Race for drones

Droniq, a German company focused on the integration of drones into airspace, and its parent company DFS, the German air navigation service provider, are setting up a ‘U-Space Sandbox’ drone project in the Port of Hamburg, in cooperation with Hamburg Port Authority and several other partners.

The project is being put in place to meet the expectations of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) ‘U-Space’ concept, which envisions a traffic system for drones that will allow flights in areas with a high volume of drones to be carried out easily, safely, efficiently and in coordination with manned air traffic. EU member states have to implement U-Space by the beginning of 2023.

Hamburg’s senator for economics and innovation, Michael Westhagemann, said: “The Port of Hamburg offers the best environment to test a traffic system for drones and evaluate the opportunities and challenges.”

Drone coordination

Drone traffic in U-Space is coordinated by a U-Space Service Provider (USSP). This is the contact person for drone pilots. This task has been taken on by Droniq. It will issue flight permits for the drone missions and inform pilots about the current manned and unmanned air traffic, as well as any airspace restrictions. To do this, Droniq will use the first fully operational traffic management system for drones (UTM) in Germany, which was developed by DFS.

As the Single Common Information Service Provider (SCISP), DFS will supply Droniq with all relevant airspace and air traffic data for the provision of U-Space services. Furthermore, with the manned aviation data, all air traffic, manned and unmanned, can be displayed in a combined air situation picture. This is an essential prerequisite for flights beyond the visual range of pilots – and thus for the efficient use of drones.

Following development and internal testing of the U-Space Sandbox, Droniq and DFS will demonstrate how a U-Space can function.

The U-Space Sandbox project is worth approximately €1m million and is being funded partly by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI).