India’s Skye Air partners US-based Pierce Aerospace for real-time drone tracking

Gurugram-based drone delivery firm Skye Air Mobility has inked a deal with US based Pierce Aerospace, a remote ID technology provider for drones and unmanned aircraft system (UAS). 

The partnership will see the integration of Pierce Aerospace’s remote ID services with Skye Air Mobility’s drone delivery platforms to offer real-time tracking of drones to enhance the safety and security of its commercial operations. 
Remote ID, is the ability of an UAS to provide the identification of its operator, its location, and related information to authorised and public parties through the duration of the flight. 

According to the Indiana headquartered Techstars-backed company, its Flight Portal ID UAS Technologies (a remote ID solution) will integrate with Skye Air Mobility's proprietary UTM platform, which is a cloud-based drone traffic management system merging unmanned air traffic with the manned aviation airspace. This will allow Skye Air to correlate and positively identify UAS in its system. At the same time, data feeds can provide critical situational awareness to the Indian government regulators and security organisations. 

Also read: Indian drone startups under the spotlight in 2022

Founded in 2019, Skye Air Mobility offers drone delivery in more than 10 states across India and works with clients such as Flipkart (Walmart Group), Dunzo, Swiggy, BlueDart DHL, Redcliffe Labs, Aster Healthcare, Cure Foods, and Tata 1MG. It has carried out more than 2300 BVLOS flights, delivering over 1 million packages and covering an aerial distance of 12,800 km. 

Skye UTM has already supported over 300 BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) drone flights, which refers to distances where the drones and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) operate outside the normal visible range. The platform offers the first 3-Dimensional view of the drone airspace along with operations and regulations mapping servers which offer the latest airspace status, verified paths, and display real time UAV movements.

Ankit Kumar, CEO of Skye Air said that having completed more than one-million package deliveries, we believe it’s the right time to introduce the solution for enterprises and government to manage traffic and have real-time UAS tracking through combined solutions.” 

“We’re working with the Skye Air team on concepts that will work in India’s rapidly growing drone market,” said Pierce Aerospace CEO Aaron Pierce said in a statement. 

According to a September 2022 report by September 2022 report, drone delivery market size is slated to grow from $1.5 billion in 2021 to an estimated $31.2 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 53.9%. India is also seeing a lot of momentum in this area. In September 2021, Telangana became the first state in India to use the drone technology to quickly deliver approved medicines to far-flung rural areas and vulnerable communities. 

The Arunachal Pradesh government, in partnership with Bengaluru-based Redwing Labs, which manufactures and operates drone logistics systems, also launched a fully functional health care drone network in East Kameng in August 2022. Further In December 2022,  online medicine delivery firm, Tata 1mg, also introduced a drone delivery service in Dehradun, and plans to expand the network to other cities of Uttarakhand, including Haridwar, Mussoorie, and Rishikesh.