Cranfield University Launches Drone Connection Smart App

Cranfield University researchers in England are unleashing a smartphone app that connects off-the-shelf drones and allows them to be sent autonomously to inspect multiple locations using coordinates received by text messages.

“Controlling drones in this way could be useful for a variety of applications in the future including the collection of crop health data in specific locations and searching for missing persons,” a Cranfield University spokesperson said.

“The goal of the CASCADE project is to accelerate the exploitation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across a range of science and industry applications by automating control and facilitating communication between multiple drones so they can work on tasks together.”

Alex Williamson, Experimental Research Fellow in UAV Operations in the Centre for Autonomous and Cyber-Physical Systems, Cranfield University, said:

“Autonomy is a fundamental factor in increasing the ease of adoption of UAVs for many applications while reducing operational costs. Creating this smartphone app has demonstrated that UAVs can carry out complex tasks autonomously from simple instructions. We are initially focusing on demonstrating the benefits that multiple autonomous UAV operations can have within a precision agriculture environment, but alternative use cases are being considered to enable quick spin-off adoption into other applications such as search and rescue.”

The app – designed for Android phones coupled with the majority of DJI drones – receives waypoints via text message, compiles the mission and sends standard off-the-shelf (commercially available to the general public) drones on autonomous missions with no user intervention required. Safety features are included within the app to ensure the drone operates within legal requirements, and currently a safety pilot is required to keep the drone within line of sight throughout the mission.

Adam Fleming, Chief Technical Officer of Apadmi, who worked with Cranfield to develop the app, said: “It was great to work with the Cranfield team on the CASCADE project – it’s a true innovation in orchestrated drone operation automation, and gave us the chance to explore the integration of mobile devices with drone control systems. We’re already thinking about next steps, such as how mobile devices could further reduce the need for on-site manpower and increase automation – we’re excited for where we can take this development.”