Awards & Recognition

For the past several years, Mark Sharpe of the Ontario Provincial Police force has been using aerial pictures and video to help with law enforcement. From homemade devices made from commercial electronics to hobby aircraft with cameras, he has saved the police department approximately $20,000 in aircraft charter costs. Working with makeshift equipment helped the OPP greatly, but with today’s world issues and a vast area to patrol, they began looking for something more.

The OPP found a solution with the Draganflyer helicopter, North America’s first commercially available UAV legalized for law enforcement applications. Fast deployment and an advanced autopilot make the Draganflyer UAV the perfect choice for police departments who need aerial pictures and video.

So why would a police force based out of a small city need aerial surveillance? For one thing, the Ontario police need to cover a huge area ranging all the way from the U.S border to Hudson Bay. It is hoped that using remotely operated vehicles can help reduce charter costs to remote areas. Aerial pictures and video are also very useful in court, helping judges and juries to visualize crime scenes effectively.

Featured on www.canada.com, the Winnipeg Free Press, and the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, it’s clear that there is definitely a market for UAVs in law enforcement applications.

The Draganflyer X6 UAV was recently named a winner of the 2009 UAS photo competition. The UAS photo competition is hosted by UVS international, an organization dedicated to providing information about UAVs and other unmanned systems. Two of our pictures were featured in the photo competition:

A picture showing how our UAV can be used to photograph wildlife

A picture showing off our UAVs small form factor and collapsible airframe.

The first shows how the Draganflyer X6 can be used to photograph wildlife, and the second shows how it can fold up to a small form factor.  We’re honored by this award, and will keep developing, distributing, and improving our UAV platform. You can learn more about UVS by visiting their website, and download the PDF newsletter featuring our UAV.

Draganfly Innovations was awarded the SABEX (Saskatoon Achievement In Business Excellence Award) in the New Product Category for our Draganflyer X6 UAV on May 14, 2009. Nominations closed on March 19, and Draganfly Innovations was named a finalist on April 14. Designed by the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, SABEX awards are designed to promote aspects of business excellence in Saskatchewan. SABEX awards fall under several categories, including innovation, customer service, and many others.  The New Product Award is given to a business demonstrating exceptional performance in launching a new Saskatchewan-made product or device in the last three years, which is both original and currently available to customers.

Criteria for applying for a SABEX award include the following:

• Potential for Market Expansion
• Projected Product Life Cycle
• Uniqueness of Product
• Development and Developmental Stages
• Product Age

and many others.

We’re very proud to be honoured with this award, and will continue to strive for business excellence.

Vertical 911, a publication dedicated to helicopter usage in the EMS, law enforcement, fire and search an rescue sectors, has recently featured and article about our Draganflyer X6. The article notes the UAV’s applications to police work and usage by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) .

Vertical Magazine is the helicopter industries “insider” publication, featuring commentary by some of the industries leading voices. Although they usually feature full scale, piloted helicopter applications, our 1 kg UAV’s features were unique enough to write an article about.

The OPP became the first police service to use a UAV for forensic purposes inside city limits. If you want to learn more about our UAV’s features and how it can help your organization, take a look at the Draganflyer X6 product information page.

Draganflyer X6 UAV Helicopter on Wired LivingHome 2.0

The Draganflyer X6 UAV Helicopter is being featured at this year’s Wired Magazine LivingHome 2.0 at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The exhibit is called: Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd and opens TODAY, March 19, 2009. The home-designed by Michelle Kaufmann Designs™ and built by All-American Homes™- also focuses on what the future may bring to consumers. New and unique home technologies are on display, courtesy of WIRED magazine.

» See the Draganflyer X6 at the Wired Home.

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry exhibit Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd allows guests to tour a functioning three-story, modular and sustainable “green” home that highlights unique eco-friendly technologies and products for the 21st century.

The freshly updated exhibit home will be open from March 19, 2009 through Jan. 3, 2010 and is proudly sponsored by ComEd, Dominick’s and the Motorola Foundation.

“Smart” technologies like the Draganflyer X6 are incorporated throughout the WIRED home, including a full-home automation system that allows homeowners to control heat, lighting, window coverings, security sensors, and video cameras.  A touch-screen tracks electricity consumption in the WIRED LivingHome on a real-time basis and compares it with the energy production from wind and solar power. The technologies will demonstrate how a home can inspire lifestyle choices and be equipped to save resources while residents are away, as well as keep a home and its occupants protected.

The Draganflyer X6 UAV helicopter is a “Smart” and green technology because it is safe, very quiet, a zero emissions vehicle, electric powered, small & compact, and lightweight. The Draganflyer X6 is a revolutionary GPS guided, hi-definition, aerial video and digital photography platform used by photographers, the movie industry, police, and other professionals.

Wired Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry features the Draganflyer X6 UAV Helicopter. March 19, 2009 to Jan 3, 2010.

Visit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry’s Web site to purchase tickets.

Gizmodo, the Internet’s premiere gadget and technology blog, featured the first published pictures of the Draganflyer X6 police edition UAV on the front page of gizmodo.com last night. We gave Gizmodo exclusive first-run pictures of the Saskatoon Police Draganflyer X6 as well as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Draganflyer X6. The OPP has begun using the Draganflyer X6 in crime scene investigations. The Saskatoon Police will begin using the Draganflyer X6 this summer.

» Read the Gizmodo Draganflyer X6 Police UAV article:

Gizmodo.com Home Page March 10, 2009: 11:00pm. Exclusive pictures of the Draganflyer X6 UAV Police Edition

Download a full resolution screen shot from last night’s Gizmodo.com home page featuring the X6.

Popular Science Magazine’s Best of What’s New awards our Draganflyer X6 Helicopter a winner in the Aviation & Space category. PopSci’s Best of What’s New issue is released each year and ranks the top 100 products in 11 categories.

“Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New” awards honor the innovations that make a positive impact on life today and change our views of the future,” says Mark Jannot, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Science. “PopSci’s editors evaluate thousands of products each year to develop this thoughtful list, there’s no higher accolade Popular Science can give“.

PopSci:
There are model helicopters, and then there are military unmanned aerial vehicles. The Draganflyer X6 is the first hovering craft that fits right in between. This small helicopter, the first to use six horizontal blades for a stable hover and speedy turns, is designed to supply aerial video to everyone from police to hobbyists. The pilot guides it by handheld controller while wearing video glasses that allow him to see what the chopper sees through a camera attached to a vibration-free mount on the vehicle’s belly. The X6 carries 11 onboard sensors-gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, GPS and a barometric-pressure sensor – and flies for up to 25 minutes.
http://www.popsci.com/bown/2008/product/draganfly-draganflyer-x6

We’re proud our Draganflyer X6 helicopter won such a prestigious award. Learn more about the Draganflyer X6 at www.draganfly.com.