American Water’s aerial surveillance program partners with NJII

American Water, a national water and wastewater utility company, announced that it has entered into an agreement with the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) to perform research with its Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Program.

The research project would explore how American Water’s UAS Program could monitor source water and related environmental patterns.

NJII is a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) corporation. With the agreement, research would be performed under a NJIT Federal Aviation Administration Part 91 Certificate of Authorization, which enables research activities up to an altitude of 1,500 feet above ground level and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). American Water had previously received a Federal Aviation Administration Certificate of Authorization to operate BVLOS at this altitude.

“American Water is proud to partner with NJII/NJIT, enabling us to jointly perform unmanned aerial systems and payload research flying up to three miles from a UAS pilot at an altitude of 1,500 feet to capture wide area mapping at high resolutions,” says Christopher Kahn, Director of UAS, American Water. “This significant research will enhance monitoring of source water and potential environmental threats to our critical infrastructure water supply.”

Additionally, American Water’s long-range mapping and inspection airframe, the Censys Technologies Sentaero, provides the ability to inspect facilities from miles away through high-resolution cameras, while staying in the air for over an hour.

American Water says that it is also working closely with several government agencies and partner organizations to enable BVLOS UAS missions during temporary flight restrictions, which are commonly in place after natural disasters.