Drone Tracking: Using GPS Trackers to Monitor and Track Drones

Remember the days when drones were a cute new toy? They lasted all of 20 minutes and dropped out of the sky at 50 yards. But have you seen the kind of things drones can do now? From long-range reconnaissance to real estate model videos to choreographed displays, drone technology has drastically improved—and so have the methods for locating a lost drone. Enter: GPS trackers for drones.  

With whole companies investing in drones for drone shows, surveillance, and other useful tasks, every drone becomes an asset in need of tracking. Even if you’re a solo individual looking to operate a drone as a hobby or for work, it’s an expensive piece of equipment to keep an eye on.

With the help of a dedicated GPS tracker, you can access its real-time location from a dedicated app on your mobile device or personal computer and protect your investment.

What Kind of Investment is a Drone These Days?

The more accessible drone technology becomes, the wider an audience drones can reach. There are toy drones ranging from $25-$300, camera drones that range up to $500, and commercial drones that can be as expensive as $4,000.

Along with the exciting opportunities a drone affords you, there are also a few hiccups and challenges you may have to face.

Crashes

It happens to the best of drone pilots, but sometimes there are external factors you can’t control that may alter your flight plans and lead to… let’s call it a swift descent. According to Droneblog, more than 65% of drone consumers report at least one crash with nearly 10% of pilots experiencing 5 or more. The obvious concern is the damage a crash can do to your drone, but finding your drone after a crash can also be incredibly challenging. 

Once you locate your drone, there’s a chance to repair it for future flights. If you lose the drone, you’re looking at the cost of fully replacing it. With the help of a hardware-based GPS tracker, you have a light, reliable method of tracking your drone wherever it goes—whether that’s straight down into thick scrub or off into the sunset.

Flyaways

Arguably, this is an even worse fate for a drone. While it doesn’t happen as often as crashes, this strange occurrence still affects 20% of drone pilots. A flyaway is when a drone loses contact with its controller but NOT control of its flight path. In this situation, a drone may simply sail off until it runs out of juice—which is a pretty abysmal reality considering that high-end consumer drones can fly out to 4 or 5 miles before they lose power.

Flyaways are caused by a number of factors: 

• Internal GPS errors caused by physical or digital failures 
• Battery failures from a lack of charge 
• Bad weather that may knock your drone out of range
• Firmware updates that change your drone’s protocols 
• Even magnetic interference if you fly your drone too close to electrical poles or power stations!

Having an external, mounted GPS device on your drone gives you another way of tracking your drone on long flights and finding it in the unlikely but panic-inducing event of a crash or a flyaway.

GPS Trackers for Drones

Incorporating a GPS tracker into your setup allows you the peace of mind of knowing right where your drone is located at any time. Trackers that operate using Bluetooth offer a similar solution, but these can only be tracked if they are a certain distance away from the drone. With the GPS trackers from Logistimatics, you would have the ability to see right where the device is located using our dedicated app from your mobile phone or personal computer regardless of how far you are from the device.

Drones in Business

Surveillance seems like a no-brainer task for a drone. However, according to Freightwaves Ratings there are tons of new, innovative ways drones can be used. By mounting weather sensors on them, drones can fly up and detect emissions from gas traces, air flow, and temperature. Some farmers fit drones with sensory tools that help them find out which areas of their fields require more sunlight and water. Drones can even help demolition crews with the right outfit.

As a business owner interested in securing a fleet of drones, your next task should be securing a method of tracking them all. Where 65% of pilots experience crashes and 20% of pilots experience flyaways, just imagine the odds of one of your drones having an accident if you had a fleet of 50-100 of them! Every lost drone is a lost asset. So don’t lose your assets.

By investing in lightweight, long-lasting, reliable GPS trackers, you build another contingency that does not interfere with the operation of your drones, gives you an easy-to-use app to check-in on all your drones from wherever you have the app installed, and provides you with a quick solution just in case a drone does not return.

Best of all, this type of tracking lasts long after a crashed drone’s battery might drain. Depending on the GPS tracker you invest in, a single battery can run a tracker between 7 to 21 days. This gives you more than enough time to leave your drones up in the air without the worry of losing them.

Protect Your Drone with GPS Tracking

Whether you’re a drone hobbyist or a business owner with a fleet, hardware-based GPS tracking is the most secure method of knowing your drone’s location at all times. Trackers like the Logistimatics Asset-432 Tracker offer reliable, long-lasting tracking to protect your investment and make sure you can always find your drone, no matter what happens.

If you have any questions about what GPS trackers would work best for your rig, we have a knowledge base and customer service representatives to help you. If you need to track dozens of drones all at once, please contact our sales team for a thorough breakdown of our products and services.