![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/james-cieplak-1.jpg\")
\u201cWe\u2019re excited for the next phase of our partnership with\nThales,\u201d said James Cieplak, program manager of Vantis. \u201cThey were chosen not\nonly because of their outstanding technical performance and innovative approach\nto building this system, but because they provide the best long-term value to\nthe state. Thales shares our vision for what a partnership of this magnitude\ncould achieve, and for Vantis as the future of the UAS industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the major barriers to commercial UAS flights \u2013\npackage deliveries, infrastructure inspections, search and rescue efforts \u2013 is\nthat UAS currently must remain within visual line of sight of the pilot. Vantis\nis a State of North Dakota-funded technology infrastructure that uses radar,\nradios, and other communications equipment on towers distributed throughout the\nstate to provide command, control, and situational awareness to UAS pilots\nflying aircraft within the network\u2019s coverage area. With Vantis, UAS pilots can\nsee and avoid obstacles and fly safely at a distance \u2013 which means commercial\nUAS flights that are economically feasible and scalable to the size of\nbusiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Brent-Sanford.jpg\")
\u201cNorth Dakota continues to be the nation\u2019s proving ground\nfor the testing, training and commercialization of unmanned aircraft systems,\nand this partnership with Thales to build out the first-of-its-kind Vantis\nstatewide network will help cement our state\u2019s reputation as a UAS leader,\u201d\nsaid North Dakota Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford, who chairs the Northern Plains\nUnmanned Systems Authority. \u201cOur state\u2019s nearly $50 million investment in this\ngroundbreaking technology is attracting companies, jobs and entrepreneurs and\ndiversifying our economy for the benefit of all North Dakotans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the systems integration partner for Vantis, Thales will\ndeploy new communications and surveillance infrastructure in phases across the\nstate. This infrastructure will be supported by a Mission and Network\nOperations Center (MNOC) that uses the State of North Dakota\u2019s fiber optic\ntelecommunications network along with robust digital services deployed on\ncloud-based infrastructure to support operational resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vantis infrastructure has been installed at key sites in\nwestern North Dakota, where testing is currently underway. Testing standards\nwere developed in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)\nto ensure they are rigorous, do not interfere with existing manned aviation\noperations, and to prove the safety and reliability of Vantis moving forward.\nCurrently, approvals to fly BVLOS must be obtained directly from the FAA on an\nindividual basis. Working with the FAA as the Vantis network is built out and\nproven will enable any operator who flies on the network to receive the\nappropriate approvals to facilitate true BVLOS flights \u2013 something that does\nnot exist at this scale anywhere in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Todd-Donovan.jpg\")
\u201cBVLOS operations are the greatest economic driver for\nsustained commercial UAS use-cases and, until now, there hasn\u2019t been any\ncommon, or shared-use, infrastructure to support routine BVLOS operations,\u201d\nsaid Todd Donovan, Vice President, Airspace Mobility Solutions, Americas,\nThales. \u201cUltimately, the approach for unmanned systems with Vantis in North\nDakota will likely shape how we approach UAS integration more broadly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the system matures, Vantis will continue its expansion\nacross the state. The expansion strategy targets areas with existing use cases\nwhere commercial interests and capable UAS operators intersect, such as the\ninitial stage in North Dakota\u2019s Bakken oil fields. The second stage of\nimplementation will include the Red River Valley, priming Vantis to support\nbusinesses in two of the state\u2019s largest metropolitan areas as well as one of\nthe major agricultural regions in the state. Then, Vantis will begin connecting\nthese major economic powerhouse areas across North Dakota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/trevor-woods-1.jpg\")
\u201cBVLOS flights are the future of UAS. They are how we\nachieve repeatable, scalable, economically viable commercial UAS services,\u201d\nsaid Trevor Woods, interim executive director of NPUASTS. \u201cVantis, through our\npartnership with Thales USA, is making that future a reality. We\u2019re building\nthe blueprint for commercial BVLOS flights across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vantis, North Dakota\u2019s Statewide Unmanned Aircraft Systems Network, has selected a long-term systems integrator to build out this groundbreaking UAS, or drone, infrastructure across the state. Thales, a global technology leader, was one of three aviation giants providing engineering and integration services being evaluated to enable BVLOS UAS flights on Vantis. A state selection committee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-north-dakota","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19696"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19702,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19696\/revisions\/19702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}