Pearland Police expands drone as first responder operations without visual observers
Pearland Police Department has been awarded a certificate of authorisation to operate its drone as first responder (DFR) programme for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operation, eliminating the need for human visual observers by using Iris Automation’s Casia G ground-based air surveillance system.
Pearland is a rapidly growing city south of Houston, Texas, with a population of 129,600 and 179 sworn police officers, and covers a mostly residential area of 49 square miles.
Drones allow first responders to be on-scene virtually in minimum response time to relay critical information to other police officers, fire departments or paramedics, reducing the over-deployment of resources.
Pearland Police Department assistant chief Chad Randall commented: “In a climate where personnel shortages are impacting first responders across the nation, having a fully BVLOS drone as first responder programme greatly enhances resource allocation while maintaining a high level of situational awareness for first responder safety.”
Operating BVLOS removes the requirement for the operator to be co-located with the drone. The DFR program uses Iris Automation’s Casia G system as an alternative means of compliance to the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91.113 ‘see-and-avoid’ requirement.
Iris Automation CEO Jon Damush added: “Pearland PD has been operating Casia G systems since last summer, collecting and analysing performance data and submitting it to the FAA, which resulted in this approval.
“It is an important example of how a concept of operation (CONOP) combined with our ground-based system mitigates air-collision risk by enabling BVLOS operations and we are proud to be part of Pearland’s safety case.”
Drone Responders Public Safety Alliance director Charles Werner continued: “This landmark approval for Pearland PD enables drones as first responders to help emergency responders to maximise resources, while making communities across the nation safer.”
Complying with 14 CFR 91.113 ‘see and avoid’ has long been the bane of the UAS industry, as the removal of a pilot from a cockpit removes a layer of risk mitigation for avoiding mid-air collisions.
The FAA has required the use of human visual observers in any UAS operation to mitigate this risk despite humans not being the best solution to this problem. Part 91 governs aviation operations from private recreational flying to corporate charter and other commercial operations.
Public Aircraft Operators, like Pearland PD, operate under 14 CFR 91, as opposed to 14 CFR 107, widely referred to as the ‘drone rule’. The approval was secured by Pearland by rigorously developing a concept of operation (CONOP) that leverages technology to mitigate risk.
Casia G is a passive, ground-based air surveillance system, which creates a volume of monitored airspace without the need to integrate any hardware onto the drone itself, using patented computer vision technology, alerting the Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) to an intruder.