Michael Kelly
VP of Global Sales, TerraView
Drone manufacturers are key players in the industry and their products are flooded on the market. However, not all makers are the same, but one company has been making a buzz in recent years.
It is time to cut the suspense and introduce you to the TerraView, a California-based UAS developer that has been designing and manufacturing drones that can fly for more than 70 minutes at a stretch.
For this exclusive interview, we will be joined by Michael Kelly, VP of Global Sales at TerraView.
He will be answering to various of our questions about the RangePro X8P Drone and drones in general.
The icing on the cake is their drones are designed to meet the federal government & Department of Defense (DoD) guidelines.
With various other features to offer as well, this interview should interest you if you are looking for a drone like this.
Let us get into the interview and see what Michael has to say.
Welcome Michael Kelly, Introduce yourself and your part at TerraView?
Thank you, Oliver, I appreciate your passion and what you do to educate and promote drone technology. It is a fantastic time to be in the drone industry. My background is in working with engineering teams to facilitate sales of design and contract manufacturing of complex assemblies, so working with our design team and operations to provide solutions to our clients is very exciting to me.
As VP of Sales at Terraview, my role is to find great talent for our sales team and partners who can work with us to support our clients. This industry is moving extremely fast, and we are very fortunate to have partners, including VAR’s and strategic suppliers, who have a strong history and credibility in their respective verticals and niches. Also, we are very fortunate to have great talent in our sales team and are continuing to build out the team in strategic locations to support our growth.
Tell us about a few of the drones you manufacture and design. What is your best seller?
Based on current requirements from DHS and DOI, our newest and biggest seller is the RangePro X8P-US, with critical components from the US and Canada. We have 2 other variants: The original RangePro X8 with A3 flight control; And the RangePro X8P with Pixhawk flight control and Herelink GCS.
What sorts of industries/people have you seen are most excited about your drone solutions?
First Responders, Utility companies, Inspection companies, Construction companies, Companies that serve US Government Agencies, and DoD are all excited about our extended flight time, and government compliant spec’s.
What technological capabilities or features separate the RangePro X8P Pixhawk model from the original RangePro X8 drone?
Basically the flight control system is the difference. The original model was designed with A3 flight control. Our latest versions are designed with Pixhawk flight control.
How do you make your company stand out in the drone industry?
The X8P-US is designed, engineered, manufactured, and supported in the USA, compliant with recently updated US Government requirements. By meeting these new US Government requirements, and with our incredible flight time of 70+ minutes on a single battery, we are the ‘option’ which industry and government have been waiting for.
You have talked about many positive applications to RangePro X8P, including government enterprise data capture, first responder, and industrial. What are a few of the pros of using drones to these purposes?
In general, the use of drones has proven to reduce response time in critical situations, provide better data capture than ever before, and provide an option to keep people out of dangerous circumstances. By staying in the air significantly longer than our competitors and requiring fewer battery swaps, the RangePro provides a significant advantage in critical situations and significantly reduces the cost of operation.
Think of how significant it is to stay in the air for an hour when there are lives at stake… changing batteries every 15-20 minutes is not an option. You lose eyes on a critical situation, put your team at risk, and compromise the mission of helping someone in need.
From a cost of operation perspective, staying in the air 2-3x as longer than our competition allows for more consistent data capture, less down-time for RTB’s, and fewer pack-up and relocation efforts. Plus, the ability to ‘loiter’ or re-inspection based on the discovery of something which requires further investigation is not compromised.. this reduces pilot stress and improves mission results.
You said RangePro X8P Drone has options and system components that meet the Department of Defense (DoD) and the federal government guidelines. Excellent! How did you handle that?
Well, that’s our ‘secret sauce’! Yes, we have worked very hard to design a system that meets the Federal Government and DoD requirements. We are very proud to provide a system that is a fantastic option for restricted/grounded UAVs.
RangePro X8P is created to fly for over 70 minutes. How did you balance out such extended battery life while reassuring security of data?
The extended flight time of the RangePro is actually what ensures more robust data capture. By significantly reducing returns for battery swaps, the consistency of image capture is improved dramatically. As far as the safety of the data being captured, we have integrated radio, flight control, ground control, sensor, and gimbal solutions, which ensure data security.
If a company wants to begin incorporating RangePro X8P to their infrastructure, how may they go on getting started?
We take a highly collaborative approach to learn about our customers’ applications and intended use-cases, desired data capture, etc., to ensure they ultimately receive the optimal assets to meet their requirements. Contact our sales team at www.terraview.com, or reach out to me and I will coordinate someone from our team to work with you!
What are a few of the most exciting methods you have noticed drones being utilized?
With the current pandemic, the use of drones and thermal imaging to detect fever is the latest innovation we’ve seen. With our extended flight time, the RangePro would be a tremendous asset in this use-case in battling the virus, which we all pray will be contained and over soon.
What advances in drone systems are you looking forward to?
Advances in software solutions and sensor capabilities are incredible. The RangePro is basically the ‘truck’ which carries these sensors to capture images/data, so we are always on top of sensor innovations to make sure our system is capable of integrating the latest technology.
What do you wish to achieve in your drone job in the next some years?
We are excited about our technology roadmap and continued innovation, which includes a heavy-lift version of the RangePro that can carry 12+lbs for 70+ minutes. It will be available in late 2020.
The industry and applications are changing daily, so we are excited to collaborate with our customers and partners to continue to bring incredible solutions for the future.