Drones can be used for many purposes across the public safety sectors, with many police, fire & search rescue teams using them to locate missing people. Other uses include emergency response, incident surveillance, crime scene reconstruction, heat mapping fires or potentially dangerous environments and searching for suspects.

With Search and Rescue the main 2 factors you need to look into are fast-deployment and flight time. Most SAR teams will carry a small drone in their backpacks that can be deployed in under a minute. For this reason, the market leaders are the Parrot Anafi SA SE & DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced. Both drones weigh under 1kg. Both drones boast impressive RGB and thermal cameras, and with flight times of around 30 mins and multiple battery pack options available, the drones would almost be able to have continuous flight with appropriate charging equipment available.

To find out more on how SAR teams are using drones, read our blog!

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For quick deployment drones the Parrot ANAFI USA SE and DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced can’t be beaten. Particularly the Parrot ANAFI Thermal which can be deployed from your hand for quick-response operations in tricky terrain.

Weather wise your best options are the DJI Matrice 300 RTK which has an IP rating of 45 and can be operated in medium wet and windy weather. An even better option for operating your drone in adverse weather conditions is the Acecore Zoe, it has a flight time of up to 40 minutes and an IP rating of 55 which means it’s operable in wind gusts of up to 35 knots. Despite only benefitting from 4 rotors, their is an increased redundancy option too with the use of a parachute kit.

In essence, the two drones are very similar with their capabilities, with each leading in certain areas over the other. The DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced has higher quality RGB and thermal imaging cameras, with an impressive 10km transmission radius compared to the Anafi USA SE’s 4km. The M2EA also comes with bolt on features, including a spotlight, speaker and beacon. On the other hand, Parrot have prioritised security with this evolution of the Anafi series. It is also IP 53 rated, meaning it will not experience damaging water ingress from low pressure water (good for light rain), whereas M2EA is not advised to be used in any sort of rainy conditions. In addition, the Parrot Anafi USA Security Edition is also one of the lightest drones in its class, weighing nearly half as much as the M2EA, also being the quietest drone in its class.

There is no winner between these two drones, both being excellent tools for public safety organisations. It’s worth speaking to our team to find out which you would benefit more from, a better visual or accessories to aid your operations.

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Drones can capture real-time high-resolution images of disaster zones while covering vast areas in a single operation, generating a vast amount of data. Globally, UAVs have been used by various aid organisations during natural disasters.

Drones can search large areas quickly, identify a person in distress by thermal signature, assess their status, and environment with high definition video, and communicate in real time to ground resources the location of the victim, ground accessibility conditions, and other information critical to ground resource.

Drones can be used in a variety of tasks in the fire service, ranging from search and rescue to environmental evaluation. Using thermal imaging, pilots are able to gain an understanding of a fire’s structure meaning that they can safely plan access routes. Additionally, ground troops are able to target specific areas of a fire in order to preserve life.

Through using specialised sensors, operators are able to establish unsafe or hazardous environments (such as gas leaks) without compromising the safety of staff or equipment.