Beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)

Transport Canada has given its approval to Ontario Power Generation to operate inspection drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), without an onsite visual observer, at McConnell Lake Control Dam. Percepto, whose drone-in-a-box solution will make this feat possible, points out this is the first time regulators are allowing autonomous drone operations in Canada.

Update, January 27, 2023: American Water has clarified that advanced drone flights are being made possible courtesy of its partnership with the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), an New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) corporation which holds an FAA Part 91 Certificate of Authorization.

The earlier report from American Water follows…

Enterprise drone automation software specialist FlytBase has announced the second edition of NestGen, a global virtual summit that puts the spotlight on the latest drone-in-a-box tech and solutions enabling drone autonomy.

Maker of avionics tech for drones and other aircraft, uAvionix has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights within North Dakota’s Vantis UAV network. 

Ground-breaking autonomous drone systems developer Percepto says it has attained another unprecedented Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) authorization, this time for its nested UAVs to be used at a solar power plant in Texas to perform highly automated inspections at high altitudes.

Japan Post, the archipelago nation’s mail company, has jumped on the easing of certain drone restrictions introduced only last week to announce its plans to prepare for aerial delivery of parcels starting next year.

Specialist public safety and first responder drone consultancy Skyfire says it successfully assisted wildfire-plagued utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to obtain a Federal Aviation Administration waiver to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) infrastructure flights throughout the entire state of California.

A UK consortium of companies has launched a two-year, high-intensity autonomous drone operations (HALO) project to develop and test an uncrewed aircraft traffic management system (UTM) capable of integrating around the clock UAV flights at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Drone automation software specialist FlytBase is partnering with avionics safety expert Iris Automation so that enterprises can conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) missions safely at scale.

With drones making powerline inspections safer, more efficient, and cost-effective, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a new Part 107 Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) waiver that would allow Valmont Industries to fly its drones across the United States at a moment’s notice.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted a nationwide waiver for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights to a drone-in-a-box solution provider for the first time ever.

Swiss drone manufacturer and services company RigiTech has continued pushing the boundaries of its activities by staging a long-distance beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) aerial delivery over Lake Geneva, linking two medical labs.

Spright, the drone division of aerial medical service provider Air Methods, is now one step closer to launching the first bidirectional American medical drone delivery network. The company has set the record for completing the longest beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flight by a commercial entity in the US.

Drone data collection, surveying, and infrastructure inspection company Soaring Eagle Technologies has added another Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) waiver to its collection – this one permitting virtually unlimited geographic range of mission operation.

Diversified drone services company Phoenix Air Unmanned (PAU) surpassed the 13,000 mark for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights during another phase in its long-running aerial inspections of Xcel Energy transmission infrastructure.

American Robotics has been granted a new exemption by the FAA which enables the company to not only operate its autonomous Scout drone system for research, development, crew training, and market surveys, but also for full-scale commercial operations.

Switzerland’s specialized medical drone transport company RigiTech is breaking new ground in France, where it has received the first-ever approval to fly regular beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of patient samples and other materials between two French laboratories.

Drone services, hardware, and training company Volatus Aerospace has been granted a special certificate by regulator Transport Canada to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) missions without a flight observer.

American Robotics (AR) says it has received a Part 107 waiver from the FAA for expanded automated beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. The company’s Scout drones can now operate autonomously at ranges of up to 10 miles, allowing for more efficient inspections over large industrial sites and linear assets such as pipelines, railways, and electrical transmission lines.

Utility giant American Water is taking its drone program up a notch with a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS). The waiver will allow American Water drone operators to fly their aircraft up to four miles away.

A group of aviation and drone sector companies in the UK are banding together to work toward increased use cases and frequency of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights across the nation, and propose policies to regulators permitting wider deployment of those missions.