Perfecto for Percepto

… as FAA awards company national waiver for one pilot to simultaneously operate multiple drones
Drone-in-a-box solutions provider Percepto has just seen its latest licence in the US get sexier, and could have unlocked the gates to the holy grail of industrial drone operations.
The award-winning autonomous inspection and monitoring solutions company has just announced that US aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, has granted Percepto a nationwide waiver to operate a full fleet of Percepto drones remotely by one operator.
While previous Percepto operations required one pilot to monitor and operate one drone, this new approval allows for one pilot to carry out a commercial operation with up to thirty drones, simultaneously.
Yes; you read that right.
Percepto now has the licence for its pilots to operate 30 drones at one go.
This obviously is another moment-defining milestone for drone automation and remote operations in the US. We know we have spoken about game changing before.
But this could be really game changing.
And it could have worldwide implications if it succeeds. Just this past week, we wrote about our experience with Rocketmine’s DJI Dock in South Africa. And Rocketmine’s licence for operating the Dock stipulates that one pilot can operate up to five drone boxes.
But only one drone has to be in operation at a time, according to the licence.
Imagine if Rocketmine had the licence for one pilot to operate 30 docks, all in operation at the same time.
That is the kind of waiver that Percepto now has for its clients in the US.
“For years, Percepto has been leading the remote inspection revolution – both on the regulatory and technology fronts,” said Percepto Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Ariel Avitan.
“Simply put, with large-scale remote inspections we’ll see fewer large-scale safety and environmental failures across critical infrastructure.”

It sure should be sweet music into the ears of companies that have seen the benefits of deploying drones for various operations and missions, but have not been able to meet the costs of full drone deployments because each drones had to have its own operator, who comes with their own price.
As the company explains, heavy industries like oil & gas, utilities and other energy stakeholders, will experience a significant reduction in operational expenses and a corresponding increase in operational efficiencies.
Percepto reckons its stakeholders in the heavy industry can finally implement large-scale drone fleet inspections by safely, quickly and effortlessly scaling their drone programs.
Besides, the waiver will see lower costs for new entrants seeking to utilise drones to enhance their operations for the first time and encourages more market players to establish new drone programs, Percepto says.
“Percepto is very grateful for the FAA’s approval of this waiver, the true holy grail, which was achieved through years of continued cooperation with the FAA,” said Neta Gliksman, Percepto VP of Policy and Government Affairs.
“This is opening doors for critical inspection operations for our clients, expanding the possibilities and scale of autonomous inspection technology.”
The company added that the waiver builds on Percepto’s years of regulatory efforts, allowing for safe nationwide drone BVLOS operations with no humans on site or the need for expensive radars, using remote pre-flight checks, extensive automation, in addition to the new superpower ability to operate up to 30 drone-in-a-box systems simultaneously.
It also comes as the last piece of the remote operations puzzle, alongside Percepto’s state-of-the-art drone-in-a-box hardware and autonomous inspection software.
“Percepto’s approval from the FAA to remotely operate drone fleets sets the stage for transformative advancements in various industries,” says Delek US Chief Information and Data Officer, Ido Biger.
“Delek plans to utilize remote inspection technology to minimize our environmental footprint and boost employee and community safety at scale.”
Just in June this year, Percepto was awarded the licence for remote operation across the whole of the USA; development which the company’s drone authorised to take off from their docking nests to carry out missions and return back into the nests without human intervention.
The approval allows the company to operate uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) in shielded airspace, without humans onsite, and without any ground-based or airborne detect and avoid (DAA) systems, for inspection and monitoring operations at critical and non-critical infrastructure sites nationwide.
Under that waiver, low risk “shielded” BVLOS operations will be allowed 200 feet above and around assets located on critical infrastructure sites. At non-critical infrastructure sites, shielded BVLOS operations are permitted 50 feet higher than the tallest obstruction located within a half-mile of the site.

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