Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PODIUM (Proving Operations of Drones with Initial UTM Management)

Teaser

PODIUM (Proving Operations of Drones with Initial UTM) is a SESAR/Horizon 2020 Very Large Scale Demonstration Project that aims to:• Demonstrate U-space services, procedures and technologies (U1, U2 and some limited U3) at four operational sites at Odense in Denmark...

Summary

PODIUM (Proving Operations of Drones with Initial UTM) is a SESAR/Horizon 2020 Very Large Scale Demonstration Project that aims to:

• Demonstrate U-space services, procedures and technologies (U1, U2 and some limited U3) at four operational sites at Odense in Denmark, Brétigny and Toulouse in France, and Groningen Airport Eelde in the Netherlands throughout 2018 and 2019;

• Provide agreed conclusions on the maturity of U-space services and technologies with respect to TRL7 – backed up by evidence on flight efficiency, safety, security and human performance metrics etc. – when used in a defined set of operational scenarios and environments;

• Provide recommendations on future deployment and for regulations and standards.

What are the problems/issues being addressed?

As long as drones are operated as VLOS, the drone pilot can avoid other traffic based on the “see and avoid” principle. The application of the see and avoid principle to detect small drones is very challenging, however, both now and increasingly in the future:

• With the development of drones with greater operating ranges, BVLOS operations are possible

• The increase of VLL drone traffic increases the risk of collision

• The usage of small drones close to airports has led to incidents with IFR traffic

To ensure an equivalent level of manned aviation safety, additional means for drone operations are required.

Today a number of manual processes to be performed before a drone operator can actually fly an operation. For example:

• Flight applications require documents to be completed and sent by email

• Extensive searches are required to confirm that drones can flight at a particular location and time, taking into account airspace restrictions etc.

• Communication with ATC by phone

All this takes time and effort which can impact the commercial viability of certain drone operations.

Why is it important to society?

The demand for drone services is steadily increasing, with the potential to generate significant economic growth and societal benefits in many areas like job creation, safety and security, CO2 emission reduction and environmental protection. This was recognised in the 2015 EU Aviation Strategy and Warsaw Declaration on drones. The 2016 SESAR Drones Outlook Study estimates a growing European market place with a valuation in an excess of EUR 10 billion annually, in nominal terms, by 2035 and over EUR 15 billion annually by 2050. In order to realise this potential, the declaration calls for “urgent action on the airspace dimension, in particular the development of the concept of U-Space” which is a set of new services and specific procedures designed to support safe, efficient and secure access to airspace for large number of drones.

Work performed

The project held its kick-off meeting in the presence of the SJU at the EUROCONTROL headquarters in Brussels on the 6th of February 2018.

During the first quarter of 2018, the project developed the Demonstration Plan with the aim of describing the demonstration and validation approach, providing a baseline plan for the execution of the project, and explaining the alignment with the U-space initiative and the wider SESAR programme.

During the first half of 2018,Work package 2 delivered the Concept and Architecture Description in July 2018. This work was quite challenging because the available reference material – notably the Blueprint and the Roadmap – only contained limited information.

During the second half of 2018, work package 3 developed the PODIUM solution. Following on-site integration testing, work package 3 issued the PODIUM Availability Note for a consortium review in December, prior to its formal submission to the Horizon 2020 portal in January 2019.

During the second quarter of 2018, work package 7 developed the Common Metrics document, which describes the approach for gathering and analysing data during the demonstrations. During the third quarter, work package 7 developed the Demonstration Validation Toolkit comprising post-flight and post-demonstration questionnaires.

The individual site sub-work packages for Odense, Bretigny, Eelde and Toulouse held kick-off workshops with a wide range of stakeholders in the period September to November 2018. During the fourth quarter of 2018, the sites developed the operational scenarios and planning for the demonstrations.

U-space takes off! Throughout 2018, work package 8 performed important communication and dissemination activities, including a proactive social media presence, videos, and participation at events including the WAC 2018 and the Drone Paris Region.

The PODIUM project has produced the following H2020 deliverables in the reporting period:

D1.1 Demonstration Plan 30-03-2018

D2.1 PODIUM Concept & Architecture Description 18-07-2018

Thanks to the work performed in 2018, the PODIUM project is well placed to perform demonstration flights in the first half of 2019, and to issue a demonstration report in October 2019.

Final results

The current operating methods for drone operations imply a significant number of manual processes and limited interoperability between the involved stakeholders. As a consequence, drone operators are often obliged to invest significant effort, with long waiting times, in order to obtain the necessary permissions to perform their flights. Moreover, the limited interoperability between air traffic management and the drone community, means that drone operators and aircraft pilots have a very limited situational awareness of the traffic situation for manned and unmanned flights in the same airspace.

Within U-space a number of services and technologies have been identified, which seek to improve the current methods of operations and prepare for increased levels of traffic and complexity in the future. But how mature are these services and technologies, and can they really provide benefits? The PODIUM project seeks to progress beyond the current state of the art, by providing evidence on the ease of use and the benefits for a number of services, including drone registration and identification, automatic flight plan validation, automatic and manual flight permissions, no fly zone creation, and conflict detection and alerting. In effect, a key result of the PODIUM project will be its ability to provideagreed conclusions on maturity, and recommendations for improvements affecting regulations, standards, and deployment, all based on the evidence collected and analysed throughout the demonstration flights. Moreover, thanks to a strong emphasis on communications and awareness activities, PODIUM intends to share its results and insights with a wider audiance of involved stakeholders.

In the first instance, the intended impact of PODIUM will be to increase awareness, confidence and trust amongst the involved stakeholders about the operational acceptability and benefits to drone operations arising from U-space services and technologies. Thus, PODIUM can lead a deployment of U-space services and technologies that can support the handling of increasing drone traffic and complexity, in a safe, secure and flight efficient way. Ultimetly, the rollout of U-space services and technoloigies can faciliate innovative drone related work in the fields of inspection, surveillance and delivery flights, thus leading to wider societal benefits impacting safety, security, the environment and the economy.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.linkedin.com/company/33285761/admin/.