AirData partners with Sony to provide drone fleet management services for Airpeak S1 drones

Global drone fleet management specialist AirData has announced its partnership with Sony to provide data analytics and craft oversight services for the electronic giant’s Airpeak S1 UAVs.

Based in El Dorado Hills, California, AirData has continually built its comprehensive drone fleet management business for nearly a decade, and now stands as one of the world’s most popular UAV organization platforms with over 300,000 users in 200 nations. Under its agreement with Sony, the company will allow Sony Airpeak clients to analyze, structure, and effectively use both UAV hardware and the data those craft collect.

In making its announcement, AirData said its tie-up with Sony would cover all aspects of Airpeak drone activity, including data analysis, mission planning, maintenance scheduling, fleet deployment and history, and even regulatory compliance status. 

Access to those services, said Kento Sayama, Sony deputy vice president of imaging solutions, will provide enterprise UAV clients immediate additional value in using the company’s craft. 

“AirData is a great partner for us in the professional drone sector,” said Sayama. “The Airpeak S1 is a drone that is aimed at demanding professionals in a wide range of industries. We believe that AirData has an excellent platform to allow these professionals to manage their fleet operations and truly get the most value from the aircraft’s data.”

Introduced in 2021 as the first of Sony’s Airpeak line, the S1 drone is reputed to be the smallest craft on the market capable of being equipped with the company’s range of full-frame Alpha mirrorless cameras and interchangeable-lenses. Though it didn’t receive the wild reception by enterprise UAV clients initially hoped for, Sony has continually made it more attractive with updates that extend battery life, provide RTK capacities, and SDK capabilities for third-party developers – its compatibility with AirData fleet management systems being the most recent in those sweeteners. 

For AirData, meanwhile, the partnership with global tech powerhouse Sony promises to further broaden the reach of its drone fleet management and data analysis services from its current daily total of about 25 million flights to missions performed by Airpeak users as well.

“We’re very excited to see the combination of the Airpeak’s cutting-edge capabilities and AirData’s industry-leading data management,” said AirData CEO Eran Steiner. “Sony has done an incredible job creating an aircraft that has excellent camera, flight performance, and range capabilities. Pilots of this aircraft will especially benefit from the data analytics, mission planning, compliance reporting, and flight safety features of AirData.”