Automate the operation of drones. How the Ukrainian startup Norda dynamics works

How the idea came about

Norda dynamics has a total of five co-founders, three make decisions. All have a background in IT. Some started volunteering in 2014, some in 2022.

At the beginning of the full-scale war, we established the “Help the Hero” fund to meet the needs of the army. Together, they created an initiative for the collection of drones, Hero-7, where more than 1,500 UAVs have already been collected and transferred to the needs of the army. They started collecting type-c adapters for charging radios.

After all we decided that the number of drones, we collect is quite small and we need to improve them.

The number of inquiries that we received was not comparable to what we were producing.

When we talked to the military, we learned that most drone losses were due to loss of video or Radio Electronic Warfare (REW). There were also situations: the task could not be completed due to the radio horizon and REW. Then we are started looking for ways to solve these problems. Our product was born from this — automatic guidance of drones to the target», — explains Dmytro Vovchuk.

The product was launched into mass production at the beginning of 2024. As of September, 10,000 licenses have already been sold, says the co-founder: «Pre-order until the end of the year for 3,000 licenses per month and the number is growing every month».

Currently, the team has eight full-time employees (in addition to the founders, an embedded developer, an ML engineer, and a pilot), and four more part-time employees. The team is looking for embedded developers, ML engineers, and professionals with experience in digital video and communications.

Product and Аudience

The Norda dynamics product is a drone software that, with minimal changes, helps the drone become autonomous. At this time, the team has already implemented «last mile» A term used to describe the final stage of the supply chain navigation and continues to develop this product. In the near future, they plan to add recognition and remote control of drones from a tablet, optical navigation, which will allow to fly deep without GPS and communication with the pilot and automatically hit an object in a predetermined sector.

Now, Dmytro says, they have about 20 customers, all of them drone manufacturers in Ukraine: «Some manufacturers have already received the NATO code for drones with our system. And we have completed the production of universal “korobochok”, with which we plan to undergo codification in the near future. “Korobochka” is an additional module for any drone that will expand its capabilities and make it more autonomous. By the end of the year, we plan to cross the mark of 20,000 sold licenses, as well as start selling our cameras and “korobochok”».

Everything works like this, explains Dmytro: «We adapt the manufacturers’ line to install our system. We provide the manufacturer with instructions on how to install the on-board computer and connect it to the drone, and the manufacturer carries out all these manipulations already during the assembly of the drone.
On our part, we provide configuration file, software and support. The cost of the drone to the manufacturer increases by $50-$100, depending on the quantities, but the drone gets additional features.

It can capture a target and automatically move towards it. Engage the target at a specified angle. It has a mode where when it is jammed, it will automatically rise to a set height and fly over EW and then restore connection. Has a digital zoom with stabilization. The system is cross-platform — works with most operating systems. We work both with analog and digital video. The system has already gone through several iterations at the front».

The product is currently intended for the military:

«After the war, we want to make an autonomous drone to perform rescue missions: searching for missing people in the mountains, guarding borders, humanitarian missions, delivering food and water to regions affected by disasters. Maybe even attempts in the direction of postal shipments, which will be carried by drones».

Business model and promotion

Norda dynamics works according to the B2B model, only software is supplied to manufacturers. The team sells a license for each drone, and the manufacturer himself retools the line and adjusts production. The price of a license is from $10 to $50, depending on the number of licenses purchased.

«We are not a very public company, like, probably, the majority of mil-tech in Ukraine. But we actively participate in hackathons from the Ministry of Defense, speak at demo days, and actively transfer our product to the troops. We are the winners of the hackathon “Onslaught of the Machines” and this gave us a big boost. Therefore, now it is in the majority», — says Dmytro.

Investments

To start the company, the co-founders invested about $25,000: «The product has already been launched and now our revenue is $121,100 and is growing every month, because large manufacturers have established supply lines and started mass production. Now we are looking for smart money, because we have no experience of working with foreign companies and developing a large business. Therefore, we need someone who can help us with this and give us the direction of movement for faster development».

Plans

Next, Norda dynamics plans to move towards the development of a fully autonomous drone that will be able to fly thousands of kilometers and hit a target with an accuracy of up to a meter. «Our goal in the context of this war is to have drones do the work of the military. The global goal is for drones to help human and perform life-threatening tasks. And it would be performing better than a human, and where humans cannot cope now», — concludes the co-founder.

Реклама у Vector

Found a mistake? Select it and press Ctrl+Enter