Talk To The Eye In The Sky: Cambridge Wireless Event
29 March 2023: 10.30am – 4pm
Location: TTP, Melbourn Science Park, Melbourn, SG8 6EE
Join the Radio Technology SIG at their next in-person event where they will explore the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles industry, to establish the current landscape, the technology needs to evolve and hear from successful examples of UAVs being deployed in real-life.
From Tanzania to Scotland, demonstration missions have shown that UAVs can provide vital services such as delivering medical supplies to regions with limited road infrastructure and inspection of assets in locations hazardous to humans. Being able to do Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) safely and securely is key to make this commercially successful and enable large scale operations. Several pieces of the puzzle need to align to make this commercially successful – ranging from reliable command and control; means to integrate safely with airspace via various layers of deconfliction; optimising for size, weight, and cost to improve uptake; and close integration with enterprise or appropriate use-case workflows.
At this event, you will hear from various stakeholders on their perspective of where the industry is, how technology needs evolve and hear some successful examples of these being deployed in real-life.
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uAvionix to provide ADS-B Obstruction Beacons for gliding, hang gliding, paragliding and model flying sites in large scale UK trials
uAvionix today announced its participation in a Civil Aviation Authority endorsed large-scale trial using ground-based ADS-B obstruction beacons operating on 978MHz Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) in the UK. A first-ever trial to use ADS-B to enhance safety of glider, hang gliding, paragliding, and model flying operations, the trials will commence in the autumn of 2022 at various sites throughout the UK, supported by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Airspace Modernisation Strategy (AMS).
Collision risks associated with hazardous overflight of winch launch gliding sites are well known to operators, yet frequent incidents continue to be reported. As part of the AMS, the CAA is seeking to implement measures to mitigate this and similar risk utilizing underutilized 978Mhz spectrum, commonly used in the USA as a secondary ADS-B frequency and for Traffic Information System Broadcast (TIS-B) and Flight Information System – Broadcast (FIS-B).
As the global market leader in UAT ADS-B devices, uAvionix is supporting the trials by providing purpose-built powered obstruction beacons that will be placed at 13 club sites throughout the UK, enabling the sites to be visualized when operational on any Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) utilizing ADS-B IN devices such as the uAvionix skyEcho2 and ForeFlight Sentry. The obstruction beacons will be switched on and broadcast only when flying activities are underway at the participating club sites.
The project will trial new airspace safety functionality built upon ground-based ADS-B obstruction beacons broadcasting on 978MHz UAT ADS-B protocols. Approved by the CAA, the project will be undertaken between September 1st and October 31st, 2022. The trials are a collaboration between uAvionix, the CAA, Association Head Office and member clubs of the British Gliding Association (BGA), British Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (BHPA), and the British Model Flying Association & Large Model Association (BMFA & LMA).
“The trial of functionality such as ADS-B Obstruction Beacons helps us understand and evaluate the benefits of deploying digital Flight Information Services as part of the Airspace Modernisation Strategy” said Stuart Lindsey, Head of Airspace Modernisation Strategy at Civil Aviation Authority, “We are pleased to fund this trial via the Airspace Modernisation Strategy Support Fund (AMSSF) and that uAvionix have chosen to work with some of our key General Aviation stakeholders to improve the promulgation and awareness of their activities at the trial locations, to deliver a safety benefit.”
“The BGA has for several years recorded and raised awareness of hazardous overflights of glider winch launch sites by aeroplanes and helicopters” said Pete Stratten, CEO of the BGA, “These sites are depicted on ½ mil charts and described within the AIP. Participating in the obstruction beacon trial will contribute to an understanding of the effectiveness of using technology to highlight a fixed airspace hazard during flight and in doing so reduce mid-air conflict risk. It is important too that the equipment is reliable and affordable. We’re pleased to be working with others to identify the wider benefits of voluntary equipage of electronic conspicuity”.
Suitably equipped General Aviation pilots flying within the vicinity of these Beacons will be alerted in real-time to these aerial activities to enhance their situational awareness and safety. Other airspace users and interested parties may also benefit. The project will be seeking feedback from all relevant stakeholders through the uAvionix website, where future updates will be posted. Please see here: https://uavionix.com/projects/UKObsBeacon
About uAvionix Corporation
uAvionix was founded in 2015 with the mission of bringing safety solutions to the unmanned aviation industry to aid in the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). A fundamental principle of that mission is to provide solutions that allow all airspace users a common situational awareness of the airspace. Through the evolution of our company, we pioneered and now offer low SWaP, TSO-certified and uncertified ADS-B and GPS solutions for General Aviation (GA), Airport Surface Vehicles, and the UAS markets. uAvionix consists of an unparalleled engineering and management team with a unique combination of experience encompassing avionics, surveillance, airport services, UAS aircraft development, radio frequency (RF), and semiconductor industries. To learn more about uAvionix manned and unmanned products, please visit: www.uavionix.com
First Flights of Dragon Drone at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre
Snowdonia Aerospace is pleased to announce the successful first flights of their new Dragon drone at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre, Llanbedr, last week.
Working in partnership with SwiftFlight Avionics and supported by Innovate UK Future Flight Challenge grant funding, the Dragon drone will be a major research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) platform for demonstrating the safe integration of drones into UK airspace for regular and routine beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations. Further flight envelope expansion and capability development activities will continue over the summer at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre (SAC), which offers the only dedicated commercially-run, permanent Danger Area for drone testing in the UK.
The Dragon drone is equipped with an Echodyne airborne detect-and-avoid radar and Uavionix electronic conspicuity devices and will use the unique test environment at SAC to demonstrate integration with the ground-based Altitude Angel Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system and the potential for further integration with the UK 5G network in partnership with Virgin Media O2.
The Dragon also has the capacity to accommodate a further 5kg mass / 10 litres volume of third party payloads either in the nose or in a ventral pod for experimental test purposes. The maximum take-off weight is 55kg and endurance for RDT&E activities will be 2 to 4 hours depending on payload.
As well as the necessary technical developments to ensure safe BVLOS operation, Snowdonia Aerospace is also working with NHS Wales and a number of blue light and emergency services (including mountain rescue) to establish how drones can effectively contribute to supporting / working in parallel with these services whilst also delivering economic and societal benefit across Wales and beyond.
Lee Paul, Chief Executive Officer of Snowdonia Aerospace, said:
This is a great milestone passed and we look forward to regular BVLOS flights from later this month and engaging with others companies / operators who may wish to test their equipment /payloads along with taking advantage of our unique new Danger Area at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre.
Snowdonia Aerospace is an ARPAS-UK Member.
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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.
UAVionix offers products eligible for DfT & CAA £250 rebate
ARPAS-UK Member uAvionix produce a range of Electronic Conspicuity devices including the SkyEcho and ping1090i, which are both eligible for the DfT & CAA £250 rebate – see below for details.
