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Nerissa Goedhart
Drone-as-First-Responder at AirHub: the biggest leap yet
Today we are releasing a significant upgrade to our Drone-as-First-Responder capabilities. Dispatch, route calculation, situational awareness and reporting now run as one workflow, starting the moment a call reaches your control room.
For teams already working this way, this removes the steps that used to sit between an incoming call and a drone in the air. For teams considering it, this is the version we would want you to evaluate.
What changed in our Drone-as-First-Responder workflow
The short version: the workflow now begins in the systems your control room already uses, and it ends with the reporting your organisation needs afterwards. Everything in between happens without someone opening a second application.
Six things are different.
The call is the trigger. The alert passes from your computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system straight into AirHub. No operator has to switch systems, and no one has to phone a pilot to get a drone airborne.
The route is calculated automatically. Weather, airspace and no-fly zones are factored in, and the route is planned around them before the drone leaves the dock.
The best placed dock launches. Across a network of docks, the software selects the drone and dock that can reach the incident fastest. This is where fleet management does the work in the background.
Overhead within 90 seconds. That is the target the whole workflow is designed around.
Immediate situational awareness. The moment the drone arrives, your control room sees the scene. Units still on their way know what they are heading into, and an operator can take control at any point during the flight.
Every flight is logged. Coverage, dispatch rate, response times and a complete flight record, ready for reporting and review.
Why the control room integration matters most
Most conversations about Drone-as-First-Responder start with the drone. In practice, the deciding factor is what happens in the seconds before it launches.
If an operator has to leave the dispatch system, open a flight application and set up a mission, the time advantage disappears. That is why the integration with computer-aided dispatch sits at the front of this release. The alert flows in, and the workflow starts.
The same principle applies to what your operators watch. Through our live streaming capabilities, the drone feed can be brought into the video management system (VMS) your control room already works with, so the picture appears where people are already looking. Combined with the Drone Operations Centre, the aerial feed becomes part of the existing operational picture rather than a separate screen in the corner.
Built for flights beyond visual line of sight
Automated dispatch only works at scale if the flights themselves are permitted. Operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) are part of how this workflow is designed, including the planning and documentation those flights require.
Regulation across Europe is still moving, and the route to approval is rarely quick. We wrote about that in more detail in our piece on SORA 2.5 and what it means for operators. What matters here is that the logging and evidence your authority asks for is generated by the workflow itself.
Drone-as-First-Responder in practice at Dubai Police
Dubai Police have been running a city-wide network on AirHub around the clock. Their operational target is the same 90 seconds. The value shows up in what happens next. The control room has a picture of the incident before units arrive, so commanders decide what to send based on what is actually there.
Read the full story in our case study: how Dubai Police use AirHub for DFR.
What this means if you are earlier in the process
Not every organisation is ready to dispatch drones automatically, and that is a reasonable place to be. Most teams we speak to start with live operations and a single operational picture, then add automated dispatch once coverage, docks and approvals are in place.
If you are building towards that, the sequence usually looks like this. Get the aerial feed into your control room. Prove the operational value on the incidents you already attend. Establish the airspace approvals. Then automate the launch.
What comes next
Over the coming weeks we will publish a closer look at each part of the workflow, from the control room integration through to logging and compliance. Our DFR pages cover how teams are working today, and the AirHub platform sits behind all of it.
Want to see the workflow running on your own operating area? Book a demo and we will walk through it with you.
