Smith noted that airborne threats pose major risks to targets like stadiums, infrastructure and major events. Despite potential privacy concerns, the public expects local government and public safety to protect life and property. So, he sees drones getting police eyes on incidents more quickly to help personnel make better resource decisions.

Axon said it estimates Dedrone will add approximately $14 billion to Axon’s total addressable market (TAM) and, with the Sky-Hero and Fusus acquisitions combined with the Dedrone deal, the company’s TAM will increase by more than 50% over the last year, from $50 billion to $77 billion.

“In the decade prior to this study, fires in the United States were down 3% but fire deaths were up 24%. And while the fire service doesn't control all the factors that contribute to these deaths, we do own some of them. So from the arrival on scene of a fire and for the next 6 to 8 minutes, we go from controlling none of the factors to controlling almost all of them. And this course and the tactical considerations that are presented are aimed to maximize those 6 to 8 minutes of time that we have in order to improve the probability of survival for the public we serve.”

Explore evidence-based insights in the form of tactical considerations derived from the Residential Search & Size-up experiments.

Axon CFO and COO Brittany Bagley added robotic security will be a pillar of the company’s business with a long-term growth trajectory, and Dedrone will be added to the company’s software and sensor product category.

The new "Search and Rescue Tactics in Single-Family Single-Story Residential Structures" online course, developed with support from the Study of Fire Service Residential Home Size-up and Search & Rescue project technical panel, is designed to provide information and insights for firefighters conducting search and rescue. Available through the FSRI Fire Safety Academy, this course shares tactical considerations stemming from FSRI research that can be employed to  minimize occupant and firefighter exposures during search and rescue operations in single-family, single-story residential structures.

Axon executives believe robotic security applications through drones and related technologies will play a major role in the company’s mission, and acquiring Dedrone will remove some obstacles with first-responder applications, Axon Founder and CEO Rick Smith said during an earnings call Monday.

Axonacquires Dedrone

John Dobberstein is managing editor of SecurityInfoWatch.com and oversees all content creation for the website. Dobberstein continues a 34-year decorated journalism career that has included stops at a variety of newspapers and B2B magazines. He most recently served as senior editor for the Endeavor Business Media magazine Utility Products.

“We believe Dedrone's technology solves these limitations, allowing law enforcement to operate in low-visibility conditions and at times of day without the need to maintain a human observer with a line of sight.”

DFR programs have been hindered, Smith said, due to FAA requirements mandating the presence of a human virtual observer in a direct line of sight of drones. This means operators must be positioned in relatively close proximity to the scene, usually on rooftops and operating primarily in clear daytime conditions,” Smith said.

If your crew has recently performed a rescue/removal on the fireground, please fill out this survey from our fire service friends! Help us tie these tactical considerations to real data from the street by filling out the Firefighter Rescue Survey. Created for firefighters and created by firefighters, this data will help guide future research and training.

The Dedrone acquisition “could end up being an opportunity where it’s not only useful to our existing customers but also new customers, such as sports stadiums, infrastructure or the military,” Smith said. “We have a customer set that is new to us and this can bring our ecosystem to those customers as well.”

Funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, this course has been developed as part of the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) Study of Fire Service Residential Home Size-up and Search & Rescue.

The second acquisition was Fusus, which offers an open and unified intelligence ecosystem that integrates and enhances public safety and investigations assets for law enforcement, first responders and private security personnel.

“Being a part of this study provided my agency with some great opportunities to learn about where we were effective, where we had room to improve and help steer our training programs to be more effective. I hope you'll take this course and use this information for your own agency and take this challenge to look at your own agency and address those gaps in training opportunities.”

DFR programs are designed to deploy drones to an emergency before human first responders, enhancing situational awareness to improve response strategies, optimizing the allocation of already limited resources and reducing the risk of harm to first responders and communities, Smith said. At the same time, he noted, drone tracking and countermeasures become equally, if not even more important.

Public safety technology giant Axon Enterprise announced plans Monday to acquire counter-drone technology leader Dedrone to advance the company’s development of drones as first responders (DFR).

In addition to this course, FSRI has developed supplemental materials to enable firefighters to continue the conversation at the station. Crews can utilize these resources to take a deeper dive into the research, discuss ways to integrate considerations into training and fireground operations and conduct their own time-to-task drills.

Axon President Josh Isner also notes that Dedrone has a “strong” international presence and the acquisition could help increase Axon’s international channel growth.

Acquires dedroneprice

The Dedrone acquisition follows two other Axon purchases in the last year: The first was Sky-Hero, which designs, develops and produces a Unified Indoor Tactical Recon System.

Smith believes drones as first responders are a “massive opportunity” that will drive faster response times and improve decision-making, giving law enforcement or security personnel “extra seconds and more information” before acting in critical situations.