It is irrelevant to the topic under discussion since it speaks about airframe issues concerning cooperation between governments and industries’ drone fleets. Therefore, it is vital to focus on the ability of planes to use shared sensors, on working in one workflow, and on procurement criteria without any restriction to a proprietary ecosystem. Therefore, the appearance of ACSL SOTEN in Canada by Draganfly looks more interesting compared to yet another distribution update. To be more precise, here arises the issue of Japanese-made small-sized planes, coming onto the market to look for drones, which do not originate in China and a company producing special-purpose drones in Canada.
It is obvious that SOTEN drones will hit the markets of Canada by June 2026. However, what deserves more attention is the introduction of Apex and Commander 3XL drones by Draganfly into ACSL payloads and TAITEN controllers, respectively. Safety inspection bodies and other infrastructure agencies require compatibility of aircraft, especially considering their effectiveness, determined by the availability of spare parts, period of training, and replacement of sensors. SOTEN platform will probably satisfy this requirement.
First, ACSL SOTEN drone satisfies all of the FAA requirements regarding remote identification in the USA. Furthermore, it ensures secure communications and the capability to change payloads. In this regard, one should note the use of one-inch 20 MP camera with the mechanical shutter, which is the default camera for ACSL SOTEN drones. In practice, it means that such a payload becomes rather useful during inspections and mapping operations because the images must have no distortions caused by motion of the aircraft.
In addition, the ability to change payload makes the drone more flexible. For instance, it is important to mention the special design of ACSL SOTEN drone to provide users with the opportunity to change payload, such as visual imaging cameras, combinations of optical and thermal imagers, multispectral sensors, and zoom modules. Of course, among other payload modules, it is crucial to single out the one, which has special features – SAMO thermal payload. This payload is characterized by the use of a 640×512 resolution Boson thermal imager along with a visible camera. This combination makes it necessary in utilities inspection, public safety monitoring, and investigations of incidents as both temperature and visible imagery are needed here.
ACSL SOTEN drone is complemented with its own special TAITEN controller, having a 7-inch daylit display. It means that the combination of this controller with Draganfly aircraft could become the answer to the problem of developing safe and interchangeable drones, easily combinable with others on the spot. It became relevant in the context of increasing security problems, which resulted in the search of other options, except drones made in China. At the same time, ACSL drone platform had already proven itself well in the USA, where the first 50 of them were delivered back in December 2023. At present, they are tested in Canada and seem like the best option for the next generation of enterprise drones.