“It just wouldn’t be a BRINC demo without some broken glass,” joked BRINC Founder and CEO Blake Resnick, as an audience of customers and media outlets watched the new LEMUR 2 for law enforcement and SWAT operations break through a plate of glass with the glass breaking attachment that allows the LEMUR 2 to enter a building.

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That glass breaker has been part of the purpose-built LEMUR solution from the beginning – but the newly released LEMUR 2 adds a huge array of brand new features and improvements.

BRINC is an NDAA compliant, entirely US-based manufacturer of drones for public safety.  Today, BRINC officially launched their next-generation drone, LEMUR 2. “LEMUR 2 is the latest product from BRINC and is specially designed to enable law enforcement and public safety professionals to survey areas too dangerous to send a person, assess a threat profile, and de-escalate conflict without putting individuals in harm’s way,” says the announcement.

Founded in 2018, BRINC has been dedicated to developing purpose-built tools for public safety from their inception.  The LEMUR brought incredible functionality to SWAT operations, based on specific feedback: a super-resilient airframe, turtle mode, two-way communications, small package delivery, and more.   “Today, the newest iteration LEMUR 2 drone advances drone technology further with the introduction of an intelligent software layer,” says the announcement.

LEMUR 2: New Features, New Sensors, New Software

As they have from the beginning, the BRINC team has taken every customer comment into consideration to deliver the features and nuances that make the LEMUR 2 an indispensable tool for de-escalation.    Features range from the remote controller being a full-blown computer, to the touch screen now compatible with tactical gloves.

“The number of small upgrades that we’ve made is really immense,” Resnick tells DRONELIFE.  “Hugely upgraded batteries, 20 minute flight time, full manual mode, higher water resistance… these are all based on customer experience.”

The LEMUR 2 builds on the technological breakthroughs of LEMUR and introduces novel features such as their proprietary BRINC Autonomy Engine, where the drone’s onboard LiDAR sensor creates a 3D map of its surroundings in real time to enable a suite of capabilities. This includes a 360-degrees standby hover that doesn’t rely on light or GPS systems and an obstacle awareness system that dynamically adjusts speed around objects while still providing complete control to the drone operator for tactical maneuvers. Just as the autonomy engine simplifies operation, it also keeps law enforcement and emergency services personnel informed by providing an easy to interpret, 2D floor plan to users in real time.

LEMUR 2’s new sensor array combines no fewer than 10 unique systems for supporting its autonomy systems, visual / night / thermal imaging and two-way comms.  “This includes a LiDAR sensor, tracking camera, two IR spotlights, a white light spotlight, 4K camera, FLIR thermal imager, microphone and loudspeaker,” says the announcement.

Video and data is transmitted locally to a custom BRINC controller, and encrypted using AES-256 protocols. The LEMUR 2 is also mesh network compatible, allowing for multiple drones to extend each other’s range in large buildings or underground. With an integrated 4G LTE-powered connection, LEMUR 2 drones can securely stream a live camera view and 2D floor plans to stakeholders off-site through the new BRINC LiveOps web platform.

All of the new features are improvements that offer law enforcement officers concrete benefit in SWAT operations, from clearing buildings safely and quickly to establishing communications with suspects, a feature that has been proven to dramatically increase the probability of a safe outcome for all parties.

“On the pilot systems front, we knew from the beginning that in order to achieve scale it was going to be something that you just had to pick up and use,” says Resnick.  “We also knew that we have to operate in GPS-denied conditions – so we knew we needed autonomy.

Signal penetration is something we solved with the mesh networking feature.   There are still many instances where we need to have a better signal, but it’s hard to do with a lot of concrete walls: this solution addresses that issue.”

At the demonstration, DRONELIFE asked BRINC customers to comment on the new features that the LEMUR 2 offers.  “It’s very forward thinking,” said Officer Matt Rowland of the Fort Wayne Indiana Air Support Unit. “They have taken everything we’ve said over the last few years and created a product that’s exactly what we’ve been asking for.”

BRINC manufactures all of its products in, and source the vast majority of its parts from, the United States. BRINC has co-located R&D and production at its Seattle headquarters and is vertically integrated, controlling its supply chain. The BRINC LEMUR 2 is National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compliant and approved by the US government for its products to be used by federal agencies and contractors. BRINC is also investing in a safer tomorrow by developing a network of docked drone systems to respond to 911 calls quickly and effectively, moving response time from minutes or hours into seconds while providing the capabilities to enable a de-escalation-first approach to public safety.

Don’t miss Blake Resnick on the next episode of the Public Safety Drone Review, Tuesday March 7 at 3 pm EST! Register here for the free webcast.

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