Best security and surveillance drones for business in 2020

Security and surveillance are one of the biggest growth areas in the ever-expanding UAV sector. While it’s a relatively recent addition to enterprise toolkits in many industries, the use of drones to provide aerial assessments of activities on the ground is actually a return to form for the technology, which has seen some of its most ambitious development in defense applications. 

The reasons are clear. Aerial vehicles can cover vastly more terrain than slower, clumsier ground-based surveillance systems — which is why they’ve been a key component of military and law enforcement applications for decades. But drones, which are smaller, cheaper, and more efficient than manned-aircraft like helicopters, have very quickly democratized access to aerial security and surveillance and opened up the skies to companies of all sizes across sectors.

The current lineup of security drones reflects the variety of use cases out there, from fixed-wing models that can cover large areas quickly to nimble quadcopters that scan confined perimeters and elaborate structures with a variety of sensing and monitoring equipment.

Here are our picks for the best security and surveillance drone systems available today.

Best UAV for remote operation

Want a surveillance and security drone that was used at the Super Bowl to monitor crowds and has been selected and deployed by the Miami PD? Easy Aerial’s Smart Aerial Monitoring Systems (SAMS & SAMS-T) are mobile, durable, and fully autonomous drone-in-a-box solutions. The system can be operated completely remotely, helping the tech stand out in a crowded field.

Designed specifically for perimeter security, the system consists of a lightweight falcon quadcopter with a fly time of about 50 minutes, a durable self-sustaining ground station that charges the Falcon while keeping it safe from the elements, and a proprietary fleet manager and communication system. Systems have been successfully sold in the US, Europe, Israel, Thailand, Japan, and Central Africa.

Best UAV for thermal sensing

Percepto’s all-in-one system consists of an ultra-tough drone named Sparrow, which carries 4K RGB and thermal cameras. The drone is housed and recharged in a base station designed to handle the elements. The platform runs on the PerceptoCore software suite for flight management, data storage, report management, permissioned team access and computer vision and AI-powered applications.

The company is targeting industries like oil and gas and mining for applications like site safety, security, and compliance. Many of the subtler differences between drone systems come down to the use cases they’re designed to meet. Percepto’s system, for example, can monitor temperature variations at temperature senstive locations, which is a feature that more security-focused systems don’t have.

Best multi-modal drone

A winged drone that can take off and land vertically? Inspired by sci-fi Thunderbird aircraft, the Avy Aera VTOL Drone isn’t explicitly a surveillance tool, but situational awareness certainly falls into its brief. The Drone has been used for everything from wildlife protection to medical deliveries. Unlike quadcopters, winged drones have substantially longer range and are more energy-efficient. But quadcopters are much more nimble than winged drones. Avi combines the best of both worlds.

The Aera VTOL is self-flying and designed to hold a payload. That could mean deliveries of medical supplies, but it could also mean a sensor suite, making it useful for a number of security and recon applications. Powered by Auterion, a drone management infrastructure, it’s capable of third-party integrations, making it a fantastic base to build on.

Best heavy payload UAV

Have a job of a more delicate nature? Intelligence or law enforcement work, perhaps? Impossible Aerospace is a good place to start. The company makes the US-1, a drone engineered with features explicitly designed for law enforcement, as well as operations such as firefighting, disaster response, and critical infrastructure.

Not surprisingly given that mission brief, the drone is capable of heavy-lift applications, with payload capacity exceeding six pounds. It has an impressive 75-minute flight time to boot, longer than most security quadcopters. The US-1 is currently certified with FLIR and Workswell camera systems but can be configured for customized payloads as well. It’s also powered by Auterion, a state-of-the-art drone management infrastructure

Best lidar-equipped UAV

Microdrones has a unique payload proposition: Lidar. Three years in the making, the company has integrated its heavy lifting MD4-3000 drone with a Riegl miniVUX-1DL and a SONY RX1R II camera for rapidly producing colorized pointclouds. Surveying, land development, infrastructure inspection, environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, and public safety are done more efficiently and effectively with the help of Microdrones solutions. If your aim is to inspect large infrastructure projects, Microdrones offers one of the most powerful toolkits on the market.

Best inspection and inventory management UAV

Kespry’s vale proposition is a drop dead simple drone technology stack that makes inspection and inventory management a snap. The S2’s rated 30 minute flight time make security applications limited, but the technology stack incorporates complete site modeling via lidar and thermal sensors and offers powerful analytics for industries like insurance. Add to that tablet-based path planning and features like automatic takeoff and landing and this is truly a push-button solution for a variety of aerial inspection applications.

Best adapted consumer UAV

DJI is the world’s leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging, so it makes sense that they’ve extended their dominance into the security and surveillance arena. The DJI M2E Dual is a new comprehensive drone solution created specifically for use in security and monitoring situations. There are a number of mission-specific modular tools and sensors available, which fit seamlessly onto DJI’s popular Mavic 2 platform. DJI offers a customized flight control app and restricted zone management. Use cases include wildlife management, wildfire mitigation, and security applications.