BVLOS Inspections, No Humans Onsite: Percepto Wins FAA Waiver for Operations Within Shielded Airspace

Percepto Granted FAA Waiver for Scaled Shielded BVLOS Operations Nationwide

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Autonomous inspection leader Percepto announced that it has received a first-of-its-kind waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), allowing the company to conduct beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) inspection and monitoring operations within shielded airspace.

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These operations will not require the presence of humans onsite, or the use of expensive and inconvenient detect and avoid (DAA) systems.

The waiver will enable low risk shielded BVLOS operations 200 feet above and around property found on critical infrastructure sites. Shield BVLOS operations conducted at non-critical infrastructure sites will be permitted 50 feet above and around the height of the tallest edifice within a half-mile radius of the site.

These authorizations stem from recommendations made by the UAS BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) chartered by the FAA. The ARC, on which Percepto served, proposed that shielded airspace located around structures and other obstacles could be utilized to enhance the safety, scalability, and economic viability of UAS BVLOS operations.

“Percepto is very grateful to the FAA staff for their engagement and consideration of our application for this important waiver,” said Percepto VP of Policy and Government Affairs, Neta Gliksman. “This waiver will help usher in a new era of scalable UAS operations that will benefit the critical infrastructure industry immediately, and in the future, in ways we haven’t even yet imagined.”

“This waiver’s implications for BVLOS UAS operations in the United States are massive,” said Lisa Ellman, Chair of the Global UAS Practice at Hogan Lovells and Outside Counsel to Percepto. “The FAA waiver provides scalability to businesses and encourages innovation across the industry, which will yield significant benefits for critical infrastructure facilities and the American people.”

“The use of Percepto’s UAS to perform critical infrastructure inspections significantly improves worker safety and efficiency of operations by allowing inspections to occur remotely from anywhere in the United States,“ said Danny Allen, Geospatial Intelligence Supervisor at ConocoPhillips.

“The ability to conduct remote BVLOS inspections without humans supervising the system and without the need for costly DAA assets will increase the value of the Percepto system while significantly reduce costs and barriers to BVLOS operations at our critical infrastructure and industrial commercial sites nationwide,” said Tim Shanfelt, PMP, Operations Enablement Director, Koch Ag and Energy Solutions.

Read more:

• Streamlining the BVLOS Approval Process: Percepto’s Regulatory Milestone
• Percepto Wins FAA Approval for Automated BVLOS Ops in TX
• Percepto’s Waiver Allows Customers to Fly BVLOS on Qualified Sites Across the Country, with Central Control
• BVLOS Power Line Inspection, No Visual Observers: What’s Involved in the Pheonix Air Unmanned Waiver
• Drone as First Responder: Pearland TX Gets BVLOS Waiver to Operate Without Visual Observers

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.