Networx3 UAV is using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to provide a live feed of its drone flights anywhere and everywhere in the world.
Access to the low orbit satellite internet service has revolutionised how Networx3 UAV’s team of five commercial drone pilots conduct client work.
Using Starlink, and the cloud-based drone admin system FlightHub2, the Networx3 UAV drone fleet can now beam back real time video of flights from the UK’s most inaccessible places.
The new technology allows Networx3 UAV to work in locations such as remote quarries, culverts, sewers, isolated reservoirs and rural solar or wind farms without having to factor in patchy conventional internet access or internet ‘dead zones’.
Thanks to Networx3 UAV’s investment in Starlink and FlightHub2 there is now nowhere in the four nations from where live drone footage can’t be beamed into a client’s office, mobile phone, laptop or boardroom anywhere in the world.
With a Starlink dish mounted to the Networx3 UAV’s mobile control centre van their drones connect to the 3,000-strong satellite network orbiting 550km above the Earth.
Networx3 UAV managing director Ian Ashworth, and commercial drone pilot, said: “Networx3 UAV is now operating at a level where very few drone operators can operate. We have invested heavily in this serious, expensive and complex tech and we can guarantee that our drones can beam back stills and video, in real time, from the most far flung and remote internet black spots anywhere in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
“We’re really excited about the work we can now do in mine shafts, pipework, green energy plants and from mountain tops to deep valleys.
“We envisage clients watching their live stream and directing the pilot to particular points of interest or simply watching the flight unfold.”
The Starlink advanced satellite system has only been available in the UK since January 2021. It was designed, as a civilian programme, to provide internet to undersupplied regions far from urban centres beaming internet connections to hard-to-reach places across the globe.
But recently Starlink has been a vital source of connectivity during Russia’s war in Ukraine. The satellite network has been used to connect Ukraine with the internet and help it win the drone war.
Stockport-based tech company Comms Byte worked with Networx3 UAV to complete the Starlink install.
Director Amjad Shakeel said: “Comms-Byte specialises in helping customers build and maintain IT infrastructure for different types of business situations so the Starlink install was one that we were eager to be involved with.
“It is an innovative, cutting-edge technology with new age, almost sci-fi like, hardware. The solution allows Networx3 UAV to help its customers to see real time information of live projects.”
