Palladyne AI, Draganfly Inc. enabling advanced autonomous operations and swarming capabilities on Draganfly UAV platforms

Palladyne AI Corp., a developer of artificial intelligence software for robotic platforms in the defense and commercial sectors, and Draganfly Inc., an industry-leading developer of drone solutions and systems, announced their intention to collaborate to further enhance the capabilities of Draganfly’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms with Palladyne Pilot AI software.

Palladyne Pilot is an edge-based, platform-agnostic, intelligent swarming and collaborative AI software designed to transform multiple UAVs into a seamlessly collaborating team, all managed by a single operator who remains “on the loop.”  By employing sensor fusion from diverse sources, Pilot enables drones to independently and collaboratively track targets while dynamically interfacing with autopilots. This powerful synergy enhances detection, tracking, classification, and identification while also enabling autonomous drone swarm operations, including self-organizing collaboration. Palladyne AI and Draganfly intend to make Palladyne Pilot software available for deployment on Draganfly’s advanced drone systems.

Draganfly’s professional-grade UAV systems and services have been relied upon by government, defense, and commercial organizations worldwide for more than two decades. Draganfly is an integrated manufacturer & solutions provider utilizing a modular approach which allows for mission-specific specialization and heavy-duty applications in a variety of challenging environments.  By integrating Palladyne AI’s autonomy software, Draganfly’s platforms will gain expanded mission capabilities such as autonomous swarm operations, real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), and enhanced operator efficiency.

“Draganfly has earned its reputation as one of the most trusted names in UAV innovation,” says Ben Wolff, President and CEO, Palladyne AI. “We are honored to collaborate with them to deliver advanced aerial intelligence solutions that meet the operational needs of government, defense, and commercial users in challenging environments.”

“Palladyne AI is enabling drone platforms to incorporate autonomy features that were even recently limited to large and costly systems,” says Cameron Chell, CEO, Draganfly. “By having Palladyne Pilot as an embedded option into our platforms, we continue to expand our modular framework and increase our adaptable, mission-critical autonomy, and swarm capabilities that reduce operator workload and extend the effectiveness of our systems across complex use cases.”

Integration of Palladyne Pilot with Draganfly systems outside the United States is subject to obtaining any necessary government approvals.