After another round of severe weather brought blizzard\nconditions, heavy snow and ice to western North Dakota this past weekend, the\nstate has enlisted unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technologies to help restore\nservices to residents and assist recovery efforts, Gov. Doug Burgum announced\ntoday in a joint release with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Dakota mobilized UAS to survey rural areas, locating\nand assessing damage to utility infrastructure, and to help prioritize\nresources for repairs and recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The remote-pilot-operated drones, flown by ISight Drone\nServices and the NPUASTS, are able to operate beyond-visual-line-of-sight\n(BVLOS) flights as part of the state\u2019s creation and implementation of Vantis,\nNorth Dakota\u2019s UAS network. The UAS flights have been supported and monitored\nthrough Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNorth Dakotans are known for their innovation and\nresilience,\u201d Burgum said. \u201cIn difficult times like this, our citizens and\nneighbors come together to find new solutions to challenging problems. We\u2019re\nleveraging the investment the state has made in this UAS infrastructure to help\nworkers identify damage and repair ground-based infrastructure. Utilizing our\nstrength in aviation will help citizens and communities on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drones are assisting members of the North Dakota\nAssociation of Rural Electric Cooperatives, complementing efforts with manned\naircraft utilized by Montana-Dakota Utilities. As crews work around the clock\nto restore power, it\u2019s estimated that some western and northwest parts of the\nstate will not regain service for days or weeks. After coordinating with the\nFAA, flights began Tuesday, April 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is one of the primary applications we envisioned in\ncreating this UAS network,\u201d said Trevor Woods, NPUASTS executive director. \u201cWe\nhope this nimble response can help the state\u2019s residents in getting life-saving\npower restored, and benefit areas and businesses affected by the natural\ndisaster. For such a massive undertaking in fixing lines and infrastructure, we\nknow that locating damage in difficult-to-travel-to areas saves time and assets\nthat can\u2019t afford to be wasted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NPUASTS, one of seven FAA test sites, has been assisting\nUAS testing for nearly a decade, and has been a leading research facility in\nthe United States. It has been building out Vantis, the state\u2019s BVLOS network\nthat it administers, since the initial state investment in 2019. Vantis\u2019\nprimary test sites in the Williston and Watford City areas are in close\nproximity to the regions most heavily affected by the storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re proud to be part of a team that is helping North\nDakotans in a significant and tangible way,\u201d said ISight CEO Tommy Kenville.\n\u201cThese flights highlight the real-world applications for drones and how\ncritical they will be for services going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ISight and NPUASTS have also offered to help livestock\nproducers to assess fence lines, do cattle counts and provide imagery of their\nproperty in the wake of storm damage. The spring blizzards come at calving\nseason for many ranchers, meaning an added economic vulnerability for these\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After another round of severe weather brought blizzard conditions, heavy snow and ice to western North Dakota this past weekend, the state has enlisted unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technologies to help restore services to residents and assist recovery efforts, Gov. Doug Burgum announced today in a joint release with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site […]<\/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-21936","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\/21936","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=21936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21937,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21936\/revisions\/21937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}