Framework for Future Flight in the UK: Principles from a deliberative Public Dialogue July 2024
The UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge (FFC) aims to position the UK as a leader in aviation by funding research and development of new flight technologies. A public dialogue was conducted to understand public views on Future Flight technologies, including non-passenger-carrying drones, eVTOLs, and electric/hydrogen Regional Air Mobility (RAM).
Alongside a wider programme of social science research funded by the Challenge, UKRI/Innovate UK commissioned this dialogue, which was led by the Future Flight Challenge Social Science Research Director and team based at the University of Birmingham. The dialogue was supported by UKRI’s Sciencewise programme and delivered by Thinks Insight & Strategy.
Principles for Development: Participants developed 14 principles for the roll-out of Future Flight technologies, emphasizing public good, safety, sustainability, accessibility, and affordability.
Concerns and Hopes: Participants expressed concerns about noise, visual pollution, safety, and affordability, but also saw potential benefits in improved connectivity, sustainability, and accessibility.
The report highlights key use cases, such as medical cargo delivery and urban air mobility. The report concisely describes for each:
✅ How tasks are performed today ✅ How this might change in the future ✅ What the benefits of using Future Flight tech could be ✅ How this supports sustainability ✅ What the challenges and timelines are ✅ How big the market opportunity is
UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK and ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council, is a £300 million programme co-funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and industry to create a new aviation ecosystem for advanced air mobility, drones, and zero-emission regional aircraft. The Future Flight Challenge is helping to transform how we connect people, transport goods and deliver services in a sustainable way that delivers socio-economic benefits across the UK.
Learn how Multimodal hubs can create more efficiencies in our transport system and improve the way people, goods and services move at local level. Mobility operators’ solutions with the facilitation of digital technology can unlock more options for the consumer and delivering economic growth to the regions.
Forge new collaborations: have one-to-one meetings with Local Authorities and Mobility operators and digital businesses, learn more about their needs and strategic plans for Multimodal Hubs
Get insight on the latest Innovate UK new funding with our experts and explore access to new market opportunities
Learn about innovative and sustainable mobility hub business models and strategies for fostering effective public engagement and widespread adoption.
Places at this event are limited, so please register your interest in attending and we will notify you about the outcome shortly.
Agenda
9:00-10:00 – Registration
10:00-10.45 – Panel 1 – A Deep Dive into Three Sustainable Mobility Hub Models, and the challenges of creating sustainable delivery models for mobility hubs
Chair: Peter Ramsey Technical Director – Future Mobility at WSP
Panellists: Marianne Spilling, Sustainable Travel Planning Manager, Cambridgeshire County Council; Steve Pyer, Partner at Micromobility Partners; Trevor Brennan, Transport Implementation Lead, England’s Economic Heartland
10:45-11:10 – Break
11:10-12:00 – Panel 2 – How to communicate the benefits of Multimodal Hubs and create a buy-in culture with the local community
Chair: Francesca Cesare-Pintorno – KTM Digital Transport at KTN, Innovate UK, KTN
Panellists: Kirsty Novis, Senior Human Factors Consultant at Arup; Charles Nichols, Marketing Communications Manager at Solent Transport; Beth Morely, Future transport behaviour change lead at Transport for West Midlands, Mobility and Human Insights Manager at Cenex
12:15-13:15 – Lunch
13:15-16:20 – SpeedNetworking
16:20 – Networking
17:30 – Event closure
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Transforming Aviation Together: launching the Future Flight Community Integration Group
Innovate UK is pleased to announce the establishment of the Future Flight Community Integration Group, a collaborative initiative driven by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Flight Challenge.
The Future Flight Community Integration Group comprises a diverse range of members, including representatives from central and local government, industry, academia, end users, and an accessibility charity. ARPAS-UK is delighted to be involved and will draw on our own organisations and networks to bring input from others and ensure diverse voices are heard.
Kerissa Khan, Innovation Lead for UKRI’s Future Flight challenge and Co-Chair of the Community Integration Group, said:
The future of aviation is at a pivotal point. Advanced air mobility and drones are transforming the aviation sector, unlocking opportunities to better serve people and places with future flight. To secure the socio-economic benefits, we need to trailblaze pragmatic pathways to seamlessly integrate these new technologies and services into society. The variety of complexities we must tackle demands a collaborative approach drawing insights from across industry, government, and many different communities. I am pleased to launch the Future Flight Community Integration Group and am looking forward to bringing together diverse expertise, providing a forum for knowledge sharing and working together with a shared ambition to make future flight a reality across the UK.
Aleks Kowalski, ARPAS-UK Director, and its representative on the Community Integration Group, said:
ARPAS is pleased to have a seat on the Future Flight Community Integration Group as we recognise that drones have the potential to revolutionise how we connect people, transport goods, and deliver services in urban, rural, and remote areas, offering transformative opportunities for the aviation industry. By understanding and addressing legitimate community concerns we can design services that also bring significant social and economic benefits to society and highlight the positive opportunities that future flight services can bring, demonstrating the potential for enhanced connectivity, improved transportation, and expanded service delivery.
We look forward to supporting networking and collaboration opportunities among stakeholders, fostering partnerships, knowledge sharing, and innovative initiatives that drive progress in the aviation industry and beyond to deliver outputs such as plans, roadmaps, policy insights, and recommendations to guide the integration of drone services into local communities and regions to create a sustainable aviation ecosystem by considering environmental factors, community needs, and long-term viability in the deployment of future flight technologies.
Apply to participate in the Future Flight Community Integration Group
The future of aviation is at a pivotal point. Innovative developments are accelerating across various technological fields, unlocking novel opportunities to better serve people and places with aviation.
Future flight technologies – AAM and drones – have the potential to transform how we connect people, transport goods and deliver services in urban, rural and remote areas.
To realise these opportunities, localised ground and airspace infrastructure need to be in place to support these services and will bring aviation within closer proximity to the environment we inhabit.
The Future Flight Community Integration Group is set up by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Flight Challenge as an independent authoritative advisory body.
The Group has authority to obtain independent professional insights through the commissioning of studies and activities (including workshops and conferences), making use of a dedicated budget from the UKRI Future Flight Challenge for financial year 2023 – 2024 and other sources of funding.
Members will be appointed for an 18-month term. Members shall be eligible for re-appointment subject to a review of the membership composition to ensure the Steering Group remains fit for purpose to achieve its objectives.
If you’d like to help the UK tackle the complexities of rolling out drone and AAM usage across the country, please submit your expression of interest below.
Dates
Expression of Interest opens – Friday 3rd March 2023
Expression of interest closes – Friday 24th March 2023 at 5pm
Technology is revolutionising the way we fly. Remotely piloted drones are offering safer, cheaper and faster services of a scope unimaginable a decade ago. Piloted electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are undergoing flight testing. These are quiet, zero-emissions aircraft, that will carry commercial passengers in just a few years’ time. The economic and societal potential is very real and very large. The drone sector alone is predicted to provide a positive impact worth £1.6 billion per year to UK GDP up to 2030, amounting to £45 billion in total1 and Future Flight2 has the potential to cut carbon emissions and connect society across our regions.
UKRI’s Advanced Air Mobility Demand Assessment Report
UKRI’s Advanced Air Mobility Demand Assessment Report
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) engaged EAMaven to analyze 20 potential routes across the #UK to assess the viability of advanced air mobility (#AAM) in the UK and chose 14 electric conventional take-off and landing (#eCTOL) and six #eVTOL routes.
Using a range of data sources and a bespoke AAM demand model, EAMaven determined the number of passengers who would switch from traditional road and rail modes of travel to AAM services.
It identified 390 potential routes with one airport having 28 routes which include both eVTOL and eCTOL routes, and estimated that over five million passengers per week could travel on these services where a large proportion of them would come from people traveling by car, helping to decarbonize regional travel in the UK.
Ground-breaking drone delivery trial to be hosted at Montrose Port
A UK-first proof of concept trial for the delivery of medical supplies – including Covid-19 test kits – to vessels at sea is to be held at Montrose Port this week.
Project MediDrone, which uses remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, was funded by a UK Government innovation grant and will involve the aircraft departing the quayside at Montrose and landing on a vessel offshore.
If successful, the trial could open up the opportunity for Covid-19 tests and other medical supplies to be delivered to and from vessels without them needing to dock or be boarded by harbour pilots, further reducing any risk of infection being brought back to shore and into the community.
The trials are being coordinated by London-based technology firm Neuron Innovations Ltd in partnership with ‘drone-in-a-box’ provider Herotech8 and specialist insurance and risk management company, Flock.
Montrose Port
Weather permitting, the flight will take place at midday on Thursday 29th April 2021.
Niall Greenwood, CEO at Neuron, said that Montrose was chosen for its location, facilities, and the management team’s forward-thinking approach: ‘We are delighted to be leading the Montrose Drone trials, to enable the delivery of medical supplies from shore to ship,” he said.
“Drones offer a much safer, faster, and more cost-effective method of delivery compared with more traditional approaches. By connecting the drone to Neuron’s surveillance network we have made a significant step to enabling these kinds of applications on a routine basis. The data from our networks provide the drone pilot with the ability to remotely observe nearby aircraft so that they can keep the drone safely separated from them”
Herotech8’s ‘drone-in-a-box’ solution comprises an automated recharging station and communication relay which allows the drone to be operated remotely and on-demand by a pilot situated at their offices at Cranfield University. The drone automatically takes off and lands and follows pre-programmed waypoints during its flight. The pilot is there just to monitor the drone during the flight to ensure the safety of the public and other airspace users.
Hamish Murray, Projects Team Leader at Montrose Port Authority, said: “Securing this trial is a unique opportunity for Montrose and adds to the growing list of innovative projects going on within the port and the broader local community. We already work closely with the team behind the proposed Montrose Drone Port and as well as using our quayside for the trials, our pilot boat and other port personnel will also be heavily involved. With our growing reputation within the offshore wind industry, as well as traditional oil and gas and general cargo, we can see drones potentially becoming a common sight in the skies above the port and at sea, and I’m glad that we are able to play such a pivotal role in helping shape the future of this exciting technology.”
Sam Golden at Flock added: “This trial paves the way for widespread use of drones for ship to shore delivery. We are showing how drones can improve safety, cut costs and increase efficiency in ports globally. I’m grateful to the UK government for supporting this trial and to Neuron for bringing together best in class companies to deliver on it. Great things can happen when companies are given the space to collaborate.”
The trial was made possible by a grant from UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) Future Flight Challenge. The consortium’s aim is to demonstrate how the safety and efficiency of ports can be improved using drones to reduce the number of trips to vessels by pilot boats which can take hours to complete and are made dangerous by the crew having to climb a rope ladder from one vessel to another.
26 April 2021
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Snowdonia Aerospace Future Flight Challenge
Snowdonia Aerospace is pleased to announce that we have received a grant award from UK Research & Innovation for an 18-month drone development programme in partnership with Swiftflight Avionics as part of the UK Future Flight Challenge, a £33.5m element of the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
The primary objective of our Project “Gold Dragon” is to accelerate development and testing of an active detect-and-avoid solution for light drones, typically less than 150kg take-off weight, enabling their safe and full integration into the UK aviation system. Our aim is to achieve approval for regular and routine beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations in non-segregated airspace by the end of the project so we can start to deliver commercial drone services in Wales and beyond.
We have already built a successful relationship with the Welsh Ambulance Service via our recent proof-of-concept demonstration for delivery of a mini-defibrillator by drone to a remote rural location and will continue to prioritise health services in remote and rural communities as part of this project along with the wider NHS Wales network.
Snowdonia Aerospace has already completed proof-of-concept demonstration for delivery of a mini-defibrillator by drone to a remote rural location
The UK survival rate for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is only 8.6%. Resuscitation Council guidelines recognise that survival rates of 50 to 70% could be achieved with defibrillation within 3 to 5 minutes of OHCA, but each minute of delay reduces the probability of survival by 10%, and in the UK fewer than 2% of victims have a defibrillator deployed before the ambulance arrives. The situation is most acute in remote and rural locations.
Flight testing in the unique operational environment provided at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre will also allow us to involve other potential emergency response stakeholders such as the Police, Fire, Coastguard, and Mountain Rescue, and we have already begun engagements to capture their key requirements.
Lee Paul, CEO of Snowdonia Aerospace said:
“We are delighted to be awarded funding through the Future Flight Challenge programme. The grant will enable us to continue the development of our proposed drone service provision in support of the NHS and other emergency services initially across Wales. Our earlier work demonstrated the advantages of using drones to support remote and rural areas with the drone covering 4.5km in under 3 minutes compared to an equivalent road journey of 20 minutes. The time saving being critical in cases where early defribilation is required.
As the UKs leading aerospace R&D test centre, the airfields environment, facilities and infrastructure will also support a range of other companies looking to develop their own Future Flight programmes in a safe operating environment and we look forward to working with them also.”
Dr. Phil Geoghegan, MD of Swiftflight Avionics said:
“This project is an exciting application of UAV active sensor technology, with the aim of routine point-to-point BVLOS UAV flight. We see this as a game-changer for UAV operation. We are delighted to be working with the test and evaluation specialists at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre and the Welsh Ambulance Service.”
Councillor Gareth Thomas, Cabinet Member for Economy and Community, Gwynedd Council, said:
“We are delighted to see that the drone technology trialled earlier in the year from Llanbedr to transport medical defibrillators to remote communities will now be further tested for other responses by the emergency services. We also look forward to linking this work to the STEM Gogledd programme, which supports and promotes STEM education across north west Wales”
Dr. Nigel Rees, Head of Research and Innovation for the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, said:
“The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust is looking forward to continuing this exciting development which has the potential to improve the care we provide and save lives.”
John Whalley, CEO of Aerospace Wales, said:
“Aerospace Wales is working closely with Welsh Government on the strategy for Future Flight in Wales and we are delighted that Aerospace Wales member, Snowdonia Aerospace, has been successful in its bid to the UK’s Future Flight Challenge phase 2 competition. The “Golden Dragon” project, in partnership with Swiftflight Avionics, builds on the highly successful BVLOS emergency medical response drone trial carried out earlier this year. This continuing development places Snowdonia’s airfield at Llanbedr right at the heart of BVLOS development in the UK.”
Snowdonia Aerospace is an ARPAS-UK Member
11th November 2020
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Dronecloud leads new UKRI Consortium to deliver the integration of software systems required for BVLOS drone flights
Project Rise provides a crucial building-block for the systems needed to unite manned and unmanned aircraft safely in the same airspace.
Project will culminate in field trials of an UAS delivery operation supporting Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone flights at Cranfield University test facility Project received grant of £500,000 from UK Research and Innovation fund as part of Future Flight Challenge.
Dronecloud, the Drone Management Software provider, has today announced it is leading a consortium to support Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Drone flights. The consortium has formed ‘Project Rise’, part of the Future Flight Challenge project1 funded by UK Research and Innovation, through the multi-billion-pound Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. It is composed of key industry partners, including Sky-drones, Cranfield University and Skyports.
The project aims to integrate evolving Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM), the drone version of Air Traffic Control (ATM), with the control systems onboard drones. It will then form part of a Centralised Command and Control Solution, based on the existing Dronecloud Software as a service (SaaS) platform. The project is part of an overall effort across the drone industry to integrate disparate systems at scale, to achieve safer, more reliable and auditable drone flights, even beyond the line of sight. Dronecloud is a provider of Drone Management Software. Its technology is designed to streamline the administration of enterprise drone operations safely. The company offers to significantly cut operating costs by combining business and technical tools. Ultimately, it supports its clients to be able to safely operate drones beyond visual line of sight.
Project Rise will develop an integrated software and hardware hub proof of concept. The complete system will include Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) hardware, ground control stations, flight commissioning and planning, flight control and telemetry, deconfliction services, supplementary data feeds, airspace authorisations, flight noticeboard, Electronic ID, auditability, flight termination, accident and incident reporting, and digital flight logging. The project will culminate in field trials of an UAS delivery operation supporting BVLOS drone flights at the Cranfield University test facility. The system will work within the Open UTM framework to identify and create open system integrations that will be transferrable to the wider drone industry.
Speaking of the project, Dronecloud Co-founder and CEO, Jan Domaradzki, said: “Moving beyond the hype to integrate drones into congested urban airspace remains a tough nut to crack, and that’s a good thing. It’s our job to create the behind the scenes systems that will ensure it can happen safety at scale, in order to win the trust of the public and regulators. It’s a great honour for the team at Dronecloud to gain the backing of the Future flight challenge to form this consortium. We’re looking forward to creating the infrastructure for the aerial highways of the future.”
In many industries, drone operations have evolved organically, with more and more tasks being completed by drones as the benefits are better understood. As operations become more complex, Dronecloud and its partners ensure that they are both compliant, efficient and, above all, safe in how they operate. With dozens, if not hundreds of drone projects running, the traditional mosaic of multiple datapoints, spreadsheets, emails, is just not a sustainable way of managing operations.”
The global Beyond Visual Line of Sight – BVLOS drone market (revenue) is currently estimated at approximately $19B, (CAGR) of nearly 6% and a projected market size of $34B by 2029 Global. Europe is estimated to account for approximately 25% of the global drone market, with a projected BVLOS market worth $8.5B. (Source: BVLOS Drone Market BIS Research 2019)
Dronecloud is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution targeted at enterprise level drone operations, built for drone operators by drone operators. Its platform and evolving ecosystem integrates complex drone fleets, team-based project management, real-time air space & ground hazard data into a risk assessed and auditable workflow built for mission critical drone ops. Dronecloud has been helping some of the biggest UK and International drone users with operations currently supported by Civil Aviation regulation, while paving the way for Beyond Visual Line of Sight and increased autonomy & automation. The future of drone operations, Today!
https://dronecloud.io/
More information For press: [email protected] For customers and partners: [email protected] Call Dave Bush for further information: +44(0)7868738159 About Project Rise: “Unlocking the future of drone operations through integration.” Project Rise is a UK consortium setting out to solve a global problem: how do we safely and reliably integrate unmanned aircraft into the same airspace as manned aircraft over some of the world’s busiest and densest urban conurbations? Project Rise aims to do that through creating a system can communicate between drones and manned aircraft simultaneously.
Member organisations: Dronecloud (ADJsoft Limited) – Project Lead Sky-Drones Technologies – Drone Hardware and Software Sky-Drones’ KirillShilov (Founder & CEO): “Our main goal is to accelerate the development and adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles for enterprise by building connected hardware and software products for drone manufacturers and commercial drone service providers. We always strive to improve the safety and efficiency of drone operations and this collaboration will help to bring this to the next level.” About Sky-Drones Technologies: https://sky-drones.com/ LinkedIn: Sky-Drones Twitter: @skydronescom
Cranfield University – Academic research partner (Systems Integration, Target Operating Model & Legal) Dr Saba Al-Rubaye, Senior Lecturer in Autonomous and Connected Systems at Cranfield University said: “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing measures has expedited the need for the fast and efficient delivery of goods – autonomous drones are an ideal solution for this. We’re delighted to be part of the Project Rise team, working to address the challenge of establishing reliable data and communication systems for unmanned aerial operations and their safe integration with manned aircraft in the same airspace.” About Cranfield University: www.cranfield.ac.uk/aerospace
Skyports Ltd – Drone Delivery Service Provider (inc. Regulatory approval consultancy) James Bircumshaw MRICS Infrastructure Manager at Skyports said: “The integration of manned and unmanned aircraft in unsegregated airspace is key to creation of a drone delivery service that can be scaled for permanent commercial operations. We are excited to be part of Project Rise that will develop the solutions to help unlock the economic and social potential of drone technology operated beyond visual line of sight”. About Skyports: https://skyports.net/
About UK Research and Innovation UK Research and Innovation is a new body which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. We aim to maximise the contribution of each of our component parts, working individually and collectively. We work with our many partners to benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas. For more information visit: https://www.ukri.org
