Drones Take Flight in the Smart City Revolution: Elsight Connects the Future of Urban Operations

From public safety to infrastructure inspection, secure and reliable connectivity is unlocking the full potential of drones in modern cities—and Elsight’s Halo technology is at the heart of this transformation

Cities worldwide are rapidly embracing drones as a critical tool in their smart city strategies, enhancing everything from emergency response to infrastructure management. These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are reshaping how public services operate — faster, safer, and more efficiently than ever before. Yet, the real breakthrough lies not only in the drone itself, but in how it stays connected. And that’s where Elsight comes in.

Headquartered in Israel, Elsight has emerged as a key enabler in the drone ecosystem with its Halo connectivity platform, a system designed to guarantee secure, continuous, multi-network communication between drones and their control centers. As cities move toward autonomous, always-on operations, the company’s technology is providing Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) resilient and secured connectivity security needed for drone operators to scale their business by continual mission completion. 

“Urban environments are connectivity nightmares — full of signal blockages, interference, and dead zones,” explains Yoav Amitai, CEO of Elsight. “Our Halo solution was built to overcome exactly that. We aggregate all available spectrum, meaning multiple 4G, 5G, LTE, satellite, and radio links into a single, stable data tunnel so that drones remain connected to their control center, transmit telemetry and video if desired, no matter what.”

The impact of this innovation can already be seen in a growing number of smart cities using drones.  In Bilbao, drones and robots inspect the city’s underground sewage networks to improve maintenance safety. In India, drones patrol congested intersections or spray mosquito-prone zones and deliver medication in hard to reach areas.  Across the globe, law enforcement agencies use “drones-as-first-responders”, dispatching UAVs immediately when an emergency call is received, allowing commanders to see the situation in real time before units arrive or use the drones to find missing persons.

This shift toward drone integration reflects several emerging trends. Autonomous “drone docks” are replacing manual launches, enabling remote operations and automatic recharging. Regulatory frameworks like U-space in Europe or new BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) rules in the US 

are paving the way for citywide coverage. At the same time, concerns about privacy, noise, and transparency are reshaping how municipalities deploy and communicate their drone programs.

For Amitai, the foundation of all these advancements is connectivity: “Without reliable communication, drones can’t fulfill their mission. With Halo, we make sure they can—whether flying over dense cityscapes or remote disaster zones.”

Elsight’s technology has already been adopted by major drone manufacturers and operators, including Flock Safety (US), Censys Technologies (US), Drone Delivery Canada, and ACSL (Japan). These partnerships demonstrate the versatility of the platform: Censys deploys it for grid inspections and post-storm assessments, while ACSL uses it to deliver mail to elderly residents in mountainous areas and to support disaster relief after floods.

Beyond its technical achievements, Elsight plays a growing role in helping regulators and city governments transition from pilot projects to scalable operations. Its work with companies like Airobotics, the first to receive a U.S. FAA Type Certificate for drones flying over populated areas, underscores how Halo’s redundant, encrypted communication meets the most stringent aviation safety standards.

Looking ahead, the company believes that every smart city will eventually rely on drones as part of its digital infrastructure — just as they rely today on sensors or data platforms. The challenge, says 

Amitai, is to “start small, with clear, measurable missions —traffic monitoring, bridge inspections, emergency response — and build from there. The key is proving value and maintaining public trust.”

As cities around the world race to become smarter, safer, and more resilient, connectivity has become the invisible infrastructure of the skies. With Elsight’s Halo keeping drones connected beyond visual line of sight, the promise of truly autonomous urban operations is no longer a distant dream — it’s already taking flight.

photo iStock