System test: 450 minutes of continuous operation

Securing our platform is running smoothly and effectively for our clients is a top priority, so system testing has been conducted to stress the usage of our platform and make sure it can handle the pressure of running continuous operations of autonomous drone flights.

Thursday, May 28th, 2020, we conducted a 450-minute system test of our intelligent drone solution, the Lorenz platform.

The test consisted of 41 missions planned from Lorenz Hive and sent to the Lorenz AI-Link®. The drone performing this system test was the DJI Matrice 210 v2 since it’s the most used enterprise drone and we recommend it for various missions due to its all-weather capability, affordability, and stability.

The 41 flights were conducted continuously throughout a workday of 450 minutes where we were in the air 325 minutes, operating 73% of the total test time, doing various automated missions of security routes, inspections, and area mappings.

The duration of the 41 missions varied from 1.41 to 21.30 minutes in the air simulating real-life scenarios and testing 82 takeoffs and landings within the 7.5 hours of successive flights. The 73% airtime could have been higher with longer routes, but it was prioritized for the test to reflect reality!

Lorenz Technology provides an operational platform and the system test proved that our platform can handle switching between the three types of missions available from Lorenz Hive: security, inspection, and area mapping.

“We do a system test to make sure our technology can perform even under the pressure of a high number of flights and various missions. To best serve our customers we want to find the limits of our solution, push beyong them and create an even better solution!”

says Anders Olsen, COO, Lorenz Technology

Real-time streaming with sub-second latency

During the ongoing flights, the video live stream was available real-time with subsecond latency on all security missions throughout the testing, letting us inside the office follow the flights outside – enjoying the nice weather and smooth programmed routes through the Lorenz Hive web interface which easily can be shared to new viewers by email, no need for prior access or login to be able to view ongoing missions. E.g. security operation controls needing to alert the authorities and share a real-time stream of ongoing events at a drone deployed site.

Results

41 flights during 450 minutes, 325 minutes in the air, 73% in-the-air-time.
All flights were performed at an altitude of 10-30 meters with real-time streaming for all internals at the HQ. The flight time varies due to different objectives during the automated flights. Find additional details below and contact COO Anders Olsen for further elaboration of the test results.

19 inspection missions:
6 longer inspections doing a distance of 2,444 meters in 12-21 minutes.
7 medium long inspections doing a distance of 522.6 meters in 7-17 minutes.
6 shorter inspections doing a distance of 172.8 meters in 2-20 minutes.

11 security missions:
1 longer security route doing a distance of 2438.5 meters in 21 minutes.
5 medium long routes doing a distance of 522.6 meters 9-11 minutes.
5 shorter routes doing a distance of 172.8 meters in 2-4 minutes.

12 area maps:
6 area mapping routes updating maps on 5,200 m2 area in approx. 4 minutes of flight time, and
6 area mapping routes updating maps on 8300 m2 in approx. 6 minutes of flight time.

“After this test, we will definitely focus on the upload speed! We can optimize and make tweaks to increase the connectivity with the dual modem and thereby increase the upload speed.”

says Anders Olsen, COO, Lorenz Technology

This system testing has given new insights into the usage of our intelligent drone solution and makes us able to refine our technology for more efficient operations.

A concluding comment is that the humans operating and staying in VLOS are the ones not keeping up with the Lorenz intelligent drone solution! We are voting for BVLOS legislation, so our autonomous functionality will be able to deliver its full value.