Aerosense is a leading aerial-tech startup headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, focusing on the development, manufacturing, and sales of industrial solutions that combine sensing by autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles and data processing and management by the cloud. It serves a broad range of industries from the sectors of construction, agriculture, logistics and beyond.
Aerosense’s award-winning technology sets it apart from other solutions, having garnered the Best of Japan Drone Award for the Technology Category at the 5th Japan Drone Exhibition in 2020. It was recognised for its cutting-edge technology, enabling automatic flight at high speeds in broad takeoff and landing locations. It is backed by reputable companies such as Sony Corporation, ZMP, and Sumitomo Corporation.
Why Aerosense is a cut above the rest
The company’s competitive advantage lies in its ability to deliver aerial technology solutions by combining the use of state-of-the-art drones, artificial intelligence, and cloud technology. It provides an all-in-one ecosystem for businesses in their surveying and inspection needs. It has products such as multicopters, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones, surveying instrument markers, and a data processing service. Application-wise, the process of land surveying becomes easier to use as well as cost-efficient versus traditional land surveying tools under Aerosense’s model that streamlines multiple services in one.
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Their drone and cloud solutions, the Aerobo Marker and Aerobo Cloud, respectively, cost a significant fraction of traditional global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rovers and specialised software for data processing. They offer their solutions through a monthly subscription model, and using their solution is seamless in that all it takes is placing the Aerobo Marker drone on the ground you wish to survey, press a button, and it automatically collects GNSS signals. After the information is gathered, the Aerobo Cloud software solution calculates and produces accurate results upon image upload. Whereas conventional software takes hours to process, Aerobo Cloud is able to generate the 3D data in just an hour.
From Japan to the world
Rooting its R&D developments in 2015, Aerosense has since deployed its solutions to various construction companies and organisations throughout Japan and other countries like Zambia since 2018. With the original concept of developing a “flying robot”, the Aerosense founders leveraged their strategic partnership with Sony and ZMP in accessing infrastructure for commercialisation. Since ZMP provides automated driving technology via a business-to-business model, it was a strategic complementary opportunity to combine their expertise on their robotic platform to further boost ZMP’s established business.
Since then, it has carried out automated land surveying services for post-disaster assessments that serve as vital information for organisations to revive and reconstruct towns and communities.
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Aersosense’s innovative land surveying solutions render 3D models in both time and cost-effective ways. For example, in an earlier land surveying case, the information gathered by using Aerosense technology has enabled the Tobishima-Daitoyo-Mitsui Joint Construction Consultant Minamisanriku-cho Earthquake Reconstruction Project Joint Venture to measure soil volume with high accuracy in real-time. Further information on how Aerosense has delivered on its promise of efficiency through its aerial tech solutions in the areas of surveying and inspection can be found on the official Aerosense website, featuring 62 use cases and counting.
Pushing the boundaries of drone technology
Aerosense continues to push the edge of innovation, having recently announced its creation of Japan’s first LTE-compatible drone in a manned area. With this development, the Aerobo drones can now take flight in wider ranges than ever before. The Aerosense team continuously innovates on their drones that are able to fly in narrower spaces for longer time periods, and even longer distances. This enables their technology to address even the most pressing social issues.
Safety also takes top priority in how Aerosense sets itself apart, designing their Aerobo drones to make self-diagnoses on sensor data, checking whether its GPS, axis sensor, accelerometer, and barometer are all functioning well, on top of the human intervention of the user. It also uses the geomagnetic field to recognise direction. This automated mechanism is built in to further improve safety, given that there are many unseen factors to the naked eye.
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The Aerosense team is on the lookout for local partners in Southeast Asia to make their solutions available to more markets and enable win-win collaborations across companies in the region. The company grounds itself on the vision of “changing society from the sky”.
Satoru Shimada, partner at Aerosense, Inc. explained, “Southeast Asia is a growing market and geologically close to Japan. We, as Asians, would like to prosper together” Aerosense hopes to contribute to society by automating on-site operations, providing safer and more efficient work environments, and enhancing the quality of construction with more accurate and reliable surveying results.
Aerosense is supported by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), a government-related organisation that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world since 1958. Its core focus involves helping small to medium size Japanese firms maximise their global export potential. JETRO has helped enable the growth of Aerosense by providing advisory, local networks, and participation in various startup acceleration programmes.
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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by JETRO
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