Just over a year after the publication of RBAC-E94 (Special Brazilian Civil Aviation Regulation No. 94), the standard that regulates the use of drones in Brazil, ANAC (the National Civil Aviation Agency) has authorized the country's first Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) project. With this approval, the Arator 5B RPAS, developed by manufacturer XMobots, becomes the only drone in the country authorized to fly above 400 feet (121 meters), a milestone for the sector.
The ceremony marking the end of this project authorization process will be held in São José dos Campos on June 8 at 10am at ANAC headquarters.
Since the publication of RBAC-E94 on May 3, 2017, 41,338 drones have been registered with the Unmanned Aircraft System (SISANT). However, this equipment does not require a design authorization from ANAC as long as it operates in VLOS (Visual Line of Sight) flight conditions below 400 feet and with a range of 500 meters. These conditions limit coverage to just 50 hectares per flight, an area far short of the professional demands required by the market. So one option is EVLOS (Extended Visual Line Of Sight) operation. However, in addition to the pilot, this requires five observers to map an area of 300 hectares.
With ANAC's project authorization, this RPA will be able to map an area of up to 800 hectares per flight. This opens up new opportunities for the sector, especially in terms of mapping costs.
Authorization of the project by ANAC
Giovani Amianti, CEO of XMobots, explains that the authorization process for Brazil's drone project began on June 8, 2017. The process involved the work of 13 professionals from the company, including 5 engineers and 8 technicians. Thus, over the course of a year, complying with ANAC's requirements involved everything from countless revisions to the design, processes, manuals and technical reports, to seemingly simple challenges that turned out to be significantly complex, such as incorporating lighting capable of being seen from a distance of 2km, as required by the regulations.
Around 9,600 hours were spent on this process, including engineering development, laboratory tests, soil tests and flight tests. It was a really intense job that mobilized a large part of the company. Much more than recognition for all these efforts, this project authorization opens doors for the sector. It serves as an incentive for other manufacturers to also seek this authorization for their equipment. In short, this professionalization will bring more security to manufacturing companies, users and other beneficiaries of the technology, Amianti points out.