Drones as first responders improving situational awareness one flight at a time

DJI Enterprise returns to The Emergency Tech Show this year and with drones as first responders increasingly in use in UK police forces, we find out more about this capability and what visitors can expect to see on their stand as well as in the drones and robotics demo zone.

Tell us more about your drone in a box solution and how it can assist with UK emergency service response

Drones have evolved beyond individual tools that are used in isolated events and will become an integrated element in how our emergency response and policing is handled. The introduction of Drone-in-a-box Solutions like the Dock 3, has opened possibilities of establishing drones as part of the response infrastructure. The impact that this could have is massive, so we are happy to work with those organisations as they test how technology fits their scenarios.  We are also in direct communication with these important organisations post installation, creating a feedback loop that results in software upgrades and informs future product designs, further increasing capabilities useful to Drones as First Responder (DFR) customers.

Drone flights generate a vast amount of data, what advice can you offer emergency services to get the most value of it to improve public safety outcomes?

The key to success when it comes to drone operations lies in integration with current systems the emergency services use. There is little value on the data the drone captures if we can’t execute and action on it, so in order for the drone to deliver the added value, the response teams should have real-time access to aerial views and be able to react to it.  

Our solutions are designed exactly for this purpose. Our Fleet Management System, FlightHub 2, offers several integration methods to enable our customers share the data collected by drones with the teams on the ground. From livestream feeds share to firefighters battling wildfire, to automatically generated post-incident reports, we provide resources to make sure our users get the most value of drone data.  We are also working with many emergency services organisations to integrate other systems into the workflow. It’s all about getting the most up-to-date and relevant picture and to reduce operations staff cognitive burden, allowing them to increase operational capability.

How is DJI Enterprise evolving DFR technology to build on learning from police forces?

DJI Enterprise has truly been the pioneer when it comes to DFR (Dock-as-First-Responder) solutions, starting with the launch of the first generation of Dock back in 2022. This set a new paradigm for DFR, which relied on stationary pilots flying drones from the roofs to support ground operations, which was simply not scalable. Fast forward to 2026, we have upgraded our solution twice with the release of Dock 2 in 2024, followed by Dock 3 a year later in 2025. To this date, 8 million flight missions have been successfully completed using DJI Dock solutions, in over 80 countries around the world[1].

All of that, plus the work we do together with our customers, allow us to develop products that put the customer needs first, not from what we think they will need, but from actual deployments and the challenges they face day to day. In the UK, airspace is particularly congested and BTP often operates in built-up areas. DJI Enterprise employs cutting edge technology to increase safety for other air users and those on the ground, and this has often been guided form BTP feedback and an excellent relationship with UK aviation regulators.

Despite the vast progress we have been able to achieve in recent years, there is still room for improvement, so we remain committed to working alongside our users to find how the solutions can be improved.

Should there be a standard way of configuring a DFR capability on top of a building?

While there are standards when it comes to deployment of Dock solutions like electric installation requirements, GPS and internet connectivity, and so on, the reality is each organisation has unique circumstances that have to be evaluated.  For each case, the project starting point should be “What is the customer’s biggest pain point or challenge” and from there, our partners can guide the customers into what is the best deployment scenario for them.

Whether it is to deploy docks across different police stations or to have a mobile unit at the back of the truck, each deployment solves a different pain point the user faces, and that’s great flexibility we offer our customers. Our partners have been certified directly by DJI Enterprise to have the expertise to handle diverse deployment scenarios. This ensures the customer will get quality service from all our certified partners.

What kind of cross emergency service collaboration are you seeing when it comes to using all forms of drones for operations?

There is ongoing work in the UK to assist organisations to share resources that DJI Enterprise actively support. FlightHub 2, our command and control software suite, can be accessed from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, so secure hand over of assets between organisations has been built in. This can happen while the drone is in flight, providing excellent resource management.

There is huge pressure on fire and rescue services this summer to respond to wildfires, what untapped potential is there for them to use DFR in these wide open landscapes?

Fire and rescue is no doubt one of the scenarios where drones deliver the most value. Being able to detect a small hot spot from the air and guide the fire service personnel on how to mitigate it makes a huge difference. These teams are no longer doing a guessing game, they act with valuable data and deploy their resources accordingly. One untapped potential there would be integration with detection systems, for example smoke sensors that could automatically send an alarm to the nearest Dock and we could get visuals of what the situation is.

Another untapped potential is on how we can use drones beyond response, in a preventive way. The reality is our fire and rescue services might not have the resources to send teams across the country to scout for high-risk areas, so why don’t we leverage drones to support wildfire prevention efforts.

This also builds on the previous question regarding shared resources – getting situational awareness in the right place, at the right time, for the right service. Giving an emergency service commander access to the most up-to-date data will inevitably lead to better outcomes. Essentially, this can lead to saving lives.

You are part of our drones and robotics demo space on the show floor, what will you be showcasing over the two days of the show?

Visitors will be able to see the latest range of DJI Enterprise drones flying within the indoor drone area, showcasing their capability via large screens. We will also be connecting to Dock, our drone-in-a-box solution, via a remote connection on our stand to run live DFR scenarios.

What can our visitors expect to see at your stand this year – any new products you can tell us about?

The full range of DJI Enterprise products and solutions will be on the stand, along with our team of experts, who would be delighted to hear what visitors’ challenges are and how drones could be used to get positive results.

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You can speak to the team at DJI Enterprise at The Emergency Tech Show on stand S90 and see drones in action in the Drones and Robotics Area nearby. Register for your free ticket here.

Read about our recent visits – Navigating complex skies with drones as first responders and Drones watching over the rail network and keeping the public safe.