JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 2, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Drone Aviation Holding Corp. (OTCQB:DRNE), a developer of specialized lighter-than-air aerostats and tethered drones, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Drone Aviation Corp. (DAC), has officially launched WATT, the Company's first model of a new line of commercial-grade electric tethered drones designed to provide secure and reliable aerial monitoring for extended durations while being tethered to the ground via a high strength armored tether. Unlike "hobbycraft drones," WATT is uniquely suited for a wide number of news gathering, industrial and emergency response applications where manned aircraft and even free-flying drones are unable to deliver the long flight duration and commercial grade real-time day/night video monitoring capabilities needed, all while operating in compliance with the new guidelines proposed by the FAA.
WATT is a complete turnkey system that can be launched within minutes of unpacking from a standard case stored in a host vehicle. When launched, WATT is designed to hover in a stationary position directly above its launch site at one of several preset altitudes of up to 300 feet. Once airborne, a highly stabilized military-grade/broadcast quality HD video imager can provide a 360° live aerial monitoring feed transmitted through the tether to its host vehicle while being wirelessly shared to a network of mobile devices such as tablets or laptop computers.
Key WATT features include:
- Unique power system provides the ability to either draw power parasitically from a host vehicle such as TV production trucks, first responder vehicles or common agriculture/infrastructure equipment with standard 120v/220v power or WATT can independently provide up to 8 hours of operation through its own ground power equipment.
- WATT is designed to carry up 10 lbs. of payload such as advanced, highly stabilized optical packages capable of delivering live broadcast-quality or military grade day/night all-weather sensors.
- Significant safety features incorporated into WATT such as fault-tolerant primary sub-systems, on-board battery back-up, automatic telemetry alerts and auto recovery/retrieve functionality for safe and simplified operation.
- Aircraft control over tether helps avoid the risks from radio frequency collisions, interference or hacking.
Drone Aviation CEO Ms. Felicia Hess stated, "WATT is the result of over 3 years dedicated development and research by our talented design team, and we are proud to now show the industry what we believe is the finest, most cost-effective commercial-grade tethered drone designed to comply with the FAA's proposed guidelines. Over the next several months, we look forward to demonstrating WATT in various upcoming live exercises with our partners and proving its unique capability to support many applications in the rapidly developing global commercial drone marketplace."
For more information on WATT including a product video, please visit www.DroneAviationCorp.com.
About Drone Aviation Holding Corp.
Drone Aviation Holding Corp. (DRNE) provides critical aerial and land based surveillance and communications solutions to government and commercial customers. Utilizing a unique tethering capability, drone systems operate in the National Airspace within FAA guidelines for safe operations. Drone systems are designed and developed in-house utilizing proprietary technologies and processes that result in compact, rapidly deployable aerostat solutions and mast based systems that have been proven to fulfill critical requirements by the military and law enforcement in the U.S. and to our allies around the world. For more information about Drone Aviation Holding Corp. please visit www.DroneAviationCorp.com, or view our reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on http://www.sec.gov, including the Risk Factors included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013 and in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on June 5, 2014, as well as our Quarterly Reports for the quarters ended March 31, 2014, June 30, 2014 and September 30, 2014.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains projections of future results and other forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Important factors that may cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in the projections and forward-looking statements included in this press release are described in our publicly filed reports. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, the acceptance of our products, lack of revenue growth, failure to realize profitability, inability to raise capital and market conditions that negatively affect the market price of our common stock. The Company disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.
A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=31088
