Citymesh is expanding its €10 million 5G drone network in Belgium, with 16 drone platforms, three remote operations centres, and about 10 pilots already in place. The firm wants to increase these numbers to 70 drones, five centres, and about 40 pilots, RCR Wireless understands. The project, dubbed, Safety Drone Shield, presents a national drone-network as-a-service to Belgium’s public safety and emergency services, available already, and densifying fast, across 35 ‘rescue zones’.
The Belgium-based private cellular and industrial connectivity specialist is engaged with Nokia on the project, for the supply of 5G equipment and also drones; it is a model for Swisscom’s equivalent (and potentially larger) drone rollout in Switzerland with Nokia. Citymesh, also building a fourth public mobile network in Belgium with Digi, has released an update on the project via a press statement about new locations and an interview with Belgian business newspaper De Tijd.
A year ago, when RCR Wireless last caught up with Citymesh about the project, it had only launched two drone platforms to offer surveillance services in the 35 rescue zones, covering the whole country. The firm has since acquired Belgian-based Drone Vision (June, 2023), giving it a customer inspection platform and “in-house knowledge of inspection methods”, and continued to expand its own drone division.
This week, Citymesh said at the Provincial Institute for Training and Education (PIVO) in Belgium that its Safety Drone Shield service now comprises 16 drones systems (drones, plus launch / charging platforms), managed by 10 pilots in three remote operations centres, in Hasselt, Oostkamp, and Marche-en-Famenne. It has had a stated target of 70 drones since the start of the project; the firm told De Tijd that it already has 40 pilots, which is likely a misreported target figure.
(Swisscom’s 5G drone project with Nokia, which uses the Citymesh template, is targeting 300 drones, ultimately.) Citymesh said the investment fee for the Belgian rollout totals €10 million, of which €3.6 million has been subsidised by the The Federal Public Service (FPS) Economy of Belgium. Citymesh said its service typically launches a drone within 90 seconds, in response to calls from fire, police, and security services, to arrive at the relevant location within four minutes.
Belgium based IT provider Cegeka – previously majority owner of Citymesh, now sister-company, with the same shareholders – helped to develop the associated SENSE app, which allows the police to manually summon drones to assist in interventions; the process is fully automated for firefighters, said Citymesh, without explaining more. Emergency services can follow images and footage live on a computer, and also rewind.
Citymesh’s drone department is supported by research centre Imec and drone firm Skeydrone, founded last year by air traffic controller Skeyes and Cegeka. Safety Drone Shield is also being used for training purposes for firefighters and police, with exercises being recorded for later review and evaluation, it told PIVO. The service is currently available from 8am to 8pm; it plans to make it available 24/7, it said.
It stated: “This drone streams live footage to emergency services, allowing them to make more efficient and better-informed decisions. The drone has a five-kilometre range, operates on a 5G network, and is equipped with both thermal and regular cameras. The temperature and battery of the drone-in-a-box are automatically regulated for optimal performance.”
The project was trialled in 2018 with services in the Fluvia fire brigade in Kortrijk, in West Flanders, as well as with the Brussels Airport Company (BAC) at Brussels Airport, and port authority at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. The first “full integration” was completed for fire and police services in Genk in mid-2022.
