Aeryon UAVs complete public safety trials

Aeryon Labs has announced that its Scout and SkyRanger small unmanned aerial vehicles (SUAS) have recently taken part in trials conducted by the US Department of Homeland Security, Borders and Maritime Security Division (BMD) as part of the Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) programme.

The RAPS programme aims to evaluate a select number of SUAS to measure performance in a variety of simulated, but true-to-life public safety operational scenarios, including fire and emergency response, law enforcement, search and rescue, and border security operations. The results, including the system’s capability to operate safely even when communication is lost between the aircraft and the ground controller, will be made available to government and public safety agencies who are considering SUAS as a tool for performing daily public safety functions.

Both the Aeryon Scout and SkyRanger participated in the trials, which were conducted at at the Oklahoma Test Center-Unmanned Systems test complex. There were a number of performance parameters that were evaluated during each test flight, including flight time, ground speed, distance from base station, landing accuracy, as well as deployment and recovery methods.

John Appleby, DHS program manager, said: ‘The scenario trials in the RAPS project are invaluable. Law enforcement and first responder agencies don’t necessarily have the time or resources to research and perform their own evaluations of technology. They will now have access to the results of all the tests performed by each SUAS and know what to expect with each system in the field – assembly, take-off, landing and overall performance. They can then make their decisions based on ‘DHS qualified’ data.’

Dave Kroetsch, president, Aeryon, said: ‘For us to participate in third-party trials like the RAPS programme is extremely important. Operating the Scout and SkyRanger successfully in multiple true-to-life scenarios in one location reinforces the successes of our customers – and validates our design approach and focus on ease-of-use, reliability, and flight performance. By having these reports readily available to public safety agencies they can make informed decisions about adopting systems that will work best in their specific applications.

‘We are very pleased with the performance of our systems during the RAPS trials and look forward to seeing the final report. This was also a great opportunity to showcase the recently announced Aeryon SkyRanger.’