Automated drones from Percepto to remotely monitor dam in Canada

Percepto is a company that makes solutions for autonomous inspection and monitoring. They have made a “drone-in-a-box” solution that Transport Canada has approved as the first of its kind.

The automated drones from Percepto will be used to monitor the McConnell Lake Control Dam, which is owned and operated by Ontario Power Generation Inc.

A Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) was issued for the autonomous Percepto Air Max drone-in-a-box that was provided by Rocky Mountain Unmanned Systems and their General Manager Kevin Toderal in order to carry out remote inspections as part of a pilot project that will begin later this month.

The announcement comes not long after Percepto was granted a nationwide BVLOS waiver in the United States. This waiver makes it possible for qualifying Percepto clients to rapidly get actionable data from drones that are remotely flown.

Other electric utilities have begun using the automated drone-in-a-box technology developed by Percepto to monitor the resilience of power grid infrastructure and quickly detect problems.

This has made it possible for these utilities to shorten response times and expedite the process of restoring power after natural disasters such as storms.

“Obtaining this certificate marks a significant milestone in Canada to provide remote and autonomous inspections at power generating facilities, fulfilling Percepto's mission to provide safe and reliable critical infrastructure,” said Percepto Policy & Government Affairs VP Neta Gliksman. “We look forward to growing our strong working relationship with Transport Canada and supporting their efforts to create a thriving environment for drone operations by making autonomous Drone Technology available to power stations and other critical infrastructure across the country.”

Through the utilization of the Autonomous Inspection and Monitoring (AIM) solution offered by the company, the operations of Percepto will be centralized on a single platform.

According to the company, using Percepto AIM makes it possible to control drones from a distance in order to ensure that they cooperate with one another. This results in maximum site coverage with greater safety, efficiency, and convenience of operation.

“We look forward to gaining new operation and infrastructure insights at McConnell Lake Control Dam,” said Ontario Power Generation Senior Information System Specialist Tim Trebilcock. “Our hope is that this technology will help our efforts to ensure asset integrity and reliable electricity generation for Ontarians.”

Automated drones from Percepto