Telstra seeks permission to fly drones 'out of sight'

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09 May 2017

Telstra is the latest body to lobby the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for permission to fly drones out of 'the line of sight.'

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Telstra demonstrates drone capabilities 

Telstra wants to prove to CASA that drones can be safely operated beyond visible sight through sensor technology and mobile networks.

Currently drone pilots can only operate one machine at a time, and they must be able to see it while it’s in the air.

Telstra’s CTO, Håkan Eriksson, thinks using mobile networks could allow drone use to be safely expanded beyond the current restrictions.

“We are working with the regulators to see if we can get, for certain applications, [exemptions] to be allowed to fly a drone when you can’t see it as long as you know what you are doing [and there is] good coverage.

“If you use the [Telstra] 4G network, you will have connectivity all over Australia,” he said.

“So say a person is missing and as a drone operator you can’t fly around a hill to have a look on the other side, but you can see what a drone sees [through sensors and a video console].

“It can be a rescue mission, it can be in agriculture. There are various applications.”

Whole world is learning how to manage drones

Telstra has performed a demonstration for CASA where a drone equipped with sensors and connected to the mobile network allowed the pilot to 'see' as the drone and safely operate it beyond line-of-sight.

“There are still negotiations, but they were quite impressed with what we could do and the capabilities of it.

“This is a learning process for the whole world, basically, how to manage drones. And if we think about drones as flying mobile phones; they have a SIM card in them and 4G connectivity, which gives you identity and connectivity. And once you have [that] you know where every drone is, and you can control them.

“We are gradually making progress. But if you can use the mobile network as a connectivity means for drones, that would solve a lot of these problems.”

How to build a mobile phone policy Guide

 

Telstra joins Australia Post and Victorian government 

Telstra is not the first body to seek an exemption to current drone rules from CASA.

Australia Post late last year said it wanted permission to conduct a second trial of drone-driven parcel deliveries to test advances in the technology, like beyond line-of-sight flying.

The Victorian government also wants an exemption from the line-of-sight restriction to expand its use of drones in environmental management.


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