What Would The World Miss if Censys Technologies Didn’t Exist?

Every company has a pitch. But some have a pulse.

In this article series, we sat down with Censys Technologies to understand how they got here, what almost broke them and what they’re still crazy enough to chase next.

Let’s rewind for a moment. It started like many great ideas do — in college, with two students and a shared obsession for uncrewed aerial systems (UAS).

Trevor Perrott, CEO and Co-Founder, and John Lobdell, CTO and Co-Founder, both graduates of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, spent a significant amount of time working in large aerospace corporations. But the fire, the obsession with customers, the drive to deliver low-cost, high-resolution, on-demand aerial data that actually changes how things get done was missing. So in 2017, they said what every great founder has said at some point:

“Screw it. We’re building this ourselves.”

What Would Still Be Broken Without Them?

Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in the U.S. have always been a regulatory headache. Getting a drone to legally fly beyond the operator's line of sight? That’s been the holy grail, technically feasible but buried under paperwork, legal hurdles and cautious optimism.

Censys Technologies didn’t just clear that path, they made commercial, over-the-horizon BVLOS operations both commonplace and accessible. They’re now approaching 100 waiver approvals for their customers and enabling real-world missions across the country. This means utility inspections, mapping and survey missions that once relied on helicopters or internal resources can now be handled by aircraft like the Sentaero 6 which can fly up to 100 miles, carry multiple sensors and eliminate the need for large, less efficient, high cost and inherently dangerous options.

It’s not about replacing helicopters completely. It's about keeping humans away from energized wires. It’s about freeing up those manned aircrafts for the life-saving missions they’re actually built for.

What Almost Took Them Down?

COVID.

Like many companies, Censys Technologies had its trial-by-virus. This was an interesting time, as it introduced significant uncertainty about the future of several critical programs. It shifted many of their customers’ priorities away from innovation and toward basic survival. But Censys Technologies stayed the course. They kept building and delivering quality products. And by holding steady when things got shaky, they earned a different kind of trust from their customers: trust in their consistency.

What Conversations Would’ve Never Happened?

There’s one question that Censys Technologies was bold enough to ask and then go prove:

Can BVLOS operations scale even without clear rulemaking in place?

They showed it could be done through a mix of hardware design, smart integrations and regulatory persistence. It also forced the industry to rethink what’s possible when the solution doesn’t require hundreds of millions of dollars in Venture capital (VC) backing.

What Would Their Co-Founder or Competitor Roast Them For?

Kyle Miller is the Director of Sales at Censys Technologies and according to him, "Given the co-founders come from an engineering background, they tend to be a bit more pessimistic about what can be accomplished in the short term and far more optimistic about what can be done in the long term."

Competitors, meanwhile, might point to scale. They’d say, “They haven’t raised enough funds, how can they serve the masses?” But Censys Technologies doesn’t rely on that. They’ve grown through revenue, organically, by winning over customers, one mission at a time.

From Duct Tape to ‘It Just Works’

The team working on Sentaero

In the early days, the flight planner was the Mission Planner. Anyone familiar with it knows the flexibility and open source nature of that software and it has a lot of benefits. However, it does not exude an "enterprise" feel and opens the door for human error considerably.

Fast forward a few years and one of the most critical, hard-earned features is the onboard detect and avoid system. Censys Technologies was among the first to integrate the Casia optical detect-and-avoid solution, a key component of their long-term safety case and BVLOS approvals.

The "No" That Became a Yes

Magnetic mapping.

Attaching a magnetometer to a fixed-wing aircraft seemed… unwise. Traditionally, they are slung from multirotors, dangling 8 feet below and that was the status quo. Censys Technologies thought that wasn’t just outdated, it was dangerous. So they hard-mounted the magnetometer to the aircraft to avoid risky flight operations and cruise around collecting high fidelity magnetic surveys.

Innovation Buried inside Their Product

Sentaero

Inside every Sentaero lies something you can't overlook: modularity.

Swap the radios. Swap the payload. Swap out a parachute if you need extra sensor capacity. It’s a fully open systems approach, built on the idea that one customer’s perfect configuration won’t necessarily look anything like the next. And there’s real engineering behind that.

Harmonizing third-party sensors, optimizing performance and maintaining price discipline is its own kind of innovation.

Advice from the Other Side of the Launchpad

Sentaero, the team & the Launchpad

"Simple: See it through," Kyle said.

Focus on building strong relationships. Listen, REALLY listen to customers. They’ll tell you what’s broken and if you deliver, they’ll stick with you. That’s been Censys Technologies' formula from day one.

An Inside Joke

“Sales promises too much!”

Every company’s heard it. Censys Technologies is no different. It’s become a running joke and maybe a reminder that building ambitious things sometimes means figuring it out after the pitch is already made.

What They’re On a Mission to Kill

There’s a myth that high-quality, actionable intelligence, the kind that helps you understand your infrastructure, your environment and your risk, is out of reach. That it’s reserved for governments or giant corporations. Censys Technologies believes we can and must know more about the assets that keep our lives running. The power grid. The water supply. The rail lines. These things are aging, overworked and often invisible until something breaks.

Censys Technologies is bringing critical infrastructure into focus-before it's too late.

What the World Would Truly Miss

Here's what the CEO of the company, Trevor Perrott said:

"We are providing a clean cut course to achieve omniscience of the country's power grid... if a pole needs replacing, we know immediately, not after it falls over. If vegetation is encroaching and a wildfire is imminent, we know before it encroaches. We are making the world wiser about our assets. And we have the know-how and track record to execute it."