Goal Is To Make Safe Flight Over People Possible

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched for the development of a drone parachute system that its designer hopes will lead to approval of flights over people.

Indemnis has already exceeded its stated fundraising goal of $50,000 by 338 percent, according to the Republic crowdfunding site. The company is developing "complete solution (hardware + services) for businesses to fly commercial-sized drones over populated areas," according to the site.

Indemnis provides both the hardware and the services that enable the integration of small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAS) into the national airspace for the purpose of safely performing commercial operations over urban environments. The system has been developed in response to public concerns over injury, adding the necessary measure of “just in case” safety.

The system does not rely on the aircraft in a failure scenario. Auto deployment software detects a fall within 6–10 feet of vertical descent, and also includes a manual trigger-by-pilot option. The parachute deploys in under 30 milliseconds at 90 mph, escaping the roll radius to prevent entanglement so the chute will open successfully.

The deployment tube, made from ultra-high-strength Dyneema Composite Fabric materials, remains rigid — removing the attachment point of the parachute lines away from the control surfaces of the drone. After deployment, the stabilized vertical descent rate is slowed to 6.8 miles per hour.

(Infographic provided by Indemnis)

FMI: republic.co/indemnis