Inside Unmanned Systems

AUG-SEP 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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Page 23 of 83

24 unmanned systems
inside
August/September 2018
AIR
IPP ALASKA
That's just the sort of long-distance
operations that Alyeska would like to
see a lot more of. Now one of the IPP
team members, Alyeska first began
working with ACUASI to use drones
for pipeline inspection in 2013. They
moved up to an extended line of sight
f light in 2016 and will be supporting
BVLOS research for the IPP.
Making BVLOS work will require
repeated real-world f lights and trou-
ble shooting the inevitable issues that
crop up.
For example, like large spans of rural
America in the lower 48 states, Alaska
ha s limited cell phone coverage.
Satellite communication can be used
but it needs to be incorporated with
proven techniques to handle problems.
ACUASI, for example, has developed
mitigation techniques for things like
breaks in communication service.
"The good news is if we can make it
work in Alaska, it can work anywhere,"
Cahill quipped.
And throughout the process the team
will be gathering data that shows how
well things work and when they don't
perform. That data is the raw material
the FAA needs to build the regulations
that will, hopefully, enable regular
BLVOS flights throughout the U.S.
"Our pipeline is 800 miles long,"
Cloutier said, "and to be able to f ly
that distance would be a great benefit
for us."
SENSE AND AVOID
As part of advancing BVLOS f lights,
ACUASI has already done a sense and
avoid f light "where the aircraft auton-
omously responded," Cahill said.
Sense and avoid is a key technology
for long linear inspection f lights and
will be one of the capabilities for which
the IPP team will be gathering safety-
case data.
"The technology is there to f ly these
long ranges," Cloutier said. "We just
need to make sure we have the correct
sense and avoid aircraft detection pro-
tocols in place."
Trumbull Unmanned will be one of
the firms involved in furthering sense
and avoid technology.
"On the pipeline portion there is an
800 mile corridor and a 60 mile cor-
ridor that we are going to be working
on where we're f lying, collecting data,
analyzing that data. And so that's part
of beyond visual line of sight," said
Trumbull CEO Dyan Gibbens. The
firm will be integrating, testing and
deploying sense and avoid technology,
she said, including different software.
Insitu, one of the most experienced
members of the IPP team, also will be
addressing sense and avoid as part of
an overall effort to make BVLOS flights
safe enough for the National Airspace.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing
Defense, Space & Security, Insitu has
been doing long distance flights—really
long distance flights—with its ScanEagle
unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for
years. It f lew a ScanEagle from Nova
Scotia to Scotland in 1998 and support-
ed the Marine Corps during the Second
Battle of Fallujah in 2004. A ScanEagle
f lew the first commercial drone f light
in the United States in 2013, the first of
several missions done for ConocoPhillips
in the Arctic. Three years ago the firm
flew some 130 miles of rail line in sup-
port of Burlington Northern's BLVOS
pathfinder project for the FAA and now
Insitu f lies BVLOS with ScanEagles
daily for client in Australia.
"Because of our range and endur-
ance on our platforms and our exper-
tise there, it makes a lot of sense for
us to be on the team," said Paul Allen,
key account manager for commercial
solutions at Insitu. "There are a couple
of things that come along with the be-
yond visual line of sight operations,
that is detect and avoid and then just
ensuring the beyond-visual-line-of-
sight is done in a safe manner. So we
bring expertise in beyond visual line
of sight and then, just like everybody,
(our) people are working on detect and
avoid solutions. And so I know the
The good news is if we can
make it work in Alaska, it
can work anywhere."
Cathy Cahill, director, University of Alaska-Fairbanks'
Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration
"
Photo courtesy of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
Alaska has five climate zones.