The UK Government Drones Pathfinder Programme announces the addition of a new Pathfinder project
Airspace Integration of Drones in support of COVID response Pathfinder aims to deliver an operating environment where all airspace users are detected, and their locations presented back to other drone operators. This will enable drones to safely “detect and avoid” other drones and air users.
The project will be delivered by Trax International in partnership with UAvionix, ANRA Technologies UK and Plane Finder. Initial trials will take place at The Aviation Innovation Centre, Goodwood and will also include Skyports and Auriga Aerospace. The project is partly funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and is expected to be completed by November 2021.
Working under the Civil Aviation Authority’s regulatory requirements, the consortium aims to demonstrate safe Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight alongside conventional air traffic in non-segregated airspace.
This will be achieved by developing a comprehensive electronic surveillance picture based on Mode-S and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transmissions using existing internationally recognised systems, procedures and rules, and integrating it into an unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform. This information will be re-broadcast via Traffic Information Service – Broadcast (TIS-B) to enhance the situational awareness of all airspace users.
Transport Minister Rachael Maclean said:
“The UK is already a world-leader when it comes to innovation in aviation and this exciting project will take us one step further to being able to safely use drones alongside other air traffic in UK airspace.
“This trial is supported by our Drones Pathfinder Programme which we are pleased to be funding into 2021/22.”
Trax International will be providing an overview of the project at the Government Drones Pathfinder Community Webinar on 31st March. You can register for the event HERE. These community events provide an opportunity for the Drones community to share experiences and form networking connections.
The UK Government Drones Pathfinder programme is sponsored by the Department for Transport (DfT) and aims to rapidly drive progress in unmanned aviation technology and regulation, enabling industry and the public sector to fully exploit the market in different industry sectors.
Pathfinder projects take a phased approach to achieve routine use of drones within the UK and focus on identifying and overcoming the technical, operational, and commercial challenges for bringing a new BVLOS drone-based service to market in the UK.
The Government’s Pathfinder Programme is part of a wider programme of work across the UK’s public and private sectors, aimed at enabling integration of drones into UK airspace.
The programme aims to rapidly drive progress in drone technology and regulation over the next ten years, enabling industry and the public sector to fully exploit the market in areas such as geo-mapping, infrastructure inspections, surveying and logistics to both commercial and public-sector industries.
These community events provide an opportunity for the UAV community to share experiences and form connections. Pathfinder Steering Committee updates from DFT, BEIS, CAA and CPC, plus industry presentations.
Fozia Chughtai: Head of Drones Policy, Emerging Aviation Technology Policy, DfT
Gordon Baker: Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lead, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
James Bell: Innovation Strategy Lead, Civil Aviation Authority
Jennifer Cooke: Aviation Innovation and Future Technology Lead, Maritime & Coastguard Agency
John McKenna: CEO, Sees.ai
John Henderson: Technical Director, Trax International Ltd
Dave Pankhurst: Head of Drone Solutions, BT Enterprise
Andrew Chadwick: Technology Initiative Manager, Connected Places Catapult
Chris Gee: Principal Engineer, Connected Places Catapult
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CPC Asset Management with ARPAS-UK
As a partner to the Drone Pathfinder Catalyst Programme of Catapult, ARPAS-UK engaged widely across UK sector verticals to drive the safe adoption of drones via awareness and education. This included running CPD seminar sessions, hosting presentations at large trade shows, and releasing a series of educational ‘case studies’ about how drones can be used to improve safety, productivity and decisions-making in different applications.
Asset management, repair and maintenance enabled by drones
Drones are transforming the way that buildings and infrastructure assets are inspected. Owners of place and property portfolios can harness drone services to drive safety, productivity and efficiency whilst also improving resident and service user satisfaction.
Research project to open pathway to commercial drone operations the UK
A ground-breaking new project announced today (30th July) will build and then demonstrate how Open-Access UTM (Unmanned Traffic Management) capability can support drone operations below 400ft.
The Connected Places Catapult is bringing together a national and international consortium to develop a world leading Open-Access UTM framework for drones. The project, commissioned by the Department for Transport, will continue laying the groundwork for a safe flying environment for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations in the UK, enabling efficient sharing of airspace with manned aircraft and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations of drones.
There is a huge global opportunity for countries that can successfully accommodate commercial drone operations, it’s thought the sector could be worth £127bn globally. UTM is recognised as a key enabler to address the safe and efficient integration of unmanned vehicles into the airspace and Connected Places Catapult in collaboration with AiRXOS (part of GE Aviation), Altitude Angel, ANRA Technologies, Collins Aerospace and Wing will work towards the first set of the safe and regulated UTM capabilities this year.
This research and development project will create principal architectural features, communications interfaces and key services that will be evaluated through simulations before progressing to field-trials. The trial will build on existing platforms and standards to create a developmental system to explore UTM and drone operations, as well as identifying the next research steps and facilitating knowledge transfer to government and industry.
Dr. Ajay Modha, Principal Technologist at the Connected Places Catapult, said:
“This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate a UK-specific UTM ecosystem and represents a key step in lowering the technology and operational barriers for UAS operations. A key objective is to demonstrate how this capability can support near term and future markets needs and ambitions. As Phase 2 of the Future Flight Challenge kicks-off, a key aim of this project is to provide greater insight and actionable data to the UAS community who may be tackling UTM for the first time”.
Ted Lester, Chief Technologist, AiRXOS said:
“After participating in the successful 2019-2020 effort with Connected Places Catapult to develop a framework for UTM in the UK, AiRXOS looks forward to demonstrating with peer UTM service providers safe, efficient, and economical UAS airspace integration to accelerate the beneficial use of UAS in the UK and around the world.”
On being chosen to take part in the Connected Places Catapult project, Richard Ellis, Altitude Angel, Chief Business Officer said:
“We are delighted to continue to work with CPC to continue validation of the Open UTM framework we pioneered in 2019. The live trials will benefit significantly from Altitude Angel’s existing extensive API’s and experience of providing production services across the world. We believe this will form a solid foundation for the UK to establish repeatable and scalable drone operations.”
Amit Ganjoo, CEO and Founder of ANRA Technologies UK Pvt Limited said
“The UK is rapidly becoming a global leader in advancing commercial drone technologies. We are honoured to have contributed to all Connected Places Catapult Open-Access UTM Research and Development Programmes and are excited to commence live-flight testing in pursuit of a safe, interoperable, and efficient traffic management system,”
Sean Camilleri, Principal Strategic Development Manager at Collins Aerospace said:
“This ground-breaking program gives us the opportunity to test out the most prominent emerging standards and theories of UAS traffic management and put them to the test in collaboration with our peers. Successful trials will enable us to move another step closer to unlocking the full social and economic benefits of beyond visual line of sight drone operations in the UK”.
James Ryan Burgess, CEO at Wing said:
“Drones and the services they provide present significant benefits to the United Kingdom, supporting emergency response, reducing emissions and air pollution and increasing access to food, medicine and other goods. We’re pleased to be joining the Catapult project to advance the safe and open use of the airspace and look forward to bringing our global experience to enable a scalable and low cost UTM architecture that can support the volume and diversity of unmanned aviation.”
Note to Editors
This project will build on the UTM and Government Drone Pathfinder activity that Connected Places Catapult has published previously:
Future Flight is one of several challenge areas set-out by the UK government’s Industrial Strategy which is a long-term plan to raise the productivity and earning power in the UK. The Future Flight programme is funded by £125 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund which is expected to be matched by up to £175 million from industry. The challenge will cover four areas of activity:
Control and regulations including air traffic management
New operating models
Ground infrastructure
Integrating new aircraft with a new aviation system
This challenge aims to revolutionise the way people, goods and services fly and position the UK as a world leader in aviation products and markets worth over $675 billion (£559bn) to 2050.
It will support the development, in the UK, of new technologies from freight-carrying drones
to urban air vehicles to hybrid-electric regional aircraft. These new modes of travel will
increase mobility, reduce road congestion, improve connectivity, increase UK manufacturing
opportunities and help aviation to reduce its environmental impact around the world.
Connected Places Catapult manages the Drones Pathfinder Programme in partnership with the Department of Transport (DfT) and supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). https://cp.catapult.org.uk/pathfinder/
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Government Drone Pathfinder
The Pathfinder Programme is part of a wider programme of work, both government led and across the UK’s public and private sectors, aimed at enabling integration of drones into UK airspace. In 2018 the Programme’s focus was reviewed and refreshed, under the governance of the Department for Transport (DfT), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Connected Places Catapult.
Vision
The programme aims to rapidly drive progress in drone technology and regulation over the next ten years, enabling industry and the public sector to fully exploit the market in areas such as geo-mapping, infrastructure inspections, surveying and logistics to both commercial and public-sector industries.
The Programme will focus on identifying and overcoming the technical, operational, and commercial barriers, providing a platform for industry innovators to engage with government and the regulator at early stages, to jointly explore solutions and share information throughout the community. This increased engagement will serve to both maximise understanding of the current and future regulatory environment, as well as creating an opening for suggested adaptations to regulations where appropriate.
It is envisaged that this will assist in optimising the use of drones in the private and public sectors, enabling efficiency savings, improving their capabilities including the ability to carry out high risk activities in a safer way. The Programme will continue to explore solutions for safe, routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations across a range of application.
Strategy
The Pathfinder Programme will take a phased approach to achieving routine use of drones within the UK by exploring specifically how routine BVLOS operations could be enabled by overcoming the identified challenges.
Challenges
To ensure that the focus of the programme remains up to date, the list of challenges will be updated regularly based on actual industry engagement.
Governance Framework
You can now download our full programme framework if you wish to learn more about our activities. This document sets out the purpose and aspirations of the Pathfinder Programme, the governance, including the roles and responsibilities of the Steering Committee members, and the criteria and requirements for being a member of the Pathfinder programme.
Transport Infrastructure Construction: Sensat, Costain Group, IUK , The Connected Places Catapult
Energy Infrastructure: EIC, Callen-Lenz, Wales & West Utilities, Cadent, National Grid Transmission, Northern Gas Networks, Northern Powergrid, Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks, UK Power Networks, Callen-Lenz, Connected Places Catapult.
Geomapping: Ordnance Survey
Blue Lights: Ambulance, Fire, Police, NHS, NPAS
Rail: Network Rail, Connected Places Catapult
Maritime: Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)
Events
The pathfinder community meets once per quarter with the Pathfinder programme steering committee. These community days provide the community with the ability to network, socialise potential projects and opportunities, communicate project updates (challenges, benefits, methodologies, risks, etc).
As part of the Drone Pathfinder Programme, the Connected Places Catapult (CPC) hosted a themed stakeholder workshop on the use of Drones in the Environment and Agriculture on the 24th July.
