ANAFI AI

ANAFI AI (written ANAFI Ai by its maker) is a folding professional mapping and inspection quadcopter developed by Parrot of France, announced on 30 June 2021. It is the first Parrot drone to use a 4G LTE link as its primary connection to the operator, and it carries a 48-megapixel camera on a three-axis gimbal. The aircraft weighs 898 g, flies for up to 32 minutes and has a service ceiling of 5,000 m above sea level.

Overview

ANAFI Ai is the successor to the consumer-oriented ANAFI of 2018 and the enterprise-oriented ANAFI USA of 2020. Parrot presented it on 30 June 2021 as a "4G robotic UAV" aimed at inspection, surveying and photogrammetry work, and opened an early-access programme in September 2021. DroneDJ reported in December 2021 that the aircraft was available for pre-order through selected resellers at 4,000 US dollars before tax, with deliveries starting in January 2022.

Compared with earlier ANAFI models the airframe was redesigned, the Wi-Fi link is backed by a built-in 4G modem, and obstacle avoidance uses a pair of stereo cameras on a rotating mount. Parrot also ships an open-source Air SDK that lets developers run their own code on the drone, and the aircraft and its Skycontroller 4 remote each contain a Secure Element chip for software integrity.

As of 2026 Parrot lists ANAFI Ai alongside ANAFI USA and ANAFI UKR as its current product line.

Design and capabilities

ANAFI Ai is a four-arm folding quadcopter measuring 304 × 130 × 118 mm folded and 320 × 440 × 118 mm unfolded; the specs block uses the unfolded length of 0.32 m and width of 0.44 m. Take-off weight is 898 g. Power comes from a 6,800 mAh, 4.4 V battery driving four electric motors, giving a maximum flight time of 32 minutes. Parrot's specification page gives a maximum horizontal speed of 16 m/s (57.6 km/h), which is the figure used above; the company's separate flight-performance page quotes 17 m/s forward and 16 m/s backward and laterally. The aircraft tolerates winds of 14 m/s in flight and 12 m/s during take-off and landing, operates between −10 °C and 40 °C, and is IP53 rated against dust and rain. The service ceiling is 5,000 m above sea level, and Parrot states a maximum flight distance of 22.5 km at 14 m/s in still air.

The main camera uses a 1/2-inch 48-megapixel CMOS sensor recording 48 MP (8000 × 6000) or 12 MP stills and 4K video, with 6× zoom of which 4× is lossless at 1080p and 2× at 4K. Obstacle detection relies on two stereoscopic cameras mounted on a gimbal that rotates through 330° (−120° to +210°), supplemented by a downward camera and a time-of-flight sensor.

Connectivity is the aircraft's defining feature. The 4G modem supports 28 LTE bands between 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz, which Parrot says covers more than 98 percent of frequencies deployed worldwide, and the drone switches between Wi-Fi and 4G without operator action. Over Wi-Fi with the Skycontroller 4 the maximum range is 4 km under CE rules and 9 km under FCC rules; the 9 km FCC figure is the range in the specs block. Over 4G the link is limited by network coverage rather than distance, which Parrot presents as enabling beyond-visual-line-of-sight flight where regulations allow; 1080p video streaming has a stated latency of 300 ms, and video and control traffic are secured with SRTP/DTLS as used in WebRTC.

Use cases

Parrot markets ANAFI Ai for surveying, inspection and autonomous photogrammetry. Grid, double-grid and orbit missions from the PIX4Dcapture planner are integrated into Parrot's FreeFlight 7 application, images can be transferred over 4G to PIX4Dcloud during flight, and the drone captures 48 MP stills at one frame per second; Parrot quotes a ground sampling distance of 0.46 cm per pixel at 30 m altitude. Typical users are surveyors, infrastructure inspectors, construction firms and public-safety agencies; the 4G link is intended for missions where the drone flies behind obstacles or beyond Wi-Fi range.

Variants

• ANAFI (2018) – 21 MP consumer folding drone; the first model of the line.
• ANAFI USA (2020) – 500 g enterprise and defence version with 32× zoom and a thermal camera.
• ANAFI Ai (2021) – redesigned airframe, 48 MP camera, 4G LTE link and rotating stereo cameras.

Frequently asked questions

What is the range of ANAFI AI?

Over Wi-Fi with the Skycontroller 4 the maximum range is 9 km under FCC rules and 4 km under CE rules. Over a 4G LTE network the range is limited only by network coverage.

How long can ANAFI AI fly?

Parrot states a maximum flight time of 32 minutes from the 6,800 mAh battery, and a maximum flight distance of 22.5 km at 14 m/s in still air.

How much does ANAFI AI weigh?

The aircraft weighs 898 g, which places it above the 250 g registration threshold used by most aviation authorities.

What camera does ANAFI AI have?

It carries a 1/2-inch 48-megapixel CMOS sensor on a three-axis gimbal, recording 8000 × 6000 stills and 4K video with up to 6× zoom.

How much does ANAFI AI cost?

DroneDJ reported a pre-order price of 4,000 US dollars before tax in December 2021. Parrot's own specification pages do not list a price.