Beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)

Amazon has gotten big news from US regulators that should help the online marketplace finally take its drone deliveries to another level: approval to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights across its Prime Air networks.

Long distance connectivity tech specialist Elsight has established its first foothold in Japan’s developing UAV market through a partnership it announced with the country’s leading drone manufacturer, ACSL.

Sphere Drones, one of Australia’s largest drone service providers, has introduced HubT, the next iteration of its innovative drone-in-a-box solutions for businesses. Leveraging the new DJI Dock 2 system, HubT comes as a fixed-site solution for automating repetitive tasks and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations.

Australia’s Sphere Drones has achieved a significant regulatory milestone by procuring a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) waiver from the country’s civil aviation authority.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given security robotics company Asylon new approval for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations using the US-made DroneSentry drone-in-a-box system. The waiver removes the requirement for on-site personnel.

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is launching the state’s first low-altitude UAV traffic management system (UTM) to permit safe scaling of drone operations, and eventually clear the way for routine beyond visual line of sight flights by professional service providers and public administrations.

Drone navigation and situational awareness tech startup Kongsberg Geospatial is partnering with advanced radar specialist Echodyne to provide what they describe as enhanced, uncluttered piloting interfaces to facilitate the scaling of beyond visual line of sight operations (BVLOS).

The UK’s  Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulatory body has taken an important step toward enabling UAV activities to scale, with its proposals to loosen rules for beyond visual line of sight drone operation (BVLOS).

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) is joining forces with the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA) so that beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations in the US can scale up safely.

Drone services company DroneUp has announced reception of what’s currently considered the brass ring of UAV operational capabilities with a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization to make beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) deliveries without the obligation of ground observers.

Canadian UAV transport specialist Drone Delivery Canada has effectively fused two different operational authorizations it had earned from regulators in past into a unified approval to fly beyond visual line of sight missions (BVLOS) while carrying medical payloads classified as dangerous cargo.

Wing Aviation, one of the world’s leading operators of drone delivery services, has received additional authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowing the company to considerably broaden its use of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights without ground observers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX area – and, eventually, in scaling across the US.

New York’s Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) announced a major expansion of its capabilities to prepare diversified drone and advanced air mobility (AAM) activity, with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval to expand the organization’s beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight zone to cover 240 square-miles.

As predicted when policies and budgets were passed to mend long neglected infrastructure across the US, the deployment of drones for inspection and restoration of public assets has increased dramatically. Yet another example of that is the work the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will do in surveying its aging rail system using a newly-issued Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operation. 

Commercial drone systems developer Matternet says it has been selected to operate medical deliveries between Berlin hospitals and laboratories in a project that will involve the first ever beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) UAV flights over the German capital.

Surging automated drone tech company Percepto has added another Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) achievement to its growing list, which in this case allows the company to remotely operate up to 30 of its UAVs using only one pilot.

Aerial tech and communications group Ondas Holdings is leveraging its subsidiaries’ strengths by deploying Airobotics’ automated nested drone platform under the beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operation of American Robotics, as part of a pilot program it will oversee for the aeronautics division of Massachusetts Department of Transport (MassDOT).

Leading global instant logistics and drone delivery specialist Zipline revealed it has set another precedent by conducting its the first beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight in the US without any ground observers.

Aerial food delivery specialist Flytrex has announced authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) permitting it to perform beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights in markets across the US, an exemption to operate above homes and people without ground observers it plans to use in accelerated scaling of its activities.

France’s budding UAV services startup Delivrone has teamed up with one of Europe’s most ambitious and fast-moving drone delivery companies, RigiTech, to initiate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) missions between French hospitals – including rare nighttime flights.

Michigan Central and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) have announced the launch of a new aerial urban initiative in Detroit that would provide open, shared infrastructure and services to drone startups. The two-year Advanced Aerial Innovation Region project aims to foster commercial drone development in the state while catalyzing new high-skill jobs.