Smart Return-to-Home is Flyability’s First Step Towards Fully Autonomous Inspections with the Elios 3
March 26, 2025: Flyability has announced the launch of Smart Return-to-Home for their flagship Elios 3 drone. This new feature blends autonomy with the Elios 3’s existing toolkit, helping the drone autonomously plan and execute the shortest route back to the home point when triggered. This feature is available to Elios 3 users with a Premium software subscription.
A New Era for Confident Indoor Flights
The Elios 3 is flown in some of the world’s most challenging environments — from vast, dark caverns to tight, confined spaces, sometimes deep underground or even in radioactive areas. In Hong Kong, Elios 3 is most often used for inspecting underground drainage culverts, sewage channels, and dark toxic areas in sewage treatment plants. Many of these contain unknown hazards, partially collapsed structures, and intense water flow which can make navigation treacherous. Navigating these spaces isn’t easy. Pilots face intense pressure to fly in, capture the data, and get back out without exceeding battery limits or losing their way.
With Smart Return-to-Home (Smart RTH), we’re taking the pressure off pilots. They can now rely on the drone to bring itself back, allowing them to focus fully on the inspection. It marks Flyability’s first step into autonomous inspections — and the beginning of an exciting new chapter.
What is Smart Return-to-Home?
Smart RTH is an advanced version of the traditional return-to-home feature. While typical RTH retraces the flight path or follows a preset altitude, Smart RTH leverages the Elios 3’s autonomy engines and LiDAR to analyze the environment in real time and calculate the shortest, safest route back — actively avoiding obstacles. This not only extends battery efficiency but also removes the burden of manually planning the return flight.
Smart RTH gives you the confidence to push further into complex environments. It’s essentially a ‘get me out of here’ button
So how does it work?
While flying, the Elios maps its surroundings and computes the most efficient return trajectory in real time
Schematic illustration of the RTH feature – no matter how complex the path, the Elios finds the most efficient return trajectory
During flight, the pilot’s screen displays a “flight time management gauge” that clearly indicates both the total remaining flight time and the RTH advisory threshold.
When the battery reaches the RTH advisory threshold, the pilot is alerted that it’s time to activate Smart RTH. Once triggered, the drone takes over and begins returning via the shortest path. The pilot can take back control at any moment or simply monitor the return through Cockpit on the remote control.
Smart RTH demo showing the full return-to-home workflow, from inspection to safe return.
Smart RTH removes the burden of planning the return route or managing battery life, letting the Elios 3 handle its journey home — with pilot oversight if needed. It can be deployed in any environment the Elios 3 operates in, from narrow, confined spaces to large, dusty caverns.
Key Benefits of Smart RTH for Elios 3 Users
During an inspection, the pilot’s focus should be on gathering the best data possible. Smart RTH empowers this by removing the stress of planning the flight back or closely monitoring battery life.
With Smart RTH, it’s possible to maximize inspection efficiency with longer flight times. Pilots don’t need to plan escape routes or manually retrace their path back to the home point – the flight management gauge with the battery alerts takes care of this. Even in complex spaces that wind around corners or bends, the Elios 3 can find its way back with Smart RTH. This reduces the risk of losing the drone, giving pilots a clearer sense of battery limits and the confidence to push further without going beyond what’s feasible.
As Flyability’s Head of Training, Charles Rey, explains: “Smart RTH gives you the confidence to push further into complex environments. It’s essentially a ‘get me out of here’ button — whether you’re in a tough spot or simply ready to return. It frees up your focus during the flight, allowing you to carry out more thorough and efficient inspections.
Using the Smart RTH function in real-world scenarios.
The Technology Behind Smart RTH
Smart RTH is a major innovation by Flyability. An onboard algorithm helps the Elios 3 analyze its trajectory before converting awareness into a flight plan. This algorithm includes collision autonomy and basic object recognition, helping it avoid and recover from impact with obstacles. When Smart RTH is deployed, the drone assesses where it is in relation to the home point and determines what the best path of return is – in some cases, selecting an entirely new path that it recognizes as safe and accessible.
While pilots might enjoy the new battery gauge and excitement that Smart RTH offers, this feature is so much more than that. It is based on this continuous environment scanning that the Elios 3’s future autonomous capabilities can be unleashed. The Elios 3’s new ability to intelligently avoid obstacles is a breakthrough for Flyability and is the first step towards fully automated inspections with the Elios 3. Smart RTH is phase one of an exciting journey that will be a major feature in Flyability’s future development.
Flyability’s Growing Software Offering
Smart RTH signals Flyability’s growing commitment to expanding its software offering. With this feature only available to premium software subscribers, Flyability is ensuring that the faith of the software users is repaid with exclusive capabilities. This does not just include the Smart RTH tool but also the flight time management gauge which makes it much easier to maximize airtime and optimize inspections.
Flyability’s software plan is designed to streamline work for pilots and host the upcoming automation features. This is particularly valuable to users who need to inspect complex assets with higher safety risks, and those who wish to prioritise efficiency of inspections. Smart RTH is just one of the unique features offered to Flyability’s software subscribers — and more are expected in the near future.
Flying into the Future
Smart Return-to-Home is Flyability’s latest breakthrough, taking the trusted Elios 3 even further than before. Pilots can rely on the drone to help take care of itself while they focus on inspections, gathering more data than ever before while being confident in the safety of their drone and mission.
As this feature is currently only available to Premium software subscribers, if you are interested in upgrading, please reach out to us for upgrade pricing, or if prefer, a free demo first!
For Elios 3 LIGHT users who are not on the Premium Software Package (which includes Asset Management in Inspector 5), we strongly recommend investing in upgrading your plan, as it promises more features in the near future, taking your Elios missions to the next level!
