Drone maker Vantage Robotics has unveiled Trace, a new Pocket-Sized nano drone for covert aerial reconnaissance. Trace weighs only 153 grams but carries a multi-camera system and can fly for up to 30 minutes with a single battery.
Vantage Robotics CEO Tobin Fisher explains that Trace has been designed to meet the needs of national security, law enforcement, and critical infrastructure management customers.
Despite its extremely compact form factor, the US-made drone manages to offer the capabilities of much larger ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) platforms at a significantly less expensive price than competing solutions. Trace is a crucial next step in our mission to provide our customers with the world’s most capable small drone,” Fishers says. “After four years of non-stop innovation and testing with DoD and law enforcement partners, we’re thrilled to offer the best ISR nano drone in the world today.”
Trace’s lightweight design and ability to fly both indoors and outdoors enables use by a wider range of pilots in more scenarios with minimal risk. Further, Trace allows for unmatched covert reconnaissance capabilities through an exceptionally low noise signature and gimbal-stabilised 48MP visible light and 320x240p thermal cameras with 24x zoom. A 640 x 480 IR version is expected to be available in the near future.
The drone incorporates multiple patent-pending design advancements with the proprietary Poplar radio enabling 2 km range, a rugged titanium and carbon fiber folding airframe, and electronics innovations supporting incredible flight times.
“Smaller drones offer many advantages in safety, portability, indoor use, noise signature, and cost, and as such, many companies are pursuing this,” Fisher says. “However, it is extremely challenging to achieve this level of miniaturisation without sacrificing flight time, wind performance, camera stabilisation, or noise. As far as we know, Vantage is the first company in the world to have done so.”
