How to start

a BVLOS drone
program
A G U I D E FO R P R O G R A M M A N A G E R S
Table of
Contents

06 G E T T I N G STA R T E D :
T H E   6 ST E P S
TO STA R T I N G A
09 ST E P 4 :

• Get executive buy-in with vision

BV LO S   D R O N E • The cultural cornerstone of

PROGRAM aviation is reliability—embrace it

ST E P 1 : • Build executive confidence

in your business plan
Select your use case

07 12
ST E P 2 : ST E P 5 :

Understand your personal • Build the operational

motivations and scale to key ingredients
the organization
• Detect-and-Avoid

• BVLOS Operational Regulatory

Permissions and Certification
Mission Planning

• Concept of Operations (CONOPS)

08 ST E P 3 :
Select the right aircraft,
software, and hardware
19 ST E P 6 :

Start your drone program as

a VLOS program and evolve
VLOS to BVLOS
20 3 WAYS TO G E T
R E G U L ATO RY
A P P R OVA LS FO R YO U R
22 T H E I R I S AU TO M AT I O N
SOLUTI ON

• Regulatory Resource
BV LO S P R O G R A M
Center (RRC)
• Do-it-yourself
• Casia Detect-and-Avoid
• Use a variety of patchwork
• Complete BVLOS Solution
solutions and in-house legal

• Partner with a complete

solutions vendor

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welcome
Thank you for considering
Iris Automation as part of
your drone program planning.

Many of the questions we get from program managers focus

on understanding what it takes to evolve a drone program to
conduct beyond visual line of sight operations.

As drone technology and regulations mature, organizations

are increasingly adopting this technology to gain a competitive
edge. While it is easier to obtain regulatory approvals for
unmanned aircraft operations that operate under visual sight
rules, these use cases and benefits are limited and may hinder
your ability to expand the program to its full potential.

The benefits could not be more clear.​Having beyond visual

line of sight operational capabilities truly unlocks your drone
program’s potential—enabling you to integrate drone
operations into every aspect of your organization without
requiring a corresponding ramp-up in pilot hiring and training.
It enables you to fly your drones further and longer while
gathering more data per flight than ever before.

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B E N E F I T S O F BV LO S D R O N E Based in the United States, Iris Automation is
O P E R AT I O N S I N C LU D E : not only well equipped to assist you with your
FAA BVLOS waiver needs, but actively works
• Enabling pilots to launch and operate
with Civil Aviations Authorities (CAA) around
drones from an incident response center
the world and is experienced in providing
without going on field
regulatory support internationally.
• Increasing the volume of data gathered
per flight

• Use in situations dangerous to humans W E A R E T H E LO N G

(fire inspection) or where it will be faster T E R M PA R T N E R YO U
(medical equipment delivery in rural areas) N E E D TO T R U LY G E T
than humans YO U R D R O N E P R O G R A M
OFF THE GROUND.
• Enabling organizations to operate more
flights per pilot and reducing overheads

Flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) To help you get there, we’ve created this
is the future of the drone industry, and Iris step-by-step guide for you to consider
Automation is working tirelessly to make before starting a drone program.
it an everyday reality.

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 Getting
Started:
The 6 steps
to starting
a BVLOS
drone
program

step 1: The use case is important because it

S E L E C T YO U R U S E C A S E
Everything starts
determines the Return on Investment (ROI) of
your program, the type of aircraft and hardware
you will need to purchase, and the regulatory
permissions you will need to pursue. The best
use cases are simple, rock-solid, and easy to

from this question: ​ quickly prove ROI. They are selected to be

successful in supporting the organization’s
What are you trying objectives. They either save or make money
for the organization. Tracking cost, revenue, or
to accomplish safety improvements should be relatively easy.
with your drone If you’re searching for suitable use cases, Iris
program? has plenty of case studies that may help give
you some ideas. ​Check them out here.

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Step 2:
U N D E R STA N D YO U R P E R S O N A L
M OT I VAT I O N S A N D S C A L E TO
T H E   O R G A N I Z AT I O N THIS IS A PERIOD
OF SELF-REFLECTION:
At the heart of every successful drone
W H Y D O YO U WA N T
program is a relentless, motivated program
TO STA R T A D R O N E
manager who truly believes in the power
P R O G R A M ? H OW C O U L D
of drones in transforming their business.
I T B E N E F I T YO U R
The harsh reality is that commercial drone
C A R E E R P R O G R ES S I O N
operations are still very much in the early
A N D H OW D O ES
stages of development as the technology,
IT BENEFIT THE
regulations, and best practices are firming
O R G A N I Z AT I O N ?
up. Drone program managers are essentially
early adopters, technology evangelists,
lobbyists, end users, and product managers
all rolled into one. Consider your personal
motivations and career aspirations and map These are important questions that you should
them to the organization’s goals to make ask yourself and crystallize before launching an
sure that they are aligned. effort to get executive buy-in.

STA R T W I T H T H E P E R S O N A L , S C A L E TO T H E O R G

• Expand the capabilities of their UAS program

O R G A N I Z AT I O N A L • Exploit the resulting commercial opportunity

ST R AT E GY
• Reduce risk and liability

PROGRAM • Increase the reliability of the program

G OA LS
• Expand mission objectives per flight

• Reduce the impact of human/pilot errors

PERSONAL • Become a BVLOS pioneer

M OT I VAT I O N S
• Be a subject matter expert in evolving a drone program

• Personal growth as a program manager

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7
Step 3:
SELECT THE RIGHT AIRCRAFT,
S O F T WA R E , A N D H A R DWA R E
This is important to get
right at the onset of your
drone program—picking
the right aircraft is very
much driven by your
use case.
For example, flying long-range survey
missions requires a fixed wing Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle (UAV) with a sensor array on-board. In
contrast, inspecting communication towers requires
a quadcopter drone with a high-resolution camera.
Choosing your aircraft carefully will save you a lot of
time and money in the long run. You’ll lose credibility
and funding if you end up having to change your
aircraft selection six weeks into your drone program.
You’ll also need the right types of software and
hardware to ensure your drone program has
everything it needs to meet safety and reliability
standards, complete the program objectives, and
achieve regulatory approval. It always helps to
have an expert on your side to help with selecting
the right aircraft. ​You can talk to an expert at Iris
Automation on best practices b ​ efore even starting
your aircraft selection process.
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Step 4:
GET EXECUTIVE
B U Y- I N W I T H   V I S I O N

It doesn’t matter if you’re a drone pilot fresh out of training

and starting a drone program or if you’re a seasoned drone
program manager looking to scale—at some point you will
have to pursue management buy-in.

You will have to work cross functionally with legal, risk

management, compliance, and any occupational safety and
health teams. In any large organization, implementing a
new technology activates a new set of stakeholders with
end goals that may be different from yours. Risk
management executives are less concerned about new
use cases, increasing efficiencies or data processing, and
are more concerned about liability in the event of an
accident. Legal and compliance teams are more concerned
about not violating airspace regulations or privacy than
about flying BVLOS.

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H E R E ’S H OW TO N AV I G AT E T H I S   M A Z E O F STA K E H O L D E R S :

01 02 03
Demonstrate the Pick a tangible Have a concrete
ROI of the program use case that can be flight operations plan
implemented quickly for running your drone
and either saves time, program that includes
improves safety, or risk mitigation,
reduces costs achieving regulatory
approval, and all the
necessary pre-flight,
in-flight, and post-flight
procedures

It’s critical that you demonstrate tangible

ongoing value of the drone program or your
executives will lose interest and funding will
dry up. Tangible benefits may include more
than just monetary benefits—side benefits may
include better incidence response times and
shorter downtimes (in the use case of
inspecting power lines by utilities, for example).
Ensure that your approach is strategic and
anticipates the scale your program will need to
achieve in order to return investment materially.
Avoid the trap of “tactical” approaches that may
bring early success, but quickly impose a
ceiling on your program’s potential.

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SOME QUICK
M AT H O N R O I
LINE OF SIGHT B E YO N D V I S UA L L I N E
( LO S ) O F   S I G H T ( BV LO S )

Personnel 2 people 1 person

Insurance $250/person/mo. $400/person/mo. X PERSON

Salary $45,000-$55,000/person $45,000-$55,000/person

+ 20% Expenses + 20% Expenses

Inspection Miles 5 miles per 8 hour shift 50 miles per 8 hour shift

Mobilizing Costs $65,000-$80,000/person $65,000-$80,000/person R U L ES O F T H U M B :

+ 20% Expenses + 20% Expenses

Gas, Truck, Maintenance $20,000/year $20,000/year 1. DAA on-board → save on

visual observers
Equipment $100,000/year $150,000/year
2. DAA + BVLOS → a single pilot
could get 10x more done in a
Processing $170,000/year $300,000/year single shift

Bureaucratic Slowdowns 30% extra 30% extra 3. More done in a single shift
& Overhead == faster turnaround on
inspections and surveys

T H E C U LT U R A L C O R N E R STO N E Presenting a detailed concept of operations,

O F AV I AT I O N I S R E L I A B I L I T Y —
EM BRACE IT
If there is anything surprisingly unique
about commercial aviation, it’s how
mundanely reliable it is. Aviation isn’t about
“Top Gun” antics and risk-taking; rather it’s
all about ensuring safe, reliable, and highly
standardized operations. Every flight includes
pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight procedures,
operating manuals, and checklists that are
designed to ensure the exact same set of
operating procedures are followed for every
flight to maximize safety and reliability.
In order to get executive funding buy-in,
you must ensure legal, compliance,
occupational safety and health, and risk
management teams are bought-in first.
safety manuals, risk assessments, operating
procedures, and checklists will greatly
help you showcase a culture of safety
and reliability in your drone program.
Iris Automation has a detailed R
​ esource
Center that can help you put these critical
items together and to help make a case for
your team.
BUILD EXECUTIVE CONFIDENCE
I N   YO U R B U S I N ES S P L A N
One of the major challenges that you may
run into is delays in getting funding approval.
Oftentimes this is driven by poor executive
confidence and understanding of the process
necessary to get a BVLOS program up and
running. This is the time to make sure you’ve
done as much legwork as possible in building
confidence in your business plan.
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Step 5:
B U I L D T H E O P E R AT I O N A L K E Y   I N G R E D I E N T S
A good BVLOS program is designed
to be a highly effective and reliable
operation. The recipe for success begins
with these four key ingredients:
D E T E C T- A N D - AVO I D
( DA A )
A DAA system is the
most scalable way to build
commercial BVLOS ops.
It replaces the need for
a visual observer.
BV LO S O P E R AT I O N A L
WA I V E R S
Start early on putting your
BVLOS waiver application
together. Its easier to start
as a VLOS operation then
evolve into BVLOS.
C O N C E P T O F O P E R AT I O N S
BVLOS drone operations are
complex systems involving a lot
of stakeholders, users and data
sources. A good CONOPS helps
everyone stay on the same page
and perform in cohesion.
MISSION
PLANNING
Detailed mission planning
includes airspace awareness,
flight planning pre-/post-flight
procedures and path planning
around air traffic and NOTAMs.
T H E K E Y TO A
S U C C ES S F U L
BV LO S P R O G R A M I S
D E TA I L E D , R E L I A B L E
F L I G H T O P E R AT I O N S
Some rules of thumb:
• Documentation is key.
Detailed documentation
will help compliance and
making a case for a waiver
approval.
• Airspace situational
awareness is key to
successful flight operations.
Making sure to be aware of
all data sources, even those
not readily available in
digitized form is important.
• Every flight is an
opportunity to learn
something new and
improve your flight
operations.
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D E T E C T- A N D - AVO I D
Detect-and-Avoid technology is a critical
piece of your BVLOS program. DAA refers
to the capability to see, sense, or detect
conflicting traffic or other hazards and take
the appropriate action to ensure the safety
of humans and property. This is an important
piece of technology necessary to integrate a
remotely piloted Unmanned Aircraft System
(UAS) into the national airspace. Being able to
detect moving aircraft is a core function of this
system and is the first step towards building a
robust mid-air collision avoidance capability.
Today, providing a drone with DAA can be
achieved multiple ways. Ground-based systems
can use radar or acoustic technologies to
identify air intruders and relay that information
to a drone in flight. This requires systems be
installed wherever the drone will be flying, is
dependent on power availability and may be
challenging if the potential for radio/sound
interference exists. Onboard systems may use
technologies like ADS-B receivers or LIDAR.
Receivers require a transmitter to deliver DAA,
which are still not ubiquitously adopted. And
laser systems consume significant power.
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Iris Automation’s​​Casia DAA system uses long
range optics and computer vision, which is
particularly robust due to integrated onboard
hardware and software architecture, small, light
footprint, and low power usage.

Read more about Casia here.

BV LO S O P E R AT I O N A L
R E G U L ATO RY P E R M I S S I O N S
A N D   C E R T I F I C AT I O N

In order to run a commercial BVLOS program

in the United States, you will need to obtain a
Part 107.31 waiver (a waiver from being required
to have visual line of sight to the aircraft under
Part 107) or a Part 135 certification.

A Part 135 certification is required if you’re

looking to operate a commercial BVLOS drone
program that carries the property of another
party for compensation beyond visual line
of sight (i.e. drone delivery operations). Iris
Automation’s R ​ egulatory Resource Center​
can manage the BVLOS regulatory permissions
application process end-to-end for Casia
system customers and other organizations
looking to fly BVLOS.

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For operations in Canada, you will need to
obtain a BVLOS Special Flight Operations
Certificates (SFOCs) from Transport Canada.
An SFOC gives you permission to operate your
drone outside the rules for a specific purpose,
and is necessary for both basic and advanced
operations. Iris Automation’s R​ egulatory
Resource Center h ​ as the capability to manage
your BVLOS SFOC application process end-
to-end for Casia system customers and other
organizations looking to fly BVLOS.
For all other countries, the general approach
to obtaining BVLOS regulatory permission is
to start with preparing a safety case using a
risk assessment process that gathers all data
about your flight operations and procedures.
Since most BVLOS applications are approved
on a case-by-case basis, preparing a safety
case is the most important step in building
confidence with regulatory authorities on
your operation’s safety commitments. Iris
Automation has the tools needed to help
you prepare your safety case available in our ​
Regulatory Resource Center​.
MISSION PLANNING
Before your drone even leaves the
ground, a lot of preparation needs to be
done. A core part of any highly reliable
BVLOS drone operation is mission planning.
Most mission planning starts off with the use
case (survey mission, drone delivery, etc),
location and region of operations, time of
operation, and so on. Carefully programming
the details of your drone’s flight plan with
modern tools that provide safety features
like geo-fencing and low altitude authorization
and notification (LAANC) is necessary for
successful autonomous operations.
Typically a mission planner, also
known as a ground control station, is
used, such as Mission Planner for Ardupilot,
QGroundControl, APM Planner 2.0, or UgCS.
These can be run on your desktop, laptop, or
tablet and support a wide range of operating
systems (Mac OS, Windows, Android, iOS,
Linux, etc). Most ground control stations can
connect directly to your drone using wireless
telemetry, which are radio transmitters and
receivers that enable command and control
links (C2 Link) to your drones.
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You also need an autopilot
on-board the aircraft that
receives the finalized
mission waypoints and
parameters and flies the
aircraft in a BVLOS setting.
These are typically open
source hardware such as
Ardupilot, PX4, or Piccolo.

As part of your mission planning process,

you need to design your mission waypoints.
These are GPS coordinates that the drone will
fly to as part of its flight path. Picking waypoints
depends on the type of mission; a surveying
mission might have many waypoints that
criss-cross an area as the drone takes aerial
imagery, whereas a drone delivery mission
may have only five to six waypoints as it
makes a delivery from one location to another.
Mission planners generally pick waypoints that
enable the autopilot on the drone to easily fly
the aircraft and have minimal interference to
other aircraft or air traffic in the area.

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SOME GENERAL TIPS: C O N C E P T O F O P E R AT I O N S   ( C O N O P S )

1. Have a detailed plan for building airspace
awareness. Check and double check the
airspace for Notices to airmen (NOTAMs),
Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs), Flight
restricted zones (FRZs), and set waypoints
that do not violate these restricted airspace.
Not all data sources are available in
digitized or programmatic formats in real-
time, so make sure that you’ve reviewed
all data sources well ahead of time.
2. Avoid flying in restricted
or prohibited areas.
3. Double check weather advisories,
especially when flying in areas that
have rapidly changing weather patterns
or terrains that create unpredictable
micro-weather patterns.
The origins of CONOPS lie in military
operations  where the focus is less on specifying
exact operational maneuvers, but rather relying
on verbal or graphic statements of a commander’s
assumptions or intent in regard to an operation or
series of operations. The underlying assumption
here is Commander’s Intent, which means explaining
why something must be done when assigning a
task to someone. The more the executing agent
understands the purpose behind what must be
done, the better they will be able to execute.
By being clear about the purpose behind a plan,
others can act toward that goal without the need
of constant communication.

4. When designing a flight path, try to

pick waypoints that do not undercut
the minimum turn radius of the aircraft.

5. Fly your aircraft extensively to understand

its flight behaviour and pattern so you
can design waypoints that the autopilot
can handle.

6. On the day of the flight, check to make

sure that none of your mission parameters
or assumptions have changed (e.g. a new
TFR being issued).

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According to the FAA, the CONOPS
should relate a narrative of the process to
be followed. It must define the roles of the
various stakeholders involved in the process.
The CONOPS is not intended to be an
implementation or transition plan, since it does
not provide managers with the detailed steps
involved in planning for the transition, which
include establishing accountability, managing
risk, scheduling, and budgeting. However,
it does offer a clear methodology to realize
the goals and objectives of the approach to
software development/acquisition of core
assets and systems.
THE CONOPS SHOULD
C O N TA I N   T H E FO L LOW I N G :
• A clear statement of the goals
and objectives.
• The strategies, tactics, policies, and
constraints that describe how security
will affect the program.
• The organizations, activities, and
interactions that describe who will
participate and what these stakeholders
do in that process.
• A clear statement of the responsibilities and
authority of the roles played in the process.
• The specific operational processes, in
overview fashion, that provide a process
model in terms of when and in what order
these operation processes take place,
including such things as dependencies
and concurrencies.
• Processes for initiating and possibly
retirement of the program, as well as
development and maintenance of the
products and components.
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Step 6:
STA R T YO U R D R O N E P R O G R A M
A S   A V LO S P R O G R A M A N D
E VO LV E V LO S TO BV LO S

It is much easier to start a drone program
as a visual line of sight operation, especially
if you have never created a drone program
before. Starting out as a VLOS program helps
you build the operational culture to manage
a more complex operation, including building
a heritage of safe flight operations, hiring the
right team of pilots and flight operators, and
developing your team’s proficiency in mission
planning and following the CONOPS.
Additionally, a lot of the preparation work
needed to apply for and receive BVLOS
permissions is easier when you already
have a VLOS program in place and can
show a track record of safe flight operations.
These include important
documentation and
established procedures
such as:

01 Specific Operations
Risk Assessment (SORA)

02 Flight Operations/
General Operating Manual

03 Fleet and Safety

Management Systems

04 Building Pilot Flight

Hours with Selected
Aircraft Systems

05 Pilot Training

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3 ways to get
regulatory
approvals for
your BVLOS
program

01
D O - I T-YO U R S E L F

Many drone programs have gotten off

the ground thanks to the efforts of a single
champion inside the organization. From
hiring the pilots to preparing the paperwork
and everything in-between, a passionate,
motivated individual can literally will a drone
program into existence. While this may work
initially, you’re very likely to burn out rapidly.
Managing a complex drone program with
more than two or three pilots will very quickly
devolve into a highly unpredictable and
unreliable organization.

You’re also very likely to have issues

with enforcing compliance from your flight
operations team. While the initial SOPs and
procedural paperwork can be written and
circulated, making sure the team actually
follows protocol can be a full-time job all
on its own.

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02
U S E A VA R I E T Y O F PATC H WO R K
S O LU T I O N S A N D I N - H O U S E L E G A L
Oftentimes drone program managers are
looking for the most cost-effective solution by
piecing together a patchwork of cheap, off-the-
shelf, or free software solutions and partnering
with in-house legal or other external counsel
to review and submit paperwork for BVLOS
approvals. This is very common, especially
with organizations that are pioneering BVLOS
operations. However, as the industry matures
and the path to regulatory approval becomes
clearer, the inefficiencies in this process
will become apparent. You may also end
up doing work beyond the scope of your
drone program objectives, such as lobbying
your local Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for
regulatory pathways.
03
PA R T N E R W I T H A C O M P L E T E
SOLUTI ONS VEN D OR
Successful program managers know that the
key to staying sane and scaling your program is
to know what to delegate. You likely don’t have
the time to write detailed regulatory paperwork
to get a BVLOS approval. You don’t have the
time to select an aircraft system and try to piece
together the right Detect-and-Avoid technology
that is compatible with said aircraft. You don’t
have the time to develop and write a detailed
CONOPS document from scratch.
It is at this juncture that it makes most sense
to partner with a complete solutions vendor.
This is especially true in the BVLOS segment
of the drone industry where the final solution
specifications can vary so widely between use
cases (drone delivery vs aerial surveying) that
selecting, testing, and integrating different
pieces of airframes, hardware, and software
is something that is better left to a complete
solutions vendor who has done the hard
work already.
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The Iris
Automation
Solution

R E G U L ATO RY CASIA: COMPLETE

R ES O U R C E C E N T E R : D E T E C T- A N D - AVO I D BV LO S
E N D -TO - E N D T E C H N O LO GY S O LU T I O N S
A P P L I C AT I O N W R I T I N G VENDOR
AND SUBMISSION

R E G U L ATO RY R ES O U R C E
CENTER (RRC)

The Regulatory Resource Center is an • Simplifies and streamlines

online tool supported by aviation policy the process, for novices and
experts providing consulting that manages experts alike.
the BVLOS regulatory permissions application
• Structures compliant
process end-to-end for Casia system customers
documentation preparation,
and other organizations looking to fly BVLOS.
while opening transparency
The RRC provides access to Civil Aviation
to regulatory analysis
Authorities (CAA) to successfully apply for
and review.
BVLOS while reducing the overall time of
approval. Iris Automation’s trusted aviation • De-risks the transition to
policy specialists have thousands of man-hours BVLOS flight operations.
assessing operational risk and establishing
compliant BVLOS flight operations with and
without a DAA system.

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C A S I A D E T E C T- A N D - AVO I D C O M P L E T E BV LO S S O L U T I O N

Casia is a line of Detect-and-Avoid systems Casia is platform agnostic and validated

that combine ultra lightweight and compact integrations can be performed pre- or post-
hardware with software that integrates with purchase of the aircraft. We highly recommend
most industrial drones. contacting our solutions experts before you
make your aircraft purchase to discuss your use
It uses industrial cameras onboard the
case so we can recommend a set of compatible
drone to observe and interpret the world for
airframes, autopilot, and airspace solutions that
full situational awareness of the operational
will give you a complete end-to-end solution for
environment. Using computer vision
your BVLOS program. Check out our drone
technology, it immediately processes
ecosystem here​.
information about intruder aircraft and
makes intelligent decisions in real-time.

Casia 360​is the first commercially

available 360 degree radial computer
vision Detect-and-Avoid system for
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). As an
integrated onboard hardware and software
solution, Casia systems are small, light,
and low power.

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