Author: PRCI
As part of on-going work within the Right-of-Way Automated Monitoring (RAM) Program, PRCI in cooperation with American Aerospace Advisors Incorporated (AAAI) requested and was approved for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certificate of Authority (COA) in order to conduct research for automated threat and leak detection along the pipeline right-of-way (ROW) utilizing a mid-range Unmanned Air System (UAS).
PRCI and AAAI were granted approval to conduct flights within a two year window in conjunction with the congressional mandate to integrate UAS's in to the national airspace by 2015 the Virginia Center of Excellence which is headed by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Flights campaigns to establish a protocol to fly UAS systems beyond line of sight for long range ROW monitoring in the pipeline industry will begin in the fourth quarter of 2014 and continue into 2015. For more information about this initiative, visit the FAA's website.