A DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced, performing search-and-rescue duties, is coming in for a landing. In the back of a pickup truck, a drawer opens from a 31-by-35-inch anodized aluminum box that looks a little like a countertop pizza oven. The drone lands on the drawer bottom, guided by markings that its sensors read.
The drawer closes. In less than five minutes, the drone will be “done”: the Hextronics Global Advanced drone docking station will have replaced its nearly exhausted battery with a fresh unit. No human hand will have touched it. The drone will be ready to relaunch and resume its pre-programmed flight. The drone powers up, and takes off. It returns to the exact point and position it was in when it left the field to get a fresh battery.
When it needs another new battery, the drone will automatically dock again. The process repeats, with the drone taking off from the Hextronics Global Advanced station, its battery swapped out through a robotic mechanism.
This is just an example of the many applications of the Hextronics Global Advanced, a rapid-refueling drone docking station which incorporates a robotic battery-swapping mechanism capable of 24/7 operation.
How Does Hextronics Work?
From the outside, the workings of the Hextronics Global Advanced drone docking station are a mystery. You hear a little. You see nothing once the drawer pulls the drone into the unit’s garage. In less than five minutes, Hextronics can complete the battery swap, reopen the drawer, and slide the drone back into takeoff position. The aircraft takes off on its own and flies its predetermined route.
If you could see inside while the docking station is working, the “Huh?” would turn to an “Aha!” Rods that look very much like the guts of a computer printer move the machinery that removes and stores the old battery, grabs a fresh battery, and places the good battery into the drone. Sensors and programming align everything for accurate placement and properly timed movement.
Using the HexTruck makes it that much faster to get the drone up and flying. Tightly integrable with a pickup truck, the HexTruck has been designed to charge drones on the move and facilitates fully automated operations such as take-off, landing, battery swapping and remote flight management. There’s no wondering where the drone is. It’s in the docking station, already serviced, ready to use in an emergency. The row of five batteries, plus the battery in the drone, are charged and ready for insertion.
In addition, the Hextronics Global comes pre-integrated with the FlytNow Auto software to automate the drone operations and workflow. Through computer vision technology and dedicated landing algorithms, it precisely aligns and lands the DJI drone on the box of the docking station.
Benefits of Drone Docking Stations
Drone Docking Stations such as the Hextronics Global Advanced create several advantages. The docking station:
- Recharges batteries simultaneously: Unlike a typical charging hub, the charger in the Global Advance recharges all batteries at once. Global Advanced helps to ensure that batteries will be ready when needed.
- Provides 24/7 operability: With Global Advanced, and especially with HexTruck (Hextronics nesting station mounted on the back of a truck), the drone is ready to go at a moment’s notice, day or night.
- Offers minimal downtime: With a swap time of under two minutes and an inbuilt battery hub with a six battery capacity, the drone docking station has a minimal downtime enabled by the rapid robotic battery exchange mechanism.
- Is weather resistant: The docking station enclosure is weatherproof, so once it’s set up it can stay in position even if the weather turns bad. It can operate between 0F and 120F.
- Is Cloud connected: The drone docking station is designed with cloud control to perform its functions repeatedly without a hitch. An operator can run the docking station in the cloud using 4G, 5G, LTE, Ethernet or WiFi.
- Can be deployed in several industries: The dock can be deployed for multiple applications such as security, public safety, asset monitoring, progress tracking, and much more.
You Have Questions, We Have Answers
If you want to learn more about the benefits of using a robotic battery-swapping mechanism in your operations with Hextronics, please contact a DroneNerds expert today.
