Percepto, a developer of industrial robotics for autonomous inspection tasks, has announced that the Dutch civil aviation authority (ILT) has approved its drones to operate Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), making it the first BVLOS approval granted to Percepto under the new European drone regulations.
The BVLOS approval will enable Falcker, Percepto’s partner, to conduct drone flights out of sight of drone pilots, using Percepto’s drone-in-a-box system. An operator located in the control room can manage and monitor pre-scheduled fully autonomous drone missions. The approval paves the way for automated inspections of industrial installations and security applications.
Percepto’s drones are integrated into Autonomous Inspection & Monitoring (AIM), an end-to-end software solution. The drone-in-a-box solution is industrial-grade and weatherproof, with a high-resolution RGB camera and a thermal camera.
Percepto drones take off autonomously from a docking station and then fly routine inspection missions with imagery processed by Percepto AIM. Drones can also perform flights as needed in the event of disasters, such as a fire or security breach. At the end of each flight, the drone returns to the box to be charged for future deployment.
“We are thrilled about this latest BVLOS achievement, which will make a big impact on expanding drone inspections in the Netherlands and across Europe,” said Percepto CEO Dor Abuhasira.
Falcker will conduct its first drone inspections with the new approval later this month with expansion into Germany and Belgium planned for the near future.
“After years of consulting with the Dutch civil aviation authority, we are extremely pleased with achieving this designation,” said Falcker CIO Duco Boer.
“Our first flights with Percepto’s drone solution will be at a tank terminal this month, and we are excited to implement autonomous drone inspection solutions at projects across Europe in the near future.”
