Canadian UAVs has secured a Canada-wide Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) for the operation of its fleet of small Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). This first-of-its-kind permit issued by Transport Canada allows Canadian UAVs to perform BVLOS flight operations anywhere in Canada in Class G airspace, up to 400 feet AGL, says the company.
Figure 1: BVLOS Operations are permitted anywhere outside of the noted control zones
For seven years, Canadian UAVs has worked with Transport Canada and leading aviation companies in the development of its solution to detect and avoid (DAA) — the Sparrowhawk™ Radar. This is a ground-based detection system that scans and deconflicts an operational area of 450 km2 from a central point. Combined with computer vision and advanced algorithms, Sparrowhawk covers DAA operations for over 90% of the airspace in Canada below 400 ft.
Canada-wide SFOC was granted based on the proven performance of Sparrowhawk.
Canadian UAVs’ approach to airspace integrity has been built on these low-cost ground-based radars that are tuned for manned aircraft detection and supported by radar modelling software that optimizes in-field performance. It is a long-range, all-weather system that integrates seamlessly with any RPAS, and can be deployed as a fixed or mobile installation. Sparrowhawk was developed in partnership with Project SkySensus, an Industrial and Technology Benefits (ITB) project being sponsored by Arcfield Canada.
Mahmoud Abdelrahman, Engineering Programs Manager, Canadian UAVs said: “This is another huge step in the commercialization of DAA technology in Canada, and we will be working to make this product available to commercial clients over the next couple of years. This has the potential to unlock wide-scale adoption of a multitude of RPAS for commercial purposes as it will significantly reduce the logistics required to action BVLOS operations in Canada.”
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