Swiss unmanned helicopter manufacturer Anavia has confirmed that it has formed a long-term research and development partnership with the Southern Institute of Technology’s (SAIT) Center of Innovation and Research in Unmanned Systems (CIRUS) in Calgary, Alberta.
The two partners will work with other UAS (unmanned aerial systems) manufacturers and aviation regulatory agencies in North America and Europe to develop a Center of Excellence for testing and certification of heavy-duty long endurance unmanned aircraft, as well as to develop an Aviation Operation Certificate (AOC).
The stated outcomes of the partnership include:
- Training of commercial drone pilots and maintenance crew for advanced long endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS)
- Testing and certification of the airworthiness, operational manual (OM) and procedures and Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) of the long endurance RPAS
- Testing, certification and integration of airborne sensors into RPAS platforms
- Developing certification protocols, standard operational procedures, and communication and risk assessment protocols and standards for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) in alignment with regulations of Transport Canada (TC), Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA), European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA)
Trish Josephs, Director of Applied Research and Innovation at SAIT, commented: “As one of the top 10 research colleges in Canada, The Applied Research and Innovation Services at SAIT is well-positioned to be leaders in drone testing, training, certification and technology development. Working with our partners in Foremost Alberta, our ability to test and certify in this sector is a game changer and our School of Transportation is leading drone training in Canada.”
Jon Andri Jörg, CEO and Founder of Anavia, said: “We are proud to announce our strategic partnership with SAIT/CIRUS. We have always been driven to support scientific research and development for the advancement of ground-breaking RPAS manufacturing, testing and certification to ensure safe flight RPAS missions. SAIT/CIRUS’s board aerospace expertise and research capabilities will help to further build on this mission and significantly contributing to our innovative platforms.”
Johannes Krick, Global Sales Director of Anavia, stated: “We are excited about this collaboration not only because we are now present in Canada with our HT-100, but also to work with SAIT’s scientific and innovative team on new applications for RPAS. We see a great potential in the fields of artificial intelligence, disaster management and the automated transport of medical supplies to remote regions, just to name a few.”
Shahab Moeini, Senior Lead Researcher and Operations Manager at SAIT/CIRUS, noted: “The team at SAIT/CIRUS is proud and excited to use their expertise to develop a cutting-edge Center of Excellent in collaboration with ANAVIA in addition to aviation regulatory agencies and industry partners in manned aviation. This will support the professional application of RPAS benefitting different industries and society.”
