Drone company SkyTask has announced it has received an FAA waiver to conduct BVLOS flights at the Colorado State University Drone Center. The waiver is a large milestone for the company, allowing it to continue testing its drone-based asset monitoring and inspection programs.
SkyTask’s system allows drone operators and companies to set up operational boundaries that don’t allow the drone to fly beyond them, ensuring a highly secure and safe operation. The system also uses optical detect and avoid (DAA) technology and real-time cloud-based management to address regulatory barriers comprehensively.
Some other features of the system includes:
- GNSS enabled flight navigation
- Ground-based, millimeter accurate localization
- Real-time ADSB
- Microclimate data
- Multi-source video tracking, from the air and ground
- Cloud-based data correlation, enabling flight time action
Dave Belt, chief technologist with SkyTask, shared:
This first regulatory approval serves as a significant validation of our design approach and opens the door for us to take our system to the next level. Our next step is to solidify our system implementation at Christman Airfield to support our direct customer trials within the Energy Services industry.
The Colorado State University Drone Center has been an important part of its history, allowing it to access its top-tier facilities, vertical experience, and engineering resources. It has also allowed SkyTask to simulate real-world applications of the solution. The SkyTask system means the person doing the inspection can be thousands of miles away while controlling the drone, with the knowledge that it can’t fly out of the operational area. If anything goes wrong, it will automatically land.
Paul Ragland, cofounder and president, added:
As an emerging UAV innovation company, SkyTask keeps its focus on developing enabling security technologies with the goal of opening the skies for advanced industrial UAV operations. These waiver approvals for safe flight over industrial infrastructure utilizes SkyTask’s perimeter protection combining real-time airspace awareness with aircraft device trust.
Photo: SkyTask
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