Xponential: Novadem Will Launch New Tethered Drone

In April, French drone company Novadem will unleash it newest tethered UAV platform, the NXWIRE 2.0 at AUVSI XPONENTIAL, the largest UAS trade show that brings together more than 8,500 unmanned systems industry leaders.

A second-generation tethered system, NXWIRE 2.0 offers several new features:

• Ground-based power supply that can be connected to a main supply or auxiliary power unit;
• 50-meter cable to sustain electrical power from the ground to the drone;
• Replacement of the battery with an embedded module that integrates an electromechanical mechanism (allowing the tethered cable to release if necessary — Novadem’s NX70 can then fly around 20 minutes once untethered).

“With the NXWIRE 2.0, we have gathered the best of both worlds — the capability to ensure improvised and long-lasting observation missions thanks to the ground-power supply and the capability to get closer to the target without ever losing sight of support response teams,” Novadem CEO Pascal Zunino said.

Novadem has already garnered several government contracts for its untethered UAV solutions, including agreements with the French army and navy as well as NATO and France’s National Police.

Novadem business development manager Johann Boucher explains further:

“The American market of micro-drones for defense and security professionals has been experiencing important growth for several years. Although dominated by consumer drones and despite the presence of main American manufacturers, we are convinced that the versatility of our solutions as well as our capability to interface them in the environment of the client will be major assets to seduce American customers and commercial partners.”

Offering stability and long-lasting flight times, tethered drones have been deployed in several police and security missions:

• In August, Homeland Security deployed a CyPhy Works tethered drone to patrol the Trump National Golf Course in New Jersey during one of President Trump’s many vacations. CyPhy Works drones have also been used at the Boston Marathon.
• CyPhy Works also launched its PARC tethered drone system to surveil the 2017 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.
• In 2017, MMC tested a tethered drone system to preserve telecommunications in the Chinese city Jiashan in the Zhejiang Province following heavy, seasonal flooding of the Yangtze River.

Xponential exhibition takes flight in Denver from April 30 to May 3.