A South African Drone Technology supplier has partnered with an American autonomous drone software solutions provider to work on solutions that will offer more capacity for drone-in-box applications in Africa’s security industry.

Pretoria-based Hennies Drone Repair and Training (HRDT), an authorised DJI reseller and certified repair centre has said its strategic partnership with Silicon Valley company FlytBase, a leading drone autonomy software platform, will enable safe, efficient, and reliable autonomous drone operations for site security operations for organisations across the continent.

In a statement, HRDT added that the rapid pace of drone technology adoption across industries corresponds to an increase in the need to automate routine and repeatable patrols of critical assets, which DJI’s drone docking system can provide.

“We are excited to partner with FlytBase, which offers years of experience in drone autonomy software and enterprise-grade data security space,” said Wilmur Lubbe, General Manager, HDRT.

“This collaboration offers our customers the hardware knowledge from HDRT and the software integration knowledge from FlytBase enabling the deployment and integration of custom docked drone solutions. Together we aim to provide customers with fully integrated and workable docked drone solutions.”

Patrolling residential and commercial properties, farms, and public infrastructure with autonomous drones is vital for operational efficiency and safety, the company added. However, deploying advanced drone-in-a-box solutions for enterprises demands collaboration and specialised expertise.

Which explains the rationale behind HRDT joining with FlytBase: in HRDT’s reckoning, solution providers must work closely with enterprises to deliver tailored solutions, select reliable hardware and software components; to ensure compliance with IT standards, secure the necessary waivers and approvals for BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) operations, and seamlessly integrate these systems with existing enterprise infrastructure.

“We are excited to partner with HDRT to enhance site security and surveillance using autonomous drones,” said Nitin Gupta, Founder & CEO, FlytBase.

“This collaboration combines FlytBase’s drone autonomy software and enterprise-grade data security with HDRT’s expertise in deploying custom-docked drone solutions, enabling enterprises to achieve seamless and scalable security operations.

“Together, we aim to enable enterprises to conduct routine security patrols for better visibility of their facilities and respond to breaches in real-time.”

Hennies Drone Repair and Training was established in 2018 by Hennie Deetlefs who has been involved in the remote-control aircraft industry since 1963 and is one of the first Remote Pilot License (PRL)holders in South Africa.

Since its establishment, the company has grown to be a reputable DJI-accredited reseller and DJI-certified repair centres in the country and is on its way to not only be an industry leader in the supply and repair of DJI products in South Africa, but also to offer customers feasible drone solutions and not just hardware, across the continent.

FlytBase meanwhile is a Silicon Valley company that offers an enterprise drone autonomy software platform. It was part of Cisco’s accelerator program and was recognised as the Grand Champion at NTT Data’s Global Innovation Contest.

The company’s enterprise-grade platform is designed for system integrators to seamlessly integrate various components of the drone ecosystem, including hardware, BVLOS capabilities, and data analytics/management apps, to fully automate flight operations and build custom workflows for enterprise use-cases like security, inspections, or emergency response.