Drone Source Ep. 1: Interview with Yoav Amitai of Elsight – Connectivity, BVLOS, Regulation, Scale & Growth

On the February 13th, 2021 episode of Drone Source, host Asaf Raz spoke with Yoav Amitai, Chief Executive Officer for Elsight. Prior to his work with Elsight as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Amitai also held positions within the company as Operations Manager, Chief Product Innovation Officer, and Chief Operations Officer.

Elsight is a leading Israeli drone technology enabler that is focused on developing the connectivity solutions needed to be able to roll out the next generation of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) solutions for commercial unmanned aerial services (UAS). Elsight is dedicated to creating global drone technology solutions that help commercial operators achieve regulatory approval and enhanced capabilities for BVLOS operations in their legal jurisdictions that are key to growing their business and scaling profitability in the long term.

Elsight: Leading the Way to a Truly Commercially Viable BVLOS Solution

“Basically, we’re using connectivity to solve the problem of BVLOS communication for drones to be able to apply to various use cases connected to the modern UAS industry. If we’re looking at how this ecosystem will scale into something that will be a viable and lucrative business opportunity, or something that will actually be able to grow,beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations will be a must. Without BVLOS It will be very hard to show a business case for this industry due to the associated tremendous costs, regulatory challenges, and barriers of entry”, said Mr. Amitai. “With our technology and specifically the connectivity part, we’re solving the challenge of commercial beyond visual line of sight operations that must be connected at all times. There are different approaches that eventually sum up to the same conclusion. Either you need to be connected with your command and control system very reliably or you need to be connected in order to transmit data in real-time. In many cases it’s both. It’s something that is very challenging and most of our peers in the industry have also found it very challenging. But we are finally able to solve these issues with our solutions.”

Though addressing connectivity is one of Elsight’s main focus areas, the company takes a very dynamic view towards solving the leading challenges faced by the global drone industry.

“There are two main basics to operate commercially beyond the visual line of sight. First of all, the battery used as a power source for drones needs to have enough energy resources to be able to go as far as needed and second, making sure that you will be connected in a robust way to the platform’s you are using to control the device and accomplish a given task,” said Mr. Amitai. “This is what we’re solving by using multiple IP networks. We’re supplying the redundancy needed to ensure reliability, guarantee the security and keep everything connected in an all-in-one solution that merges everything and completely solves the BVLOS challenge from regulation, to certification, to business opportunity and scale within this growing market.

The Future of the Commercial Drone Industry is Bright

Yoav is very optimistic about the ability of the commercial drone industry to scale not only in Israel but around the world: “So when we’re talking about the commercial drone industry, we’re talking about 1000s of drones flying in the same, shared civilian airspace almost directly over people’s heads. Looking at vehicles driving through the streets right now.;And it seems like a very normal thing to all of us, but it wasn’t always like that. It took 100s’ of years to get to the right operational methods, regulation and infrastructure to support this market. Based upon that, looking at how the markets evolve, it seems normal to me that in the near-future, we will see 1000s of drones flying through the air, within cities, outside of cities, and doing different tasks like deliveries, inspections, security missions etc.”

When asked what the drone industry needs to do to move towards a truly scalable market that could someday be as widespread as the global automotive industry, Mr. Amitai had this to say: “So starting with the business, I think that every drone manufacturer needs to think about how he can take his platform and business to true beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) activities and operations and scale from there.”

To learn more about Elsight’s connectivity frameworks for commercial drone operations, Visit our website