Watts heavy lift drone to utilize Auterion Skynode

Auterion, the company building an open and software-defined future for enterprise drone fleets, today announced a new drone connected to the Auterion Suite, the Watts Innovations PRISM Sky. 

This heavy-lift drone utilizes Auterion’s Skynode to integrate into Auterion’s mission planning and flight software Suite for long-duration flight, making it a drone with broad connectivity and integrated data workflows across inspection and mapping, spraying, cargo conveyance, LiDAR application, cinematography and more. 

By integrating into Auterion Suite, users of PRISM Sky benefit from a centrepiece for their entire fleet where they can monitor fleet health in real-time for reduced risk mitigation, enjoy predictive maintenance recommendations based on flight data, and achieve increased efficiency through real-time data delivery and workflow integration from the payload to computer, eliminating the manual handling of SD cards. 

Auterion’s Skynode which powers the PRISM Sky drone’s connectivity and workflow integrations also brings the drone into full compliance with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which directs U.S. government and contractor component acquisitions. 

“We’re able to provide customers greater functionality and connectivity through the Skynode integration with an NDAA compliant heavy-lift drone alternative to non-NDAA compliant options,” said Bobby Watts, founder and CEO of Watts Innovations. “In conjunction with Auterion’s Suite, the PRISM Sky provides end users with enterprise workflow integration, advanced autonomy, mission planning, live video streams, operations dashboard, flight analytics and cloud-based predictive maintenance.”

Open Ecosystem Means Expanded Choice and Flexibility for Customers

Auterion’s open ecosystem is providing enterprise customers with greater flexibility and choice. With Skynode onboard, PRISM Sky connects to the open ecosystem software, payloads and workflow integrations. This is enabling end-users to add the heavy-lift capabilities of PRISM Sky within their drone fleet without having to change their existing operator experience or workflows. 

“The growth of the open drone ecosystem, validated by innovative companies like Watts, ultimately provides end customers with the greatest amount of freedom and choice,” said Lorenz Meier, CEO of Auterion. “Since Skynode automatically works with the Auterion software stack, customers do not need to learn an entirely new software system to run the PRISM Sky, adding to ease of use.” 

Across every use case, open ecosystem integrations support component upgrades and mixed portfolios of small, medium and heavy-lift drones carrying a wide variety of specialized payloads or cargo. The drone industry’s next phase of enterprise scaling, accelerated time-to-market and smooth workflow management is being driven by open-source standardization.