MBF Group
Drones, which not so long ago were symbols of military special operations or futuristic science-fiction visions, are today becoming an everyday tool in agriculture, industry, logistics or rescue. Thanks to technological advances, the miniaturization of components and the development of artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have evolved into some of the most versatile and forward-looking tools of the modern economy.
Not surprisingly, more and more companies see strategic potential in this technology. For this reason, MBF Group, too, has already taken steps to obtain a license from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration for the marketing of special-purpose equipment, treating the UAV market as one of its key expansion directions for 2025-2030. The company plans not only to trade in equipment, but also to cooperate with drone system manufacturers and sensor integrators – both for civilian UAVs and solutions with defense potential.
Drones are not just weapons
Until a decade ago, drones were mainly associated with the military and combat operations. They appeared in reports of reconnaissance missions, precision strikes and satellite reconnaissance. Today, however, this is just one of the many functions performed by unmanned aerial vehicles. The revolution, which initially began on battlefields, has moved to cities, farms, logistics companies and research laboratories.
Drones have become a versatile working tool – not only observing the world from the air, but delivering data, transporting cargo, monitoring the environment and supporting rescue operations. Thanks to the miniaturization of electronics, integration with GPS systems, thermal imaging sensors and artificial intelligence, today’s civilian drones are capable of more than many manned vessels were just a few years ago.
More and more companies – from start-ups to global industry leaders – are investing in drones not because they are trendy gadgets, but because they realistically increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve safety. The farmer can precisely check the condition of the crop without entering the field. The wind farm operator performs turbine inspection without risk to people. Emergency services locate victims in mountainous terrain within minutes.
The drone ceases to be a technological curiosity – it becomes infrastructure. Just as access to the Internet or GPS was a luxury not long ago, but is now standard, so too is the growing importance of drones in everyday business operations. Importantly – this is happening in both urban and rural areas, in logistics, environmental protection, as well as in medicine.
Therefore, understanding how high-end drones really work and where they are used is not just a topic for technology enthusiasts. This is the key to better governance, more sustainable development and a safer world. And the revolution is just beginning.
Where do drones work?
High-end drones have found applications in almost every field where aerial access, precision measurements, speed of operation or human safety are important. In many sectors of the economy, they are replacing human labor in difficult conditions or supporting activities that were previously costly and time-consuming.
In precision agriculture, drones are revolutionizing the way farms are managed. With multispectral and hyperspectral cameras, they make it possible to detect plant diseases, water or fertilizer deficiencies with an accuracy impossible to achieve from the ground. Drone spraying of fields, planned based on vegetation maps, reduces chemical use and increases agricultural productivity.
In industry and energy, drones are used to inspect infrastructure: bridges, chimneys, telecommunications towers, pipelines or wind turbines. Instead of sending workers to heights or dangerous zones, operators receive accurate photos, thermal data or 3D models from the air. This is not only cheaper, but also much safer.
In rescue, drones with thermal imaging cameras are indispensable during search and rescue operations. They help locate missing persons, deliver medical equipment and even coordinate operations during fires and floods. In many cases, they reduce response times from hours to minutes – which can be life-defining.
In the transportation and logistics sector, drones are increasingly being tested as a means of delivery – especially over short distances, in hard-to-reach areas or where traditional means fail. Sending medical samples, drugs or documents by drone is not an experiment today, but a viable service in many countries.
Environmental protection is another area where drones are making a difference. They monitor the condition of forests, measure air pollution levels, track animals and even inspect illegal dumps. A drone can work where it would be too dangerous, too expensive or too time-consuming for a human.
Types of professional drones
Professional drones are not homogeneous – they vary in design, range, flight time, payload capacity and what tasks they are designed for. The key is to select the right type of drone for a specific mission – from inspecting a few meters of cable to mapping hundreds of acres of terrain. In practice, there are several main classes of devices.
Multi-rotor (multirotor) drones are the most common design. Their greatest advantage is their vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and hover-in-place capabilities, which allow precise operations over the object. They are compact, easy to transport, and can carry a variety of payloads – from cameras to environmental sensors. They are great for inspection, photography, rescue and short-range mapping.
Fixed-wing drones resemble miniature aircraft. They can’t hover in place, but have a much longer range and longer flight time – even several hours. Ideal for covering large areas, such as when creating orthophotos, monitoring linear infrastructure (power lines, pipelines) or nature surveillance. Their disadvantage is the need for more space for takeoff and landing.
VTOL hybrids (e.g., fixed-wing VTOL) are a compromise between multirotors and wings. They can take off vertically like a multicopter and then transition to horizontal flight with high speed and range. These drones are increasingly popular in agricultural, surveying and energy applications, where both hovering precision and coverage of large areas are important.
There are also specialized drones, tailored for specific tasks: rescue, cargo, for inspection inside pipelines, or drones built for extreme weather conditions. Some have thermal and communication functions, others can transport medical samples, and still others are equipped with radar systems or chemical sensors.
Matching the type of drone to the task is not just a matter of convenience – it’s the basis for a successful and safe mission. Therefore, choosing the right design is a key part of planning any professional unmanned flight.
Drones with advanced sensors
The heart of any professional drone is not only its engines or flight systems, but above all its sensors, which allow it to collect data with extreme precision. These are what make the drone cease to be just a “flying camera” and become an advanced measurement platform capable of conducting detailed analysis in real time.
RGB cameras are the most basic, but still extremely important sensor. However, professional drones use devices with very high resolution (e.g., 42 MP and above) with zoom optics (optical zoom). They allow long-distance inspections, the creation of orthophotos and 3D models of buildings or sites, as well as photo documentation in very high quality.
Multispectral cameras capture light in several bands of the spectrum (e.g. green, red, infrared). This makes it possible to assess the condition of plants, soil moisture, crop health or the effectiveness of fertilization. Based on them, NDVI maps are created, which in precision agriculture today are the basis for optimizing production.
Hyperspectral cameras are more advanced versions of multispectral sensors, capturing dozens or hundreds of spectral bands. They are able to pick up subtle differences in the chemical composition of soil, plants or materials. Among others, they are used. in environmental studies, geology, as well as in pollution detection and water quality assessment.
Thermal imaging cameras record the thermal radiation emitted by objects – that is, their temperature. Drones with such sensors detect overheated parts of power lines, leaks in heating systems, heat loss in buildings or the presence of people in difficult terrain (e.g., during search operations).
Also particularly noteworthy is LiDAR, a laser scanning system that creates precise three-dimensional models of the environment in the form of the so-called “LiDAR”. point clouds. LiDAR works regardless of lighting conditions and can “overexpose” vegetation, reaching the ground. This makes it applicable to surveying, forestry, archaeology, urban planning and civil engineering.
What all these technologies have in common is their ability to turn a “drone flight” into a comprehensive measurement or analysis service. Whether it’s measuring the volume of a gravel heap, assessing the condition of a warehouse roof or locating a fire in the forest, sensors are key.
Flight and control technology
For a drone to perform its tasks with surgical precision, it must not only be well-built, but also intelligently controlled and navigated. Professional drones today use a set of advanced technologies that ensure not only flight stability, but also the ability to operate in harsh conditions and full autonomy.
First up are RTK and PPK (Real-Time Kinematic / Post-Processed Kinematic) systems, which use GPS/GNSS signal correction relative to the base station. Thanks to them, the drone knows its position to within a few centimeters – which is crucial, for example, in surveying, creating orthophotos, planning agricultural operations or inspecting infrastructure elements.
Another pillar of navigation is the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) – a set of sensors (gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers) that measure the drone’s movement, roll, acceleration and orientation. High-performance IMUs provide excellent stability even in strong winds, enable precise hovering over a point and correct representation of spatial data.
With autonomous mission planning systems, operators do not need to manually control the drone. All you need to do is set waypoints, altitude, speed and tasks to be performed (e.g., photos every 5 meters), and the system will automatically carry out the entire flight. This ensures reproducibility, time savings and higher data quality.
In difficult terrain or urban spaces, obstacle avoidance systems are invaluable. Drones equipped with ultrasonic sensors, optical cameras or LiDAR scan the surroundings and react in real time to obstacles that appear – trees, poles, walls. These systems allow flights in complex environments, minimizing the risk of collisions.
Once the data is collected, it is no less important to process it. That’s why professional drones work with software such as Pix4D, Agisoft Metashape, DroneDeploy and ArcGIS Pro. They can create orthophotos, 3D models, NDVI maps, volumetric analysis and thermal imaging reports – all in a fully automated process.
Modern control systems are thus not so much “piloting” as managing a complex environment of data and automation. The drone is becoming part of a larger technology ecosystem – from precision navigation, to information gathering, to analysis and reporting.
Fastest growing industries
As the drone market matures, it is becoming clearer which sectors of the economy are deploying these technologies most intensively. The leaders are in industries where time, precision and safety are important, and the cost of errors or delays is high. There, drones not only support people, but often replace traditional work methods.
One of the fastest growing fields is transportation and logistics (TSL). Here, drones are used to monitor the condition of infrastructure (tracks, bridges, loading centers), as well as for pilot delivery programs: courier shipments, medical samples, medicines or documents. They have the advantage of being able to bypass traffic jams, operate in mountainous areas or cover short distances without the need for ground vehicles.
The second pillar is energy. Drones perform regular inspections of high-voltage lines, poles, transformers, wind farms or photovoltaic installations. With thermal imaging cameras and LiDAR, early detection of overheating, mechanical damage and energy loss is possible – without the need to shut down the system or put workers at risk.
Precision agriculture is growing rapidly in Europe and Asia due to the availability of drones with multispectral cameras and automatic spraying systems. This reduces the use of fertilizers and crop protection products, while increasing yields. In many countries today, drones are an integral part of medium and large farms.
In construction and real estate, drones are used to document the progress of work, create 3D models of construction sites, check the quality of workmanship or prepare visualizations for investors. Their presence on the construction site is becoming the norm – a fast, accurate and safe way to assess the situation in real time.
Forestry and environmental protection are other fields that are increasingly using drones. Inventorying forest resources, detecting fires, identifying illegal logging, and even tracking animals – all of this can be done from the air today. Moreover, drone data is increasingly being used by public institutions to make environmental decisions.
Also not to be overlooked is the medical and rescue industry, where drones deliver medicines, blood and organs for transplantation, and in search operations locate the missing, conduct video transmissions and drop essential equipment. In the context of an aging population and growing health needs, this is one of the most important developments.
Anti-drone systems
The development of drones has brought with it not only new opportunities, but also new risks. With the popularization of drones, situations have arisen in which drones have violated airport airspace, smuggled contraband into prisons, disrupted mass events or been used for espionage and sabotage purposes. As a result, both the military and the civilian sector have begun to intensively develop countermeasure technologies – that is, anti-drone systems.
The simplest and one of the most common methods is jamming the radio signal (jamming) with which the drone is controlled. Blocking the operator’s communication with the machine or interfering with the GPS signal can lead to loss of control. Modern jamming systems are able to selectively interfere with specific communication bands (e.g. 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz, GPS L1) without interfering with other radio transmissions.
Smart jamming systems, which use artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically recognize a drone’s type, trajectory and communication protocol, are becoming increasingly important. This allows not only to neutralize it, but also to take control or track the operator.
Advanced solutions use integrated detection and response systems that combine radar, thermal imaging cameras, acoustic sensors and RF signal analyzers. This makes it possible to detect and track a drone over a large area, and then neutralize it in a manner tailored to the threat – from taking control, to jamming, to using physical “anti-drones” (e.g., nets, interceptor drones).
The military is also developing dedicated platforms to defend against drone swarms – one of the most dangerous scenarios for future conflicts. Swarms of autonomous machines can be difficult to detect and neutralize with classic methods. Therefore, new algorithms are being developed to disrupt coordination, synchronization and communication in such drone groups.
Anti-drone systems are no longer exclusively a tool of the military. Airports, stadiums, industrial plants, critical infrastructure and public services are increasingly implementing them. Drone protection is becoming part of modern risk management – as important as alarm systems or IT security.
Summary
High-end drones today are not just technological gadgets, but real tools that affect the competitiveness of companies, the safety of people and the efficiency of business processes. Combined with advanced sensors, positioning systems and artificial intelligence algorithms, they are becoming an integral part of modern management of space, raw materials and infrastructure.
Industries such as transportation, energy, agriculture and construction are increasingly embracing UAV technology, seeing it as a way to increase efficiency and reduce risk. At the same time, defense and anti-drone systems are being developed – both in the public and private sectors – which only confirms how important a role drones play in shaping the security architecture of the 21st century.
MBF Group SA, as a company active at the intersection of industry, raw materials and high technology, sees huge investment and operational potential in this sector. The planned entry into the drone trade – supported by efforts to obtain a license from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration – is another step toward building MBF Group SA’s position as a provider of cutting-edge solutions for the civil, industrial and defense sectors.
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