This blog post is an expanded version of an original article by the same author that first appeared on Police1.com

As most in the public safety drone space know well by now, the drone deployment method known as Drone as First Responder (DFR) has gained significant attention, momentum, and investment. 

Just in the last year or so, major players have come out with DFR solution product announcements that promise to scale.  From the earliest days, we in the public safety arena dreamed of the private sector solving all the challenges of conducting DFR operations by providing a turn-key solution.  Without this, each agency must become experts in FAA regulations and pull together a hodgepodge of software, hardware, and people.  It’s difficult, expensive, time-consuming, and very limiting in terms of operational capabilities.

For background, DFR began at the Chula Vista Police Department with the first official launch occurring in October of 2018.  Chula Vista PD recently announced their 20,000th successful DFR mission.  In the nearly 6 years of the existence of this advanced drone deployment method, the number of agencies actively deploying DFR has exploded.  Up until recently, however, due to limitations in technology and regulatory relief, DFR operations have not matured significantly since the early days.   Virtually all well-known DFR locations are deploying essentially the same way as we did on day one; with humans on the roof to address the aircraft management and airspace awareness elements of DFR.

Elements of DFR

I’ve broken down Drone as First Responder into 5 elements that I’ve termed The 5 A’s; the DNA of DFR.  These elements are essentially problem sets that must be addressed to be able to conduct DFR operations.  They are:

1. Aircraft:  An agency must select a type/brand of drone to fly.

2. Aircraft Management:  An agency must find a way to inspect, change batteries, and ensure safe take-off and landing before and after each flight.

3. Air Space Awareness:  An agency must find a way to Detect and Avoid (DAA) other objects in the air and on the ground.

4. Automation Software: An agency must select a software solution that allows remote operation, addresses loss link procedures, responds to launch trigger events, etc.

5. Approval:  Finally an agency must get approval from the FAA to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) based upon the solutions A1 through A4 above, as well as permission from the community based upon trust through transparency and accountability.

For a deeper dive on the 5 As, see this Police1 article; The 5 A’s of DFR.

DFR 1.0

DFR 1.0 – or as many refer to it, the “Chula Vista PD” style of DFR – utilizes humans to manage the aircraft and monitor the airspace (problem sets A #2 and A #3 above).  These humans are typically on a rooftop, must have a Part 107 FAA license, and they increase the expense and decrease the ability to operate around the clock, across the calendar, and in all locations and climates.  We understood from the earliest days at Chula Vista PD that for DFR to truly scale, the industry must find ways to remove humans from the roof.   Chief Roxana Kennedy embraced the role as the “Lighthouse Agency” for others.  It was an example of selfless leadership with the stated mission of proving the DFR use case.  Ultimately the efforts at Chula Vista PD, with the risk and expense involved in blazing the trail, were precisely so that private sector innovation and investment would follow.  The goal from the very beginning, beyond the benefit to the community, was to lay the groundwork for the technological innovation and regulatory relief necessary for every agency to be able to access this life-saving capability. 

The first small step in scaling DFR 1.0 at Chula Vista PD was replacing expensive police officers on the roof with 3rd party private sector part 107 pilots.  The first, best, and most prominent solution for this is Flying Lion.   Flying Lion hires, trains, and outsources civilians to manage the rooftop operations, leaving the actual piloting of the drone to agency representatives, typically police officers or real-time crime center staff. Flying Lion is involved in the vast majority of the most advanced public safety DFR programs in the U.S. and doubles as a resource for training and best practices since they are so closely involved in the day-to-day operations.  But even Flying Lion leadership (CEO Barry Brennan and Steven Katz) understood early on that the industry must rapidly work to remove the need for humans on the roof.  Most envision this to take the form of an automated dock-based system supported by a DAA system (typically a layered approach involving different data sources such as radar and ADS-B).  This evolution of using technology to remove the human elements in the 5A’s is referred to as DFR 2.0.  

DFR 2.0

DFR 2.0 in its simplest terms is DFR 1.0 without humans on the roof.  DFR 2.0 reduces costs and expands operational periods by allowing public safety agencies to utilize the least amount of human resources, and ideally enables one person to immediately respond with a drone to any location in their jurisdiction with perfect airspace awareness.  DFR 2.0 as most envision it today, involves an automated drone docking station that recharges or swaps the batteries on the drone after each mission.  The station also serves to inspect and protect the drone.  The DAA system is ideally integrated into the pilot’s remote operation software so that the object detection and pilot-alerting system is automated and doesn’t rely on the pilot’s constant proactive attention and reaction as they are likely focused on the mission at hand.

Where is the DFR industry today?

So where are we as an industry in providing DFR 2.0 for public safety agencies?  Well, admittedly it’s taken longer than I thought it would.  It’s a hard problem to solve and the demand to justify the private sector investment grew steadily but was hindered by regulatory limitations and the aforementioned expense and effort required in standing up DFR 1.0.  This chicken-and-egg dilemma was only overcome by the fact that DFR was so valuable to agencies that they were willing to invest the time and money before waiting for the “end-state” turn-key DFR 2.0 solution to be affordable and available.  

Today it appears we are in the midst of the transition from DFR 1.0 to 2.0.  The FAA BVLOS waivers aren’t yet broadly accessible, but a few unique waivers have been approved, with many others under review, that promise to unlock this “holy grail” of BVLOS waivers.  The waiver would allow DFR operations without the requirement of dedicated human visual observers.

The DFR industry is even perhaps further down the DFR 2.0 path than the FAA.  Pearland PD in Texas led the charge on the first true DFR 2.0 operation.  The solution however does have some limitations such as daytime operations only, costly for large area coverage, flight range and launch speed limitations of the dock system, and the requirement to pull together hardware and software from multiple vendors.  Drone Solution Providers are serving as the single source for this solution, and a few agencies in the Country like Oswego PD are following in Pearland’s footsteps.  However, it does seem the market is still waiting for the appearance of the first scalable, 24/7-365 capable, DFR 2.0 solution.  It appears the wait may soon be over.

Are we there yet?

Aerodome, the company I work for, is selling a complete DFR 2.0 solution today. Aerodome has already sold complete systems that include the remote operations software, the battery-swapping docking station, and a layered air traffic awareness solution.  Aerodome’s CEO, Rahul Sidhu, and his co-founder Kenaniah Cerny initially set out to develop the best remote operations software.  Rahul, an experienced DFR pilot and champion behind Redondo Beach PD’s DFR program (second behind CVPD’s), combined forces with Kenaniah after their initial success with SPIDR Tech.  This experience was the foundation behind their ability to get the financial backing to develop and compete right away. The two other prominent players in this remote operations software space that have been on the market for a few years already, and thus had a large lead in terms of customers.  However, neither has indicated an intention to solve for all 5A’s.  These two market leaders appeared to have the strategy of leaving the other aspects of DFR for the customer to solve.  They often recommended Flying Lion as the solution to A #2 and #3.  This worked well to stand up initial customers quickly and was key to proving the value and demand for DFR.  However, this still left much of the work on the customer to seek and combine products from multiple vendors. The demand for a turn-key DFR solution remained.  Rahul was early to understand this and built a business plan, with key hardware partners that are the best available, to offer a single source solution for DFR 2.0.  The first customers are live today, with final FAA approval the only remaining piece of the puzzle.

Other major players are also describing impressive visions for their DFR 2.0 solution.  It’s unclear how much more work is pending for them beyond just FAA approval.  Two well known companies recently announced their solution that included all the necessary elements of DFR 2.0 and one even added medical device delivery capabilities.  These product suites are very ambitious and look to be at least months away at least, with full realization perhaps years away.  Nevertheless, both appear to be well-funded with a detailed conceptual roadmap, so this is further validation of the perceived market value of DFR 2.0.  

I’ve had the privilege of working both in public safety and within the private sector drone space for many years.  I’ve had a relatively up-close and unique personal perspective of the evolution of the DFR industry, from the earliest days to what now appears to be the real dawn of DFR 2.0.  While I’m biased to my current team at Aerodome of course, I’m at the very least rooting for a rising tide that lifts all boats. 

Having said that, I didn't come to Aerodome by chance.  I believe Rahul has positioned Aerodome with a real first-mover advantage with our best-in-class software, integrated with best-in-class hardware.  I also think having a strong yet nimble team that is singularly focused on DFR and uniquely capable of designing, building, and supporting the best DFR 2.0 system available right now, is a huge advantage in a young market. This combined with the recent partnership with Flock Safety has positioned Aerodome as among the ones to watch. 

As John Santry, my former colleague and VP at Skydio, recently quipped; “Begun, the DFR wars have”.  This looks to be the case, and the true winners will be the public safety agencies and the communities they serve.