Talon Aerolytics works with clients in the fields of telecommunication, technology, financial services and data management. The company captures and delivers aerial data for major clients in the telecommunications industry with proprietary Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) flight patterns and highly skilled team members. UAS platforms provide detailed images, at safe stand-off distances, to capture wildlife in a noninvasive manner. Professors of ornithology at Auburn University’s School of Biological Sciences provide Talon assessments on nesting migratory birds. 
This data then is relayed to customers through Talon’s proprietary Collaborative Content Management System (CCMS) software within 24 hours.
Additionally, Talon, according to the company website, uses industry leading software programs to produce accurate and detailed 3D models of towers, RADs, Ground Control Stations, huts, terrain and more. The data, which Talon makes actionable, is designed for any application that requires survey-grade accuracy including: orthomosaics, digital surface models, and point clouds from aerial or oblique imagery. The software provides seamless integration with geographical information systems, CAD and traditional photogrammetry software.
Tim Dunnigan is president and co-founder of Talon. After serving 22 years in the United States Army, he has become an entrepreneur. He officially started the data company on July 1, 2015, and Dunnigan is hoping to grow out of the Southeast with more of a national footprint.
“What’s cool about how we’re doing that is we are recruiting veterans from the hometowns across the country. We bring them here to West Point [Georgia, the company’s headquarters] to receive their training, their fleet vehicle and their equipment, and then they go back and work in their hometowns,” Dunnigan said.
Dunnigan’s goal for the next 12 to 18 months is to recruit 300 veterans to the current workforce, who also are U.S. military veterans. Talon’s U.S.-based operations consist of FAA approved UAS pilots, experienced observers and a content editing team managing the CCMS. Under current commercial rules for the Federal Aviation Administration you have to have a pilot’s license, so early on, he recruited several former helicopter pilots, former or retired.
“The visual observer required by the FAA, which we call a safety officer, had a lot less requirements, however what we did is we recruited all pilots early as a business strategy, so when we expanded we could simply keep doubling our teams, and that’s actually paid off for us,” Dunnigan said.
He said it also creates a culture of commitment and loyalty, a bond formed while in service, which was established long before the teams came together.
“There’s a transition they all had to go through, for example we have a full-time chaplain. We have built up a company that not only supports veterans and hires veterans, but we built an environment for them to transition as well. And I think we’ve been very successful there,” Dunnigan said.
Looking ahead, Dunnigan is excited about Talonview, a combination of the CCMS and the knowledge the company gained in the industry. It offers integrated technology, efficiency, interactivity and real-time, actionable data. Talon Aerolytics’ live camera streaming application helps connect subject matter experts with field teams to increase efficiency and quality, through interactive, real-time communication and documentation. Talonview offers live video streaming, two-way communication, HD video recording, data tagged high resolution photos, multiple session participants, and SME remote device control from anywhere in the world. Additionally, Talonview allows participants to make annotations and voice recordings on live video and photos. At the completion of each live session, all data is edited and organized on the CCMS for access within 24 hours.
“We built it [Talonview] with the assertion that a climber has to climb, and we want them to be safer and more precise. How can Talon also infuse themselves in the climb from a data perspective?” Dunnigan said. “Talonview allows a mobile device to accompany a climber with a live streaming session between the climber or the ground technician and a subject matter expert or a construction manager at their desktop. The construction manager controls the entire session; it allows the expert to be on that tower with the technician.”
Dunnigan would like to have the CCMS become the single source for all data in telecom. He said that by year’s end he would love to be “nestled” with at least three major tower carriers and two major tower owners that could begin using the technology’s resources and data as a single source of information.
No matter what the technology is, Dunnigan said that he wants people to recognize that Talon is not trying to eliminate the climber, in fact, he wants inspections and audits to be safer.
“We’ve not only made this type of information more effective, more efficient and safer, we’ve also made it more precise,” he said. “When a climber does have to climb, you can climb with precision to know where you’re going, on what side and with what equipment.”
For inquiries, please contact Doug Warrington at (334) 332-7811 or visit itctalon.com.
By Alyssa Stahr
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