Flights of a multicopter drone and the fixed-wing UAS TARSIS25 took place at the ATLAS Experimental Flight Centre to validate a new high-performance navigation system that will allow reduced and collaborative separation between different drones operating simultaneously.
Advanced Air Mobility will generate the coexistence of different types of aircraft in our cities carrying passengers, goods or parcels. This density of aircraft, which will increase, requires maximum precision to locate them and avoid dangerous approaches to each other.
The ATLAS Experimental Flight Centre, located in Villacarrillo (Jaén, Spain), has hosted the flights of two unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to validate a new navigation system based on a Galileo signal receiver to improve the operational safety of drones at low altitude. This high-performance technological solution has been developed in the framework of the GEODESY project (Galileo Enhanced Operation for Drone Systems), co-funded by the European Space Programme Development Agency (EUSPA) as part of the FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS call.
This multi-frequency / multi-constellation receiver will enable drones, UAS and VTOLs (Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicles) to use data from the Galileo positioning satellitesa system that provides the centimetre accuracy needed to perform automatic take-off, navigation and landing operations through enhanced precision services to extend the application of unmanned systems to Very Low Level (VLLL) flights where operational requirements are more stringent than at higher altitudes. In addition, through a authentication against malicious interference it is guaranteed that the navigation data received originate from a Galileo satellite and that they are not falsified. This verification layer provides strong protection to the Galileo constellation, making it a more robust and secure GNSS system.
The navigation solution consists of the hardware needed to read the signals from the Galileo satellites and the software needed to interpret these signals and indicate the exact location of the UAS, thus meeting the demanding technical and operational requirements to maintain safe separation between aircraft and reduce the risk of collision between them.
As Rafael Márquez, AERTEC's Aerospace Systems Business Development Manager, points out, "the advantage of GEODESY is that it has allowed us not only to develop a new navigation solution, but also to validate it at the ATLAS Centre, in a real environment for low-altitude flight operations within the specific category".
The Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies, CATEC has been responsible for integrating the GEODESY system into a multi-rotor platform, allowing the autonomous flight of the aircraft through the exclusive use of the Galileo signal. This technological achievement represents an extraordinary advance in UAS autonomy and efficiency.
"In addition, aware of the importance of safety in unmanned aerial operations, we have implemented innovative risk mitigation measures. The geocaging and geofencing functions have been precision-engineered to ensure safe and limited operation to specific areasthus contributing to the safe integration of UAS into the global airspace. Both functions have been designed for the two aircraft integrated in the project, the fixed-wing and the multi-rotor," says Francisco Javier Garrido, Senior Avionics System Engineer at CATEC.
In parallel, CATEC has led the creation of specialised guidance for GNSS receivers in SAIL III UAS operations. CATEC has actively participated in standardisation groups such as EUROCAE, ensuring that technologies adhere to the highest industry standards. The conclusions of these guidelines have served to establish standards at European level, thus driving the safe and efficient evolution of unmanned aerospace technology.
The validation of this navigation system may help to mitigating risks in urban drone navigation in an advanced air mobility industry that is developing rapidly in technical terms, but which needs this type of project to validate the operational safety of its technological proposals.
The consortium for the development of the GEODESY project is formed by AERTEC, the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies CATEC, the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya CTTC and Pildo Labs.
