This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Navy have signed a new agreement to jointly expand the development and operations of unmanned maritime systems in the nation’s coastal and world’s ocean waters. Through the agreement, NOAA will accelerate its science, service and stewardship mission by leveraging the Navy’s expertise, infrastructure, best practices and training. (NOAA)
UTM
UTM
Need for global harmonization dominates conversation during Episode I of FAA UAS Symposium – Remotely Piloted Edition
For the UAS industry to continue growing and evolving, some sense of global harmonization surrounding standards and best practices will need to be achieved, according to speakers during Episode I of the 5th annual FAA UAS Symposium – Remotely Piloted Edition.
“To me, the real key to harmonization is the standards. It’s getting performance-based standards that we can all agree to,” says Jay Merkle, executive director, Office of UAS Integration, FAA.
Chris Rocheleau, executive director, Office of International Affairs, FAA, explains harmony as “making sure everyone has those best practices to advance this [technology] carefully, slowly, and safely.
FAA selects team to develop and test new integrated Contingency Management Platform at New York UAS Test Site
The FAA has selected five commercial companies to be a part of a team that will be responsible for developing and testing a new integrated Contingency Management Platform (CMP) at the New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, New York.
The five companies are CAL Analytics, ResilienX, Assured Information Security (AIS), TruWeather and Kongsberg Geospatial.
The FAA recently awarded a $1.6M contract that will advance unmanned traffic management (UTM) at the New York UAS Test Site. CAL Analytics will lead the development of the project.
ANRA Technologies, Swiggy partner to make BVLOS UAS deliveries in India
The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has granted exemptions to two consortia led by ANRA Technologies for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) UAS operations in India.
The only company to receive approvals for both its consortia, ANRA Technologies will initially focus on delivering food items in the cities of Ropar and Etah.
The ANRA-led consortium includes partners such as Swiggy, which is one of India’s largest online food delivery platforms. The Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, and drone service provider BetterDrones will work together on the endeavor.
Altitude Angel, Inmarsat to develop advanced flight tracking and management capability for UAS
Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) technology provider Altitude Angel will work with global mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat to develop and deliver an advanced flight tracking and management capability for UAS.
Building on Altitude Angel’s Guardian UTM platform, the companies will jointly develop a ‘Pop-Up UTM’ capability that can be deployed anywhere it is required to manage beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) UAS flights, without the need for ground-based communications infrastructure.
The companies will utilize Inmarsat’s global network of satellites and rely on Inmarsat’s substantial experience in Air Traffic Management (ATM) communication to make Altitude Angel’s Pop-Up UTM rapidly accessible and to deploy it across the world.
Weekend Roundup: May 8, 2020
This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
The FAA recently awarded a $1.6 million contract to advance unmanned traffic management (UTM) at the New York UAS Test Site. A team of five commercial companies—led by CAL Analytics—will develop a single, integrated contingency management platform (CMP) for UAS integration. (NUAIR)
FAA announces two new participants for unmanned aircraft Traffic Management Pilot Program
The FAA’s NextGen program has selected Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership in Blacksburg, Virginia, and Griffiss International Airport in Rome, New York as test site participants for Phase 2 of the unmanned aircraft Traffic Management Pilot Program (UPP).
UPP Phase 1, which was a collaborative effort between NASA, FAA UAS test sites and their industry partners, was completed in Aug. 2019. Capabilities tested during Phase 1 included the exchange of flight intent data among UAS operators. Participants also generated UAS Volume Reservations (UVRs), which are notifications to operators about inbound priority operations.
Altitude Angel, INVOLI partner to provide 'unrivaled picture of airspace' for UAS operations
Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) technology provider Altitude Angel is partnering with low-altitude air traffic data provider INVOLI to provide what they’re describing as “an unrivalled picture of airspace” to ANSPs, operators, pilots and drone-centric risk management applications.
After working together informally on a few initiatives, Altitude Angel and INVOLI believe a strategic partnership is beneficial for both of them. Most recently, the companies worked together at the African Drone Forum and Lake Kivu Challenge 2020, where Altitude Angel served as the lead and umbrella UTM provider, while INVOLI delivered its air traffic awareness system and drone tracking platform.
AiRXOS adds 11 UAS partners to its Air Mobility Platform Ecosystem
In an effort to help scale and accelerate the adoption of compliant, safe, and extensible Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) platforms for agencies and enterprise organizations, AiRXOS has added 11 UAS technology, service, and business partners to its Air Mobility Platform Ecosystem, which currently includes Measure.
The new partners include Adams and Reese LLP, AeroVironment, Airborne International Response Team (AIRT) Inc., Avitas Systems, DeTect Inc., Fortem Technologies, Kongsberg Geospatial, Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) and The New York UAS Test Site, SRC Inc., SPH Engineering, and Syniverse.
