Percepto Gains Nationwide US Waiver for Critical Infrastructure Monitoring

First of its kind granted by FAA for drone-in-a-box solution; Enables quick, AI-powered drone deployment for the inspection of power, oil & gas, solar plants and mining

From DroneLife

Percepto, the leading autonomous inspection and monitoring solution provider, today announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted the company a nationwide waiver for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, empowering US-based Percepto customers whose sites comply with the waiver’s criteria to benefit from remotely operated drones. Percepto’s automated drone-in-a-box technology is used by electric utilities, oil & gas, solar power stations and mining operations. The solution detects infrastructure problems, enabling faster response times and ensuring that remedial action is taken where it is needed most.  

In a first approval of its kind, the Percepto system can be operated at qualifying sites across the country remotely from day one for increased safety, efficiency and ease of operation. With this new waiver, the lengthy wait for site specific BVLOS approvals is no longer required. Customers can immediately gain actionable insights with Percepto’s drone-in-a-box for inspection and monitoring. Customers further benefit from Percepto’s ability to centrally control drone-in-a-box fleets at multiple sites. 

“We are very excited by the possibilities this national BVLOS waiver presents to our operations partners,” said Tim Shanfelt, Operations Enablement Leader, Koch Ag and Energy Solutions LLC. “This change helps us extract more value from an already important operations system. Percepto’s national BVLOS waiver will enable expansion of our automated drone inspection and monitoring without the wait for site specific FAA approvals. The achievement further positions Percepto as the industry leader for monitoring critical infrastructure, and serves as a catalyst to making automated drone inspection and monitoring a part of mainstream industrial practices.”

“Obtaining this waiver marks a significant milestone in our longstanding vision to provide remote inspections and operations at industrial facilities, particularly at isolated locations, with much greater efficiency and safety,” said Percepto Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Ariel Avitan. “Percepto makes it easier than ever for governments and businesses across the U.S. to implement automated drone operations, and unleash the true potential of AI-powered inspections.” 

“This groundbreaking approval enables Percepto to scale BVLOS operations at customer sites nationwide,” said Percepto Policy & Government Affairs VP Neta Gliksman. “We are grateful for the FAA’s review and timely approval of our safety case, and we look forward to continuing to work with US regulators to bring the benefits of this amazing technology to the American people.” 

About Percepto

Percepto is the leading autonomous inspection and monitoring solution provider, revolutionizing how industrial sites monitor and inspect their critical infrastructure and assets.

Listed in TIME magazine’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021, Percepto’s AIM platform fully automates visual data workflows from capture to insight, leveraging the Percepto Air drone-in-a-box portfolio, alongside other robots and visual sensors. Using advanced machine learning and AI, Percepto AIM provides an end-to-end autonomous inspection and monitoring solution to assess risk, minimize downtime, drive efficiency, increase safety and reduce operational costs.

Percepto’s solutions are trusted by Fortune 500 customers on six continents including Siemens Energy, Delek US, Koch Fertilizer and ICL Dead Sea Works. The company is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards including Edison Gold Award and Frost & Sullivan Global Enabling Technology Leadership Award. For more information, visit www.percepto.co.

The Energy Drone & Robotics Coalition Seeks to Improve Safety, Efficiency, Security, and ROI

For the past ten years, innovators all around the globe have found ways to transform unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, as we normally call them, into versatile, specialized platforms to perform tasks that were either too difficult, too dangerous, or too expensive to accomplish with conventional methods and crewed aircraft.

The energy industry in particular found huge value in using uncrewed platforms to undertake risky assignments. It is difficult to imagine something riskier than dealing with a flammable substance that emerges from the ground with great pressure. Traditionally, oil companies have found ways to isolate, or distance, humans from most dangerous operations using technology but now, with the emergence of robotics, this trend is growing exponentially.

This need to isolate people from dangerous tasks in the energy industry motivated a group of individuals and corporations to create the Energy Drone & Robotics Coalition (EDRC), an organization dedicated to improving safety, efficiency, return on investment (ROI), and security in energy operations through the use of UAVs, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI).

EDRC organizes an annual meeting for its members, and we had the opportunity to attend this year’s event at the Woodlands in Texas where we met with Sean Guerre, Director of EDRC.

“This year, we are here at the sixth annual gathering of our members to exchange ideas and see what the multiple vendors have to offer in the areas of aerial, ground, water surface, and submarine robotic solutions,” Sean said. “It’s amazing how this new, emerging industry is advancing in leaps and bounds, making this event more necessary every year. The number of new solutions and improvements over last year’s products is incredible.”

With over 16,000 community members, the ERDC is chartered with the responsibility to keep up to date in the latest improvements to equipment and processes. The annual event is an opportunity for industry and academia to showcase their innovations.

“Imagine the awesome responsibility of keeping all that oil and gas critical infrastructure safe and in working order,” Sean said with enthusiasm. “Our members are constantly looking for alternative solutions to increase return on investment and to keep their field personnel safe. The Coalition takes the job of bringing the best solutions to its members very seriously, and that’s why this yearly gathering is such an important occasion.” h/t Juan Plaza and Commercial UAV News