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Skyfire aids PG&E earn California-wide BVLOS drone infrastructure inspection waiver

Skyfire PG&E drone

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.

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FAA allows Valmont utility inspection drones to fly BVLOS across US

bvlos drone inspection valmont utility top drone service companies 2022 delivery

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.

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Southern California Edison to spend $50M in pole drone inspection services

missiongo southern california edison drone inspection utility

Southern California Edison says it plans to spend an estimated $50 million in drone inspection services over the next three years to ensure that nearly 160,000 of its electricity poles are adequately maintained. The news comes a day after the utility was sued by a second group of families alleging that a “negligent reckless, and willful failure” to maintain electrical equipment led to the outbreak of the destructive Fairview Fire last month.

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Soaring Eagle gets FAA drone BVLOS waiver for unlimited distance inspections

Soaring Eagle BVLOS drone

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.

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Annoyed by its buzzing noise, Dutch vacationer fires multiple shots at high-end DJI drone

dji drone shot

A $13,000 DJI M300 RTK drone was fired upon multiples time by a vacationer last week while the aircraft was inspecting critical infrastructure in the Netherlands. UAS service provider Zero Gravity Drone, which was conducting the inspection, says it has filed a complaint with the local police.

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Florida utility FPL’s $1.2 million survey, inspection drone is now reporting for duty

FPL Air One florida utility drone

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), an electric utility that serves more than 12 million people in Florida, says its $1.2 million FPLAir One drone is ready for primetime. The launch of the FPLAir One, the utility adds, is a milestone in itself because no other uncrewed aircraft of its size has ever been used before for commercial purposes outside of an FAA test site.

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American Robotics adds anomaly detection AI to automated Scout drones

American Robotics AI Scout

Leading autonomous drone services provider American Robotics says it has begun equipping its Scout System UAVs with new artificial intelligence (AI) anomaly detection capabilities designed to help clients – particularly those in oil and gas – avoid unexpected developments or accidents that could lead to costly consequences.

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European chemical maker uses automated thermal drones for daily risk analysis

European chemical manufacturer uses thermal drones for daily risk analysis

Armor Group, a major European manufacturer of industrial inks, says it has started using a drone-in-a-box solution for daily surveillance and preventive inspection at a French manufacturing site whose atmosphere has been classified as “potentially explosive.” The company’s La Chevrolière site is now benefiting from Hoverseen automatic docking system for Parrot ANAFI thermal drones. 

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Drone piloted from Florida inspects industrial plant in Italy [Video]

Skypersonic drone inspection

Red Cat Holdings subsidiary Skypersonic says it has successfully completed the world’s first transcontinental drone inspection relying only on an internet connection from a normal mobile phone. A fully operational utility plant in Turin was inspected using an indoor drone controlled from Orlando, some 4,800 miles away.

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TotalEnergies launches global drone methane emissions detection program

TotalEnergies drone methane

French energy giant TotalEnergies is launching a drone-based methane emissions detection program across all its upstream oil and gas operated sites. The global campaign will use a greenhouse gas measuring technology called Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications (AUSEA) that TotalEnergies has developed in collaboration with the French National Research Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne.

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Michigan’s SkySpecs gets $80M funding to expand drone software offerings

skyspecs drone inspection software

SkySpecs, a Michigan-based company whose drone software is used to monitor about 45% of all wind turbine blades in North America, has scooped up a cool $80 million in strategic funding to grow its product portfolio as well as geographic footprint. The funding round was led by Goldman Sachs with participation from NextEra Energy Resources and existing investors.

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DJI Mavic 2 Pro drones to monitor critical gas pipelines in Virginia

virginia natural gas pipeline dji mavic 2 pro drone

Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) has decided to use drones as another means to perform equipment inspections on its pipeline infrastructure. The utility company says it will use DJI Mavic 2 Pro drones for inspections of critical infrastructure, right-of-way assessments, and monitoring more than 5,500 miles of gas pipeline in Virginia.

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Hundreds of autonomous drones to monitor Florida electric utility

Percepto autonomous drones electric utility

Florida Power & Light (FPL), which serves more than 11 million people in Florida, is deploying autonomous drones across the state to monitor substations and power distribution grids. The electric utility has tied up with drone-in-a-box solutions provider Percepto for what is being hailed as “the largest commercial autonomous drone project in the world.”

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