by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby
Leading European drone company Parrot has announced that the release of its ANAFI Ai model drone is on the horizon. The new drone will start shipping this coming January, with prices from $4,000 (excluding taxes), available from Parrot’s leading resellers.
The ANAFI Ai’s purpose is to allow its professional users to improve the speed and efficiency of their photogrammetry, mapping, inspection and surveying missions with a drone specially built to carry out those tasks.
Parrot ANAFI Ai features Verizon 4G LTE connectivity, which serves to provide a connection to the flight controller that avoids interference, enabling real-time data transfer and Beyond Visual Line of Sight flight operations.
ANAFI Ai is designed with cybersecurity in mind. The link between the drone and the user’s device is secured by the model’s embedded Secure Element, providing each individual drone with a unique ID. The Secure Element also guarantees the privacy of transferred data and safeguards the stability of the drone software.
The model also features a first of its kind omni-directional obstacle avoidance system, as well as a 48 MP camera, 4K 60fps videos, and 32 minutes of flight time, all in an airframe that weighs in at just under 2 pounds.
Owing to the 7th generation of the FreeFlight iOS application, Parrot is able to improve the ease of use of photogrammetry. Operators are able to form a specific flight plan by simply clicking on the land registry of the building they intend to 3D map. ANAFI Ai works autonomously by utilizing obstacle avoidance in order to adjust its flight path in complex environments. 4D images are shared in-flight with Pix4Dcloud to display the 3D model of the inspected building on users’ Pix4D accounts 2 hours after the flight.
The mobile App’s core is open-source, granting developers the ability to execute custom code in the ANAFI Ai itself. The SDK provides access to all flight sensors, including obstacle avoidance sensors, occupancy grid and internet access.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
TWITTER:@spaldingbarker
Subscribe to DroneLife here.