SKYWAY

SKYWAY I+D programme has been proposed and led by Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in response to a call for pre-commercial public procurement of a joint I+D programme in “Management and Security of UAV Air Traffic in Shared Airspaces”, as part of the Phase “Solutions: Air” of the Civil UAV Initiative. Its goal is the design, prototyping, and testing in representative scenarios of a set of advanced technological solutions for the most relevant operational contingencies of UAV in shared airspaces. Thus, SKYWAY will contribute to accelerate the routinisation of drone operations, proving that satisfactory levels of operational security can be achieved at a reasonable cost, thanks to the coordination of aerial traffic systems and technologies on-board the UAV and on the ground control station, in a holistic approach and considering the context and operational implications associated to each contingency. Furthermore, SKYWAY will also support regulatory processes put in place to enable the harmonization of such operations, providing data and results that can guide the definition of the compliance mechanisms for the contingency management rules. Within this programme, GRADIANT has been subcontracted for the development of solutions for management of Loss of Separation and Loss of GPS contingencies. In particular, GRADIANT will develop an on-board vision system for detection of surrounding aircraft that can represent a potential obstacle, as well as a data fusion system for integration of detections from this and other air traffic sensors. Additionally, GRADIANT will develop a solution for supporting autonomous navigation in case of loss of GPS, based on registration of aerial images against a database of georeferenced images.