Elsight has moved to make its communications Halo platform a crucial component of drones as it grows alongside its customers.

Critical connectivity technology company Elsight (ASX:ELS) is attracting attention of multinational companies in the race to commercialise delivery drones with its in-house Halo communications device seen as critical componentry.

Among its customers is DroneUp, which has partnered with US shopping giant Walmart to enable households in six US states to get groceries and supplies delivered by flying, remote-controlled drones by the end of 2022.

Elsight has partnered with DroneUp to provide its Halo platform, which delivers fast and secure data transmission and end-to-end connectivity for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Elsight CEO Yoav Amitai says Halo, which provides Beyond the Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) connectivity, at its core is a communications tool – a means to provide command and control for drones, UAVs, and other unmanned/uncrewed systems on air and on land.

The Halo technology operates as a credit-card sized communications module that can be inserted into any device to send and receive data.

It’s been described as a crucial cog in development of commercial drones by providing the necessary connection confidence of data to ensure safe and successful mission completion.

 

Elsight grows alongside their customers

Elsight has pursued a ‘Design Win’ strategy, with Halo embedded as a critical component in drone design by manufacturers.

“When we aim for a design win strategy, in essence what we are saying is that we want drone manufacturers to base their drone’s connectivity around the Halo,” Amitai said.

“We do that by providing a connectivity solution that is better than anything else on the market, and by providing additional features beyond just connectivity such as 5G support, broadcast and network remote ID, hyper-accurate GNSS without additional size, weight or power penalties.

“When the drone manufacturer understands how important and versatile the Halo is, as far as they’re concerned, it will have solved their connectivity issues and they won’t seek out alternatives.”

The crucial, clever aspect of Elsight’s Design Win approach is that as the customer’s company grows, or approaches regulators to go through the type-certification process, the Halo will remain onboard.

The Elsight platform will become such a crucial aspect of the drone design that switching out to a new connectivity solution not only becomes less than ideal but prohibitively expensive and cause massive time delays.

“Design win is so important because by getting in on the ground floor of any company that will begin using the Halo, we’re betting heavily on the future, that as the company grows and as the industry grows, Elsight will grow right along with them,” Amitai said.

 

Walmart drone delivery deal puts Elsight tech in spotlight

Amitai says the move by Walmart to partner with DroneUp to start drone deliveries was incredibly significant for Elsight, with drone deliveries set to become a multibillion dollar industry.

“It provides validation of the Halo for being chosen by DroneUp and works well enough for Walmart and DroneUp to take the program to the next level and continue expanding,” he said.

While using DroneUp as an example of what the Halo can do can’t be underestimated, Amitai is cautious not to overplay the card.

“What it all boils down to is the Halo absolutely working as it is planned to, and we don’t need to make waves about something doing what it’s meant to be doing,” he said.

Amitai said Elsight is simply delivering what was promised and in turn the customer is satisfied with a job well done.

In another sign of it working to attract long-term validation for the quality of its technology, Elsight recently appointed aerospace veteran Kevin Hightower to its advisory board to help drive its operations globally.

Hightower’s 21 years of aerospace industry experience includes 15 years at Lockheed Martin, and over three years with Wing (Alphabet/Google’s drone company).

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Elsight, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.