Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2017

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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15 unmanned systems inside April/May 2017 ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY. year or so, most of the money has gone into mergers instead of ventures. The number of transactions decreased by almost half, but the size of those deals increased considerably—a sure sign the market is maturing. There's no doubt the business behind the drones that many companies rely on has changed over the last few years—and that will only continue as the industry grows up. One Is Not Enough If one fact has become clear to drone manufacturers it's this: selling one prod- uct simply is not enough, Wackwitz said. That's why so many hardware and soft- ware companies are coming together to offer customers solutions that include everything required to obtain the action- able data they're after, from flight plan- ning to data processing. "This is something almost no com- pany can create from scratch, and is the major reason we're seeing an in- crease in partnerships and a consoli- dation of the market," Wackwitz said. "Everyone needs strategic partners if they're going to provide the end-to- end solution all their customers have been looking for." It's no longer just about data cap- ture, PrecisionHawk Executive Vice President Thomas Haun said. Today, customers want a solution that an- swers a specific, often complex, ques- tion, which might require intermin- gling different types of data sets from sensors w ith multiple capabilities, such as thermal imaging, LiDAR and 3-D mapping, depending on the ap- plication. For drone manufacturers to deliver what their customers want, it requires working with companies with proven solutions in areas that fall out- side their expertise. PrecisionHawk has formed a number of strategic partnerships and alliances in recent months, including one with PCI Geomatics that was announced last fall. PCI develops remote sensing and pho- togrammetric software and systems— technology the PrecisionHawk customer base is requesting more and more. PrecisionHawk has worked with PCI tool sets for quite some time, Haun said, and forming the long-term part- nership just made good business sense for both companies. PCI entered the UAS market about a year before the partnership was announced. Working with PrecisionHawk gets them in front of customers faster as well as gives them more exposure in the industry. For PrecisionHawk, the partnership advances their UAS capabilities and enables them to provide a technology they know their customers want. The Lancaster 5 from PrecisionHawk. PrecisionHawk has formed a number of alliances and strategic partnerships in recent months. BY THE NUMBERS $2.6 billion billion $10.9 ¢ 15.4% $ 65 growth „ Source: Teal Group's 2016 World Civil UAS Market Profile and Forecast Total market for commercial, civil and consumer UAS over the next decade. billion Estimated non-military UAS production growth worldwide from 2016 to 2025. The expansion reflects a 15.4 percent compound annual growth rate in constant dollars. 2016 2025

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