Soon, drone pilots could have the ability to check their phones and see a weather forecast as low as 10 feet off the ground. A company named Earth Networks has revealed that they have developed a services called Sferic DroneFlight, which they say offers “hyperlocal, low-altitude weather forecasting for drone operators.”
This service is reportedly able to give you detailed regional forecast at ranges varying from 10 up to 400 feet of altitude at any location in the entire world, allowing drone operators to plan their scheduled flying times accordingly.
“Until now, drone operators have had to plan missions by relying on surface-level weather information or high-altitude measurements provided to commercial airlines, neither of which provides the needed intelligence to optimize missions. Our new low-altitude Sferic DroneFlight offers the ideal vertical resolution needed for operators to assess relevant weather conditions,” said Anuj Agrawal, Chief Marketing Officer at Earth Networks. “As the drone market and regulatory environment continue to evolve, weather intelligence will be a key technology to enable longer and beyond line of sight missions. We look forward to working with industry partners to bring continued innovation to market.”
The service will also update its wind forecasts hourly and you will be able to see weather forecasts six days in advance.
Earth Networks is using the University of Maryland Unmanned Aerial Systems Test Site to further test the Sferic DroneFlight in hopes of making the service as accurate as possible. Anthony Pucciarella, Director of Operations at the UMD UAS Test Site, had this to say about the project:
“We are thrilled to support the efforts of Earth Networks to bring advanced weather data to drone operations, as it reinforces our commitment to accelerating the safe, effective application of UAS technology.”