FLY SMART, FLY SAFE
Fireside Chat 05 | Discover how you can visualise, plan, and manage complex drone operations across the UK and beyond, following UK SORA or JARUS SORA methodologies.
In our latest Fireside Chat, Anthony Lawrenson, COO of Volant Autonomy, joins ARPAS-UK CEO Anne-Lise Scaillierez to introduce VIA – the powerful flight planning and management platform designed to support safe, effective, and compliant drone operations.
They explore VIA’s functionality, showcase key features, and walk through example operational scenarios. Designed to support advanced drone missions, VIA offers a high level of automation and seamlessly integrates real-time risk modelling, strategic deconfliction, and regulatory compliance (ie: SORA and JARUS 2.5) to enable efficient and secure mission planning.
VIA has been used in uncrewed (UTM) or integrated traffic management (ITM) environments and supports BVLOS flight planning from ARC-A through ARC-C. Its design helps reduce manual input and associated risks, offering both a graphical user interface and API access for broader system integration.
Watch the Fireside Chat 05 below and remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and hit the notification bell! Alternatively, listen to this new update on Spotify.
Like to try the VIA beta? Sign Up for your free one month trial below
UK SORA Means of Compliance Guide with BSI Flex 1906
Anthony Venetz was the technical author of BSI Flex 1906, and Anne-Lise Scaillierez was part of the Flex Advisory Board on behalf of ARPAS-UK. Watch our fireside chat to quickly understand the purpose of BSI Flex 1906, and how you can effectively use it to support your UK SORA operational authorisation submissions.
2 June 2025
ARPAS-UK member The Structural Battery Company (The SB Co.), an innovator in advanced structural energy storage solutions, is delighted to announce the appointment of Sir Iain Gray as Special Advisor to its Board.
Formerly Chief Executive of Airbus UK, Managing Director of the Aerospace Technology Institute, and Director of Aerospace at Cranfield University, Sir Iain has been instrumental in advancing some of the UK’s most important technology initiatives.
John Moffat, Founder and CEO of The Structural Battery Company, said: “We are honoured to welcome Sir Iain Gray as Special Advisor to our Board. His exceptional leadership across industry, academia, and government will be invaluable as we continue to grow and scale our structural battery technology to decarbonise transport. Sir Iain’s experience and insights will help guide our strategic direction and strengthen our partnerships across multiple sectors.”
Sir Iain Gray commented: “I am delighted to be joining The Structural Battery Company at such an exciting stage in its journey. Their innovative approach to lightweight, high-performance energy storage has the potential to make a significant contribution to the future of sustainable transport. I look forward to supporting John and the team as they deliver on their ambitious vision.”
The appointment marks an important milestone for The Structural Battery Company as it advances towards commercialisation, expanding partnerships across aerospace, defence, and renewable energy sectors.
For media enquiries, partnership opportunities, or technical information, please visit www.thesb.co.uk
16-22 June 2025
Salon international de l’aéronautique et de l’espace
Paris • Le Bourget
Hall B – Stand G158
www.siae.fr/en/
Why not follow The Structural Battery Company’s updates on LinkedIn
Read more ARPAS-UK Member Success Stories
2 June 2025
ARPAS-BVLOS SIG: Over the last few years ARPAS has pushed in a number of areas relating to BVLOS, starting with the Risk Quantification Approach.
We also have a Manifesto on what we are looking to achieve.
With ARPAS-UK successes in the Atypical Air Environment (AAE) and the first 2 organisations being ARPAS-UK members (Heliguy, Autospray) – Read more here
We’re keen to push on with some of the aspects, collaborating with entities such as the NATS BVLOS Forum, but also driving into more technical areas and have a number of ideas.
We have a Discord group already, but we’re aware that not all members are or can be part of Discord. So we are setting up a ARPAS-BVLOS SIG Group, so when people ask who are on the group its very clear.
If you would like to be added to this group where we can set up regular meetings, please use the link below and complete the Google Form.
We also have the ARPAS-UK Regulation Special Interest Group? Find out more
AutoSpray Systems & Heliguy – ARPAS-UK Members
2 June 2025
The UK government has announced a landmark overhaul of national airspace infrastructure – the most significant redesign since the 1950s. While the primary focus is on improving the efficiency of commercial aviation and reducing delays, this initiative carries substantial significance for the future of uncrewed systems.
Central to the reform is the creation of the UK Airspace Design Service (UKADS), a new body tasked with reshaping airspace, beginning with the congested skies over London. The redesign aims to improve airspace utilisation, create jobs, reduce fuel consumption and emissions, and modernise legacy structures to reflect the demands of contemporary and emerging aviation technologies.
This marks a pivotal moment for the UK’s drone sector.
ARPAS-UK welcomes the government’s latest announcement that current airspace design must evolve to support today’s hybrid skies – encompassing uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. The successful integration of these technologies into shared airspace will depend on robust safety frameworks, transparent governance, and meaningful engagement with the drone industry.
Ensuring safe and efficient integration of uncrewed systems into the airspace of tomorrow is essential to unlocking the full potential of the sector.
2 June 2025
Writing tenders to secure the most cost-effective contract is strengthened by having clear, accurate data about the job.
The University of Exeter, with a portfolio of 300 buildings, understood this when preparing their gutter cleaning tender.
By using drone technology, supplied by InView Assets, the University achieved up to 80% savings* on inspection costs, removed the need for Working at Height, and completed the task in a matter of days instead of weeks/months.
Visit the University of Exeter website
Not yet a member of ARPAS-UK? Join
30 May 2025
The Smart Skies Healthy Waters initiative has been awarded £6 million as a headline winner of Ofwat’s fifth Water Breakthrough Challenge, aiming to revolutionize coastal water quality monitoring in the UK. Led by Northumbrian Water in collaboration with ARPAS-UK Member Skyports Drone Services, Makutu, Newcastle University, and Proteus Instruments, the project introduces a novel approach by integrating automated drones, advanced sensors, and cloud-based analytics to deliver near real-time water quality data.
Traditional water monitoring methods are often labor-intensive and infrequent. This project addresses these limitations by deploying drones equipped with sampling and analysis sensors directly over waterways. Collected samples are analyzed on-site using “lab-in-a-box” units, significantly reducing the time to obtain results from days to mere minutes. The data is then made publicly accessible, empowering communities with timely information about coastal water health.
“This project provides a ground-breaking opportunity to harness new technologies to enable more frequent monitoring of our bathing waters. This project will be a world first and a step change for our sector, helping to ensure healthier waters for our customers communities and our environment.“ Richard Warneford, Wastewater Director, Northumbrian Water (Smart Skies, Healthy Waters lead partner)
Alex Brown, Director of Drone Services, Skyports, said: “Monitoring and improving the UK’s water quality is so important to all of us. With drones we can reach further, more frequently and provide better insights compared to the normal way of collecting water samples. We started working with Northumbria Water and Makutu two years ago with our first water monitoring service, and this is the latest milestone to take this service to the next step. In the future we see a large network of water monitoring drones flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight around key water sites in the UK, providing instant insights back to Northumbrian Water, as well as other utilities, allowing them to take action where required to keep our waterways clean.”
David Black, CEO of Ofwat said: “Water underpins our society and economy, and the water sector faces a range of challenges requiring urgent solutions. The Ofwat Innovation Fund was established five years ago to incentivise the water sector to collaborate with partners across industry, charities, and academia to accelerate the pace of transformation and create lasting benefits for customers and the environment. The level of ambition of this year’s winners is remarkable. We are supporting these projects to prove their impact so that they can be scaled, not only here in England and Wales, but exported around the world as a driver of economic growth”.
Makutu contributes its expertise in cloud-native data platforms, AI, and IoT to power the real-time data infrastructure, transforming raw sensor inputs into actionable insights. Skyports, known for operating long-range automated drones, provides the necessary infrastructure and regulatory knowledge to facilitate these complex operations.
21 May 2025
Read more:
Major software update to muLTElink products enables advanced link management for assured Command, Control (C2) and payload for UAS operations.
uAvionix, a leader in low-SWaP aviation-grade communications and surveillance technologies for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), today announced a significant software update to its muLTElink product family, enabling advanced link management for assured Command and Control (C2) and payload during UAS operations.
muLTElink, which integrates up to four independent radios (C-Band, LTE, ISM, and optional IP based radios such as SATCOM or Starlink), includes advanced Dynamic Link Selection and Active Link Monitoring features. These improvements allow seamless, automated make-before-break switching across multiple C2 links—without operator intervention. The upgrade enables dedicated radios for Command Non-Payload Communications (CNPC) to be optimized for path and frequency diversity, minimizing the risk of lost connectivity in complex terrain or dynamic RF environments, while allowing an additional link for transmittal of payload data.
“This release delivers meaningful improvements in operational resilience and cost-efficiency that our customers have asked for,” said Cyriel Kronenburg, VP of UAS and Aviation Networks at uAvionix. “Our customers face unpredictable terrain, RF interference, and increasing complexity while trying to control the aircraft and complete the mission. muLTElink’s enhanced automation means the UAS selects the best available link in real-time for C2 and keeps payload data streaming—so operators can focus on the mission, not the network, all through a single device.”
The upgraded muLTElink is optimized for high-risk and complex UAS operations such as:
Current muLTElink configurations include the muLTElink5060, which combines LTE and C-Band in a compact 100g, 2W package, and the muLTElink915, offering LTE and ISM radios at 65g. Both support external SATCOM integration and are managed via uAvionix’s SkyLine C2 Manager, a web-based platform for link arbitration and C2 application integration. Either muLTELink can be combined with a skyLink915 or skyLink5060 for up to four communications links.
muLTElink and skyLine is already at several ranges in partnership with NASA, Choctaw Nation, OAIRE, skyWay Range, Thales, and Vantis, and is active at multiple FAA-designated UAS test sites.
21 May 2025
Read more Member Success Stories & Blogs
Drones in Action End User Stories:
A British farm suffered major yield loss after flea beetles damaged its oilseed rape crop. Replanting by tractor risked soil compaction and further damage.
AutoSpray Systems used drones to double the seeding rate with no tread damage or Scope 1 CO₂ emissions, boosting efficiency and protecting healthy plants.
Read more about AutoSpray Systems
Read more about Drones in Agriculture
16 May 2025
