Fat Shark’s parent company Red Cat looks to buy Skypersonic

After showing off what the two company’s tech is capable of when combined, Fat Shark’s parent company Red Cat Holdings has signed a letter of intent to purchase Skypersonic – an investment that would allow the company to offer a drone platform operated from anywhere in the world.

The letter of intent means that Red Cat is committed to doing business with Skypersonic or, in this case, purchasing the company to add to its ever-growing portfolio.

While it seems that the two parties want to work together in the future, this does not necessarily mean the deal will go through. We will have to wait and see if it does.

Earlier this month, Fat Shark took a trip to Skypersonic’s office in Michigan to put its proprietary technology to the test by flying a drone from approximately 1,200 miles.

In the video, there was a pilot in Florida, while the drone was all the way in Michigan. The drone was using Fat Shark’s Shark Byte system for video and the company’s remote pilot tech. Using a special computer program, the pilot could connect a drone controller, have it automatically detected, and connect to the drone 1,200 miles away. To make this possible, the drone’s signal is sent to Skypersonic’s server in Europe, sending it back to the pilot and vice versa.

Jeffrey Thompson, CEO of Red Cat, shared:

Skypersonic Inc. shares our passion and vision for how the first-person-view (FPV) use of drone technology can enable businesses to complete critical operations in an efficient, safe manner. A Skycopter equipped with Skyloc software can complete inspections in locations that are confined, hard to reach, and inefficient to complete manually.

Once in the air, you could see that the drone was controlled without any issues. The pilot was able to get a feel for the drone and move it around. There is some lag, which is expected from a system like this. That being said, the applications for this kind of platform don’t require amazing latency anyway.

This combination of technology from both companies is perfect for situations that might be too dangerous for a drone pilot to be in. The area might be unstable or hazardous to humans, making it perfect for someone to be as far away as possible.

Another use case could be for companies with drones around the US and pilots in one control center. This would allow the pilots to access and control the drone without traveling to the specific location, which cuts down on costs and time needed to complete a job.

Giuseppe Santangelo, CEO of Skypersonic, added:

Skypersonic presently collaborates with multiple Automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers and Commercial Energy Industries located in US, Brazil, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. The transoceanic direct-fly platform has enabled our customers to perform real-time inspections with pilots and inspectors located all over the world. Combining the software solutions provided by Sklyoc, and those being developed in Dronebox by Red Cat, could result in a leading software operating platform across the entire drone industry.

Photo: Red Cat Holdings