Pitapod-1

Anatomy

A three-part node.

A swappable pad, the node body, and a swappable sensor. Configure it on the ground; the drone places it.

The assembled Pitapod-1 node: mounting pad, body with spherical joint, and optical sensor.

An exploded view of the node showing the pad, the body with its electronics, and the sensor separated along one axis.

01 · Pad

Surface-attachment interface

Operator-selected before flight to match the target surface — magnet, adhesive, or spring barbs. See the options below.

02 · Body

The core

Carries the aiming and power hardware that make the node reusable in place.

Two-axis spherical joint for aiming
Onboard battery, duty-cycled
Peak-shaving supercapacitor for capture and transmit peaks
Exposed power socket for optional external power

03 · Sensor

Mission payload

Mounted on the aiming joint. Optical, acoustic, seismic, radiation, or chemical.

Pads

One interface, matched to the surface.

Magnet pad for Ferrous steel. — Magnet Ferrous steel Beams, hulls, containers

Adhesive pad for Concrete & masonry. — Adhesive Concrete & masonry Walls, structures

Spring barbs pad for Tree bark. — Spring barbs Tree bark Treelines, wood

Sensors

One mount, many payloads.

Optical sensor head. — Optical Camera / low-light imaging

Acoustic sensor head. — Acoustic Directional microphone

Chemical sensor head. — Chemical Chemical agent detection

Multi-role head sensor head. — Multi-role head Custom module

Emplacement sequence

Placed by the drone. Left on its own.

01

Carry the node in

The drone carries the assembled node — pad, body, and mission sensor — to the mount point and presses the pad against the surface to attach it.
02

Aim on the spherical joint

Using its propellers, the drone torques the node on its two-axis spherical joint, aiming the sensor while the operator watches the live feed through the fiber the drone is holding.
03

Lock passively on release

When aim is correct, the joint locks on release. A spring-loaded clamp stays free while the drone applies tension, and locks in place when the drone detaches.
04

Fly home, paying out fiber

The drone flies home, spooling fiber the whole way. At the far end the fiber is taken from the drone and connected at the watched position.

The drone in flight carrying the node, with the fiber spool paying out.

The reusable drone with its fiber spool, back on the ground after an emplacement.

Power

Endurance measured in weeks.

The node runs on its onboard battery, duty-cycled: sleep, wake on trigger or schedule, capture, burst the data out over fiber, sleep again. Average draw is low, so endurance is days-to-weeks per emplacement rather than continuous.

The supercapacitor covers capture and transmit current peaks. An exposed socket accepts an optional copper lead for external or continuous power when an emplacement warrants it — and leaves the door open to trickle-recharging over the fiber during idle periods.

The link

Fiber only. RF-silent by design.

The baseline build carries data only — ordinary telecom fiber, standard optics, gigabits of headroom. No power-over-fiber, no fiber-fuse risk, no thermal or eye-safety problem at a cut.

Fiber gives an inherently jam-proof, RF-silent link over the roughly one-kilometer run. It defeats RF SIGINT and EW — with the honest caveat that the node is still a small visible object on a findable, cuttable line, and the emplacing drone is audible during install.

At the other end

The fiber ends at your console.

A rugged field tablet shows the live feed and detections from the node — powered from the node's own battery, or indefinitely on external power.

A rugged field tablet on a tripod showing a node's live feed from cover.

At a glance

Baseline configuration.

Link: Fiber-tethered, data only
Run length: ~1 km baseline
Fiber: Ordinary telecom fiber, standard optics
Bandwidth: Gigabits of headroom
Signature: RF-silent · jam-proof
Power: Onboard battery, duty-cycled
Endurance: Days to weeks per emplacement
External power: Optional copper lead via socket

Where it stands

Straight about the hard parts.

Three feasibility risks remain and are the focus of prototyping. We name them plainly.

Risk 01

Attachment force

A drone is a weak, unstable force applicator. Low-clamp-pressure instant bonds on bark or weathered concrete are the materials weak point on vertical, rough surfaces.

Risk 02

The aim joint

The passive lock-on-release joint has to work as a precision mechanism — on a part that is meant to be thrown away.

Risk 03

Fiber survival

Long-term survival of a ground-run fiber against snag and cut over the length of an emplacement.

Contact

Reusable drone. Disposable eyes.

Request a briefing on Pitapod-1 and the Tyzentec operating software.

Email contact@tyzentec.com Back to home