UAS company granted BVLOS contract with FAA
NewsMarch 26, 2024
BIGFORK, Mont. Crewed/uncrewed avionics company uAvionix announced that it received a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) contract to develop highly reliable command and control (C2) communications systems for uncrewed aircraft systems (UASs) used in extended beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations across challenging terrains.
Under the terms of the BAA, uAvionix will partner with the University of Alaska Fairbanks UAS Test Site to leverage its Link Executive Manager (LEM) module to fuse LTE, Iridium SATCOM, and C-Band communications links to deliver uninterrupted and reliable C2 during long-range BVLOS flights along an Alaskan pipeline.
Cyriel Kronenburg of uAvionix said of the BAA and Alaska operation: “Reliance on a single link or common infrastructure isn’t always feasible in remote and mountainous terrain. Having multiple, seamless connections to the aircraft from airborne and ground-based communications provides the safety and flexibility needed to reliably perform these complex operations. Flying for extended ranges with many transitions between communications paths and frequencies will provide the data needed to support FAA rulemaking and reinforce the concept that using UAS technology can be used safely and economically across all types of terrain and infrastructure.”
