Dmytro Vovchuk, co-founder of the startup Norda Dynamics, which develops autonomous piloting and targeting systems for UAVs, spoke about his company's product and sales volumes. Norda Dynamics, supported by the Brave1 cluster, recently became one of the winners of the IT Arena Startup Competition 2024 and received $5,000.
"When we talked to the military, we learned that most drone losses were due to video loss or electronic warfare (EW). There were also situations where tasks couldn't be completed due to radio horizon and EW. That's when we started looking for ways to solve these problems. Our product—automatic drone targeting—was born from that," Vovchuk told the publication Vector.
According to him, mass production began at the beginning of 2024. As of September, 10,000 licenses had already been sold. Vovchuk noted that Norda Dynamics has a pre-order for 3,000 licenses per month until the end of the year, and "the number is growing each month."
Currently, the startup employs eight full-time staff (in addition to the founders, there is an embedded developer, an ML engineer, and a pilot), with another four part-time. Norda Dynamics has open positions for embedded developers, ML engineers, and specialists with experience in digital video and communication.
"We have finished producing universal 'boxes' that we plan to certify [NATO] in the near future. The 'box' 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 exceed the mark of 20,000 sold licenses, as well as launch sales of our cameras and 'boxes,'" Vovchuk said.
Norda Dynamics has already implemented the "last mile" navigation project and continues to develop it. The company's plans include adding recognition and remote control of drones from a tablet, optical navigation that will allow drones to fly deep without GPS and communication with the pilot, and automatically hit targets in a pre-defined sector.
Vovchuk stated that the company provides drone manufacturers with instructions on how to install the onboard computer and connect it to the drone. The product includes a configuration file, software, and support. This increases the cost of the drone by $50-$100, depending on the quantity, but provides additional functionality.
According to the co-founder of Norda Dynamics, the startup is currently collaborating with 20 drone manufacturers in Ukraine.
