FAA Grants Sentera 333 Exemption for Commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Use

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sentera, LLC, a designer of sensors, software, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), today announced it has been granted a Section 333 exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate multiple types of commercially-available UAVs. Applications for these systems include crop survey, infrastructure inspection, geo-spatial mapping, and other aerial imaging missions.

"We are excited to receive the exemption," said Sentera CEO, Eric Taipale. "While most exemption holders focus on providing revenue-generating flight services, Sentera flies primarily to demonstrate our products to customers and to gather and analyze aerial data which helps us enhance our OnTop Platform, a data management system designed specifically to support the thousands of images collected during a typical UAV flight."

Sentera's exemption for both fixed-wing and quadcopter UAVs ensures the company can capture a wide range of data types that are relevant to customer applications, including very high resolution visual, multispectral, and thermal imagery, as well as specialized non-image information. Customers use Sentera input data to perform many tasks, such as developing planting and crop management advice for growers, building 3D models of buildings, structures, and terrain for asset owners, and monitoring environmental regulatory compliance for public agencies.

Comprehensive data management solutions are crucial to successful UAV inspections, asset audits, safety inspections, agriculture data collections, and point-cloud collection activities.

"Clients use a myriad of UAV-captured data types to increase safety, assess crop health, and boost ROI," explained Taipale. "Sentera already provides some of the most precise sensors and leading UAV solutions in the industry. Our Section 333 exemption allows us advance our OnTop Platform more rapidly, which ultimately helps our customers manage all of this data most efficiently."

The FAA authorization allows Sentera to fly UAV platforms built by Lockheed Martin, DJI, and Sentera.

For information about flight operations or the company's OnTop Platform, please visit Sentera at www.sentera.com/ontop.

About Sentera
Sentera, LLC has more than 200 years of combined UAV remote sensing experience and is considered a leading designer, developer, and manufacturer of sensors, software, and UAVs. Industries served include infrastructure, agriculture, and public safety. The company is FAA-approved to operate drones commercially and has 20,000+ hours of total flight time. Learn more about Sentera at www.sentera.com.

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SOURCE Sentera