N
oam Kenig is demon-
strating aerodynamic
advances he's made
to his company's car-
bon-fibre quadcopter when Sky
Is the Limit, his sandy-coloured
puppy, starts nibbling on another
machine's rotor. "Hey, don't eat
that, it's expensive," he admon-
ishes gently.
Kenig owns and runs Aeri-
alX Drone Solution Inc., an East
Vancouver developer of autono-
mous unmanned aerial vehicles
(
UAVs)—commonly referred to
as drones. The AerialX office is
stacked with tools, electronics
gear and small aircraft in various
stages of assembly. Kenig and his
staff of three are aiming to make
machines that are lighter, fly
farther and—most important—
think smarter than anything
that has come before. Currently
they're designing a custom drone
for a large client that will rebrand
it for sale to military and com-
mercial end users. Users will be
able to throw the drone in the
air, where it will autopilot itself
and scan the landscape with its
cameras and sensors.
AerialX is pushing boundar-
ies in an industry that is leaping
forward technologically and
in popularity. Commercial
drone users in Canada must get
permits from Transport Canada
called Special Flight Operations
Certificates (
SFOCs) to fly, and
the number of
SFOCs issued has
rocketed from just 66 in 2010
PAUL JOSEPH JANUARY 2016 BCBusiness 13
t he mon t hly in for mer
TMı
"Marijuana is a commitment
we made–and I, along with
my colleagues, will ensure
that we put in place a
substantive and smart
regulatory framework"
–p.17
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6
Eye in the Sky
T e c h n o l o g y
The proliferation of drones has been a boon to several industries,
but it's also raising serious safety concerns by Dee Hon
INSIDE
film and the U.S. dollar ... Water watch ... B.C.'s woman in ottawa, Jody Wilson-raybould + more
SUPER FLY
Noam Kenig, owner of
AerialX Drone Solution
Inc., operates the
HummingBird UAV
"We invested and
figured out the
regulatory side and
the technological side
as we went–which is
not the way I would
recommend doing it"
– Matt Davidson,
Valhalla partner and
senior environmental
scientist
gear and small aircraft in various
stages of assembly. Kenig and his
they're designing a custom drone
for a large client that will rebrand
it for sale to military and com
mercial end users. Users will be
able to throw the drone in the
air, where it will autopilot itself
and scan the landscape with its
cameras and sensors.
ies in an industry that is leaping
forward technologically and
in popularity. Commercial
drone users in Canada must get
"We invested and
figured out the
regulatory side and
the technological side
as we went–which is
not the way I would
