# Ensuring Drone Flight Safety: The Role of Parachute Recovery Systems

- Event: NestGen ’23
- Published: March 23, 2023
- Length: 27:50
- Watch: https://nestgen.org/library/watch/1F-HuOHe6Xw/

> The transcript of a recorded NestGen session, for reading or for use with an AI tool. It comes from the video's
> captions; automatic captions can mishear names and terms.

## About this session

Learn how parachutes safeguard people and & minimize property damage by ensuring a safe descent of drone in the event of a system failure.

## Transcript

**[0:08]** thank you hello everyone so I hope you are finding these sessions interesting and engaging and welcome to another exciting sessions of national 23 the industry's largest drones autonomy Summit so before we begin it would be great if you could let me know a little about yourself so he can get to know you better so feel free to share your thoughts in the session chat section for starters we can uh you can tell us about from where you are joining or how do you how this session how do you like about the session and Anna like just put your thoughts out there in the chat section right so again in this I'll just go to the other side right so in this session uh like about ensuring drone safety flight safety roll off parachute where we will be discussing the role of parachute systems in the safety of drone flights right so

**[1:09]** I can yeah right so okay great so in this session we are thrilled to have a Andres with us the founder and CEO at drone rescue system joining us today so I'll just give a quick intro about Andres how we met and how what we know about Andres right now okay so Andres is highly experienced professional in the Drone industry as we know with the background in business administration and law before funding drone rescue systems he worked as a consultant for tech companies and is now leading the world's leading grown parachute company drone rescue systems right so don't I'll just give a quick brief about what drone system does and how uh we now write each other and how this is helping in BB loss operations so drone rescue systems is known for its highly reliable parachute solution that focuses on providing the light test possible autonomous and easiest to

**[2:12]** use parachute solutions to its customer over the past years drone risk systems has mainly focused on working together with the drone delivery drone manufacturers and the First Response companies so we are very thrilled to have Andres here with us today to share his insight and expertise uh like with all of us but before we begin um I would like to just put some housekeeping roles out there let me yep so please type your Q A's and in the Q a sections of the chat uh session and uh the session is also getting recorded for those who kind of listen between uh they will get the access to those recorded sessions after the events and they will also receive any emails for that also please do not miss out uh drone rescue system booth in this expo Expo section please make sure you visit during the networking sessions and Booth with it slots finally please remember to capture your favorite movements on

**[3:15]** the sessions and share it on Twitter LinkedIn by using NestGen at the rate and tagging uh FlytBase with few attacking slide base and definitely don't forget to tag Andres with that uh in that uh social media post right so if you look even us who might share have a surprise in the store right I think already you have seen in the slide but yeah also there is an ongoing poll during the session please make sure to pass it participate and lastly I would like to thank our title sponsors DJ Enterprise and our Platinum sponsored walletess Aerospace for supporting this event and helping to make it possible Andres we are excited to hear from you about your role of parachute systems and ensuring drone flight safety so without further Ado I uh please give a warm welcome to Andres that over to you perfect thank you very much for having us we're really looking forward to this today's session and talk with you about the importance of say of drone parachutes

**[4:19]** for a safe mission as you all know the commercial drone industry is one of the fastest growing Industries in the world because drones can do the job faster easier and cheaper and safety is becoming the missing link for the whole industry to really fulfill its potential and we as strong rescue systems are already here since a couple of years we could establish ourselves in the last couple of years as we leaving to imperished company and already back in 2016 we worked with the European Space Agency together on a steelbook parachute system and we were the first company that successfully went through an asdm certification back in 2019 where we were the first company to get an ESD certification for a heavy drone like a DJI m600 over the last couple of years we could establish ourselves uh working dominantly with uh John delivery companies Joe manufacturers together and have some very important Partners like oterion or what's Innovation for example uh but what makes ourselves as strong

**[5:19]** rescue system special uh first of all we always focus on having our customers missions in mind and the needs of our customers in mind so that's why we produce the lightest possible parachute Solutions only half of the weight or even less than other parachute Solutions available on the market and the system should work even if the Drone has a problem so that's why with our own sensors or our own electronics and they detect a potential problem and then inject a parachute and even if the Drone is already built it's very easy to integrate our solution because we have various drone types we provide thorough Solutions and various interfaces it's quite easy to attach our systems in general to to Jones and I think why you should use a parachute is really shown in this video uh here muscle here after this leading ski in the world was nearly killed by Falling journal and his Austrian and is here so we as is really personally into heart and try to find a way of solving

**[6:20]** this problem and basically the way how we do it is with a smart parachute solution and it really shows you the difference of how it should look like when a John has a problem and comes down with a parachute to compare it just falls down like Escape Like a Stone from the sky and here you see for example with a so-called Binet mechanism on the m300 very easy to use within a couple seconds you're ready to go we all talk about here about the same Mission we have in mind Beyond visual line of sight and therefore you need to save application and you need to fly as long as possible so that's why it's important to have light wheel approach as well and you see the next picture the way the parachute ejects with a catapult mechanism uh the way we do it for example if throws out the parachute very very fast so it comes down really really slow to protect people and physical Goods on the ground but to give you numbers behind those topics and videos are nice the numbers are more important

**[7:20]** in our industry I think um is if a drone uh with a maximum takeoff weight is around about 10 kilogram would have a problem and have a free fall from 50 meters without a parachute it would come down with around about 4 900 kinetic Jewel energy with our parachute comes down with under 80 tool and with the system we have here for example shown in the M with m300 it comes down with under 60 joule and that is a big difference the difference is in one scenario you could be dead in the other scenario you scared and we all need to keep in mind that there are already a couple of really sophisticated Safety Solutions in nearly every kind of drone even cheap ones if you lose connection it returns to home if the battery is empty it automatically lands but still um if you think about the bigger picture where we all want to go where the Drone is flying Beyond visual out of sight flying over people we have to think the worst case scenario what if if there's a mechanical failure a software failure or a

**[8:22]** hardware problem the parachute is really the only solution you have in this worst case scenario in general when thinking about parachute Solutions and what we as strong rescue systems for example are doing we have let's call them off-the-shelf Solutions mainly DJI imagery serials or free flat Alto extra Astro um but also generic Solutions where we can for example work with a German infection together a rate of it or a solution on the Drone um and we really it really depends on the maximum takeoff weight of the Drone uh currently we for example offer solution between two third or six kilogram off the shelf and as we all know they're different kind of flight controls different kind of uh needs in the industry so that's why we offer for example different kind of interfaces so it's very easy to use the system in general um and I think if you look for a parachute solution you should definitely try to find a partner that already has some experience in having different kind of interfaces and provides you with a needed Solutions right away

**[9:23]** but we definitely saw that there's a big difference coming currently and the importance getting more and more bigger with the flight data and the analytics of those data so that's why we not just analyze if there's a drone coming down with a parachute or a drone had a crash uh in general but we really helped all the customers the civil aviation authorities the insurance companies together and we have some Insurance Partners For example we work together um to really get the best performance out not just out of the parachute but of the Drone as well and this is where the industry should be having um but General you have to think why do you need a parachute first of all the regulatory environment completely changed over the last couple of years and in a lot of countries parachutes are getting obligated if you want to have specific waivers or specific flying scenarios but the real reason why you should use a parachute is to mitigate the ground risk so to protect people and physical girls on the ground so

**[10:26]** so that all of us can really focus on the bigger mission of us fly Beyond visual line of sight fly over people and reduce in case of an emergency they impact energy when thinking about parachutes itself um there are different kind of options the way a person can eject for example we for example use a catapult mechanism because it's very lightweight but also that it helps you on the field as well so we for example use a so-called bionet mechanism that simply helps you once the system was once installed here with an m300 the system is ready to be used within a couple of seconds just twist and turn and you're ready to go and this should help you as well in the field uh and not need another 15 minutes to set up everything on a field so always keep in mind when shooting your parachute solution that it should be user friendly as well also with the flight combination system it's very important that if you think about the parachute solution um the motors need to get stuck when a parachute opens not just because the cores can be entangled in uh within the propellers but also if the Drone is coming down so

**[11:31]** that not additional potential problems are happening uh to people on the ground and you have to distinguish here between the hardware or software uh way of stopping the motors we all think a couple of steps further uh so that's why we uh thought about having a really loud acoustical signal in all our Solutions so if John is coming down with a parachute a really annoying loud uh acoustical sound is coming so the people would move aside it's an additional safety feature which is I think quite important when having a parachute board but as well the pilot always needs to have a status quo about the health status of the system if everything is worth a problem with the Drone or with the with the system itself so that's why we not just have an acoustical signal but an LED color code as well that helps just to give a good feedback to the pilots all the time um but even then we think that it's important to have a couple of steps more so that's why we have for example a optional geo-fancing tool that basically prohibits

**[12:32]** a fly away and this is um what my main top is within the next uh uh part of my presentation is the regulatory framework really important as well as well as a RC trigger for manual deployment currently we see big uh change in the industry back then a couple of years ago we had a lot of customers that were only interested in the classical off the shelf Jones we now work with a lot of General manufacturers together I think most of our other parachute companies do that as well um and we see a big change to vetoes or that there's this completely integrated uh so we don't see from the outside that our system is on board for example but here are just three different kind of examples uh of how a parachute for example could be installed on your specific job and with the new regulations you see that parachutes are getting obligated in most of the countries where the German industry is starting to grow um we see here for example we have now customers nearly all over the world and

**[13:32]** establish ourselves as the leading company in the field because the missions are getting bigger the Ambitions are getting bigger and therefore the companies think more and more about the reliable parachute report and the good thing is the regulatory framework already helps in this regards so there are already some specific standards out there we for example um as mentioned 2009 were the first with a successful estm for m600 so this is a specific person standard with 45 different different kind of test scenarios from truckload tests minimum takeoff weight hovering tests maximum takeoff weight uh tests are everything just to show that the system is working reliable um and to reduce the kinetic impact energy and now we will be the first there's a new style coming out the slash 22 instead of this last 18. and in a couple of weeks we will for the for example do the first time in asdm according to the slash 22 is damn um with an alpha x from free flash systems and basically it's very important to

**[14:38]** understand uh what's the benefit of the parachute is according to the standards there are two different kind of things first to reduce the kinetic impact energy in case uh the Drone is coming down and on the other hand um if you want to go for a certification you often need to show the civil aviation Authority a specific number of flight hours the parachute basically can reduce those flight hours you have to show because it shows you the reliability of the system itself um in Europe for example uh the iahaza made a huge effort together with the JavaScript to harmonize regulations um back then the regulations were in East Country different differently now we can really think about the huge ambitious projects where companies are working internationally because of the harmonized regulations from the ayazo and here you see you have a risk mitigation approach where you basically have to calculate how to mitigate your ground risk your air risk level and so on and with the new Sora 2.5

**[15:42]** coming out you definitely see that parachutes are becoming more and more important especially in the M2 mitigation uh that a parachute really helps you receive in this mitigations from containment category um that's why for example we use the geofencing tool as well that helps you as well but you see the good thing is that The Regulators really thought about the next steps what is needed and we are now in a process where we have the customers and have the industry heading to drone delivery flying over people flying Beyond Vigilant of sight and this is definitely the right approach to have specific standards but if you follow them then you get the permissions but to summarize everything I think it's very important to understand um why you should use a pair there's often a the belief that it should protect the Drone completely um it it's ideally if nothing happens to the Drone but that's not too realistic to be honest um basically you can compare a parachute to the

**[16:44]** automotive Industries back in the 60s back then a seat belt or an airbag weren't obligated to have now it's impossible to have to buy a car without a seat belt and this is exactly what a German industry will be adding but in this case scenario it will be the parachute to be the chosen solution and it should protect the people on the ground protect uh important onboard equipment it doesn't matter if it's an organ for medical delivery or an expensive lighter sensor and to protect physical Goods as well and the main ambition of course is that you as customer can get the needed flight permission in order for you to do the job you want to do so that was it from from outside hopefully you got some insights why it is beneficial to have a character safety solution board and how a company like we are can help you if you have additional questions after this lot uh please all switch out at General rescue.com we're happy to to help you out and I'm now looking forward to your Q days

**[17:49]** uh thank you on this thank you so much I think uh probably our this was very helpful to our Audience by seeing the response on the chat section so again it was very benefit like you mentioned about the BV loss operations jaurus and so raw Growers so with that I think we have a couple of questions coming up so guys uh just I mean I'll be reading a few questions uh which is already there in a q a meanwhile feel free to drop your Q A's in the Q a sections right so I think there is a question from Gregory right so what is the maximum payload from your parachutes currently off the shelf is 36 kilogram uh we were in r d groceries with even even much higher weight categories but off the shelf is 36 kilograms but we are moving more and more to higher uh weight categories as well but with this weight category we can still say we are the largest possible solution and and provide the customer off the shelf right so I'm just with that there was a question in the chat also where uh uh like

**[18:54]** there was a question if this parachute also support stadio or other rain right so uh can you help us explain about the how agnostic it is right with the hardware yeah um skydio currently not uh unfortunately um but um yeah um we are open to it for sure um basically you you have to have to understand how the person is working we have a left code off-the-shelf solution where we have uh specific dimensions depending on the maximum takeoff weight where we offer various interfaces uh we're for example the only official part of material so everything with map link is very easy to integrate basically block can play uh but we have multiple interfaces quite easy to to install the system in general um you know also what we often do is to have customized solution when we where you don't even see from the outside uh that the system is on board so I think it's if you are in the process of of developing the Drone uh as the sooner you come first the easier it is

**[19:59]** rate of fit is very easy normally at least to do with multicopters with uh vitals big swing Road Wings after a little bit more difficult because the space in the frame is already less right right so uh I mean on the same point I think there is a question about uh like the robustness and the safety part of the parachute so that says uh uh how how proof or the damage proof those uh threads are which are in the parachute which like if are they like easy to cut through the propellers in case the problem didn't stop or yeah um this is why we do a lot of testing in general so so we we constantly test our systems that we can provide a reliable solution in general um so with uh with the way of stopping the motors those interfaces or different kind of approaches are really heavily tested so those are working really really well um regardless of the system itself

**[21:02]** um one thing is the asdm uh I already mentioned um I think by now we are the company with the most esdms uh with a lot of European companies as well with them through the ASM lately um so we have the experience with with our system itself um another thing is which is coming which I think will be coming more and more important is if you think about the classical uh type certification process where you have to show a specific numbers of flight hours that uh work without a problem um this is something we do with some customers already but those processes are taking a lot of months but in general we have a very high success rate with our products and a good reputation right so uh I think uh there was again a questions with the respect to um like how can we track the parachute in case of a failure in case that there is a detect let's say uh fail safe has been triggered where the parachute has been deployed and the Drone lands uh safely on the ground is there in a way is there any

**[22:08]** way to track that down yeah um two different kind of things uh of course depending we always learn size line of sight of course a lot of art is always easier um um we have but it's an optional solution that the system has a Genus a module included so where you can track the system basically uh but this is an optional solution which is normal not suited for customers and First Response industry for example um but apart from that people were very loud acoustical signals so you really hear where the Drone uh uh is Islamic right so again uh like uh there was one more questions with respect to uh so everyone wants to fly baby loss so with that they have to put some uh like Advance or Edge Computing on the top of the Drone so what do you think about the uh like the support or the Readiness with that uh kind of uh architecture

**[23:08]** um I think we're we're moving closer um we we see the different kind it doesn't matter if it's remote ID or a parachute solution or a counter attacking uh uh technology I think we're moving closer um I think everybody agrees on the biggest hurdle is not just from a technological point of view but mainly from a regulatory point of view correct I think the Technologies is often already there maybe this is sophistication needs to get higher a little bit uh but from in general I think with the project that we're for example in we see a lot of drone delivery Indus companies constantly growing where we have companies that are doing thousands of deliveries per year already so we see that the industry when The Regulators help you out is already where it can be in five years time in other Industries right so with that ever like in general question for deeply we lost and don't autonomy so

**[24:08]** like could you please share your thoughts on how this opengiv approach where each company contributes differently on different layer or separate layers of drone autonomy stack and what are its benefits and how each and each of us can help us grow the industry so parachute and all that yeah I think it's the it's the only way to go um we we see for example with the network from a Tyrion we're in it really helps that companies work together and also show companies you need to solve this kind of problem or you need to optimize this kind of aspect um and I think that's the only way to go because if everything is a different Island and the different islands are not connected with uh perfectly well it's quite hard to get a proper approach uh but if you follow uh even specific standards uh open source standards it's so much easier to get the industry moving so I think it's the only approach to do to have a network that

**[25:11]** collaborates um where even competitors are thinking about the future um another other parachute companies out there currently we see more as a partner than a competitor uh because we want to make a safe flight possible so it's in our it's our mission to work together and see how we can do that so yeah it's the only way to go in my opinion um so uh with that I think uh there's a couple of questions coming around but I think more uh or in general they are related to where can uh they get to know more about your system and what are the specifications look like so can you just walk them through where can they reach out to you and where they can learn more about your products um yes we of course um on uh drone rescue.com online uh we are heavily on you find us on LinkedIn you find us on Twitter you find us on Facebook you had an awesome a lot of strategic Partners

**[26:14]** um I mentioned ethereum uh we have big drone manufacturers we work with or drone storage providers like drone up uh and we have our resale network uh worldwide so um if you need anything you see here here our our domain and our email address um collect us we're happy to help you out and start working with you together right so thank you so much Andres so in case we have missed any questions so like you can reach out to Andres over uh the contact details shared on the screen and you can also drop us in case you miss like if you want to communicate with each other so we will be happy to arrange a call with you guys again thank you so much Andres for sharing those insights would you like to share any closing Thoughts with that um first of all really thank you very much for for this great event so I I listened to the two other sessions and it's really great to connect and display with with the industry uh without traveling all the time so real nice way to go and congratulations to you to the amazing event and thank you for having us

**[27:16]** thank you thank you all for joining us today so hope you guys are enjoying a great great time at night next gen so let us know in your chat section or you know even section how you find this sessions in the comments or you can like I stole you in the start of the event please feel free to tag us on the social media post right okay see you then guys uh please uh like uh yeah head to the stage we are going again live with the Keynotes from the DJI and with our partners so see you soon guys in the next session