GPS World

Tag: DDC

  • Drone Delivery Canada to expand testing to the US

    Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) is expanding its commercial testing program to the United States at the New York Griffiss International Airport unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test site in Rome, New York.

    DDC anticipates that the U.S. Pilot Program will begin in this quarter of 2018 and run through the balance of the year.

    The new initiative expands DDC’s testing program to include geographies within the U.S. using its Sparrow X1000 drone, which achieved Compliant UAV Status with Transport Canada in December 2017.

    For testing, DDCs will use its proprietary FLYTE management software to support semi-autonomous flight, as well as BVLOS (beyond visual line of site) flights designed for commercial drone deliveries.

    The Griffiss International Airport UAS test site in Rome is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved facility designated to conduct research vital to integrating UAS into the national airspace system. The site is the fifth of six test sites that are operational in the U.S.

    The U.S. testing initiatives will complement DDC’s extensive Canadian testing program scheduled for 2018, which will include testing its BVLOS capabilities at the Transport Canada-approved UAS Centre of Excellence in Alma, Quebec.

  • Drone Delivery Canada achieves BVLOS in test flights

    Drone Delivery Canada Corp. (DDC) reports the success of a pivotal milestone towards commercializing its drone logistics platform after successfully achieving beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) in test flights.

    The success of these flights, which took place in Foremost, Alberta, after DDC received a Special Flight Operating Certificate from Transport Canada, prove that DDC’s BVLOS technical capability has now passed the most important landmark that enables the DDC platform to run commercially.

    The systems tested predominantly include DDC’s proprietary FLYTE management system, its avoidance technology and communications platform. During the flights, DDC’s Mission Control Centre in Toronto, 2,500 kilometers away, successfully monitored and record telemetry in real time for each flight.

    DDC is set to become the first and only drone logistics compliant operator approved by Transport Canada, which is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2017, followed by commercial operations in the first quarter of 2018.

    Commercial operations are forecast to be based on a revenue model that comprises of integration fees, set-up fees, and on going reoccurring revenue. DDC’s revenue is based on a traditional software as a service
    (SaaS) model format.

    Below is a video of DDC in Foremost, Alberta, performing Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) testing.

    “We are the only pure play drone delivery company that has ever successfully achieved BVLOS flights under Transport Canada’s oversight,” claimed Richard Buzbuzian, president of Drone Delivery Canada. “This is a major milestone for our company. With this success in hand, we now have greater visibility than ever before to operate commercially. Additionally, more than ever, we are also seeing international inquiry for our platform. This win has been a major step forward for us, both domestically and internationally.”

    “The success of these flights now allows us to expand our testing with both new and existing clients that include large corporations and government organizations in Canada and abroad,” said Tony Di Benedetto, CEO of Drone Delivery Canada. “Given Canada’s geography and some of the obvious and social opportunities in Northern Canada, we believe the best place to start commercializing this platform is in our own backyard, then internationally as we prove out our systems.”