London, United Kingdom: A consortium led by Reading-based UTM (Unified Traffic Management) software provider Altitude Angel is proposing to build the world’s largest and longest network of ‘drone superhighways’ to connect towns and cities across the UK – initially connecting the Midlands with the Southeast and urban conurbations along the UK’s south coast.
World’s longest drone corridor will link towns and cities in the midlands to those in the southeast
The partnership has proposed a ‘165-mile (265-kilometer) drone superhighway’ that would connect airspace above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry, and Rugby.
If approved, the expressway might be extended to Southampton on the south coast and Ipswich on the east coast.
The superhighway’s blueprint, dubbed Project Skyway, will help businesses to grow and thrive by commercializing new and innovative drone-based goods, processes, and services.
The project’s approval is expected in the next weeks.
“This is the most ambitious transportation project planned for the country since the 18th century,” stated Richard Parker, CEO and founder of Altitude Angel. “Britain is leading a second transportation revolution. Drones have the potential to revolutionize the way commodities are transported in ways our forefathers could never have envisioned but would have understood. Britain has the potential to lead the world in these life-saving technologies; we have the capability and ambition to open our skies to safe and secure drone and air taxi operations.
“With the government’s assistance and on the strength of this technology, we can build networks across the length and width of the United Kingdom, a superhighway-in-the-sky that will provide crucial digital infrastructure for the world’s first genuinely national drone economy.”
Using detect and avoid (DAA) technology developed on Altitude Angel’s five-mile (8-kilometer) Arrow Drone Zone south of Reading, the Skyway superhighway network will help unlock the enormous potential of unmanned aerial vehicles and serve as a stimulus for the urban air mobility industry’s growth.
Unlike existing drone corridors or research facilities that impose punitive financial barriers to operators, the superhighway will enable fully automated drone flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) from any drone company that completes a series of basic technical integrations that, crucially, do not require specialist hardware on-board the drone.
Congestion in the first 1000ft is expected to worsen, eventually becoming the densest section of airspace as unmanned, general aviation (GA), and other civil aviation expand. Without the need to block airspace, as is currently required, Project Skyway technology will facilitate access while monitoring deconfliction.
Skyway partners will work to deploy the DAA solution on existing infrastructure, where practicable, in conjunction with Unified Traffic Management (UTM) software-as-a-service, to provide all stakeholders with a better understanding of human and unmanned traffic.
By connecting towns and cities via superhighways, businesses and organizations will be able to leverage and utilize the technology, enabling them to grow and safely deploy drones.
Through a combination of manned and unmanned situational awareness, the UTM will enable flight requests, approvals, and deconfliction, as well as serve as a single source of truth for all traffic on the Project Skyway corridors. Project Skyway makes this consolidated air picture available to a broader number of airspace users via established solution providers, such as those who already provide planning and tracking products for general aviation and commercial air transport, respectively.
Once the initial UK highway is established, Altitude Angel will make the technology available to enable any organization, airport, town, or city in the UK or elsewhere that wishes to establish and operate a’superhighway’ to do so quickly, easily, and cost-effectively through a simple licencing agreement.
Source: suasnews.com
