Fugro is partnering with Australian drone manufacturer Carbonix to establish a new long-range drone capability. It is Fugro’s first partnership working towards long-range Beyond Visual Line of Sight missions (BVLoS), bolstering Fugro’s existing Geographic Information System (GIS) capability. Carbonix will supply Volanti and Ottano vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones over the next 27 months, to further enhance Fugro’s remote operations.

Fugro is a world leader in the transition to remote and autonomous operations with a global network of 9 remote operation centres (ROCs). From there Fugro operates boats and remotely operated vehicles remotely and provides survey, inspection and piloting services to the maritime industry across the world. Carbonix will support Fugro’s Australian long-range maritime and land projects from the sky, using state-of-the-art aerial surveying and data capture technology, while integrating with Fugro’s ROCs for the joint development of systems technology and capabilities

“Carbonix has the vision to become a leader in long-range aerial data acquisition solutions enabling our business partners to become more effective in serving their customers. The partnership with Fugro will allow both our companies to align in enhancing their existing capabilities and market opportunities. It’s exciting to see how our vision aligns with our industry partner’s investments, their resources, and the future of their capability”, said Philip van der Burg, CEO Carbonix.

“As Fugro continues to expand its remote operations capabilities into the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) sector, the Carbonix partnership helps to ensure we continue to offer our clients the latest technology available. The RPA advancements provided by Carbonix combined with Fugro’s remote operations infrastructure and expertise create the ideal habitat to progress BVLoS operations in Australia”, according to Paul Mullins, Director of Remote Operations APAC / IRM Operations Manager Fugro.