ITRI’s ICT Solution for Drones delivers world-leading ability to control more than one LTE-connected drone from one fleet management system; to integrate the operation of multiple drones; and unlimited range even across continents via LTE, a vast improvement over current remote control ranges of under seven kilometers within visual line-of-sight.

The potential applications of ITRI’s ICT Solution for Drones include aerial photography; security patrol; solar panel, wind turbine, and power line inspection; landslide inspection; and transport. In a solar panel inspection, for example, ITRI’s ICT Solution for Drones would enable a fleet of drones to detect hot-spot heating on solar panels in solar farms, which can include millions of solar panels across thousands of acres, well beyond the range of remote-control drones but easily within the range of LTE.

An aerial inspection would reduce the possibility of hot spots caused by dust or leaves that may result in permanent damage to a solar panel. In a landslide inspection application, ITRI’s ICT Solution for Drones would enable a fleet of drones to survey landslide conditions beyond visual line-of-sight to help save lives.

"ITRI’s ICT Solution for Drones is a promising drone fleet management system, which can operate across continents and off-grid for extended periods, and solves the technical issues of range, control and charging associated with drone fleet management,” said Tsung-Hsien Chen, manager of ITRI’s Information and Communication Research Laboratories.

“We are looking forward to introducing and demonstrating our world-leading drone fleet management system at CES 2017.”