Rockwell Collins and Black & Veatch have successfully demonstrated a beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) UAS flight along almost ten miles of power line infrastructure, the company announced on 29 August.
The flight was carried out by a Pulse Aerospace Vapor 55 UAS integrated with Rockwell Collins' CNPC-1000command and control data link and webUAS operations management technology.
The UAS flew along ten miles of power line infrastructure owned by Ameren near Newton, Illinois, as part of work to show that UAS can be safely used in BVLOS operations to inspect critical infrastructure. Representatives from the Northern Plains UAS Test Site and the University of Iowa’s Operator Performance Laboratory observed the demonstration.
The CNPC-1000 provides a reliable, safe and secure UAS command and control data link for UAS operations in shared airspace. For this demonstration, the CNPC-1000 was adapted to support low altitude BVLOS operations in support of critical infrastructure monitoring to radio frequency spectrum beyond the frequencies cited by SC-228.
WebUAS is Rockwell Collins’ operations management tool that coordinates the multi-node CNPC network, provides real-time situational awareness to flight safety critical information such as link quality, and acts as a gateway to weather, air traffic and critical information and services.
Ken Schreder, vice president, strategic programs, information management services at Rockwell Collins, said: 'Monitoring critical infrastructure, particularly those in rural areas beyond line of sight, can be done much more efficiently and effectively through the use of UAS technology. We’ve created a mobile BVLOS system with networked command and control capability which enables us to demonstrate the benefits to infrastructure customers.'
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