Announcement: Vigilant Aerospace to Support Advanced, High Altitude Drone Weather Data Collection Project for NOAA and Oklahoma State University
Vigilant Aerospace Systems’ FlightHorizon platform has been selected to support beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight operations for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Oklahoma State University College of Engineering, Architecture and...
Announcement: Vigilant Aerospace Comments on FAA BVLOS Notice of Proposed Rule Making (Part 108)
The FAA’s proposed beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) rule marks a historic shift toward routine uncrewed aircraft operations in national airspace. The filing reflects direct FAA involvement in BVLOS policy, standards development, and operational safety systems....
Guest Analysis: Echodyne and Vigilant Aerospace Building Reliable Airspace Awareness for UAS
Vigilant Aerospace Systems has been working with Echodyne since 2019 This guest article is contributed by Echodyne, a radar technology company and Vigilant Aerospace industry partner since 2019, supporting advanced UAS airspace awareness. What Does Airspace Management...
Announcement: Vigilant Aerospace’s Zach Peterson elected Vice Chair of North Dakota Unmanned Autonomous Systems Council
The North Dakota Unmanned Autonomous Systems Council (NDUASC) has elected Zach Peterson, Director of Business Development at Vigilant Aerospace Systems, as Vice Chair. He joins Frank Matus, Director, UAS Integration Strategy, Airspace Mobility Solutions, Americas, who has been elected Chair.
Media: AUVSI Member Spotlight: Vigilant Aerospace
Vigilant Aerospace develops multi-sensor detect-and-avoid and airspace management software for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). They work with government customers, including the FAA, DOD, and NASA, to enable safe and scalable autonomous flight.
Vigilant Aerospace Awarded OCAST Grant to Develop Distributed Airspace Management System with OAIRE
Vigilant Aerospace awarded OCAST grant to develop Distributed Airspace Management System.
Partners with Oklahoma State University to develop safe uncrewed aircraft traffic management capabilities.
Vigilant Aerospace’s Zach Peterson Joins AUVSI Great Plains Board of Directors
Vigilant Aerospace Systems Director of Business Development Zach Peterson has joined the board of directors for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International’s (AUVSI) Great Plains Chapter. AUVSI is an industry association for uncrewed systems,...
Announcement: Vigilant Aerospace Systems Joins Oklahoma Defense Industry Association
Vigilant Aerospace Systems has joined the Oklahoma Defense Industry Association (ODIA), expanding its role in Oklahoma’s aerospace and defense ecosystem and bringing its expertise in uncrewed aircraft system safety, airspace management, and detect-and-avoid (DAA)...
Navigating the Future of Drones: Key Takeaways from the FAA Drone Symposium
Our CEO, Kraettli L. Epperson, recently had the privilege of attending the FAA’s Drone Symposium and AAM Summit and reports that the future of unmanned systems looks brighter than ever. Hosted by the FAA in collaboration with AUVSI, this event combined the...
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Speaking on Panel at Counter-UAS and Asymmetric Threat Symposium on Sept. 23
Vigilant Aerospace Systems CEO Kraettli L. Epperson will be speaking at the upcoming Counter-UAS and Asymmetric Threat Symposium on Friday, Sept. 23 on a panel titled “C-UAS State and Federal Regulatory Concerns.” The conference is organized by the...
Vigilant Aerospace’s Zach Peterson Elected as NDIA Northern Tier Chapter Vice President
Zach Peterson, Business Development Director for Vigilant Aerospace Systems Vigilant Aerospace Systems Director of Business Development Zach Peterson has been selected as Vice President of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Northern Tier Chapter. The...
Pierce Aerospace Announces Partnership with Vigilant Aerospace, Integrating Remote ID into NASA Licensed Flight Safety Technologies
April 18, 2022, Indianapolis, IN — Pierce Aerospace announced a partnership with Vigilant Aerospace Systems today to integrate Pierce Aerospace’s Flight Portal Remote ID technologies into Vigilant’s FlightHorizon airspace management and flight safety products....
SBA’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Cluster Initiative Appoints Vigilant Aerospace CEO as Co-Chair of Advisory Council
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Cluster Initiative (UASCI) has recently launched a new Private Industry Advisory Council and appointed Vigilant Aerospace Systems CEO Kraettli L. Epperson and Dr. Jamey Jacob, Director of Oklahoma...
Video: NASA ULI WindMap Project Vigilant Aerospace Briefing
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Kraettli Epperson recently presented a brief online presentation discussing our participation in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) University Leadership Initiative (ULI) WindMap project lead by Oklahoma State University....
Aviation Week Features Vigilant Aerospace and Oklahoma State University UAS Detect-and-Avoid Research and Testing in Article
Aviation Week, a leading industry publication, recently released an article covering the research and development work Vigilant Aerospace Systems and Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) Unmanned Systems Research Institute (USRI) have completed focusing on the live...
FlightHorizon Detect-and-Avoid Used in FAA ASSURE Testing Program in Alaska
Vigilant Aerospace provided its FlightHorizon airspace management and detect-and-avoid system to support flight testing carried out by the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Center of Excellence (COE) for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program known as the...
FAA Selects Vigilant Aerospace CEO for the Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) on Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight Drone Rules
Vigilant Aerospace’s CEO, Kraettli L. Epperson, has been selected as one of 89 members nationwide of the new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) writing recommended rules to allow small uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS or...
Vigilant Aerospace Partnership with Oklahoma State University for NASA ULI WINDMAP Project Featured in STATE Magazine
Vigilant Aerospace Systems’ research projects with Oklahoma State University’s Unmanned Systems Research Institute (USRI) were recently featured in the annual OSU Research Matters magazine. mentioned in OSU Research Matters Magazine, the official magazine...
Vigilant Director Providing Leadership to AUVSI Great Plains with New Board of Directors Appointment
Business Development Director Zach Peterson Appointed Secretary of the AUVSI Great Plains Chapter Vigilant Aerospace is proud to announce the appointment of Zach Peterson, the company’s Director of Business Development, as the Vice President of the Great Plains...
New Video: Vigilant Aerospace’s FlightHorizon Detect-and-Avoid System Used to Track Pandemic Response Test Flight
Vigilant Aerospace Systems recently participated in a pandemic response test flight with Oklahoma State University and MaxQ on April 16th at the Oklahoma State University Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Station. The flights were led by the Oklahoma State University...
Vigilant Aerospace Uses Detect-and-Avoid System for Pandemic Response Drone Test Flight with Oklahoma State University and MaxQ
Vigilant Aerospace provided its FlightHorizon detect-and-avoid and airspace management system to enable beyond visual line-of-sight capabilities for a demonstration flight of Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) specially modified medical supply delivery drone on...
Vigilant Aerospace Partners with Oklahoma State University in NASA Research Project on Weather Hazards and Drone Safety
Vigilant Aerospace Systems and Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) research team were selected by NASA for a new project to use real-time weather forecasting to improve flight safety for unmanned aircraft. The four-year research project will use Vigilant Aerospace’s...
Announcement: Vigilant Aerospace Partners with Oklahoma State University in NASA Research Project on Weather Hazards and Drone Safety
Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) research team, including Vigilant Aerospace, was selected by NASA for a new project to use real-time weather forecasting to improve flight safety for unmanned aircraft. The four-year research project will use Vigilant...
Vigilant Aerospace’s Blog Named One of the Top Aerospace Websites to Follow in 2020
Vigilant Aerospace’s blog was recently named as one of Feedspot’s “Top 15 Aerospace Blogs and Websites to Follow in 2020.” The list is published annually by Feedspot, a leading news aggregator with 400 million daily users, tracking for 200,000...
Vigilant Aerospace Systems’ CEO Discusses Future of Commercial Drones and Industry Opportunities with The Oklahoman
Vigilant Aerospace Systems’ CEO, Kraettli L. Epperson, recently spoke to Dale Denwalt [Dale on Twitter] at the The Oklahoman about the development of autonomous systems and the market opportunity for commercial drones in the state of Oklahoma. Some highlights...
Vigilant Aerospace Signs New NASA Agreement Adding Military Use to Detect-and-Avoid System for Drones
Vigilant Aerospace Systems has signed a new license agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) extending the company’s existing detect-and-avoid and radar technology patent licenses to include military aviation applications. This new license...
NASA Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Named a Top Aerospace Innovation of 2019 by Popular Science Magazine
Vigilant Aerospace Systems congratulates NASA and Lockheed Martin on the new low-boom supersonic aircraft, the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSSt), being selected by Popular Science Magazine as one of “The most impressive aerospace innovations of...
Drone Industry Insights Lists Vigilant Aerospace as a Leading UAS Software Provider in New 2019 Report
For the second year in a row, Vigilant Aerospace Systems has been selected by Drone Industry Insights (DII) as one of the “most relevant” companies operating in the drone technology market in their recently published 2019 Drone Market Environment Map. Vigilant is...
Video: FlightHorizon Provides Airspace Awareness for Oklahoma State University Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight Flights Under New FAA Authorization
Vigilant Aerospace recently participated in the first unmanned aircraft flight under a new FAA certificate of authorization (COA) allowing for beyond visual line-of-sight flights within a 13-mile corridor based out of the Oklahoma State University Unmanned Aircraft...
Video: Four Common Obstacles to Launching a Successful Droneport and UAS Programs
Vigilant Aerospace Systems recently gave a one-hour seminar at the inaugural meeting of the DronePort Network in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. The first part of the seminar featured case studies of successful drone ports that have overcome four common obstacles in launching...
Video: 2018 North Dakota Integration Pilot Program Flights Over People with FlightHorizon Airspace Monitoring
Vigilant Aerospace recently participated in UAS Integration Pilot Program unmanned aircraft flights over people at the Sept. 29, 2018 football tailgate at the FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota. The flights were led by the North Dakota Department of Transportation and...
Vigilant Aerospace Uses FlightHorizon to Monitor Airspace for North Dakota UAS IPP Flight-Over-People with FAA Observation
Vigilant Aerospace Systems, Inc. has successfully participated in a ground-breaking unmanned aircraft flight that helps to pave the way for routine flights over people, a major milestone in the development of commercial drone regulations and the use of unmanned...
North Dakota IPP Flights Over FargoDome Tailgate to Help Build Safety Case for Flights Over People
As a member of the North Dakota Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP) team, Vigilant Aerospace Systems will provide airspace monitoring and situational awareness for the upcoming “flights-over-people” operations to occur on Saturday, Sept....
NASA Uses FlightHorizonX to Track Experimental Transponder for Supersonic Flights, New FAA Standards
Vigilant Aerospace Systems’ FlightHorizonX detect-and-avoid and airspace management system is actively being used in new round of supersonic flight tests conducted by NASA with the agency’s F/A-18 research aircraft. Bob Hunte, an engineer at Applied...
Alaska IPP Team to Focus on Building Safety Case for 24/7 Pipeline Monitoring and Long-Range Surveying
Vigilant Aerospace has partnered with the Alaska Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP) team, led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, to provide real-time situational awareness, airspace safety and detect-and-avoid services to the team using...
ACM Magazine Article “Here Come the Drones” Quotes Vigilant Aerospace CEO: Hundreds of Autonomous Drones Will Be Managed from Central Command Centers
What is the future of unmanned aircraft in the US and how can we move forward? These are the questions that an article in Communications, the magazine of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recently asked our CEO while profiling the Federal Aviation...
Vigilant Aerospace Presenting “New Models for Integration of UAS into the NAS” and Exhibiting at UAS Summit & Expo 2018
Vigilant Aerospace’s CEO, Kraettli L. Epperson, will be making a presentation titled “New Models for Integration of UAS into the National Airspace” at the upcoming UAS Summit & Expo 2018 being held on August 20 to 22 in Grand Forks, ND. The...
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Discussing Future of Drone Sensors, Chips and Artificial Intelligence for BVLOS Flights at InterDrone 2018
Vigilant Aerospace’s CEO will be discussing emerging sensor and processing technologies and artificial intelligence for beyond visual line-of-sight and autonomous drones on two different panels at the upcoming InterDrone 2018 conference. InterDrone is North...
North Dakota IPP Team Will Focus on Flights at Night, Over People and Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight
The North Dakota UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) Team has announced that it will focus on techniques and technologies that enable safe, routine flights over people, night operations and flights beyond visual line of sight according to a new statement from the...
New Drone Reports Indicate Continued Interest in Commercial Drones and Industry Growth
Business Insider has released the latest “Drone for the Enterprise” report featuring information and analysis on “how various industries are leveraging drones to increase efficiency and cut costs.” The report focuses on five industries that are...
A Look at the UAS Integration Pilot Program – What’s Next?
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have announced the Integration Pilot Program Lead Participants (or “Lead Participants”) for the UAS Integration Pilot Program (UIPP). We were excited to announce this...
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Presentation at XPONENTIAL 2018: Emerging UAS Tech to Enable Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight and Safe Airspace Integration
Vigilant Aerospace would like to thank everyone who attended our Solutions Theater presentation on “Emerging Technology and Solutions for UAS Airspace Integration and Active Detect-and-Avoid to Enable Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight Flight” last week at AUVSI...
Vigilant Aerospace to Provide FlightHorizon for Airspace Safety to Multiple FAA Unmanned Aircraft Integration Pilot Programs
Vigilant Aerospace is providing detect-and-avoid and airspace management solutions using its FlightHorizon product to two of the ten winning Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Programs (UIPP) announced today by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and US...
New Global UAV Sense-and-Avoid Systems Report Names Vigilant Aerospace a Key Vendor and Forecasts Market at $3.6Bn by 2022
A new market intelligence report from BIS Research forecasts the market for UAV sense-and-avoid systems to reach $3.6Bn by 2022 and names Vigilant Aerospace Systems as a key player in the rising market. The study, titled “Global UAV Sense and Avoid Systems...
Upcoming Presentation at XPONENTIAL 2018: Emerging Technology and Solutions for UAS Airspace Integration and Active Detect-and-Avoid to Enable BVLOS Flight
Vigilant Aerospace will be presenting at AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018 on the first day of the conference, Tuesday, May 1 at 3:30 PM at the Solutions Theater in the XPO Hall. AUVSI XPONENTIAL is the world’s largest trade show for unmanned systems. The company’s...
FlightHorizon Selected by NASA Commercial Supersonic Technology Program 2018-2019 for Airspace Situational Awareness, Flight Logging
FlightHorizon COMMANDER has been selected by the Commercial Supersonic Technology (CST) 2018-2019 development program at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center to provide airspace situational awareness and detailed flight logging of research flights. FlightHorizon...
New FAA UAS Forecast Shows Big Growth in Commercial sUAS, Suggests Need for 300K More Remote Pilots
The FAA has released its latest Aerospace Forecast for 2018-2038 and the new forecast reports that the commercial sUAS market is growing faster than expected with more than 110,604 commercial sUAS registered by the end of 2017. Last year, we forecasted that the...
Latest UAS Sightings Report from the FAA Indicates Dramatic Increase in Encounters
The FAA has released the most recent UAS Sightings Reports covering January 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017. The report indicates an increase of 99% in the average number of daily encounters reported between manned and unmanned aircraft in 2017 versus the 2015...
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Quoted in Crunchbase Article: “21 Early-Stage Drone Companies To Watch Out For (Literally)”
The latest article on the unmanned aircraft industry in Crunchbase quotes Vigilant Aerospace CEO Kraettli L. Epperson in the first few lines. The article, “21 Early-Stage Drone Companies To Watch Out For (Literally),” cites the company’s expertise in...
Drone Industry Insights Lists Vigilant Aerospace as a Company that will “Disrupt” in 2018
Vigilant Aerospace Systems is proud to be recognized as one of the “most active and relevant players in the drone industry” by Drone Industry Insights (DRONEII) as a part of the recently published 2018 Drone Market Environment Map. The company is listed as...
NASA Publishes Paper at the 2018 AIAA SciTech Forum on BVLOS Flight Testing of FlightHorizon Detect-and-Avoid System
NASA has published a new research paper on the beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight testing and nearly 350 flight encounters carried out on the FlightHorizon detect-and-avoid and situational awareness system. The research paper, titled “µADS-B Detect and Avoid...
Vigilant Aerospace Registers to Provide FlightHorizon to FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program (UIPP) Applicants
Vigilant Aerospace has registered as an Interested Party in the FAA’s new UAS Integration Pilot Program (UIPP), which is designed to allow state, local and tribal governments in the US to create Innovation Zones in which advanced UAS operations can be carried out and...
Exploring the FAA’s New UAS Integration Pilot Program
The FAA’s new UAS Integration Pilot Program (UIPP) is the biggest new regulatory initiative and industry opportunity in the unmanned aircraft industry since the publication of Part 107 in August 2016. The UIPP is a newly announced initiative by the FAA to...
Exploring the FAA’s New UAS Integration Pilot Program
The FAA’s new UAS Integration Pilot Program (UIPP) is the biggest new regulatory initiative and industry opportunity in the unmanned aircraft industry since the publication of Part 107 in August 2016. The UIPP is a newly announced initiative by the FAA to...
FlightHorizon Named an R&D 100 Award Finalist for 2017
Vigilant Aerospace’s product, FlightHorizon, has been named a 2017 R&D 100 Award Finalist. The Finalists were announced yesterday, August 9th, by R&D Magazine. Read the full story here. The R&D 100 Awards are presented annually to the top 100...
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Presenting on the Safety Framework for Unmanned Aircraft at the UAS Business & Contracting Symposium
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Kraettli Epperson will be making a presentation titled “Safety Framework for Integration of UAS into the National Airspace” on August 8th at the UAS Business & Contracting Symposium organized by the Oklahoma Metro Technology...
MITRE Study Concludes ADS-B Viable for Low-Altitude Unmanned Aircraft
Recently, the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), operated for the FAA by the MITRE Corporation, published a new research study about the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) systems by small, low-altitude unmanned aircraft...
Vigilant Aerospace CEO Comments on the Future of Drone Delivery in the United States
An article released today by The Future of Everything as part of their “Ask the Thought Leaders ” blog series featured comments from Vigilant Aerospace CEO Kraettli Epperson and other experts in the unmanned aircraft industry. In light of the increasing...
Latest Reported Near-Misses in the U.K. Highlight Need for Drone Visibility and Detect-and-Avoid Solutions
The latest report on drone sightings and near-misses with commercial manned aircraft in the U.K. have highlighted an increasing need for drones to be more visible to manned aircraft and to be able to detect-and-avoid other aircraft. The U.K. Airprox Board (UKAB)...
Latest Reported Near-Misses in the U.K. Highlight Need for Drone Visibility and Detect-and-Avoid Solutions
The latest report on drone sightings and near-misses with commercial manned aircraft in the U.K. have highlighted an increasing need for drones to be more visible to manned aircraft and to be able to detect-and-avoid other aircraft. The U.K. Airprox Board (UKAB)...
FAA Reports 1,000 New Commercial UAS Registered Per Week, Big Growth Ahead
The FAA released a new Aerospace Forecast for 2017-2037 on March 21 that includes both some startling 2016 numbers and a forecast for continued rapid growth of the commercial UAS industry in coming years. In addition, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has delivered...
NASA Subscale Flight Research Lab Featured in Wired Magazine Video, Tested FlightHorizon
Wired Magazine recently published a fun video about the researchers and pilots of the awesome NASA Subscale Flight Research Lab at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center: Flight Lab: Inside the Model Plane Shop Where NASA Flies the Future This is the same team that...
FAA Releases 2016 Drone Sighting Incidents Report
The FAA has announced the release of their 2016 drone sightings incident report, covering February through September, 2016: FAA Releases Updated Drone Sighting Reports The prior report, released in 2016, covered the same period in 2015. Comparing the two periods, the...
FAA Grants Beyond Line-of-Sight COA to Vigilant Aerospace Testing Partner
The Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Test Site in North Dakota, an official test site for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence program (ASSURE), is the first UAS test site to be granted...
Vigilant Aerospace to Speak on The Future of Industry Innovation at UTM 2016
Vigilant Aerospace CEO, Kraettli L. Epperson, will be a featured panelist at the upcoming Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) 2016 conference in Syracuse, NY on November 9, 2016. The conference, in its second year, is organized by NASA and the unmanned aviation industry...
Study Resources for Part 107 UAS Pilots
The August 29th initial testing date is near and we’ve put together our own list of Part 107 UAS Pilot Certification test prep study resources. UAS Pilot Study Resources Page In the interest of supporting UAS safety and helping drone pilots prepare for the...
USPTO Publishes NASA Patent Licensed by Vigilant Aerospace for FlightHorizon Software
Vigilant Aerospace celebrated the publication of NASA’s Patent #9,405,005 today! Vigilant Aerospace is the exclusive licensee of this patent, which includes technologies for: Integration of aircraft transponders onto unmanned aircraft Signal processing and...
7-Eleven Delivers by Drone Within Line of Sight
Commercial Drone Milestone Achieved 7-Eleven recently took to the air by drone to deliver a chicken sandwich, hot coffee, donuts, some candy, and Slurpees to a family in Reno. This delivery marked the first legal U.S. commercial delivery by drone of items ordered from...
Drone Collision Tests Provide Backup to a Great ADS-B System
CNN recently reported on the collision tests being done to evaluate if airliners can withstand an aerial collision with a standard commercial drone. The FAA release of the new Part 107 drone regulations has turned an event larger spotlight on drone safety. Headed by...
Analysis: New FAA Regulations for Commercial Drones Announced to Take Effect August 2016
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that the long awaited Part 107 Drone Regulations will take effect in late August 2016 affecting commercial drone operators. The new operational rules allow businesses to fly drones in the U.S. as long as they...
Analysis: AIAA Publishes NASA Paper About Detect-and-Avoid
Research and Product Testing of NASA ADS-B Detect-and-Avoid Algorithm Lead by Ricardo Arteaga, CxP Orion Flight Systems Engineer at NASA Dryden, the research team based out of the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California recently published a...