Autonomous BVLOS flight inspects power lines in Slovakia

VSD, a.s. (Skupina VSE Holding – Východoslovenská energetika Holding a.s.) has conducted the first fully autonomous beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight in Slovakia for the purpose of inspecting power lines, with the support of technological partners ZEPHYR UAS and the R-SYS subsidiary of ERA.

The drone took off from the Lemesany site and was controlled from the VSD dispatch centre in Košice. Real-time flight supervision was performed using the authority console from the IXO UTM (Mam Dron) system, provided by R-SYS. The drone was equipped with a modified LTE remote identification module from Dronetag, which works in conjunction with the IXO UTM (Mam Dron) system. 

In a LinkedIn post, Commercial Director of R-SYS, Pavol Serbín said the flight covered a distance of nine kilometers, and lasted approximately 25 minutes, during which time the drone automatically captured and recorded parts of the power line according to predefined parameters.

The flight was made possible due to the operational permit granted to VSD, a.s. by the Transport Authority in Slovakia for performing inspection flights using this method.