Since Kittyhawk first launched our in-flight platform in 2017, bringing new levels of security, real-time functionality, and enterprise controls to flight, companies have been asking us if we can support other hardware. The short answer was we wanted to, but that we were still on the lookout for a production-ready hardware partner that met our standards and our customers’ needs. Over the last two years, we’ve been paying close attention to how hardware is evolving and also how enterprise needs around control are escalating.
While we’ve continued to investigate different manufacturers, spurred by intros and inquiries by customers asking about X or Y drone, we’ve been putting different manufacturers through the ringer. First and foremost, do we like the aircraft? Will it fly well for our customers’ use cases? I have to say that when I first flew the Parrot Anafi with thermal controls, I was immediately impressed with the form factor, the control, and the camera capabilities.
Next, we investigated the software and SDK capabilities. Our customers are not only operating increasingly diverse fleets, but they are also flying with a variety of mobile devices from the latest iPhones to customized Android tablets. Kittyhawk has long supported both iOS and Android, and in our new enterprise Air Control platform, we’ve doubled down on that — creating a mobile experience with complete parity and functionality across every single device. In developing Air Control, we’ve also engineered our mobile platforms to be fully hardware agnostic to control and navigate all types of hardware for all types of operations.
Last, we looked at what new functionality and control a Parrot integration could bring to our customers. One of the things our customers are most excited about is having total control of flight with when and where the aircraft can take off. By leveraging Kittyhawk’s’ patented Dynamic Airspace platform for LAANC authorizations and custom airspace layers, customers flying Parrot have full control over where, when, and how an operation takes flight.
Kittyhawk will begin rolling out this Parrot integration in our Air Control platform for customers beginning in Q1. If you’re interested in Parrot and how Air Control can bring a new level of security and control to your operations, shoot me a note — jon@www.aloft.ai — or reach out to our sales team for more information.
