BVLOS - ARPAS UK

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AmeyVTOL trials UK first ‘beyond visual line of sight’ drone inspection

AmeyVTOL has successfully demonstrated the first drone inspection of UK infrastructure to go beyond visual line of sight (BVLoS).

During the demonstration, the VTOL flying wing surveyed an area of 2km autonomously and out of the sight of the pilot. Previous to this, drone inspections were limited to flight within visual line of sight (WVLoS) and as such, could not go further than 500 metres from the pilot.

The successful trial opens up significant possibilities for BVLoS inspections of long linear infrastructure such as roads, railways and overhead power lines. Not only does BVLoS save time and massively reduce inspection and survey costs, it also increases the quality, volume, and repeatability of data – enabling better asset management decisions and more efficient maintenance.

Most importantly, it also enables inspections and surveys to be undertaken without people needing to work alongside a live railway, removing ‘boots from ballast’.

The success was made possible through AmeyVTOL’s innovative VTOL Flying Wing that can fly up to 100km on a single charge due to a unique hybrid design and an optimised energy system. Preparation and execution of the trial was made possible through AmeyVTOL’s state of the art operational control centre which enables the planning, simulation, and remote monitoring of BVLoS drone operations. Advanced communications and simulation capabilities were developed in partnership with world leader Collins Aerospace.

Speaking on the announcement, Alex Gilbert, Managing Director, Amey Consulting said: “We are delighted to have successfully trialled a UK first for asset management. Through our collaboration with SME VTOL technologies we have developed a genuine innovation that could transform inspections and surveys for asset owners in both the public and private sector. Being able to go beyond visual line of sight will not just provide safer, more effective inspections but it will empower asset managers with increasingly reliable data, resulting in informed, intelligent decision making.”

The demonstration project was part of a government-sponsored Rail First of a Kind (FOAK) programme promoted by Innovate UK through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI). SBRI is designed to bring together government challenges and ideas from businesses to create innovative solutions and was instrumental in enabling the demonstration of BVLoS operations.

AmeyVTOL will now be offering this capability to infrastructure owners and operators who want to deliver efficient and repeatable asset safety and condition inspections, and topographical surveys, without placing people in hazardous environments.

30th April 2020

AmeyVTOL

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Blue Bear successfully demonstrates drone swarm as part of

Blue Bear Systems Research Ltd, in Bedford, has successfully demonstrated a fully autonomous suite of multiple drone swarm assets, under Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) conditions as part of the National Beyond visual line of sight Experimentation Corridor with partner ARPAS-UK Member, Cranfield University.

This technology enables complex drone operations, where multiple assets are able to carry out simultaneous tasks, controlled by a single user, to create a swarm effect.

The five fixed wing drones clocked up 15 hours of flying time, over four days, in challenging weather conditions. The swarm comprised a combination of Blue Bear’s own Redkite and Cobra fixed wing systems, which flew multiple, simultaneous, sorties from a test range in the North West of England.

The drones were equipped with the latest Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, and the airspace was managed by Blue Bear’s airspace deconfliction software. All of the assets were controlled by a single operator from Blue Bear’s Mission Command Control System (MCCS).

Ian Williams-Wynn, Managing Director of Blue Bear Systems, said: “This is an exciting development for us, proving our ability to operate multiple drones, simultaneously, using the latest Blue Bear technology to deliver a swarm effect under BVLOS conditions.”

Yoge Patel, CEO of Blue Bear, added: “As agile innovators, this, once again, proves that we are able to develop game-changing capability rapidly.”

NBEC is a collaboration between Cranfield University and Blue Bear Systems Research Ltd that aims to create an experimentation corridor that will enable drones and unmanned aircraft to fly in the same airspace as manned aircraft.

Blue Bear executed three-kilometre Extended Visual Line of Sight (EVLOS) race track flights within the Cranfield Air Traffic Zone, utilising their Blackstart Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) towards their facility in Oakley. Regulations currently require drones to operate within visual line of sight of the operator at all times. Under EVLOS conditions, observers are used to maintain the line of sight while providing situational awareness to the operator.

The NBEC partners believe the key to future drone operations is not segregation, but unification ensuring fair and equitable use of airspace for all. NBEC will provide a safe, managed environment for drone and unmanned aircraft experimentation which will work towards their integration into controlled and uncontrolled airspace. The aim is to see the corridor eventually stretch across Bedfordshire from Blue Bear’s headquarters in Oakley to Cranfield University’s airport.

Ian Williams-Wynn, Managing Director of Blue Bear, said: “When fully operational, the NBEC will be operated with Blue Bear and Cranfield running their respective systems, and will create an environment that allows other companies to come and test their UTM (Unified Traffic Management) concepts in a safe, managed environment.

“These initial flights, enabled us to provide Cranfield Airport with reassurance from an operational safety perspective that the systems Blue Bear had developed and put in place are appropriate and compatible with Cranfield Airport operations.”

Professor Iain Gray, Director of Aerospace at Cranfield University, said: “The Government’s new aviation strategy green paper highlights the exciting potential of modernising the UK’s airspace. These initial flights, mark an important step in the realisation of NBEC, which will be a national asset that will support the journey to the creation of a Unified Traffic Management system.”

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently hosted the NBEC Team at its London headquarters, and provided the team with support and encouragement on their project and their staged risk, managed approach. Workup flights will be continuing at both ends of the NBEC Corridor throughout 2019.

During this first phase of testing, the Cranfield Air Traffic Zone was cleared of manned aircraft, to enable the project team to establish the principles for future integrated NBEC operations.

22nd April 2020

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Snowdonia Aerospace conduct successful medical BVLOS trials

Immediately before lockdown, a team from Snowdonia Aerospace, with partners SwiftFlight Avionics, University of Manchester and the Welsh Ambulance Service, completed a successful flight demo that showed proof-of-concept for beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) delivery of a defibrillator by drone to a remote, rural location that would be difficult to reach with an ambulance in a timely fashion.

This is the first demo of this type in the UK and one of only a handful that have been conducted worldwide. The project was conducted at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre, Llanbedr, North Wales, and funded by the UK Space Agency and Welsh Government under a National Space Technology Programme/Space for Smarter Government Programme to show how satellite-enabled drones could be used as part of a broader satellite-enabled network to support remote healthcare services in rural Welsh communities.

Snowdonia Aerospace are also very grateful to Schiller UK for the loan of a FRED easyport mini defibrillator. The defibrillator was delivered by parachute drop to a “first aider” and “casualty” on a remote beach. The drop point was 4.5 kilometres from the launch location and took 2 minutes 50 seconds to complete, whereas an ambulance would have taken an estimated 20+ minutes to reach the same location.

Chris Maltby in his blog says “A defibrillator is its most effective when administered within the first minute of a victim collapsing and if a defibrillator is used within the first 3 to 5 minutes, the likelihood of survival increases from 6% to 74% therefore, having a defibrillator close by really makes all the difference.”

Snowdonia Aerospace and partners are looking forward to continuing the BVLOS capability development as part of the upcoming UK Research & Innovation Future Flight Challenge and engaging with other emergency response stakeholders.

Snowdonia Aerospace are ARPAS-UK members, and also great supporters of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers’ UAS Challenge.

15th April 2020

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Drone-Based Reseeding Service Gains BVLOS Approval

DroneSeed, a startup that uses drone swarms to deliver seed payloads to restore forests and rangelands after wildfires, has announced that the company has been awarded an additional amendment to its FAA Part 333 exemption that will enable it to operate its seed-planting drones Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).

DroneSeed has previously earned the first and only approval by the FAA to operate heavy-lift drone swarms of up to five aircraft each carrying more than 57 lbs., which has allowed the company to secure contracts for post-fire restoration and forestry projects for The Nature Conservancy, Tribal entities and major timber companies. DroneSeed’s unmanned aircraft use “pucks” containing seeds, fertilizers and other amendments designed to boost seed survival, and this method of post-fire replanting can eliminate delays of 18-36 months waiting for seedlings to grow in a nursery.

The new ability to operate drones beyond a pilot’s view will provide access to areas that need post-fire replanting but lack a nearby road. The drone-based solution will also improve safety – scorched timber that is left onsite can fall over and kill workers performing manual replanting. Natural forest regeneration is also in decline due to climate change, with 40% of post-fire Northwest forests at risk of state-shift to grassy scrublands. DroneSeed can safely and efficiently replant seed vessels that boost survival rates immediately after a fire, deploying them with greater precision and efficacy by targeting areas called ‘microsites’ where regrowth has its best odds.

Grant Canary, Founder and CEO of DroneSeed, commented: “In an age where wildfires are both more severe, yet the new normal, and natural forest regeneration is declining rapidly, we need better tools such as drone swarms to have a shot at keeping the forests we have in addition to planting more trees to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.”

by Mike Ball for Unmanned Systems News

16th December 2019

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CAP 1861 – Beyond Visual Line of Sight in Non-Segregated Airspace

Regularly operating unmanned vehicles beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of their operator is a key requirement to maximise the benefits that this technology can deliver.

This new Innovation Hub guide introduces the fundamental principles of operating safely beyond visual line of sight, and describes the challenges that must be tackled in order to unlock the full potential for everyday flying such as inspection of infrastructure and deliveries.

191126_CAP 1861 – BVLOS Fundamentals – UAS Innovation

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has published its first guide aimed at supporting the industry to make unmanned aircraft (drone) flights beyond the visual line of sight of the operator (BVLOS) an everyday occurrence. This would significantly change how unmanned aircraft are used in the UK.

Currently, BVLOS flights require permission from the Civil Aviation Authority and can only occur in specific, restricted cases. Normalizing BVLOS will continue to push the UK forward as a world-leader in aviation innovation and technology.

Allowing BVLOS operations in the UK could bring huge benefits, including:
Drone parcel delivery from a distribution centre to a customer
Long-distance aerial surveys of infrastructure such as power lines or highway construction
Surveillance at the scene of an accident or incident, operated from an external control centre
Street mapping a whole city with optical and acoustic sensors

The guide details how future BVLOS operations can be achieved through testing and technology development. They set out the need for the regulator and innovators to build, test, learn and repeat in partnership in small steps to work toward the vision of safe BVLOS operations becoming business as usual in the UK.

David Tait, Acting Head of the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s Innovation Team, said:

“Enabling everyday drone flying beyond visual line of sight is a game changer, providing the opportunity for unmanned vehicles to monitor critical infrastructure, make deliveries and support our daily lives in an efficient and environmentally friendly way.”
“We are now working closely with some of the world’s leading innovators to make these amazing possibilities a reality.”

One company involved in the Civil Aviation Authority’s innovation work is sees.ai, a Techstars-backed startup led by four seasoned founders, formerly with Arup, Apple, CERN, McLaren and hedge funds.

sees.ai is developing technology that will enable drone service operators to fly drone missions BVLOS, from a central control room, at scale. Initial focus is on closed industrial sites, e.g. construction, infrastructure, and oil & gas. Tests are planned with companies such as Skanska, Atkins and the fire service, supported by NATS and Vodafone.

John McKenna, CEO of sees.ai, said: “Under conventional visual line of sight rules, operations have virtually zero economies of scale. In contrast, a centralised BVLOS approach improves on almost every measure with scale – including quality, safety, responsiveness and cost. For end clients, our technology will unlock a service that is better, quicker and cheaper. For operators, our technology will give them a competitive advantage that increases with scale. It’s a very exciting time and we are delighted that the CAA have invited us to explore the future with them.”

This roadmap has been produced by the Civil Aviation Authority’s Innovation Team, initially funded by a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) grant.

25/11/2019

The CAA