Red Cat Announces Black Box for Drones

Humacao, Puerto Rico-based Red Cat has announced a new product designed to track drones and analyze their activities in an effort to help pilots ensure that a flight stayed within the regulations of drone operations. A black box of sorts, the Blockchain black box tracks and records drone flight data. Red Cat claims to be the first distributed system with secure and encrypted third-party data. Regulators, insurance companies, pilots, and drone service companies are some examples of entities that can potentially use and analyze the data for various purposes.

“For drones to have equitable access to airspace, the industry will require reliable and immutable data to ensure accountability and trackability,” said Red Cat’s CEO, Jeff Thompson. “We developed Red Cat’s black box analytics and storage to enable compliance for the drone industry and ensure safer skies for everyone.”

Drone operations continue to grow and the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. regulators expect the number of commercial and privately operated UAS to quadruple in the next three years. There has been much worry in the manned pilot population of drones invading airspace, particularly that near airports. While drones are not legally allowed to operate in those areas, infringements continue to occur. Suspected drone activity shut down London's Heathrow airport in the middle of the busy Christmas season and an airliner suffered major damage to the nose section after what was expected to be a collision with a drone during the approach into Tijuana, Mexico.

Red Cat's unit is currently in the beta testing phase. Drone operators who would like to participate in the testing can apply by clicking here.