Flying drones beyond visual line of sight

BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) flights represent a huge opportunity for the drone industry and therefore BVLOS is also a top priority for SmartPlanes. The main benefit with BVLOS is to cover larger areas without the need for the pilot or observers to keep an eye on the drone at all times, thereby improving the economics and efficiency of commercial operations.

SmartPlanes received its approval to commence BVLOS testing from the Swedish Transport Agency earlier this year.

At the same time SmartPlanes performed tests with a mobile platform in line of sight (snowmobile). Testing took place over the Bay of Bothnia close to the city Skellefteå.

“Aside from BVLOS testing we tried new telemetry modems (with encryption) and antennas for The Netherland Red Cross. The results? SmartPlanes probably has the best telemetry ISM band range of any UAV company. Our snowmobile had to go on a 10-mile-long journey (~16 km) before we noticed the first loss of link message.” says Roger Öhlund, Marketing Sales at SmartPlanes.