Shaping the Future of Shared Airspace: Anzen Unmanned Proves Viability of Scalable Remote UAS Flight
Testing Validates that Remote (BVLOS), Scalable (m:N) Operations are Approvable Today
Anzen Unmanned (Au) continues to revolutionize the future of uncrewed aviation. Setting another precedent in regulatory achievement and industry collaboration, Au showed that BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) drone operations can safely scale using a single pilot flying multiple simultaneous drones (m:N). Through a recently completed Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) project with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Au collaborated with Asylon Robotics and NUAIR to demonstrate the viability and safety of BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) m:N operations. Anzen Unmanned’s unmatched record for success in regulatory milestones was instrumental to the FAA’s selection of the Au team for this project.
Anzen Unmanned led the effort by building the foundational safety case, mitigation requirements, and templates needed for scalable approvals, and then leveraged this foundation for successful approval of a BVLOS m:N Part 107 waiver (107.31 and 107.35). Asylon Robotics implemented the requirements in their DroneCore UAS and developed a robust simulation environment used by Asylon and NUAIR for training, human factors evaluation, and testing. Flight tests conducted under the waiver incorporated multiple locations at New York’s Griffiss International Airport as well as Asylon test sites and confirmed the m:N approach was safe and scalable.
“Our project validated that BVLOS m:N operations are approvable today.”
-- Tim Skutt, Co-Founder and CEO, Anzen Unmanned
As part of Au’s commitment to drone innovation and safety, the results will help define industry standards enabling BVLOS m:N operational use cases. This agency/industry collaborative project aligned perfectly with Au’s vision to create “seamlessly shared airspace for manned, unmanned, and autonomous aircraft.”
For this milestone-setting project, Anzen Unmanned developed the safety requirements, test cases, and validation criteria. Working with NUAIR and Asylon Robotics pilots, the Au team conducted human factors analyses to evaluate the minimum threshold requirements for safe, complex drone operations.
During the culminating flight testing event of the contract, a single operator in Asylon’s 24/7 remote operations center simultaneously controlled six drones – three of their automated DroneSentry drones at three separate locations and three simulated drones. The simultaneous test flights took place at Asylon’s headquarters, located in Norristown, PA as well as at two locations in controlled airspace at Griffiss International Airport with NUAIR.
Despite being in geographically disparate locations, the drones were all controlled by a single operator using Asylon’s cloud-based, open-architecture DroneIQ software.
“The results of this flight test validated Asylon’s operational procedures, hardware designs, and software implementations that enable the safe operation of multiple, simultaneous BVLOS drone flights,” said Asylon’s Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Brent McLaughlin. “This is good news not only for Asylon and our clients, but for the broader industry as we work with Anzen Unmanned and the FAA to bring the requirements and lessons learned to the open source community and aviation standards bodies.”
“NUAIR is excited to have collaborated with Anzen Unmanned and Asylon Robotics on this transformational project,” said Ken Stewart, CEO of NUAIR. “Scaling advanced operations is key to unlocking the emerging automated aviation economy, and this project is charting the course to new levels of scalability and efficiency.”
Access the Unparalleled Expertise of Anzen Unmanned (Au)
Leverage The Gold Standard for Advanced Operations Approvals
The FAA selected Anzen Unmanned (Au) for this project based on Au’s extensive aviation experience and the team’s unmatched record for successful, precedent-setting BVLOS and m:N waivers/exemptions, including:
First BVLOS approval using DAA (Detect and Avoid) technical solution through 91.113(b), which established DAA performance & test standards that became ASTM F3442
Multi-UAS waivers (107.35) using location and UAS criteria
Altitude waiver (107.51(b)) to 1000' AGL
Operations over people and moving vehicles (107.39 and 107.145)
COAs (Certificates of Authorization) for public agencies: airspace, altitude, tactical BVLOS
Building on this agency/industry collaboration, Anzen Unmanned will continue working with standards groups. We’ll help incorporate the safety case and mitigation requirements into standards that regulators can leverage to grant approvals for remote, safe, scalable UAS operations.
Standardization timelines typically involve multiple years, but your organization can fly BVLOS at scale sooner by building on Au’s unmatched foundation and using our proven process for regulatory approvals, exemptions, and type certifications.
Contact us today at contact@anzenunmanned.com