To date, flight beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) has been tested with visual ground observers or in an “extended line of sight” scenario – one that may require as much staff as flight within visual line of sight. This week in Alaska, however, the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) moved forward with a ground-breaking BVLOS flight – one that demonstrated the true value of long-range drone operations for inspections of critical infrastructure.

The mission was an almost four mile linear inspection of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. The University of Alaska team and Alyeska Pipeline Service designed the project, which involved a hybrid electric drone made for endurance flight from Skyfront, on-board sense-and-avoid technology from Iris Automation, and ground-based, high-performance radar sensors from Echodyne.

“The test was to fly the drone along the pipeline with no human involvement at all,” explains Leo McCloskey, VP Marketing at Echodyne. To achieve that, the team used a combination of technologies to ensure absolute airspace safety. In order to ensure that the Skyfront drone posed no risk to other aircraft, it carried the Iris Automation Casia system. The Casia system, says Iris Automation, “is a turnkey solution that detects, tracks and classifies other aircraft and makes intelligent decisions about the threat they may pose to the vehicle, and triggers automated maneuvers to avoid collisions.”

“The mission parameters defined by UAF really push the industry to increase sensor technology’s effectiveness,” said Iris Automation CEO and Co-founder Alexander Harmsen. “Our Casia system performed well and demonstrated that leveraging onboard detect and avoid systems is critical to mission safety and produces the results businesses are seeking.”

The Casia system worked in conjunction with 8 ground-based radars set up along the route: a set of two radars approximately every mile, which assured total coverage of the 4 mile route. Echodyne’s airspace management radar, EchoGuard, “combines cutting edge MESA technology and powerful software to create a true electronically scanning array (ESA) radar sensor,” says a company release. “Echodyne radars detect, track, and classify objects of interest in the airspace and communicate this data to situational awareness systems to ensure safety for BVLOS missions.”

McCloskey explained how the mission worked. There were two interfaces at the command center: one to monitor the drone, and one to monitor the radar. As the drone altitude followed the terrain, rising over hills and dipping over valleys, the combination of sensors allowed the operators to distinguish between “ground clutter” and true obstacles, ensuring a safe flight. “Radar is important,” says McCloskey. As enterprise companies begin to plan long range inspections, “3D Radar is the best sensor to manage that airspace so that there is always a safety first environment,” says McCloskey.

“Alaska Fairbanks’ team has shown the future of UAS missions for industrial and commercial companies,” said Eben Frankenberg, Echodyne CEO. “There are many applications that require operation beyond the operator’s sight. This practical demonstration of detect-and-avoid technologies for a real-world inspection application helps aviation authorities define the sensors and tools necessary to ensure UAS safety for dozens of industries and applications.”

Echodyne is among the companies that has worked with a number of pilot programs to test airspace security technology – and they intend to continue their efforts. “What we really like about the Integration Pilot Program projects is that these are really thoughtful teams using the right mix of sensors to come up with the best solution,” says McCloskey. “The industry really needs to learn these things.”

From arctic wastes to fiery volcanoes, ocean depths to distant planets, a new generation of rugged drones is going to places humans can't. But how do you make a super-tough drone?

When it sets off on its arctic explorations, the Royal Research Ship (RSS) David Attenborough will be carrying within it a full complement of autonomous flying and submersible vehicles designed to lay bare the mysteries of the polar regions.

One underwater drone or AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) that may be aboard come launch day bears the name Boaty McBoatface, the quirky moniker chosen for its mother ship in an online poll which was subsequently overruled.

Boaty is designed to dive to 6,000m (19,700 ft) where the pressure is about 600 times greater than at sea level. Less rugged vehicles would be crushed completely at those depths.


Media captionAttenborough launches 'Boaty McBoatface' polar ship
It comes equipped with a payload of sensors, imaging equipment, sonar, hydrophones and communications kit to gather data on changing deep ocean temperatures and their potential impact on climate change.

One of the toughest challenges its National Oceanography Centre designers faced was being able to build a craft that could travel long distances under the ice without needing to recharge.

Recent advances in microprocessors, much of it driven by smartphone technology, has helped change that by reducing the amount of power these drones need to run.

'Boaty McBoatface' survives ice mission
"The vehicle is designed to draw a very small amount of power for its propulsion systems," explains Dr Maaten Furlong, head of marine autonomous and robotics usv systems at the National Oceanography Centre.

"As a result it travels at a relatively slow speed, which in turn enables it to cover huge distances and carry out extended missions compared to vehicles that have gone before."

Early last year, Boaty - or the Autosub Long Range (ALR) to give it its proper name - completed its first full under-ice expedition at the Filchner Ice Shelf in West Antarctica, where it spent a total of 51 hours under the Antarctic ice, travelling 108km (67 miles).

Near ground zero of the catastrophic 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, aerial drones recently revealed radioactive hotspots that aren't on official maps.

An interdisciplinary team flew special drones over Ukraine's Red Forest, one of the most radioactive spots in the world, which is located 0.3 miles (500 meters) from the Chernobyl complex, University of Bristol (UB) representatives announced in a statement.

Using data from the drone observations, the UB scientists, who are part of the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR), created the most detailed map to date of radiation in the forest. They also pinpointed previously unsuspected locations where contamination was unusually intense, according to the statement.

The researchers deployed fixed-wing drones, flying 50 missions over the forest over 10 days and mapping a grid over an area measuring about 6 square miles (15 square kilometers). First, drones used a remote-sensing method called lidar — light detection and ranging — to create 3D maps of the terrain. Then, lightweight gamma spectrometers scanned for signatures of radioactive decay.


Radiation contamination in the Red Forest was already known to be higher overall than in any other natural site on Earth. Nevertheless, the scientists found that radioactivity there was unevenly distributed. While radiation had subsided in some areas, others maintained contamination levels that were dangerously high, project leader Tom Scott, a professor at the UB School of Physics, told British television network ITV.

They detected one unexpected hotspot in the ruins of a facility that performed soil separation during cleanup efforts after the accident, the BBC reported. Spent nuclear fuel in the abandoned building was emitting so much radiation that exposure for just a few hours would dose a person with as much radiation as is normally absorbed over an entire year, Scott told the BBC.

And certain radioisotopes that were identified in the Red Forest have very long half lives (the time required for half of their atomic nuclei to decay), "so they're going to be around for a long time," Scott told ITV.

For decades after the accident, the Chernobyl exclusion zone — an area about 1,660 square miles (4,300 square km) around the nuclear complex — was so toxic that nearly all of it was strictly off-limits to people (though wildlife continued to thrive there). But as the radioactivity dissipated, parts of the zone have been opened to tourists, ITV reported.

The recent expedition to the Red Forest was the first in a series of surveys that NCNR will conduct in Ukraine over the next year, and the new maps it is making will help officials to prevent risks to visitors, according to the statement.

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