Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has successfully completed further testing with its Condor long-range delivery drone at the Foremost UAS Test Range, in Alberta, Canada. This round of testing included cold-weather performance, wind performance, cargo-area temperature profiles, long-duration flight testing, aircraft attitude and position controller tuning, autonomy, and autonomous waypoint navigation.
The Condor is DDC’s largest drone, with an expected range of 200km (124mi) and a payload capacity of 180kg (396lb). The platform has been fully integrated with the company’s patented FLYTE software system, and is marketed as a managed service SaaS (software as a service) business model in Canada and as a licensed managed service internationally.
According to proposed Transport Canada regulations, the Condor will not require a formal aircraft type-certification when operated in specific lower-risk locations, such as remote regions. DDC plans to begin commercialization in support of COVID-19-related activities and remote area deliveries once testing is complete. Flight approvals for the platform would be requested through Transport Canada following the straightforward and well-established Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) process that DDC has successfully used in the past.
Previous successful testing with the Condor platform has included: triple-redundant communications system (satellite, cellular, 900MHz RF); triple-redundant navigational guidance system; triple-redundant autopilot system; monitoring of unmanned flights remotely from DDC’s Operations Control Centre in Vaughan, Ontario; general flight stability and performance; fuel consumption characteristics; multiple unique flying patterns; multiple velocity vectors and altitude profiles; sound pressure levels; engine tuning characteristics; maintenance procedures; logging of flight data; and extended endurance testing in varying environmental conditions.
Michael Zahra, President & CEO of DDC, commented: “We are very pleased with the ongoing successful testing of our Condor delivery drone. The Sparrow, Robin XL and Condor all have unique use-case applications based on range and payload capabilities, and we are excited to have the two additional models coming to market. The Sparrow continues to operate successfully at current customer projects. Robin XL & Condor solution pre-selling efforts are underway and market response has been very favourable in Canada and internationally, and we are working to close a number of specific prospective opportunities.”
