Palm Springs police partner with MatrixSpace
Palm Springs Police Department (PSPD) has partnered with sensor solution developer MatrixSpace to expand its drone-as-first-responder (DFR) program
PSPD in the city of Palm Springs, California, will utilize MatrixSpace’s low airspace awareness technology to expand the DFR program to cover an area of 37 square miles (95.8km2). This area equates to approximately a third of the city’s total area.
Palm Springs now features a network of MatrixSpace 360 Radars, allowing a single PSPD pilot to remotely operate drones from three launch locations across the city. Two more drone launch sites are planned.
The system also offers counter uncrewed aircraft system (CUAS) detection and tracking capabilities.
It supports PSPD’s application for an Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ‘no visual observer’ flight operations waiver, allowing the Department to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
“Removing the need for a visual observer speeds up response time, dispatching drones in immediate response to incoming calls from multiple potential locations,” said Lieutenant William Hutchinson, Operations Lead at PSPD. “Once we have our FAA waiver, we can fly BVLOS with just a single operator, with the ability to fly at night and in inclement weather.”
The UK’s National Police Air Service recently announced plans to conduct BVLOS drone trials in England and Wales.
Oliver Cuenca
Oliver Cuenca is a Junior Editor at AirMed&Rescue. He was previously a News and Features Journalist for the rail magazine IRJ until 2021, and studied MA Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. His favourite helicopter is the AW169 – the workhorse of the UK air ambulance sector! He also led the creation of Waypoint: The AirMed&Rescue podcast, serving as its Production Editor and co-host.