The past few years have seen the drone industry expand rapidly. In 2023 alone, the drone market was valued at USD54.6 billion, according to DRONEII. As the drone ecosystem continues to advance in the standardisation of areas such as technology, certification, regulations, and logistics, there are many factors to consider as a government authority looking to regulate drones or an enterprise wanting to operate drones.
The challenges of the dynamic drone sector pose many issues for industry stakeholders, including product certification and initial airworthiness, operations management and authorisation, traffic management and airspace modernisation, use of AI tools to increase levels of autonomy, and regulator communication, all of which can be made more efficient by using a drone consulting firm such as Murzilli Consulting.
But who do drone consultancy services benefit, and what can they offer? This article highlights the specific types of services a drone consultant firm can offer and why they are an important part of the drone industry’s progression.
What is a Drone Consultant?
A drone consultant provides customised services and expert advice to industry stakeholders, including organisations, manufacturers, operators and government authorities, on drone operation implementation, certification and regulatory strategy.
Drone consultants can offer support with topics such as drone technology, regulations, and operational authorisation and guide clients through the complex nature of various certification processes. The following infographic shows an outline of the type of processes a drone consultant can support:
What are Some of the Key Services Provided by Drone Consultants?
Murzilli Consulting’s consultants have extensive backgrounds working as regulators and industry experts. This mix of unique skills supports connecting authorities with members of the drone industry. Using this knowledge, Murzilli Consulting has designed a customised set of speciality services to best fulfil an organisation’s needs:
Murzilli Consulting’s team of industry experts have been involved in many milestones within the drone community. This gives them the unique edge to act as facilitators between the industry and the regulators. Such milestones include former regulators and Murzilli Consulting’s CEO, Lorenzo Murzilli and Director of Regulatory Affairs Juanjo Sola’s joint efforts in the development of SORA and its implementation in the European Member States. With this internal knowledge, Murzilli Consulting’s SORA services are unparalleled in that the team of experts can advise from all angles, including complex SAIL III and IV authorisations.
Lorenzo Murzilli, as part of the Swiss Civil Aviation Authority, FOCA, established SUSI, the Swiss U-space, including the design, build and run phases of remote ID. Murzilli Consulting’s Director of Technology, Pawel Trominski, developed the technical architecture for Remote ID in the UK. Murzilli Consulting’s Senior Airspace Consultant, Marina Estal, in her role as the Head of Airspace Policy at the Spanish CAA, AESA, led the U-space implementation in Spain. These skills are expertly applied in Murzilli Consulting’s U-space services for authorities, government officials, cities, and industry stakeholders who want to establish a U-space airspace.
Strategy consulting services, such as developing clients' go-to-market strategy and identification of the best regulatory pathway, as well as certification services such as Type Certification (TC) and C-Class Marking and Design Verification Report (DVR) end-to-end support, are professionally managed by the Director of Business Unit Richard Boden and Senior Consultant Thilo Uebbert, who have led teams on one of the first FAA Type Certification projects.
Marina Estal is an expert in airspace management at a strategic level, particularly civil-military coordination matters regarding flexible use of airspace (FUA) and the development of the UAS sector in airspace matters. Juanjo Sola was AESA’s Air Traffic Management (ATM)/Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) Oversight Inspector and Air Traffic Control Training Manager for over 4 years. These combined skillsets provide Murzilli Consulting with the expert knowledge to support clients with airspace services such as airspace use, airspace management, traffic management and airspace modernisation.
Additionally, Murzilli Consulting has several partnerships for supplementary expert services with companies, including Baringa, DMD Solutions and Genius NY. Partnerships with expert consultants in other fields ensure that the client is getting the best possible deliverable for their project and enable drone consultants to focus on providing their customised services to support clients in achieving their goals.
Several drone consultancy companies also offer training services. Murzilli Consulting’s sister company, DroneTalks, has a set of training services, including regulatory training, U-space fundamentals and SORA training featuring Murzilli Consulting’s experts, Lorenzo Murzill and Juanjo Sola. One of the most popular courses in this series is the UAS Regulatory and SORA training, which is held at the Barcelona Drone Center and features a practical flight demonstration.
What are the Benefits of Hiring a Drone Consultant?
One of the current challenges for an organisation in today’s drone market is its rapid expansion. With so much development, in particular within dynamic regulatory, technological and automation sectors, it can take a lot of time and effort to generate this information internally.
A drone consultant agency offers tailored services based on their expert knowledge within the drone industry. This includes valuable information such as knowledge on the current status or changes to the regulations or standardisation processes, uncovering some of the unforeseen details that are required for a project, and the ability to find solutions to overcome some of the challenges and roadblocks that an organisation may face.
A drone consultant can align and ensure compliance with the relevant notified body and streamline the timeline to give the client the best possible overall understanding of the timeframe required. They can also prepare authorisation and certification documents. This ensures that the process runs smoothly and efficiently, which will help the client avoid costly mistakes and allow them to achieve the fastest path towards succeeding in their goals, such as service or product deployment.
Murzilli Consulting’s services were developed to support industry stakeholders such as organisations, manufacturers, operators and government bodies. The following chart shows which services will benefit each potential client:
Murzilli Consulting’s Services for Organisations:
These can vary widely, from certification services, including support in setting up quality management systems, design assurance systems, safety management systems for DOAs, POAs or LUC holders, documentation preparation, coordinating with notified bodies, aligning the timeframe and raising concerns and potential errors prior to meeting with the notified body, thus saving time and improving the process’s efficiency.
Murzilli Consulting’s Services for Manufacturers and Operators:
These are related to drone certification processes such as TC, and CE Marking, design verification such as DVR and risk assessments and authorisation processes such as SORA. These services also extend to documentation preparation and strategy development.
Murzilli Consulting’s Services for Government Authorities:
These involve structuring and implementing practices, areas, and situational awareness to build the foundation for drone usage within various environments in the safest and most efficient manner. These include strategic development, airspace modernisation, UTM and U-space services.
What Do Drone Consulting Services Cost?
Without knowing the full concept of a project or an organisation’s goals, it is difficult to outline a price without an initial consultation. Murzilli Consulting’s initial consultation offers flexible pricing and payment methods to provide the best service to fit the needs of an organisation’s project. Once the initial venture has been presented, the drone consultants at Murzilli Consulting will prepare a proposal contract recommending the package that best suits the project.
As the drone sector continues to develop and innovate, the expertise of a specialised drone consultancy firm like Murzill Consulting provides an essential service to ensure drone industry stakeholders achieve their objectives efficiently and effectively. From maintaining regulatory compliance to streamlining certification processes and advising on technology implementation, drone consultancy companies such as Murzilli Consulting can guide clients towards success and make sure they stay ahead in a competitive market.
If you need support from our expert drone consultants on any of our customised services, write to us, and we will be happy to answer any questions.
