Airobotics – the company who most recently launched its automated drones into Australia’s mining sector – has announced that it is the first company worldwide granted with the authorisation to fly fully automated drones without a pilot.
The certification, presented by the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI), now authorises Airobotics drones commercially deployed in Israel to fly without a pilot-in-command and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
The level of this new certification is the most innovative level of commercial drone operations, allowing for a human authorised drone pilot to be replaced with computer software, artificial intelligence and an authorised computer.
Airobotics’ drone system is operated in automated BVLOS mode without a certified UAV pilot at Airobotics’ first customer sites, Israel Chemicals (ICL) and Intel in Israel. Intel and ICL were instrumental as Airobotics’ first customers, and continue as pioneers by adopting a truly automated system, allowing CAAI and Airobotics to conduct onsite testing.
Airobotics recently announced its first Australian customer, the mining company South32. Airobotics was granted a commercial licence from CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) in Australia and with an FAA waiver authorisation under Part 107 in the US.
Airobotics Co-founder and CEO Ran Krauss said Airobotics was proud to be at the forefront of the commercial UAV area and be able to lead the way for drone companies and regulators throughout the world.
“This certification is our next generation milestone, that completely takes the human drone pilot out of the equation in Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations,” he said.
“We predict the certification milestone achieved will revolutionise the global market landscape, and pave the way for future applications of automated drones.”
Airobotics Australia’s Chief Remote Pilot (CRP) and Director of Flight Operations Joe Urli said the certification is a major achievement for the company and its future growth globally.
“Airobotics continues to lead the charge in terms of innovation, pursuing its vision to be the world’s lead drone solution provider,” he said.
Airobotics undertook 24 months of rigorous field testing and product verifications, CAAI inspections to prove the system’s safety case and secure certification. This included 10,000 flight hours and automated flight cycles, producing dozens of technical manuals, engineering books, reports and analysis. The certification process was based on the latest international standards for UAVs. Airobotics, together with the CAAI, is essentially setting a new benchmark for evaluations and approval of commercial UAV operations globally.
The three-stage certification process included an Alpha version (March 2015), Beta version (August 2015), and Minimum Viable Product or MPV (2016). The process successfully tested the system’s capabilities, and included customised inputs from CAAI’s and customer functionality requests. These included safety standards, security and emergency response procedures and system reliability. It also tested flight and mission compliance per Airobotics’ concept of operation. Vigorous environmental conditions, endurance and robustness testing also occurred. Throughout the process, Airobotics consistently reached highest level of field experience, while adhering to regulation requirements.
