Gitex in Dubai: G-42 firm Bayanat signs joint partnership deal with UAVOS for HAPS

Bayanat, which is a part of the Abu Dhabi-based G42 since 2020 and is unlocking its ambitious plans to be leader for geospatial data in the UAE and beyond, signed a joint partnership agreement with UAVOS — a manufacturer of unmanned vehicles intended to serve the European and the US markets — at the ongoing Gitex Global in Dubai on Thursday, the penultimate day of the biggest technology event in the Middle East.

Hasan Ahmed Al Hosani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bayanat, and Vadim Tarasov, the chairman on the board of UAVOS, signed the agreement at the booth of G42, a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing dedicated in powering human progress through AI.

“Predictive geospatial intelligence, which we call gIQ, represents the fusion of Bayanat’s geospatial expertise with G42’s artificial intelligence capabilities — and it’s powering us into the future,” Hosani told ‘Khaleej Times’ on the sidelines of the signing of the joint partnership agreement.

Earlier, at the Dubai Airshow last November, Bayanat had announced its plans to launch a maiden flight of its high-altitude pseudo satellite (HAPS), remotely piloted and solar-powered aircraft.

Now, multiple HAPS launches are planned for later this year, including one from Argentina in South America, and also next year.

The key benefits of HAPS over satellites are costs.

A geostationary orbit satellite to build and launch costs approximately $200 (Dh734.62) million and $2 (Dh7.34) billion for a low earth orbit satellite.

In addition, HAPS only needs one platform and one ground station to initiate operations, whereby satellites require an entire system to be built in order to operate.

Bayanat has also been a gracious sponsor.

Indian Naval Commander (retd) Abhilash Tomy — the first from his country to complete a solo, non-stop circumnavigation— is taking part on the Golden Globe Race (GGR) 2022, thanks to the sponsorship of Bayanat.

He had made the announcement at Expo 2020 Dubai last year and the race started on September 4.