Swisscom Broadcast and Nokia are collaborating on a Drones-as-a-Service network across Switzerland that will deploy 300 drones to enable emergency response, workers’ safety, and industrial inspections.
In an August 8 press release, the Finnish telecom provider revealed the second and largest nationwide Nokia Drone Networks project to support Switzerland’s public safety and Industry 4.0 efforts. This project follows Belgium’s Citymesh deployment that was rolled out in May 2023.
“We are proud to partner with Swisscom Broadcast, a true innovator in drones-as-a-services operation, for this important project to establish a nationwide Drone-as-a-Service network in Switzerland,” said Raghav Sahgal, president of Cloud and Network Services at Nokia.
Besides highlighting Nokia’s strength in modernizing digital infrastructure projects, the collaboration will also advance industrial use cases, drone automation, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, and the expansion of 3GPP technologies for drone use in Switzerland.
For rescue and public safety
With the help of drones, which are operated remotely, first responders and rescuers can gather relevant information within the first minutes following an emergency. This enhances their situational awareness, which increases their safety while helping save the lives of those involved in incidents.
Nokia stressed that tapping into the nationwide drone network is easily accessible in all areas of Switzerland, as public safety agencies can simply request a drone flight from Swisscom Broadcast, which is similar to a ride-sharing service.
The users will also be backed up by a service portfolio with expertise, compliance, and data collection, along with an analysis of the collected data.
For industrial inspection
Nokia Drone Networks is a turnkey Drone-in-a-Box solution that integrates the drone, a docking station, a ground control station, a payload with video and thermal cameras, related software, and service components. The solution facilitates reliable Drone-as-a-Service operations for various purposes, including industrial inspection and process monitoring systems.
Occupational safety within the Swiss Industry is often at high risk, particularly when performing tasks involving inspections of tall or hard-to-reach infrastructures. Drones can remove this hazard as they can be used for inspections without needing workers to climb or walk around hazardous areas.
In addition to safety, industrial clients can perform easy onboarding of additional applications for creating 3D maps, detecting assets, and other specific needs.
This is made possible by the utilization of mission-critical industrial edge (MXIE) computing in Nokia Drone Networks, which supports interfaces and APIs for easy third-party integrations.
Swisscom Broadcast is also confident that its tools and expertise can be expanded to large-scale operations when combined with Nokia’s technology.
“The integration of our existing People Density Tool and our Drone Operations expertise with Nokia’s industrial grade hardware in combination with an open and future proof Software architecture is an important key to support such large-scale projects,” said Chief Executive Dominik Müllers.
Nokia and Swisscom will continue cooperating with competent regulatory bodies to ensure all operations comply with regulatory frameworks, especially from spectrum and aviation safety standpoints.
