Takeaway: Being locked into a single drone or drone ecosystem is often not enough for extensive research, O&M and marketing needs – and you typically pay more. Instead, work with a platform like Scanifly that integrates with any drone (i.e. drone-agnostic) so you can select the right model, price point and feature set for your business.
Drones are an increasingly popular tool in the solar energy sector almost 40% of the solar professionals who have flown one.
While the most common usage situation because drones is taking pictures of completed projects for marketing purposes, drones have valuable applications for both surveying and TO also. To use drones in a meaningful way your organization, you need the ability to choose the right drone hardware.
Unfortunately, some solar platforms force you to use specific drones with their software instead of building a drone-agnostic tool. Here’s why that’s risky, restrictive, and costs way more than necessary.
It’s a bad business move to get locked into a single drone model
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1. Your drone may be stopped
Drone manufacturers are discontinuing drone models – just look at the Mavic 2 Pro. It was launched in 2018 and became one of DJI’s most popular drones. But it was discontinued three years later in 2021 when the Mavic 3 was introduced.
Contractors who need to use this drone are stuck buying second-hand, reconditioned drones, often with parts “Frankensteined” together. In this case, we do not recommend relying on the specifications, as any adjustment to sensors or firmware can significantly distort the display photogrammetry process that relies on geocoding and other parts of a drone’s hardware stack. Furthermore, the manufacturer does not honor any warranty or recall.
There is a reason why the drone is no longer supported, either because better technology exists or because it can be difficult to keep track of the drone.
When a platform requires you to buy a drone, you have to pay whatever they charge.
For example, some locked platforms charge as much as $4,000 for their drones. Meanwhile, drones used for Scanifly or photogrammetry processes can cost as little as $600 all-in. For around $2,000 you can get a powerful drone with obstacle avoidance features and high-quality batteries.
3. The drone manufacturer could stop updating the software
Even if the drone is not discontinued, you may lose support for your preferred operating system.
For example, drone manufacturer DJI announced that it will no longer update its iOS software development kit (SDK).
This means that developers for third-party platforms that use iOS software APIs and integrations will be working on an unsupported protocol. In the announcement, DJI recommends that all developers move to the Android platform in the future.
While the full consequences are not yet known, a few things could happen:
Hardware problems:
- You may be forced to buy a new drone from your provider (for the same surcharge).
- You may be forced to replace all your appliances other technology because you are locked into a drone ecosystem (e.g. you have to buy Android phones to use their mobile app).
- The drone manufacturer will not honor warranties or provide maintenance care.
Software problems:
- No more security patches that increase cybersecurity risks like yours drone is hacked.
- No bug fixes, which could be possible reduce the effectiveness of certain functions (or eliminate the feature altogether).
- Containments can stop working at any time or require significant developer resources to manually maintain them.
Ultimately, the real danger is not having clarity and waiting for something at the last minute. Because such software changes often come as a surprise and their impact is difficult to predict, contractors can easily be left in the lurch. This is a big reason why many contractors simply use the app that comes with the drone (free).
4. Automated flight paths may not be sufficient for your needs
When a platform forces you into a drone, it’s usually because they’ve changed some drone settings (and possibly components) to fly in a certain way that connects to their platform.
These features may not be complete. This is an example of research flight paths of lawn mowers images from above that do not show the angles properly. This could lead to inaccurate shadow analysis, as the lack of oblique images means the surrounding scene is not modeled properly. When that happens, the shadow needs to be simulated and can therefore be compromised.
Sticking to a single drone model or ecosystem provides a number of short-term benefits. First, bundling software and hardware means one centralized payment to start a drone program, although this really only benefits your Payables department. Second, linking the drone to a flight path provides maximum automation, but that also means giving up control for unique situations or if the wrong address is programmed.
The benefits of drone optionality
There are several notable benefits to being able to fly whatever drone you want for your surveying or maintenance programs:
Budget flexibility: You have the freedom to search for the drone that best suits your feature needs and budget.
Use case flexibility: Choose the drone that best suits your use case, rather than trying to make a single drone work for everything.
Easier maintenance and faster replacement: Buy what you need quickly (including extra maintenance such as DJI Care or Autel Care). You can also easily purchase hardware parts and replacements from Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, or another drone distributor if you’re in a pinch.
You can rely on the specifications: Buying from the manufacturer or a reseller means no tampering – so all warranties remain intact and you can rely on the included software, firmware and sensors.
Perhaps most importantly, drone optionality means you can do what You wants in your business instead of having a third party tell you what to do. If you want your entire company to use one type of drone, that’s your prerogative. However, you can also change whenever you want, because no software company or external supplier forces you to make a commitment.
Buy the right drone for your needs
Drone technology is evolving quickly and prices are at a level downward trend — don’t get stuck with an expensive drone from a software vendor that can’t give you options.
Instead, look for a platform (like Scanifly) that makes this easy working with multiple data setsquickly upload data from the field to save timeand supports the entire project lifecycle.
When you work with a platform that enables drone optionality, the entire project process becomes simpler – and that makes it easier for you to run your business.
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