suasnews.com
By Press
9 February 2017
senseFly has become the first drone operator to be granted anytime Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) authorisation in Switzerland. The country’s Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) has granted senseFly permission to fly any of its eBee-branded mapping solutions beyond the visual sight of a drone’s operator, using observers, without the need to set-up a flight operation ‘Danger Area’ beforehand.
“This country-wide, anytime BVLOS authorisation is a first for Switzerland and we are delighted to be working closely with FOCA to pioneer this kind of flexible, extended use,” said Jean-Christophe Zufferey, senseFly’s CEO. “While this permission is valid only for senseFly, it opens the door for our Swiss eBee customers to apply for, and enjoy, similarly flexible flight conditions. This will, in turn, allow them to grow their businesses by taking on larger, more complex projects.”
senseFly’s BVLOS approval has been granted under strict specific conditions. These include the company’s eBee drones being operated at a maximum flight height of 500 feet above ground level (or 1,000 feet over urban areas) and the use of visual observers. These observers must each monitor a section of airspace—with a radius of 2 kilometres—for other aircraft. They must also be able to communicate instantly with the drone’s operator in the case of any potential issues.
“At senseFly, we are committed to bringing solutions to market that facilitate the seamless and safe cohabitation of drones and manned aircraft,” Zufferey added. “This is why we launched our Safer Together initiative with Air Navigation Pro. It is also why we will be collaborating closely with JARUS on our BVLOS findings and experiences, in order for that group to help the EASA develop the most valuable BVLOS Standard Scenario for future European use.”
Globally, senseFly is not the first eBee operator to be granted approval for such extended use. Numerous senseFly customers are able to operate under similar conditions, such as ATEC-3D in England and France’s leading agricultural operator, AIRINOV.
In late 2016, senseFly’s eBee mapping drone was verified as ‘harmless’ by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), enabling Italian eBee owners to operate their aircraft much more flexibly, including flying over urban areas, without needing specific authorisation for each operation.
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uasvision.com
February 2, 2017
Agribotix has partnered with senseFly, a producer of professional fixed-wing drones, to offer a new combined solution for professional users. This premium technology solution combines the top drone, sensor and agricultural data processing technologies available today to make collecting and analyzing aerial data easier than ever, with several times more coverage, per flight, than is possible with most quadcopter solutions.
By adopting the eBee SQ as its new fixed-wing drone platform, Agribotix is signaling its ongoing commitment to sourcing the best hardware on the market to bundle with its award-winning FarmLens SaaS platform, a 100% agricultural data processing cloud solution. The eBee SQ is built around Parrot’s groundbreaking Sequoia sensor. This features multispectral sensors that capture calibrated data across four highly distinct spectral bands (near-infrared, red-edge, red and green), plus RGB imagery, in a single flight.
The FarmLens Professional subscription now being bundled with the eBee SQ gives users the unique ability to perform the full crop scouting workflow in the field: fly large areas efficiently, capture ground truthing images, make notes, and share detailed information about trouble spots with farmers from the field. FarmLens users gain valuable insights about crop conditions without having to become experts in data processing.
“The combined solution of the eBee SQ and FarmLens is a great fit for people who are looking for a simple, yet powerful, 100% agricultural solution,” said Lou Faust, Agribotix CEO. “After evaluating the fixed-wing options available today, there was no question that the eBee SQ is the easiest to use long-range drone on the market. It also has the best-in-class agricultural sensor, while FarmLens does the heavy lifting in the background, returning superb quality data presentation via the Agribotix Digital Scouting Report and enabling farmers to make time-critical adjustments.”
“We’re delighted to join forces with Agribotix in pairing the eBee SQ with FarmLens,” added Jean-Christophe Zufferey, senseFly’s CEO. “This partnership creates a professional end-to-end solution that is uniquely easy to use.”
Having purchased the combined solution, customers will be able to receive full professional hardware support via senseFly’s existing network of expert distribution partners.
Source: Press Release
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