Dufour Aerospace completed successful trials with Elsight Halo connectivity solution

End of July Elsight and Dufour Aerospace have successfully completed their first end-to-end drone trials with the Halo drone connectivity solution onboard, in conjunction with Oblivion Aerial. According to Dufour, the trials involved monitoring a drone along the flight corridor, using air and ground sensors. The purpose of the flights was to test Elsight’s Halo system’s connectivity capabilities in the Swiss aerial environment, including operating with different mobile network providers in mountainous areas. This with a view to enable Dufour Aerospace’s Aero2 development program to gradually advance to the next stage and into BVLOS flight testing.

Flights were carried out with multiple crews (TKOF/LDG location, main spotter, back-up spotter), all equipped with traditional radio control and 2.4 GHz analog back-up FPV. The TKOF/LDG location crew had live telemetry/video feedback through the Elsight Halo on LTE bands, and was in continuous radio contact with the spotter teams.

Sascha Hardegger from Dufour, commented: "The success of the first phase of the Dufour and Elsight trials shows that safe and consistent BVLOS operations are possible. We are still in the opening phases of testing, but the trials clearly indicate the Elsight Halo is an ideal connectivity solution for our BVLOS drone operations, and we are looking forward to phase two of the test series."

The trials included over 26km of traveling distance, with a max altitude reached of 1,800m above sea level. Average speed of the ArduPilot controlled fixed-wing test vehicle reached 72 KMH, with a max AGL altitude of 845m.

Yoav Amitai, CEO of Elsight, said: "We are excited to learn the successful results of the first stage of BVLOS drone operation trials, confident in the performance and capabilities of the Halo, and satisfied that Dufour have chosen to proceed to the next set of tests. Halo provides absolute connection confidence between drones and the ground station enabling autonomous BVLOS operations. Dufour joins numerous other Elsight partners using the Halo as their BVLOS drone connectivity solution."