Nokia drones-as-a-service network takes flight for Swisscom

Swisscom Broadcast has selected Nokia to deploy 300 units in its drones-as-a-service network across Switzerland to support the nation’s public safety and Industry 4.0 efforts, marking the second nationwide deployment of the flying devices after a similar implementation by Belgium’s Citymesh.

In addition, the collaboration will look to enable the advancement of industrial use cases, drone automation, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, and the expansion of 3GPP technologies for drone use in Switzerland.

Looking at what it can offer the project, Nokia noted that in addition to increasing the safety of first responders, drones support resource optimisation and help to save the lives of those involved in incidents. The drones, which are operated remotely, gather relevant information within the first minutes following an emergency, enhancing first responders’ situational awareness.

The comms tech provider added that it was confident public safety agencies in Switzerland could now tap into the nationwide drone network by simply requesting a drone flight, similar to a ride-sharing service, from Swisscom Broadcast. These users will also be backed by a service portfolio from Nokia and Swisscom Broadcast that offers expertise, compliance and data collection, along with analysis of the collected data.

The drones will also be used to boost worker safety within Swiss industry, such as by inspecting tall or hard-to-reach infrastructure, which removes the need for workers to climb or walk around hazardous areas.

The deployment will look to facilitate reliable drones-as-a-service operations at scale in Switzerland with Nokia Drone Networks, 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 also supports interfaces and application programming interfaces (APIs) for easy third-party integrations, such as traffic monitoring systems, video management software, dispatch solutions, and industrial inspection and process monitoring systems.

Drone networks are an integral part of the Nokia mission-critical industrial edge computing MXIE platform architecture, and are designed to enable easy onboarding of additional applications for industrial customers with edge computing needs, such as creating 3D maps or detecting assets.

The collaboration with Swisscom Broadcast will also enable the advancement of industrial use cases, automation, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, and the expansion of 3GPP technologies for drone use in Switzerland.

The deployment is expected to be available in all areas of Switzerland. Nokia and Swisscom said they would cooperate with competent regulatory bodies to ensure all operations comply with regulatory frameworks, especially from spectrum and aviation safety standpoints.

“We are pleased to select Nokia as a partner for this important infrastructure project in Switzerland. Together, we can speed up the go-to-market of our drones-as-a-service offering to our customers in the industrial and public safety landscape in Switzerland,” said Swisscom Broadcast CEO Dominik Müller. “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.”

Nokia’s president of cloud and network services, Raghav Sahgal, added: “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 drones-as-a-service network in Switzerland. It will undoubtedly help Swiss enterprises gain access to a superior drones-as-a-service offering to enhance worker and public safety.”