iSight Drone Services, working with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS) and Vantis, North Dakota’s statewide BVLOS system, announced the completion of “a groundbreaking beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone delivery of medical supplies more than 80 miles of western North Dakota prairie from Williston to Watford City.”

In a statement, NPUASTS explained that the demonstration was “conducted under Project RuralReach, a federally funded initiative led by the University of North Dakota Center for Innovation in partnership with NPUASTS, Vantis and regional research partners.” The project was designed to “demonstrate how unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can enhance quality of life, economic resilience and access to critical services in rural communities,” and to show how prove how drone technology can support reliable rural delivery of medical and essential supplies, sustainable operations through the use of renewable power, and rapid deployment for emergency response operations.

Commenting on the project, Erin Roesler, Deputy Executive Director of the NPUASTS, stated, “What makes this operation so impactful is that it proves BVLOS can be done safely; even in complex, real-world rural environments, and that it can bring real value to North Dakota communities.”

The NPUASTS statement reported that the “demonstration was conducted under Project RuralReach, a federally funded initiative led by the University of North Dakota Center for Innovation in partnership with NPUASTS, Vantis, and regional research partners, and

“iSight Drone Services received $50,000 through the program to test long-range delivery operations in western North Dakota.”

Source: NPUASTS