July 31st, 2019.
Patras, Greece. EuroDRONE successfully conducts first automated UAV flights within non-segregated airspace in the Mediterranean region.
The experimental testing was conducted in the University of Patras and Messolonghi Airport regions between July 24th and 28th, for the first time in the Mediterranean region showcasing full-scope UTM functionalities, such as safe highly automated flight of a fleet of UAVs/drones, operating safely within both ATZs and in urban areas. The campaign demonstrated a series of successful automated flights, sharing the same airspace with active GA and commercial aviation traffic, and included automated selection of flight paths, tests of air-to-ground & air-to-air communication links, automated navigation and control of multiple UAVs as well as tracking of cooperative aircraft and simulated deconfliction. A special attention has been paid to the scenarios with simulated hardware and software multiple failures.
‘’The test has demonstrated a high degree of automation and ability to conduct safe UAV flights,” said Professor Vaios Lappas of University of Patras. “The positive interaction and coordination with air traffic control (ATC) shown was a critical milestone on the path to integration of UAVs into the National Airspace. More advanced UTM functionalities and longer routes are planned for the test at the beginning of October of this year, which will include automated flights of small cargo UAVs between Messolonghi airport and the City of Messolonghi and the University of Patras Campus/City of Rio”.
“We are very excited to have reached this stage,” added Dr Dennis Shomko of Dronsystems. “The UAVs operated through DroNav, a cloud-based platform residing on servers in the UK, hardware/software integrity via telemetry were remotely analysed in Italy, and mission scenarios were being created by Hellenic Post operators in Greece. It all worked flawlessly under the control of Dronsystems-made Full Authority Mission Director (FAMD), installed on UAVs, called DronAssistant".
EuroDRONE is an innovative research and development project focused on demonstrating that operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for commercial, institutional and scientific applications, in an urban environment can be technically viable and most importantly safe. Led by the University of Patras and including partners such as Dronsystems (UK), Cranfield University (UK), Hellenic Post (Greece), the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (Greece), Romanian Post (Romania) and Aslogic (Spain), EuroDRONE is one of the five Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) ‘U-Space’ demonstrators, funded by the European Union through its Single European Sky ATM Research Programme (SESAR) which aims to bring UTM functionalities for Europeans by 2023. The coordinator of the project is the Applied Mechanics Lab, University of Patras with Professor V. Kostopoulos and Professor Vaios Lappas. The EuroDRONE project is funded by SESAR Joint Undertaking (Agency of the European Commission) via contract SJU/LC/0342-CTR.
For more information check the project website: http://aml.eurodrone.upatras.gr and demo.eurodrone.io
