Maximize Your Rewards

Your rewards are determined primarily by where you deploy your sensor. Here's how to make the most of your FliteGrid participation.

Location, Location, Location

FliteGrid's H3 hex grid assigns values to every area in the country based on airspace importance. The higher the hex value, the more you earn for providing coverage there. Maximizing your rewards comes down to deploying in the most valuable hex you can access.

High-Value Areas

The highest-value hexes tend to cluster around locations where drone tracking data is most commercially valuable.

• Near airports — Drone incursions near airports are a top safety concern. Airlines, airport operators, and the FAA all need this data.

• Near critical infrastructure — Power plants, substations, transmission lines, water treatment facilities, refineries, and data centers.

• Near correctional facilities — Prisons dealing with drone contraband smuggling need persistent monitoring.

• Near stadiums and event venues — Large gatherings create demand for temporary and permanent drone monitoring.

• Near military installations — Bases need comprehensive airspace security.

• In border zones — Border security operations need wide-area drone detection.

• Near universities — Large campus environments with sporting events and research facilities.

• Near transportation hubs — Ports, railyards, and major interchanges.

You don't need to be directly on top of these facilities. Being within the same hex or an adjacent hex is what matters, and Remote ID broadcasts can be received from a reasonable distance with good placement.

Unclaimed Hexes

Deploying into a hex with no existing coverage is particularly valuable. You're providing unique data that the network didn't have before. The FliteGrid coverage map on flitegrid.io shows which hexes are claimed and where gaps exist.

Avoid Redundant Coverage

Placing a sensor in a hex that's already well-covered provides less marginal value to the network. While overlapping coverage does support data validation, the reward incentives are designed to push sensors toward uncovered areas rather than stacking on top of existing coverage.

Physical Placement

Even within a great hex, how you physically mount the sensor matters.

Go high. Elevation extends your sensor's effective reception range. A rooftop-mounted sensor will capture broadcasts from a much larger area than one sitting on a ground-floor windowsill.

Go unobstructed. Every wall, tree, and building between your sensor and a drone reduces signal quality. The ideal mounting location has open sky in all directions.

Stay stable. Your sensor's GPS data is used for proof-of-location verification. Mount it securely in a permanent position.

Multiple Sensors

You can purchase and deploy more than one sensor. If you have access to multiple good locations (different properties, different cities, different high-value areas), running multiple sensors lets you cover more hexes and earn more rewards. Each sensor earns independently based on its own hex value and data contribution.

Track Your Performance

Once sensors are deployed and the network is live, FliteGrid.io will provide dashboards showing your sensor's data contribution, reward accumulation, hex value, and network standing. Use this data to evaluate whether repositioning could improve your earnings.