Tethered Drone Systems | Tethered UAV & Tethering Stations

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Elistair is a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative tethered drone systems for military and commercial applications.

Founded in 2014 with offices in France and Boston, Elistair develops tethered drones and powered tethering stations for third-party drones. These solutions turn small multi-rotor vehicles into airborne platforms for persistent surveillance and high-speed telecommunications.

Elistair’s products are deployed with militaries, police forces, public security departments and private companies in more than 60 countries.

Elistair references include the French Defence Agency, Thales, the US Army, the UK police, Total, Paris Airports, Securitas, ENGIE, Vodafone.

Persistent UAS

Orion 2 UAS – Advanced Tethered UAS for Military and Government Agencies

The Orion 2 UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) is a next-generation system that provides fully automated, continuous aerial day and night surveillance over large areas.

With a Kevlar-reinforced micro-tether and simple push-button operation, Orion 2 can operate for 24 hours continuously at altitudes of up to 100 meters (330 feet).

The highly modular and portable system features hot-swappable arms and legs, and is IP54-rated for rugged operation in challenging environments.

Gimbal-stabilized payloads provide crystal-clear imagery with low latencies and interference-free data transfer. With extended detection ranges of up to 10 kilometers or within 300 square kilometers, the Orion 2 is ideal for a variety of ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) needs, including military operations, special forces, law enforcement, public safety entities and private security.

Orion 2 features advanced Persistence Focused Safety Architecture (PFSA), and includes double or triple redundancy at every level, an intelligent safety battery, a secure datalink and an automatically-deploying smart parachute.

Elistair Orion-2 persistent tethered drone

Vehicle mounted surveillance tethered drone

Specifications:

Flight Endurance	24 hrs
Tether Length	100m (330 ft)
Detection Range	10 km
Payload Capacity	2 kg
EO Optical Zoom	30x
EO Resolution	1080p Full HD
IR Digital Zoom	4x
IR Resolution	640×480

Learn more: Orion 2 UAS

Tethered Drone Stations

Rugged drone tether systems for a wide range of secured UAS

Safe-T 2 – Ruggedized tethered drone station for demanding operations

Safe-T 2 is an advanced tethered station for UAVs, offering real-time persistent observation and surveillance capabilities at altitudes of up to 125 meters above ground. Compatible with commercially available drones and payloads on the market, the system is especially suited for day – night aerial surveillance and telecommunications (Fibre optics, 4G, Wi-Fi, radio).

WEATHER-RESISTANT DESIGN AT IP 54 LEVEL
Designed for the most demanding missions, Safe-T includes the IP54 rating and has been approved for tethered flights by an official rule-making body; the DGAC (French civil aviation). It has been successfully deployed by government bodies and industrial companies over 5 continents.

DESIGNED FOR INTEGRATION
The modular metallic structure and fastening rails allow seamless integration into both vehicles and fixed structures.

DUAL COMMS
Safe-T 2 provides a new Dual-Comms option that allows UAV operators to deploy Fiber Optic and BPL data links in parallel, providing redundancy as well as versatility for different operations. Low latency and high-speed data exchange makes the Safe-T 2 ideal for telecoms and broadcast operations.

SWAPPABLE MICRO-TETHER
The versatile tethered UAV platform provides up to 125m (400 ft) of adaptable micro-tether length, with easy in-field tether swapping allowing operators to optimize weight and power for each drone.

Tethered drone station with swappable microtether

Specifications:

Micro-tether Length: Up to 100m (330 ft)
Operational Temperature: -20° to +50° C (-4° to +122° F)
Power Output: 2200W continuous / 2500W peak

Ligh-T 4 – Easy to transport tethered drone station for first responders

Ligh-T 4 is a mobile, rugged tethered drone station designed for deployment in the most demanding of environments.

Compact, easily carried and quick to deploy, the Ligh-T system offers continuous aerial observation capabilities to drone operators.
The kevlar-reinforced micro-tether provides a persistent and highly reliable power and data connection between the UAV and ground station.

An up to 200 Mbs link allows operators to seamlessly control a wide range of drones, such as the DJI Inspire 1, as well as transmitting high-resolution streaming video and image data. And the vertical spool structure provides enhanced weather resistance.

A built-in Wifi connection provides monitoring of live telemetry, logging and smart status alerts via the Elistair T-Monitor application.

Specifications:

Power Output: 1500W continuous / 1800W peak
Data Transfer Rate: 200 Mb/s
Tether Length: 70m / 230ft
Tether Weight: 16 g/m
Compatible with over 20 commercial drones

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Applications

Our tethered UAS solutions are ideal for providing unlimited autonomy, power and data transfer, safely enabling persistent coverage for a wide variety of unmanned aerial applications. Use cases for our UAV stations include:

Private & Public Safety:
Our solutions can be quickly deployed by a single operator in a matter of seconds, to give an immediate and overall view of the area. They provide persistent coverage for police, first responders and crisis response that is both more discreet and more cost-effective than manned aircraft.

Defense Applications:
Providing continuous aerial surveillance, both day and night military tethered UAS can be easily carried, deployed quickly with little or no piloting skills and can fly for several hours consecutively. Real-time images are provided instantly and securely through the tether, allowing defense units to make quick decisions using detailed knowledge of their environment.

Humanitarian Efforts:
Drones have proven to be critical assets for emergency operations. They offer an immediate view across inaccessible areas, in most weather conditions, helping teams to spot dangers and victims, and coordinate an appropriate response. They can be deployed for long-term operations, either covering large areas for several hours, or focusing steadily on specific areas that require precise analysis.

Telecommunications:
Tethered drones can create temporary, wide-range networks for propagation of cellular, Wi-Fi, high-frequency radio and 3G/4G signals.

Traffic Monitoring:
Secured UAVs are compact easy to transport and deploy, and can provide valuable traffic data (trajectories, behaviours, vehicle types etc.), to networks, transport operators and public authorities to answer mobility challenges.

News Gathering Applications:
Unlimited 4k aerial video streaming, ideal for sports and other outdoor events, is possible with our tethered UAV systems.