Connect with Google
Connect with FacebookCASE STUDY
Dronavia designs cutting-edge safety accessories for professional drones, focusing on lightweight, durable parts made with 3D printing. Their technologies help pilots maintain control and protect their drones in challenging situations, ensuring safe and efficient operations.
CHALLENGES:
Choosing the right material and finish for optimal durability and appearance.
Produce lightweight and strong parts to meet functional and performance requirements.
MAIN INFORMATION:
Company
Dronavia
Technology
Multi-Jet Fusion (MJF)
Drones
Finishing Options
Color Resist
Product
Drone parts
Material
Nylon PA12
About the Company:
Dronavia is a European leader in safety accessories for professional drones. The company stands out for its commitment to securing airspace by offering an innovative range of solutions that comply with the latest EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) regulations.
Its flagship products include parachute systems, circuit breaker systems, Geocaging devices, remote identification solutions, and compliance kits for drones, including those from the DJI brand. By streamlining flight mission preparation and integrating cutting-edge technologies, Dronavia enables drone operators to focus fully on their operations while complying with the most stringent regulations.
Overview of Project
About the Project:
We design circuit breaker and parachute systems that allow drone pilots to stop the motors when necessary. This shutdown automatically triggers the deployment of the parachute, ensuring a safe landing and allowing the drone to be recovered intact.
We also develop remote identification beacons, and we are currently diversifying into the field of industrial dust removal by drone.
Our R&D team designs embedded software, directly integrated into the trigger remotes, parachute systems, and circuit breakers. Our devices are already equipped with crash detection technologies, capable of identifying critical situations such as sudden loss of altitude or abrupt changes in orientation, in order to automatically activate the safety systems.
Our goal is to automate the deployment, installation, and activation of our solutions as much as possible, enabling the drone pilot to ensure the safety of their operations and surroundings without losing valuable time.
We are also developing advanced geofencing features: a virtual barrier around the drone that triggers the circuit breaker and parachute as soon as the device exits the defined area. This technology is especially useful in beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight scenarios.
The core of our activity is equipping professional drones from well-established and recognized brands. We also offer custom designs for alternative drone manufacturers, adapting our solutions to their specific configurations.
Overcoming Challenges:
The main challenge in manufacturing parts for onboard drone systems is, naturally, the weight constraint.
To preserve the drone’s battery life, it is essential to design parts that are both lightweight—to reduce power consumption—and rigid and durable. The use of high-performance materials is therefore critical.
Today, we manufacture almost all of our parts, whether standard or custom, using additive manufacturing. This includes mounts, covers, and all plastic components designed in-house and integrated into our solutions.
We primarily use polyamide 12, leveraging MJF (Multi Jet Fusion) and SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) technologies depending on the required finish. MJF is preferred for black parts, while SLS is used for colored components.
Lastly, development timelines in the drone industry are extremely short. We must react quickly to every new drone release to rapidly design a perfectly adapted solution. In this regard, the responsiveness offered by 3D printing is a major advantage, enabling us to reduce our time-to-market and keep pace with market evolution significantly.
Future Developments:
On one hand, the future of drones lies in autonomous flight combined with artificial intelligence technologies. In this context, we are developing a geocaging software capable of automatically stopping the drone if it exceeds a predefined virtual boundary. The operator can draw these limits on a map and configure the drone’s response—such as motor shutdown via a circuit breaker or switching to hover mode—depending on the operational scenario.On the other hand, we are working on a drone-based dust removal solution for industrial sites, in partnership with a brand. In certain industrial environments, dust accumulation poses a serious risk, including the potential for fires. These critical zones are often difficult to access, especially at height or in narrow corners. In such cases, drones offer an ideal solution, able to intervene quickly and safely in complex areas without interrupting operations or requiring risky human involvement.
What They Say:
How has your experience been working with Sculpteo?
They trust us
Start Your 3D Printing Journey with Us Today
Professional 3D printing is at your fingertips. Create a free account and upload your 3D files, select your material, technology, and post-processing options, and order online. We’ll take care of the rest in our industrial ISO 9001 factory.