Expanded Drone Use Takes Flight

摘要

The electric power industry has long championed the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)-more commonly known as drones-for energy grid maintenance and service restoration. Until recently, however, the ability of electric companies and other commercial users to deploy drones for business purposes was limited by federal regulatory policies. Specifically, companies had to apply for a special case-by-case exemption for specific business applications, and these exemptions placed significant restrictions on the types of operations drone pilots could undertake.