Nationwide BVLOS Waiver Granted for Drone Inspections

Percepto’s automated drone-in-a-box solutions can now be operated BVLOS at qualifying sites across the U.S. from day one By Mike Ball / 09 Nov 2022
Percepto BVLOS drone-in-a-box
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Percepto has confirmed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted the company a nationwide waiver for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, empowering US-based customers whose sites comply with the waiver’s criteria to benefit from remotely operated drones. Percepto’s automated drone-in-a-box technology is used by electric utilities, oil & gas, solar power stations and mining operations. The solution detects infrastructure problems, enabling faster response times and ensuring that remedial action is taken where it is needed most.

In a first approval of its kind, the Percepto system can be operated at qualifying sites across the country remotely from day one for increased safety, efficiency and ease of operation. With this new waiver, the lengthy wait for site specific BVLOS approvals is no longer required. Customers can immediately gain actionable insights with Percepto’s drone-in-a-box for inspection and monitoring, and can further benefit from the company’s ability to centrally control drone-in-a-box fleets at multiple sites.

Tim Shanfelt, Operations Enablement Leader at Koch Ag and Energy Solutions LLC, commented: “We are very excited by the possibilities this national BVLOS waiver presents to our operations partners. This change helps us extract more value from an already important operations system. Percepto’s national BVLOS waiver will enable expansion of our automated drone inspection and monitoring without the wait for site specific FAA approvals. The achievement further positions Percepto as the industry leader for monitoring critical infrastructure, and serves as a catalyst to making automated drone inspection and monitoring a part of mainstream industrial practices.”

Ariel Avitan, Percepto Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, noted: “Obtaining this waiver marks a significant milestone in our longstanding vision to provide remote inspections and operations at industrial facilities, particularly at isolated locations, with much greater efficiency and safety. Percepto makes it easier than ever for governments and businesses across the U.S. to implement automated drone operations, and unleash the true potential of AI-powered inspections.”

Neta Gliksman, Percepto’s Policy & Government Affairs VP, said: “This groundbreaking approval enables Percepto to scale BVLOS operations at customer sites nationwide. We are grateful for the FAA’s review and timely approval of our safety case, and we look forward to continuing to work with US regulators to bring the benefits of this amazing technology to the American people.”

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Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect & Contact