EagleEye Systems wins FAA Section 333 exemption to deploy smart unmanned aircraft systems in U.S.

NEW YORK, 30 March 2016. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials in Washington have granted a Section 333 exemption to EagleEye Systems (EES), maker of a smart operating system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also commonly referred to as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and drones, to operate unmanned aircraft in the United States. This FAA approval clears EES to provide full pilot and flight operations to U.S. customers.

Whereas traditional unmanned aircraft need manual commands to operate, UAVs powered by the EagleEye operating system canfunction autonomously, officials say. The onboard computer can process data from sensors and cameras in real time to suggest decisions, reducing the risk of errors caused by relying solely on human pilots.

Each EES-powered UAV utilizes NATO-standard data encryption to provide a tamper-resistant record of the data captured, and the security architecture is set up to minimize the risk of intrusion by hackers. The operating system is intended to meet the privacy and security needs of its customers and current and expected regulations.

The FAA exemption also enables EES to train pilots before they can fly UAVs, build robust flight departments, and assist clients with their ownFAA Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA), the rigorous approval process to operate commercial drones in U.S. airspace.

“This approval from the FAA is the result of many years of development of our capabilities to meet the very high standards required by U.S. authorities,” says EagleEye Systems Chief Operating OfficerAsh Bhatia. “With this hurdle crossed, we will now focus on continually improving our platform to drive the next wave of innovation in the exploding commercial drone industry. We have always seen ourselves as the ideal choice for high-performance needs across applications such as search and rescue, firefighting, law enforcement, and public safety. “Increasingly, we are also seeing users of first-generation drones in areas like private security, surveying, agriculture and infrastructure maintenance come to us – everyone wants their drones to do more and to be more secure and stable, and we are the firm to help maximize the capabilities of these fantastic machines,” Bhatia adds.

EES-equipped drones are already deployed in the U.S., including the Office of Emergency Management at Bergen County in New Jersey. The company is in active discussions with prospects in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

EagleEye was founded in 2014 by a team of software entrepreneurs with a track record of building successful companies. The founders are registered pilots with ratings up to flight instructor. Advances in technology created an opportunity for a second generation UAV, one with a brain on board that could make decisions based on real-time inputs from sensors and cameras, and that does not need a pilot to constantly oversee the mission as traditional UAVs do. This allows for missions with risk and precision requirements that are beyond a human pilot’s capability and at a total cost that is lower than traditional solutions. This is the gap that EES is filling in the marketplace. The company has offices in Louvain-la-Neurve near Brussels and in New York City.