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Police forces use drones to help clear traffic accidents
Quote:Aeryon labs, a Waterloo company, is making drones that are used by soldiers, pipeline inspectors and police officers...
The drones, made by Aeryon Labs Inc. in a small facility in north Waterloo, are the high-end version used by military, companies and police forces, with the aim of being easy to use, with simple training.
With a price tag ranging from $65,000 up to $120,000, depending on the bells and whistles, they are considered critical equipment for investigators, researchers and soldiers alike. The majority of Aeryon’s two drones — Scout and SkyRanger — are sold for export, an advantage that the Canadian company has, given competitors in the U.S. face strict restrictions around exports that have defence capabilities.
About half of Aeryon’s sales are for military use, with the remaining split equally between commercial and public safety uses. "We’re in the right place at the right time,” said president and CEO Dave Kroetsch, a 35-year-old University of Waterloo graduate who founded the company with friends Mike Peasgood and Steffen Lindner in 2007.
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I had the opportunity to witness an Aeryon Scout in action a few months ago and it really is impressive, taking only minutes to set up and not much longer to learn how to control. The list of uses for them just keeps growing. Among other things, they can be used to inspect hydro lines and pipelines and they have application in forestry and agriculture. Once programmed, they basically fly themselves and "return home" on their own if low on power.
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Aeryon Labs Named Among Top Private Businesses in Canada for Sustainable Growth
Dec 5, 2014 | Aeryon.com | LINK
Quote:Private Business Growth Award recognizes 10 businesses that look beyond the top line for growth
Aeryon Labs has been announced as a finalist for the 2014 Private Business Growth Award. Presented by Grant Thornton LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the award celebrates private businesses that put sustainable growth at the top of their agenda. Ten companies across the country were shortlisted for their ability to achieve growth across five core aspects of their business.
“I want to congratulate all the finalists for being bold enough to look beyond the top line and focus on long-term growth,” said Phil Noble, Executive Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Grant Thornton LLP. “These model private businesses all demonstrate critical skills to ensure sustainable growth, including market development and strategic leadership and as a result, they have built strong companies of which they should be proud. Not only does each of them contribute to the communities in which they operate, they are a source of pride for Canada both at home, and in some cases, abroad.”
Aeryon Labs and other finalists will be celebrated at a gala dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto on November 19, 2014, when the winning company will be announced.
Finalists were evaluated using the following five criteria to assess growth across various aspects of their business:
- Innovation: Developing new products and services, bringing old products to market in a new way as well as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of internal processes.
- Market development: How they go to market and expand into new domestic or international markets.
- People and culture: Investing in their people by helping employees learn and develop as a critical part of overall growth.
- Strategic leadership: How they interact with partners, stakeholders, their succession planning and community involvement.
- Improvements in financial measures: Ensuring revenue growth and improvements in profitability.
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04-01-2015, 07:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-01-2015, 07:06 PM by panamaniac.)
Good news for Aeryon
Aeryon Labs gets U.S. regulatory approval for its drones
Waterloo Region Record
By Terry Pender
WATERLOO —Aeryon Labs Inc., a Waterloo-based maker of small drones, expects to see a lot of growth following regulatory approvals for its drones in the United States.
"This is absolutely enormous in multiple ways," said David Kroetsch, the firm's founder, president and chief executive officer.
The company announced Wednesday that Kansas State University at Salina and the Michigan State Police are now able to use Aeryon drones statewide. And VDOS Global LLC, a company that uses Aeryon drones to inspect onshore and offshore infrastructure in the oil and gas industry can use the technology in Alaska, Hawaii and on the continental U.S.
"It is a giant vote of confidence by our customers that they are confident enough with what they have been doing with the product thus far, that they are rolling it out on a statewide basis," Kroetsch said.
It is also a vote of confidence from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which specifically approved the use of the Aeryon SkyRanger by the Michigan State Police, and the smaller Aeryon Scout by Kansas State University.
...
Kroetsch said there is no doubt the changes in regulations will lead to more sales for Aeryon's products. The company now employs 76 people, and is hiring.
"There are almost changes to the regulatory environment on a daily basis, so it is crazy," Kroetsch said. "We are kind of getting into that big acceleration phase."
...
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5536...ts-drones/
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Camera drones that can broadcast live HD video now a reality thanks to Dejero, Aeryon partnership
May 6, 2015 | Andrea Bellemare | CBC News | LINK
Quote:The ability to broadcast live HD video captured from a drone has become a reality, thanks to a partnership between two Waterloo, Ont.-based companies — Dejero and Aeryon Labs.
"It will allow you to do things you've never been able to do before," said Bogdan Frusina, founder of Dejero and chief technology officer. "It is really opening up the skies, literally, to other things."
The two companies unveiled their new partnership on Tuesday at an unmanned drone conference in Atlanta.
Aeryon modified its SkyRanger drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle with a long range and flying time of up to 50 minutes, so that video shot on a drone-mounted camera is sent to a Dejero mobile transmitter on the ground.
"It transmits to the ground and then we're relaying that video from the ground through Dejero's standard hardware, back to the Internet and then in the case of a police application to a command post, in the case of a media application, back to the broadcast," said Dave Kroetsch, CEO of Aeryon.
Kroetsch says proprietary radio is used to transmit the signal from the drone to the Dejero, which in North America is a 900-MHz radio signal. The Dejero mobile transmitter can use 3G, 4G, LTE, wireless, microwave, ethernet and satellite connections to send a feed, and can transfer between connections so the signal isn't dropped.
"If somebody's covering a war in the Middle East, they might want to stay at a safer, standoff distance," said Kroetsch, who notes the drone can fly up to 10 kilometres away from the operator, though video quality will drop at that distance. "In the case where you're covering something that's closer at hand, you can have a higher video quality."
Kroetsch cautions that North American airspace regulations means the drones have to fly within line of sight on the operator, but overseas they can send the drone further away.
"The one nice thing with the Aeryon drone is that it allows you have this HD-30 zoom lens that allows you to be away from the crowd when there's a big a event, so there's no concern on safety for the people below," said Frusina.
The cost of the drone and purchasing a Dejero system means that broadcasters, law enforcement and military are the key markets for this new technology. The SkyRanger drone ranges from $50,000 to 65,000.
Aeryon drones are currently being used to help with relief efforts in Nepal, following a devastating earthquake that left thousands of people dead.
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Aeryon Labs takes flight with $60 million in financing
Quote:Waterloo-based drone maker Aeryon Labs expects to accelerate its growth after securing $60 million in financing.
The company, which specializes in drones for commercial uses, said Friday it secured the funding from Summit Partners, an equity investment firm based in Boston, Mass...
Summit, founded in 1984, has invested in more than 400 companies in the technology, health-care and other sectors.
It said much of its portfolio consists of founder-led companies that are poised to take commanding positions in high-growth industries.
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Aeryon is also #24 on the new Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list of growing companies.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...e32835777/
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The Record reports that 7 of the 50 firms on the list are based in the Region. Nice!
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6969...t-50-list/
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(11-16-2016, 05:40 PM)panamaniac Wrote: The Record reports that 7 of the 50 firms on the list are based in the Region. Nice!
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6969...t-50-list/
And 4 of the top 20!
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