The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) avionics company uAvionix received Federal Aviation Administration approval to conduct advanced beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights of small UAVs in North Dakota.

The flights will be conducted at the Northern Plains Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Test Site (NPUASTS) in Grand Forks, one of seven FAA-run UAV test sites in the U.S., using the facility’s Vantis network, which is designed to support BVLOS test flights of unmanned aircraft. Vantis’ ground-based aviation infrastructure is designed to significantly lower the barrier of entry to BVLOS flights for users by providing robust command-and-control capabilities.

Separately, uAvionix announced that the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) received FFA approval for BVLOS operations using its Skyline-managed command-and-control (C2) and detect-and-avoid technology at the tribe’s Emerging Aviation Technology Center UAS Test Range in southeastern Oklahoma…

The FAA Beyond program, established in 2020, is a four-year initiative established to study the integration of drones into U.S. airspace.