Silent Falcon UAS Technologies and MicroPilot have conducted a number of demonstration flights of the Silent Falcon UAS as part of NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) system programme, MicroPilot announced on 20 October.
NASA’s UTM programme is researching prototype technologies that could develop airspace integration requirements for enabling safe, efficient low-altitude operations.
The ability for UAS to fly safely beyond line of sight (BLOS) is a critical element of safe flight within the UTM. In support of this, the Silent Falcon UAS flew a series of BLOS flights as part of the successful completion of the current phase of the programme.
MicroPilot’s autopilot system gives UAS the ability to fly independently BLOS while taking directions from the UTM.
John W Brown, Silent Falcon UAS Technologies president and CEO, said: ‘This project is of particular interest to us as we manufacture a long range, long endurance fixed wing UAS that is designed for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) applications.
‘Our systems regularly perform BVLOS missions in other countries and the UTM project is an important step in making safe BVLOS flight in the US national airspace a reality. We look forward to further participation as the project continues to move forward.’
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