Florida-based Censys Technologies manufactures made in the U.S. fixed wing drones – designed to push drone capabilities beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). DRONELIFE speaks with co-founder Trevor Perrott on BVLOS flight, manufacturing in the U.S., and what surprises him about the commercial drone industry.
Censys was founded in 2017 by a group of aerospace engineers at the Embry-Riddle Aerospace Research Park in Daytona Beach, FL. The company started with a clear goal: building a made in the U.S. fixed wing that “is affordable, delivers incredible data and pushes drone capabilities further,” says co-founder Trevor Perrott. The team was solving a problem they’d encountered when working in the military UAS sector: the available long-range UAS were too expensive, and the regulatory environment too dynamic, to provide a sustainable commercial solution. The Censys portfolio of VLOS and BVLOS fixed wing drones fills the gap: and this year, customers using Censys drones have had a 100% success rate in receiving BVLOS waivers from the FAA. It’s a stunning achievement – the FAA’s historic approval rate of 1% – and it speaks to the safety case Censys UAVs offer.
