FIXAR adds Surface Follow low-altitude obstacle avoidance to its 007 drones

Inventive drone hardware and systems company FIXAR has announced a new flight capability for its fixed-wing 007 UAVs with the unveiling of its Surface Follow automated navigation feature, which both identifies and avoids low-altitude obstacles that many satellite maps fail to account for.

FIXAR is making the Surface Follow capacity available to the enterprise, government agency, first responder, and defense operators primarily using its 007 drones. The feature enhances the navigational effectiveness and security of the craft during autonomous and semi-automatic flight by detecting obstacles endangering low above-ground level (AGL) missions, and maneuvering to avoid them. 

That will be of particular value during long-range, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) missions FIXAR customers often deploy the UAVs for.

FIXAR says it added the Surface Follow feature as a means of compensating for low AGL landmarks often not detailed in many satellite-generated flight maps, including trees, buildings, infrastructure, and other obstructions. During autonomous or semi-automatic operation of 007 drones, the tech continually scans areas ahead of it and takes evasive measures to avert obstacles it detects at altitudes as low as 50 meters.

The startup says the risks posed by those low AGL hazards are particularly acute during drone missions in urban areas, mountainous terrain, during expensive LiDAR laser scanning, flying above people, and lower-altitude phases of BVLOS operations.

FIXAR describes the Surface Follow feature as an automated safety enhancement providing “simplified navigation from height calculations being integrated into all stages of the flight.” Available through a firmware update, the new application assures effective avoidance reactivity by 007 drones, and delivers notifications to users through its xGroundControl operating system.

“When the drone approaches an obstacle, it prioritizes safety over descent by automatically increasing altitude and averting the obstruction,” a FIXAR announcement says. “The feature meanwhile triggers a warning in the xGroundControl software interface, alerting users to the proximity of ground hazards.”

The added capability is part of FIXAR’s effort to continue expanding the performance of its drones and operating tech, as well as the enterprise, government, responder, and defense clients it primarily works with. 

The company derives its name from the fixed angled rotor design that enables its craft to take off and land vertically like quadcopters, then utilize their set-position wings for farther flight capacities.

The FIXAR 007 is capable of 60 kilometers of flight carrying a two kg payload for up to an hour at speeds of 20 m/s – a velocity the company calls 30% greater than competing craft. In addition to quicker data collection over wider areas that enables, the startup says its UAVs have also proven extremely resistant to hostile climatic conditions and considerably high-altitudes operation in demonstration flights.

FIXAR has secured regulator approval of the 007 the US, Canada, Israel, Japan, and South Africa, with additional BVLOS authorization in some of those markets. The company says it is preparing final testing and introduction early next year of its new 025 drone, which is designed to carry up to 10 kg of payload on missions of up to 300 km.