Phoenix Air Unmanned seek VTOL UAS

Phoenix Air Unmanned, LLC (PAU) is seeking information on the availability of Unmanned Aircraft Systems to support linear infrastructure inspections. The UAS will be operated by PAU who has been contracted by Xcel Energy as their unmanned flight service provider and they plan to purchase a minimum of 4 aircraft initially with the possibility of additional aircraft in the future. Xcel Energy, Inc. owns over 120,000 miles of transmission and distribution infrastructure across eight states (CO, MI, MN, NM, WI, ND, SD, TX) that must be inspected at regular intervals as required by state and federal regulations.

Xcel Energy, Inc. is a utility holding company with a service company (Xcel Energy Services) and four wholly owned utility subsidiaries that serve electric and natural gas customers. PAU was established in 2014 for commercial UAS operations. They are a sister company of Phoenix Air Group, Inc. (PAG) that is an FAA-certificated Part 135 operator with worldwide operating authority. PAG provides passenger service for U.S. and Allied Governments, worldwide air ambulance service and high priority air cargo service, including the transport of explosives and dangerous goods with a fleet of 50 plus aircraft (including Gulfstream, Learjet and Embraer aircraft). In the coming years PAU plans to expand their fleet of certificated UAS to provide inspection services to other customers required to perform linear inspection services.

Current Concept of Operations

The UAS will be operated to inspect Xcel Energy’s transmission line infrastructure and must be able to support the following operational assumptions:

• Vertical takeoff from the area to be inspected. For example, electrical transmission line inspections would originate and terminate at substations

• Autopilot flight from mission start to mission end over the centerline of the infrastructure under inspection

• Pilot in Command (PIC) will be in a mobile ground station vehicle

• Onboard DAA or collision avoidance used in conjunction with ground-based surveillance from FAA SBS data feed available to PIC in ground station

• Terrestrial C2 links can be provided at ends of transmission line segment only and must be installed on ground station vehicle. SATCOM C2 links must be able to connect to ground station vehicle. Either or both solutions are acceptable

• Aircraft is operated either under Part 107 or Part 91 but must have appropriate FAA airworthiness approval required for a Part 107 Waiver or according to the 14 CFR Part 91 operating rules

Currently the sensors required to accomplish the Xcel Energy inspection requirements are listed below. However higher performance and lower weight sensors are desired:

o 2 Phase One iXM-RS150F cameras

 150MP resolution

 Pixel size less than .25cm at top of structure

o RIEGL VUX-1 LiDAR system

 10mm survey-grade accuracy

Desired Performance Requirements

Desired performance requirements are listed below, and we seek UAS suppliers who can meet the majority or all these parameters. We request a detailed response that describes your aircraft’s ability to meet these performance criteria.

Your response should identify the make and model aircraft that you are proposing and the ability to meet the specific criteria below.

The response should detail all FAA waivers and/or exemptions that have been granted for your UAS. Please submit your response no later than March 27, 2020.

Unmanned Aircraft Performance

Based on our experience in 2 years of operations collecting data on transmission line infrastructure, we believe the following criteria represent a minimum set of performance criteria to achieve cost effective operational performance. We are seeking aircraft that can meet or exceed these criteria.

• Aircraft Range: 40nm

• Minimum Flight Speed: Hover

• Max Cruise Speed: 50kts

• Rate of Climb: 20 Feet Per Second

• Takeoff/Landing Profile: VTOL

• Ceiling: 14,000ft MSL

• Cargo Capacity: 30 lbs

• MTBF: 1,000 hours

Payload

The aircraft is a data collection platform; therefore, payload integration and operation are important aspects of the design. We expect the suite of sensors to expand beyond those currently used. We also anticipate that use cases will expand to visual inspection of Xcel Energy infrastructure in addition to transmission lines. To accommodate these future needs, the UAS should be designed to: