DJI - ARPAS UK

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British Transport Police Lead the Way with UK’s First Remote ‘Drone in a Box’ System

The British Transport Police (BTP) has become the first police force in the UK to operationalize a remote ‘drone in a box’ system, marking a significant advancement in law enforcement technology. This innovative capability enhances BTP’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to incidents on the railway network, improving safety, reducing disruption, and supporting frontline operations as they happen.

The drones are strategically stationed at key locations across the network identified as hotspots for trespass and other disruptive incidents. They are flown remotely from BTP’s central control room in London, enabling a faster response to incidents, facilitating more informed decision-making, and freeing up on-the-ground officers to attend to other offences.

While standard drone operations typically require the pilot to maintain a Visual Line of Sight (VLOS), usually within a 500-metre radius for smaller drones, police forces are permitted to operate beyond this distance (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) under State Aircraft legislation. BTP is the first force to obtain legal advice and use Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) routinely and regularly in support of policing, rather than solely for emergency situations.

The initiative was showcased during a launch event on April 24, 2025, at a pilot site in Leeds. The event featured a live demonstration of the drone capability for key industry partners, including Network Rail, the Department for Transport, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Drones lead, West Yorkshire Police, Northern Rail, and the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA) .

Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi stated, “Our new ‘drone in a box’ capability is going to be transformational to our ability to reduce disruption across the rail network. This is groundbreaking technology which will allow us to respond to trespass incidents quickly, saving the industry money, improving safety, and keeping the railway moving for passengers”.

This deployment sets a precedent for the integration of autonomous drone technology in public safety operations, potentially influencing future policing strategies across the UK.

Other Emergency Services Related webposts.

12 May 2025

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DJI & Midwich: New Generation Dock 3 Briefing – 15 April 2025

As part of the Tech North Event, DJI & Midwich will launch the new DJI Dock 3 in Manchester on 15 April 2025.

The Dock 3 will be on site in the Cricket Ground at The Point, Emirates, Old Trafford and flying. Senior representation from DJI Europe will be present too. They are eager to see how the UK sector is.

Attend the event to find out more about the Dock 3, explore opportunities and what they might mean for your company.

For attendees, the opportunity to not just see the latest DJI units, but also gain useful exposure into the complimentary security sector as well as the latest AV technologies has proved to be a key takeaway from previous events.

Register for Tech North

For Further Events

25 March 2025

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Drones in Action: 5000+ Solar Panels Inspected in 80 Minutes

Drones in Action End User Stories: Durham County Council has revolutionised solar farm inspections with a Drone-in-a-Box solution with Heliguy.

Previously, manual inspections took days – now, a thermal drone completes the job in just 80 minutes.

Launched from a DJI Dock 2, the drone’s high-resolution imaging detects faults in real-time, improving efficiency and reducing downtime.

Integrated with a Smart City AI system, it enables predictive maintenance and optimised energy output.

Benefits

Time – Reduced inspection duration from multiple days to just 80 minutes
Enhanced Safety – Removed the need for staff to navigate hazardous areas, improving workplace safety
Cost efficiency – Enables more frequent inspections, leading to faster response times for repairs and increased operational efficiency

drones-in-action-council-solar-farm-inspections Download

Learn more about ARPAS-UK member Heliguy

Read the Drones in Action Report in full

The report explores how drones are transforming industries – from asset inspection and precision agriculture to complex oil and gas infrastructures – enhancing efficiency, safety, and sustainability across sectors. We update every 6 months!

Also: See more on Drones in Energy, Utility & Infrastructure

11 March 2025

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heliguy™ Granted Operational Authorisation for BVLOS Drone-in-a-Box Operations

ARPAS-UK member heliguy™ has been granted Operational Authorisation by the CAA (UK Civil Aviation Authority) to perform BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) drone-in-a-box missions, in atypical air environments, using the DJI Dock ecosystem.

heliguy™ plans to use the authorisation as a framework for delivering automated and remote solutions for enterprise organisations. The approval enables the heliguy™ team to use both the DJI Dock 2 and the original DJI Dock, in non-segregated airspace.

Missions will be managed by their pilot team, either from the Remote Operations Control Centre (ROCC) at their headquarters or via the their Drone Command Unit.

This authorisation was awarded following successful BVLOS flights conducted at Komatsu’s Smart Construction facility in northern England.

Read more about their success here

19 December 2024

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Drone Video Insight: DJI – Bridge Inspection Using Drones – Alcazar Bridge

See how DJI drones are transforming bridge inspections with advanced photogrammetry, creating a detailed digital twin of the historic Alcazar Bridge in Toledo, Spain.

This video insight is taken from our recent ARPAS-UK webinar ‘DJI: Data Security & Data Enhancement’ where we hosted Freda Peng and Tingting He of DJI.

If you would like to watch the full webinar on Data Security & Data Enhancement with Freda Peng & Tingting He, click here

Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more videos – LIKE & SUBSCRIBE!

See more Drone Video Insights here

5 December 2024

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Enhancing Safety and Efficiency with DJI: WATCH AGAIN

DJI Presentation on the Latest Enterprise Use Cases and an Overview of Data Security

In this webinar, DJI presents real-world enterprise use cases that showcase the practical applications of DJI solutions across sectors. Additionally, they provided a comprehensive overview of data security measures integrated into their products, ensuring that daily operations remain secure and compliant. DJI: Enhancing Safety and Efficiency.

Speaker Bios:

Freda Peng, Head of Overseas Solutions Engineering, DJI Enterprise

Freda joined the DJI Enterprise team in 2018, and has been involved in the creation of several DJI Enterprise products, such as the M300 RTK. She has been amazed by the hard work of Enterprise users and is proud that drones can revolutionize productivity and increase the work safety in hazardous environments. She hopes to continue to optimize DJI products and solutions by learning from Enterprise end users.

Tingting He, Senior Policy Manager at DJI

Tingting leads policy engagement between DJI and government stakeholders in Europe and in the UK. Since joining DJI Europe in 2017, Tingting has focused on drone policy discussion across Europe and in the UK, as well educational and advocacy campaigns to help drive industrial efforts in operating safely.

View further webinars…

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DJI Achieves Encryption Recognition from U.S Department of Commerce

DJI Achieves Encryption Recognition from U.S Department of Commerce
DJI Core Crypto Engine passes Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) to receive Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2

DJI, the world’s leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology, today reinforces its commitment to customer data and privacy with the validation of the DJI Core Crypto Engine. The engine is a firmware hybrid cryptographic module which provides foundational security services for the entire platform, including cryptography, key management, platform identity, secure boot, and secure Life Cycle State (LCS).

Formally validated by the U.S. and Canadian Governments, FIPS 140-2 compliance has been widely adopted around the world in both governmental and non-governmental sectors as a practical security benchmark and realistic best practice. The standard ensures that the hardware validated meets specific security requirements.

“When it comes to data, DJI has very strong principles around transparent usage, security and privacy. We truly believe that ‘customer data is none of our business’ and understand how important data security is for the people, businesses and government agencies that rely on our platforms,” said Christina Zhang, Senior Director of Corporate Strategy at DJI. “This encryption validation is testament to how tirelessly we strive to make customer data and privacy more secure by tightening existing systems, innovating new ones and embracing new methods and technologies.”

From this point on, all DJI drones containing the DJI Core Crypto Engine ensure that whether flown for leisure or operated for business, customers are treated to trusted, authorotative and globally recognised security standards. This is particularly key for enterprise or government customers requiring this specification and additional peace of mind.

To find out more about DJI’s data access, data use and data storage, visit the dedicated Data Security website here https://security.dji.com/data/overview/

This is further confirmation of a 2019 interview between ARPAS-UK Chair, Graham Brown, with Christian Struwe, then of DJI. https://www.arpas.uk/arpas-uk-talks-to-dji-about-data-security/

28 November 2022

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Drone Industry Giants come together for First Ever Two-Day Digital Drone Event

Taking place on the 28^th and 29^th of April, COPTRZ CON will be hosting over 15 events including live talks with industry leaders from the likes of DJI, Wingtra, Flyability, EDF Energy, ARPAS and so many more.

Commercial drone experts Coptrz are proud to be hosting the first ever digital drone event. Hosted over 2 days, attendees will be able to join wherever they are and access the expert knowledge of speakers at COPTRZ CON. The digital event will showcase a range of different drone applications across several sectors – including public safety, inspection, surveying and more!

This years line-up has been curated with attendees in mind – with live product demonstrations, webinars with industry giants and there will be the chance for viewers to ask questions directly to drone operators from across the globe. There will be speakers from DJI, EDF Energy, Project Seagrass, Lorenz Technology and many more.

Steve Blair, Sales Manager at Coptrz, commented: “We cannot wait to bring all the leaders from all sections of the drone industry together for COPTRZ CON. We are so excited to be the first in the industry to host a digital drone demonstration event. I am looking forward to hearing (and getting involved with) the debates from all the sections, and I wonder who will come out on top.”

In addition to live webinars with industry leaders, there will be an awards ceremony in partnership with Airwards, the first ever drone awards programme. There will be a great variety of different sectors and industries from all over the world represented in the awards show. The judges will be looking for people or organisations who have lived up to the Coptrz GOLD values and have demonstrated a case study of using drones for good purposes.

Richard Nichols, founder of Airwards, commented: “After the success of the first ever drone awards programme earlier this year, we are so proud to be collaborating with Coptrz to shine a light on even more people doing amazing things in the drone industry. We are excited to be able to showcase the work of people working across a range of sectors including inspection, surveying and even those using drones for unique things like performing search missions for lost dogs!”

COPTRZ CON is committed to making drone technology accessible for everyone, and there has never been an easier way to join the pioneers of the drone industry in their mission to revolutionise organisations using drones. If you want to get your free ticket, you can find out more information here: https://coptrzcon.com/

12th April 2021

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You Already Knew Drones Are Safe. Here’s More Proof, By The Numbers.

In ‘Viewpoints, the Official DJI Blog’ Brendan Shulman talks about drone safety, crunching the numbers to show that drones are the safest form of aviation.

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Drones are the safest form of aviation the world has ever known. That’s a bold claim – but it’s true. At DJI, we know this because we’ve done the math. Take a look for yourself.

We researched the issue earlier this year because we wanted to quantify what drone operators already know intuitively: drones are very safe. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a rule for identifying airborne drones that we worried would be too costly and complicated to be successful; we suspected those burdens were far out of proportion to the risk posed by drones.

DJI already knew that anecdotal evidence about drone safety was unreliable. Last year we released our “Elevating Safety” report, which methodically reviewed the available evidence about drones supposedly experiencing collisions or near-misses with airplanes and helicopters. Our study showed that most “drone sightings” – and even “drone collisions” – involve birds, bats, balloons, or nothing at all.

But there’s no substitute for data. And we had some available.

For more, read on.

by Brendan Shulman, VP of Policy & Public Affairs at DJI

20th November 2020

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The DJI Matrice 300 RTK and Zenmuse H20 Series are out now

ARPAS-UK Member, DJI, today launched the Matrice 300 RTK and Zenmuse H20 series targeting commercial users.

It offers up to 55 minutes of flying time, advanced AI capabilities, 6 Directional sensing and positioning and more.

A range of 15km makes it an ideal candidate for BVLOS, while the Onboard AI recognizes the subject of interest and identifies it in subsequent automated missions to ensure consistent framing.

It looks to be a work horse of a drone that can work in a variety of sectors.

The company’s senior director of corporate strategy at DJI, Christina Zhang, commented: “With the M300 RTK flying platform and the Zenmuse H20 camera series, we are providing a safer and smarter solution to our enterprise customers.”

For further details, click here.

7th May 2020