# Turnkey Autonomy in the Wild: Mobile Docking, BVLOS, and Managed Field Ops

- Event: NestGen ’26
- Published: October 2, 2026
- Length: 22:52
- Watch: https://nestgen.org/library/watch/jXct5df3W7w/

> 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

Join DSLRPros for an exclusive look at ArgusHawk, a rapid-placement mobile dock trailer featuring integrated Detect and Avoid (DAA) and live visual monitoring designed to take physical AI off the grid. Discover how pairing purpose-built mobile hardware with expert BVLOS waiver support, program consulting, and managed autonomy services allows enterprise teams to bypass fixed-infrastructure limits. Learn actionable strategies to transform complex field requirements into scalable, fully compliant turnkey drone operations in any environment.

## Transcript

**[0:01]** Okay, let's go right into it. So, we have this platform. Um, basically, we've got a a very good uh focus on how docs can be used for mobile deployments, meaning that the dock can move from site to site or from location to location uh based on different types of operations that are needed. So, we call this turnkey autonomy in the wild. Mobile docking, BV loss, and managed field operations. So something we, you know, just to make this very simple to understand, we get an alert, we get some kind of a blind spot, maybe a team this far away, and we're not sure what to do in reactive mode. Um, to try to get our arms around this and make it more functionally reactive, we need to know how activity is being detected and knowing how to respond. So uh when we look at the way that we approach this problem with the concept of docking stations or drones with docks um first is that we look

**[1:01]** at things like earlier verification. So a docked aircraft can provide an authorized aerial view. This is to you know change kind of the view from let's say you know everything's about the dock to what is it what does it do right? Um and then the coverage can change from site to site. Fixed sight docks are very good for um known repetitive missions that are inspection or aerial intelligence. Um ground cameras can actually you know add additional insight you know between different flights but managed operations sustain the entire workflow and the service. So one of the platforms that we have looked at deploying is this concept of a mobile dock. So the mobile docking station has the ability to um basically have a solar array, a elevated mass to about 20 ft, a set of cameras, even a detect and avoid radar at the top um and bring about this entire ecosystem for the dock to host on without any connectivity to power andor any kind of wired

**[2:07]** network. Everything is done via a 5G eim uh router or it's done through Starlink. So this type of architecture we found has become a very strong uh platform for docs to be hosted on and be able to move from sight to sight and let's say either a temporary site option or uh a fixed you know site for let's say a duration of time but it doesn't have to be bolted to the ground. It's also very good in terms of even if you did want to leave it in long-term somewhere, it does have advantage with the detect and avoid uh function at the top and the ability to have this kind of all-in-one as opposed to having to, you know, schedule a concrete, you know, pad with bolts and networking and all kinds of other physical infrastructure. This can just simply be rolled up and put in place. Okay. So when we look at things like detect and avoid and live visual monitoring, this helps tremendously in BB loss waiverss and understanding you deconliction for you know airspace um as well as you

**[3:08]** know being able to know where you can launch properly. So in a remote operation center or distributed remote operation center type of of deployment um this helps dramatically in in speed to launch and also quickness to awareness. Okay. So the operating concept defines the cover you know the required coverage and response whether it's it's repetitive or it's unscheduled or unplanned flights this can be the uh let's say the the the key parts of how this can actually function and work. Okay. So every move when we look at this where do we place one of these trailers? Um the first it should be a stable area um and a clean launch volume where it can actually run uh surveyed routes and let's say detect and avoid coverage. Uh this is more like a site survey or mini site survey. Uh tested power communications and recovery and site permission and mission authority. So something if you guys are aware inside the um inside the base function of a dock, you can actually use the drone from the dock

**[4:12]** to conduct a site survey and tell you the optimal placement of where um where a a dock should be able to be placed based on airspace um you know level area that you want to cover and things of that nature. So we also have to consider greatly in terms of power capacity and energy endurance. So these these are the only things that really matter in terms of what this can do. Um how it does it with the solar panels or the batteries for backup or you know how long could sustain you know completely unconnected operation is kind of the key here. So knowing that the this kind of you know mobile platform has batteries and solar but also the dock itself has a UPS. So there's uh you know certain parts of you both options that have the ability to do you know sustaining the system um uptime but also the load right can the inverter can the entire uh you know platform be able to to sustain you know one of these dock systems simply bolting on a dock or

**[5:15]** adding another shelf to the trailer is not exactly the you know the recipe. It's got to be able to sustain the actual power. And then also where is it placed? Right? If you're in the north, let's say during the winter time when the sunlight is limited, then how much can the recharge cycle actually power the batteries, right? Is it going to be enough to sustain, you know, for the period of time in a 24x7 operation. So these do matter in terms of endurance. Okay. So uh when we look at how do we you know set this up as a a playbook um for BV loss waiverss um first is understanding operating concept where the aircraft is where it's going to be placed what kind of missions and what kind of staffing are in in in place whether it's remote supervised you know or it's on site a combination with remote supervised what kind of safety case uh risk mitigations and of course abnormal procedures emergency response planning conops uh as as well as uh safety management systems. And then of course, what kind of waiver needs to be put in place? Is it over people

**[6:17]** over buildings, you know, in close to an an airport? Uh is it in in restricted or in um privated airspace or is an open airspace? You know, all of these things matter when you're operating a drone. And then finally, operating ev operational evidence. So the training, the acceptance, the execution records. How do you log what you're doing? Right? As you know, many people that operate docs within this forum um they're aware of this day-to-day, but many people that want to have docs, they're not aware of all this regulatory uh and and effort. They may have a sense of it, you know, from being a passenger in an airplane or, you know, hearing the kind of regulatory that that manned aircraft deals with, but once they step into the drone world, they find that there's a similar, you know, set of of rules that we have to operate under because of the national airspace. So and then in terms of accountability, who owns a decision? The customer, the flight operator, the company itself, right? A lot of companies don't want to bother with flight ops. They want to have the ability to operate on their own. Um, you

**[7:18]** know, just from the data set and move forward. The the difficulty, the complexity of the operations is something that can be, you know, either, you know, the responsibility is put on the customer itself and they simply operate and maintain all of the operational requirements. The flight operator. This can also be separate like drone service providers. It's you know something that we can also do you know for on behalf of the customer. So another key point is remote coverage, right? So can you have a remote operator but still have local capability, right? A lot of times with docs, these are physical devices that are mechanical that do require maintenance at some intervals, no different than any kind of other vehicle along with the trader, right? The trader itself is meant to be mostly hands-off, but we know that some intervals of time there is requirement to have some level of maintenance. So having a distributed remote operation center in different key locations of the US or you know in even in other countries could set up the the same

**[8:18]** type of distribution model but basically remote ops also paired with let's say a local ability to maintain or even stock spares things like that that makes a lot of sense in terms of a distributed doc based operation as docs become more like data center infrastructure but they're many data centers or many you know comput platforms that sit out into the field. These become more required, right? So, it's no it's no different than distributed edge data centers that need, you know, some kind of ongoing maintenance even though they're considered in some cases lights out data centers or they're not needed. But docs docs still need some level of of care and maintenance. So that why you know what's better than having somebody that's nearby within maybe a two hours drive or you know a two to six hours drive or maybe a one to two hours flight that would make sense as opposed to having going across the country. All of this matters in what we consider uptime right what is the available uptime of my doc in the field as a customer that's the part that matters.

**[9:19]** So you know a service plan that connects coverage hours escalation and response really becomes the operating model. Okay. So then commissioning, how do we do this? Right. I think understanding all of the gaps, it's easy to do the general deployments of docs. The difficult part is understanding what to do when there's abnormal conditions. That's the real uh you know, let's say element of of the added service of managing these docs. Doc as a service, doc automation as a service is something that is becoming, you know, almost an expectation in customers that have have a mature drone program, right? They're saying, why can't I automate this? I see this stuff on, you know, different forums and at conferences, commercial UAV conference. Um, you know, I should be able to do this, right? So, the expectation becomes already there. Then the how, how is it actually done. So looking at the different type of focus, you know, let's say release to service follows defect closure and recorded acceptance. So knowing what to do when things go wrong is

**[10:20]** really kind of the the key element of of doc operations alongside something like a mobile platform. Okay. So when we look at mission readiness, we see that these are the the key. Again, this is very simplified to make it easier to understand, but authority and personnel, sight and aircraft, detect and avoid and communications, energy reserve, these all matter when it comes to a mobile dock type of deployment. When you've got a dock with continuous power supply and you know, very good internet, that's wonderful. Those are the ideal operating conditions. But you're you're in a remote site with intermittent connectivity that you try to SLA you try to make a quality assurance with the the provider right you have power right you have to be continuously monitoring power or at least getting alerts for the type of of power that's necessary um and then finally when we look at energy reserve um we need to be sure that these things operate when the trailer is remote okay so some examples customer reference

**[11:22]** when we look security for car lots, right? Whether they're for sale, whether they're for manufacturing, um these are high attractive targets for thieves to go into and try to take cars for reselling your parts or whatever it may be. Um when these carlets deploy these types of of uh platforms, there needs to be very fast response. you might have 30 seconds to capture at least an image or video from maybe a fixed camera or even a let's say something like a tethered drone that's on the same mobile security platform alongside the dock uh which usually results in potentially a larger trailer. But it is possible you can put one of these in one of these lots and move it around at different locations. Right? A fixed dock, let's say sitting on the top of the dealership building may not be the best spot for a dock to be. could be even just a physical deterrant to see that, oh wow, there's something there that could see me. Maybe that that scares me away if I'm going to try to take something. But visual cont,

**[12:24]** you know, the active positioning of where somebody's at. That's why that detect to response workflow that was mentioned earlier on some of the other sessions really matters in how it's configured. Okay, the next one is an after hours alert step by step. So you know when we look at detection a configured ground alert identifies activity there's a verification that says this is high confidence level uh readiness checks proceed authorizerial view security staff direct the ground to respond and then of course the record useful time and the action that was taken what was done how was it deterred the customer wants to know that they don't care how you did it they just want to know did did you prevent my car from being stolen Right. So, another one is livestock protection and predator deterance. Um, the more that there is awareness of predators. So, let's say patrol missions, obviously with with farms that are, you know, very wide and big, fixed cameras may or may not make sense. A mobile trailer that can move from sight

**[13:27]** to sight to try to get an understanding of where predators come in is also very, very good use case for this. It moves the dock around. You can, let's say, have a dock somewhere for a week where you're doing, you know, scans of the environment, especially at night when you've got thermal um thermal cameras and you can see predators and that can launch the drone to go and scare away the predator. This can also be used with quadriped robotics where you have, you know, some kind of quadriped that can then go chase a predator away. So, these are the kind of things that that uh can be done. Um observation where it's patrol and an event review based on the the field. So some of this is touchandgo with the trailers configuration but this is some of the things it can do. Um observe interpret respond and follow up is the way that this kind of workflow functions. Um so when we look at this you know just as a as a total um you know in action kind of of event authorized mission a recorded outcome one site one recurring mission and agreed pilot scorecard. So this

**[14:30]** is how we look at the approach to running docs. Docs are very much a serviceoriented type of infrastructure that needs to have care care and feeding into what they do to get the best outcome out of them, the best practices, the way that they operate. They're not just here, let's put my doc in the corner over here on the top of the building and we'll push a few buttons and hope we get some data back. That's a recipe for not much of anything. So, but having it, you know, well-managed, right? And understanding what's the pain point you're trying to solve. I know that's sounds rhetorical and and uh cliche, but that's what really matters. And then how you solve it, like what is the result? What is the actual end user result that gets uh put in place? Okay. So, and again this, you know, just to kind of you know uh move into the the next major step of Q&A, what kind of field mission would you deploy first? So that's our uh that is the part of the the presentation. So okay. So I'll take

**[15:30]** questions from there. I still can't hear anybody, but um if you can type it away, I can I'd be more than happy to answer. >> Let's try this one. Shane, >> I hope you can hear me. >> Is my audio okay? >> Doesn't look like I can see the Q&A as well just as a message. >> So I guess there is okay >> some audio issue but Shane we'll shoot out the question to you on the screen and please help us with the responses on the side. >> Let's see here. So I I see the first one. Um if we're in a location without grid power or cellular coverage, what's the setup? So the setup would be be a we would have to assess the area um in terms of the coverage of of of sunlight um and in

**[16:36]** terms of the uh charging cycles and of course sizing. So a lot of this comes down to sizing in terms of the the trailer. We have a lot of options of small, medium, and large and very large trailers that can do, you know, four or even six panels and large battery arrays that can store, you know, a large amount of power that, you know, that can sustain an overnight or a long duration without direct sunlight. Um, in addition to that, um, the cellular coverage. So, we have Starlink as a backup. So, we have to verify the location based on the coverage of either the local cellular or the the Starlink's coverage area. Hopefully that that answers the question. Um, okay. So, let's let me go to the next if you want to pop up the next one. Okay. Um, yes, these can be done with any kind of dock station that will fit. We can also um put docking stations that are that you know need custom builds. The only challenge

**[17:37]** we have to overcome is the power. A lot of the doc 3 was designed to be mobile. In fact, we even put the gimbal lock on it, which is the thing that allows it to go in a truck. We put that on the trailer just to be sure that it's it's able to move it around and it doesn't jostle the the gimbal. Now, the other types of docks, there's a lot of very power hungry docks. So, um I would say, you know, if the smaller ones are better, but it doesn't mean we couldn't do, you know, some of the other dock types. It just has to be on sizing. Okay. Next question. Um, good, very, very good question. So, the use of AI really matters in terms of where the AI can run. So, this type of this type of case, you can't assume that you're always going to have wonderfully managed AI in the cloud that's, you know, getting wonder, you know, wide bandwidth streaming video. That does not exist in this this environment. So what we have to consider is on premise or edge and cloud. So something that still is

**[18:41]** emerging is where the AI runs. So um FlytBase you know has a a you know onrem uh device uh that could be placed in one of these trailers. Obviously power power budget being considered as well as even on the drone. The drone has onboard algorithms. It has the manifold 3 that can run you know more advanced algorithms that have to be created. But yes, it is definitely something that um that needs to be determined. Then the workflow, how do you actually create the workflow? Um this is also critical because one of the scenarios that we have is if you have a tethered drone that can go much higher sitting on the dock on one end, you have the dock on the trailer, you have the dock 3 on the other end, the trailer goes up, it's at 150 ft, it can scan with thermal in a very wide array of directions and of course zoom. However, the virtual fence that is contained in the when you look at AI like just simply crossline detection, where does the cross line get detected or sorry, where does it get created? Does it live in the dock? Does it live in the the NVR? Does it

**[19:42]** live on the VMS? Does it live on FlytBase um or the drone? There's a lot of location. So, there's a lot of variability in how AI needs to be deployed. Okay. Um, humanoids. This is very good. So, we've seen deployments in the US with the humanoids in apartment buildings in Atlanta. You can look it up. I forget the name of the company, but these things are roaming around in production at several apartment complexes. There is even on the news. So, um, deployed with a trailer, right? Especially for, uh, different use cases. Quadripeds, I think, are far more acceptable at this point. Humanoids are still a little bit weird to a lot of people, including me. Um, I'm not quite sure how to leverage them other than they're sitting in a, you know, like futuristic warehouse doing their own thing. Um, I think they're they're right now what I've seen is humanoids are more for show and they can do some minor things, but most of the the real applications are in the ex really high-end expensive humanoids like uh Boston Dynamics Atlas that can do a lot

**[20:46]** of interesting things on the defense side. In the commercial sectors, robot dogs have a better use case of patrol, ground patrol, um, with LAR, with speaker spotlights to do deterrence or security or simply inspection. They can complement aerial aerial inspection. Okay, next question. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know if we can overrun. Um, longest continuous deployment with mobile doc in the field. So, um, this is still being tested. This is a relatively new platform re-released. What we've seen in other types of general security trader deployments, they can be as if they're in a in a sunny zone, you know, where they have continuous or let's say nearly continuous sunlight during the day um or even with cloud cover and so on, they can usually run unattended, you know, for months at a time. Um the the way that these the real test of these in terms of the functional and this is the touchandgo point where the management layer helps a lot in this to manage understanding the the power drops and

**[21:48]** what happens overnight is something that we continuously monitor with our remote operations center. So that's the kind of of scenarios we would look at but each customer is different. So in some scenarios in Arizona, fantastic, right? If you're in flint, if you're in Michigan or in Maine or somewhere where it's, you know, a very inclement weather and lower sunlight, then that's those have to be monitored overall and then of course adjusted right as they are put in place. So a lot of times we'll do requirements analysis to be sure we put out the right platform. >> Thank you Shane or any other session so far. >> Good stuff. and uh um we would like to thank you so much for all the insight. >> If there's any other questions, I appreciate it. Thanks so much and um have a nice day. >> Thank you, Shane. Thank you everyone and apologies for the tech glitch there, but appreciate all your questions and interaction here. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thanks, guys.