Nokia and Swisscom Broadcast today announced the launch of the world's largest drone-as-a-service network designed to augment Switzerland's emergency response capabilities.

The platform, Nokia Drone Networks, is designed for use by large public and commercial operators who need to deploy a fast and flexible eye in the sky during emergencies.

The new Swiss-based initiative follows a similar project launched in Belgium last November and will operate in partnership with Belgium's national fire service. In both cases, the drones will be deployed in convenient ground station boxes, with human controllers managing the drones from remote locations across the country.

The drones will be equipped with multi-sensor cameras, including infrared and thermal capabilities, and options such as LIDAR for additional scanning capabilities, all managed by an artificial intelligence model.

One of the key parts of the platform, where Nokia's extensive communications know-how will come into play, is the use of 5G wireless technology to enable out-of-sight (BVLOS) control. This ability to fly long distances and use cloud-based AI for operational assessment makes this system unique in this field.

One aspect of the announcement that may be of interest to those seeking civil liberties is that any “public safety authority” in Switzerland could rent out its drone network as a form of paid ride-sharing. This means, in theory, that Swiss security and enforcement agencies could rent useful local drones for surveillance and targeting on a whim.

Nokia's partner in Belgium, CitiMesh, could also use AI to visually assess the risk of fire hazards or chemical spills, as well as to confirm crowd size by, for example, filtering out everyone in the live drone footage wearing a red jacket, T2

The company hopes to eventually integrate the drone video feeds with fixed CCTV cameras throughout the city for even wider coverage. There is absolutely no possibility of abuse.

Meanwhile, Nokia's new drone product is rapidly gaining customers around the world. Last month, global technology provider Westcon-Comstor announced that it will become an authorized distributor of Nokia Drone Networks in the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.

The technology recently received FCC certification in the US as well. And let's hope that the Terminator doesn't end up going back in time.