Nokia, Swisscom Broadcast to deploy largest drone network

Nokia, Swisscom Broadcast to deploy largest drone network

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Swisscom Broadcast has selected Nokia to deploy a nationwide Drones-as-as-service network across Switzerland.

Nokia says 300 drone-in-a-box units are planned for deployment to allow emergency response, perimeter protection and infrastructure inspection, which will help keep public safety workers safe.

This will be the second nationwide Nokia Drone Networks project after Belgium’s Citymesh deployment.

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“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 Saghal, president of cloud and network services at Nokia.

“Nokia Drone Networks solution enables large-scale projects as it incorporates our mission-critical industrial edge (MXIE) technology to power its advanced computing functions and software. It will undoubtedly help Swiss enterprises gain access to a superior Drones-as-a-Service offering to enhance worker and public safety.”

The deployment will support Switzerland’s public safety and Industry 4.0 efforts and highlight Nokia’s strength in modernising digital infrastructure projects while utilising mission-critical industrial edge computing (MXIE) with the support of 3GPP technologies for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) autonomous operation.

In addition to increasing first responders’ safety, drones support resource optimisation and help save the lives of those involved in incidents.

Public safety agencies in Switzerland will tap into the nationwide drone network by requesting a drone flight, similar to a ride-sharing service, from Swisscom Broadcast.

They will also be backed up by a service portfolio with expertise, compliance, data collection and analysis of the collected data from Nokia and Swisscom Broadcast.

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

Dominik Müller, CEO at Swisscom Broadcast said: “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.

“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.”

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