Safety standards for drones

According to Skyguide drone flight requests have increased tenfold since 2013, and there are more and more companies in Switzerland using the unmanned aerial vehicles. Therefore, an air traffic management system for drones is urgently needed.

What is behind the system?

According to air navigation service provider Skyguide, this is the first nationwide rollout of U-space to provide drones with safe and secure access to European airspace. Comparable to the U.S. "Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM)," U-space is a joint effort that enables dynamic situational awareness, data sharing and digital communications for the European drone ecosystem.

Pilot phase from June 2018

In a pilot phase starting in June 2018, Skyguide and AirMap plan to integrate AirMap's UTM platform into the Skyguide infrastructure and introduce automated flight authorizations in a unified airspace. They will also develop a roadmap for the Swiss U-space, which will provide the basis for the implementation of an air traffic management system for drones from 2019.

The Swiss U-space will ensure safe flight for all categories of unmanned aerial vehicles and all types of operations in Swiss airspace, it says. The U-space will support the following functions, among others:

• Blockchain-supported registration for users and drones
• dynamic geofencing and instant digital airspace approval
• Real-time warning system for drone pilots and live drone telemetry for airspace managers
• Networking and communication between drone pilots and airspace managers
• other services to enable simultaneous flights in the common airspace

Safe opening of the airspace 

"After a year of successful collaboration with AirMap, we expect the UTM platform to meet the highest safety standards for the Swiss U-space, " said Skyguide's Klaus Meier. With the U-space, Switzerland aims to safely open up its airspace to the drone industry, said Ben Marcus, CEO of AirMap. According to Christian Hegner, director of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation, the establishment of a U-space is key to greater safety of drone operations. Moreover, he said, such a U-space is central to addressing citizens' concerns about security and privacy.

Effective catalyst for the drone industry

In 2017, the air navigation service provider conducted a "Swiss U-space" test. This was the first live demonstration of mature U-space services in Europe. Together, Skyguide, AirMap and Sitaonair demonstrated fully functional U-space capabilities - including registration and identification, geofencing and airspace authorization - in the context of live drone operations.

With implementations in Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand and the U.S., AirMap's UTM is the most comprehensive and connected platform of its kind, according to Skyguide. The platform offers up-to-date airspace information for every country in the world, national airspace regulations for more than 20 nations, and the largest network of drone operators and manufacturers as well as airspace managers in the drone ecosystem, it said. It reaches over 85% of the world's drones, the air navigation service provider's media release concludes.

Source: Skyguide

Here go to the article "Drones: Security advice for cities".