The Exodronics Flight Data Management System (FDMS) is a tool within the EXOdata project, designed to support operators in the management of the data generated in the flight of each of their drones, adding them to other data of the operator itself and to external data (meteorology, sector maps, airspace, …). Cumulatively, it serves for the intelligent management of all the assets of its operator, be it aircraft, sensors, pilots or its entire fleet.
¿How does the FDSM work?
The FDMS consists in a set of hardware and software that allows data to be collected for each operation, to be managed individually or aggregated. This includes the pilot data, the pre-flight checklist, the telemetry of the aircraft during the flight, the possible incidents occurred during the flight and the automatic generation of summary reports in the format required by the competent air authority.
With the FDMS, each operation is automatically added to a database. This database intersects with other databases that detail each operator’s asset, basically the pilots, the aircraft, the sensors … with which you can do analytical studies of yields, maintenance alerts, inventory control … with the purpose that the operator’s manager has all the facilities to control, analyze and improve their results, which ultimately affect the customer and the competitiveness of their product.
Telecommunications without limits
As we saw in previous posts, fixed-wing drones are ideal for flights beyond the line of sight (from Beyond View Line of Sight, BVLOS). This fact implies that from Exodronics we have looked for solutions that overcome the limitations of traditional radio telecommunications, since they were often compromised by distance or by the terrain itself (mountains, troughs …). Thus, we have resorted to the use of telephone networks (3G / 4G) to connect our drones with the rest of the world, which includes the pilot who is pending to interact with the drone on the ground, the operator that is in the headquarters of the company supervising the operation, and any other person with whom the latter wants to share the real-time data of the operation being carried out.
The FDMS uses 3G / 4G communications (in the future 5G) to receive the drone data online and store it on a data server accessible from a web page by the operator, who owns that data. With all this information the operator can visualize the evolution of its operations, reproduce them, analyze them, compare configurations, detect improvements and weaknesses, and plan the maintenance of the devices available to it.
In conclusion, the FDMS in particular and the EXOdata system as a whole offer added value that goes beyond the drone itself, embracing the entire ecosystem that is generated around you. The differential factor that FDSM provides in professional operators is essential to optimize the management of its operations and assets, resulting in a greater solidity in the operating structure and, therefore, contributing to the operator’s ability to offer perfect results to its client.
