emergency response operators time and effort. 

If there is indeed an incident, drones can capture and stream live video and audio data to inform operatives  to be well-prepared when they arrive at the scene. In case of multiple incidents, sending out drones helps prioritize and triage quicker, and deliver help more efficiently to those who need it most urgently. 

Drone-in-a-Box technology

The system will integrate the company’s innovative Drone-in-a-Box technology, which Mike Dewhirst, CEO and Founder of Evolve Dynamics, describes as the next step in drone technology: “Today, drones operate autonomously once they’re in the air. But its usage is still limited as you need someone at the same location as the drone to launch it. Drone-in-a-Box is a technology that extends the autonomy of the drone with a box that stores the drone, charges it, and provides connectivity. An operator can trigger it from anywhere to be deployed.”

Mike explains that the box needs to be intelligent to work well in different circumstances. For example, it has to function well at various locations, whether on top of a building or in a car park. It should support different weather conditions including snow and rain. Finally, there are additional factors that might affect how the box operates, such as obstructions, animals, or humans. “Our system needs to be able to adapt to different circumstances and to be aware of any unwanted surprises. If the unexpected  happens, you want to know about it”.        

The first version of the system will support small-sized aircraft, for example the Evolve Dynamics Nano 249 gram drone as well as the sub-4kg Mini.  The benefit of a small drone is that it is less risky to operate in urban environments than a larger one, in case something happens to it. On the other hand, the payload options are more limited. Over time, Evolve Dynamics plans to offer a number of different aircraft supporting different ranges and payloads in a modular box. 

Payload options

The aircraft size will depend on multiple factors, including payload and range. The payload itself depends on the type of application at hand. For example, a thermal camera would be a better choice than a daylight camera when searching for a person in a busy scene. “Because body temperature is usually warmer than the surrounding environment, you’ll be able to see it better than with a daylight camera where a subject blends into the background”. While the system will capture primarily visual data, various payloads with radio frequency scanners and other detectors and sensors will be able to check for hazardous materials, poison gas leaks, or radioactive hazards. 

Regarding cameras, payloads will include daylight and thermal cameras, scaled to an appropriate size for a smaller drone. The downside is that the range of smaller  cameras is slightly limited, which means that a larger drone is required for use cases that necessitate a more powerful optical zoom lens. The same applies to flying larger distances with the drone: “If you want to fly around a 10 km range, smaller drones from anywhere between 250 grams and 8 kg will do, but for tens or even hundreds of kilometers, a fixed-wing drone becomes a necessity.” 

Safety is another factor when choosing a different drone size. This applies mostly to situations where there might be a risk to any of the emergency services themselves. For example, if the police don’t want any potential suspects to see or hear the drone, a bigger drone with a more powerful camera is needed so it can operate over a longer range. “We want to provide our users with several options so they can do whatever fits their use best, which is why we’re developing a range of different systems”, concludes Dewhirst.