MANAGEMENT
DRONE INTEGRATION
INTO AIRSPACE
A groundbreaking German project to identify and track drones could form the basis of
Europe’s unmanned traic management system for unmanned aircraft
Ralf Heidger, head of UTM development at DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung
In just a few years, drones, or
unmanned aircraft systems (UAS),
have developed into a true mass
market. DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung, the
German Air Navigation Service provider,
estimates that there are about 500,000
drones in use in Germany alone. Drones
already have multiple applications in
industry, construction, agriculture and
forestry management, but are particularly
useful for the police, fire and rescue services.
Drones provide more benefits and will
become commonplace when they can
operate beyond the visual line of sight
(BVLOS). However, drones also pose risks,
especially for manned aviation. Unlike most
commercial aircraft, drones do not actively
transmit their location and are too small to
be picked up by radar or the other sensors
normally used in aviation. This is why DFS
and the German telecommunications
provider, Deutsche Telekom, joined forces in
a research project named Connected
Drones. The aim of the project was to use
the mobile network to locate drones so that
they can be integrated into airspace – safely
and fairly.
In this way, the project turned the drone
into a flying smart phone. Using a LTE
modem and a sim card, the drone connects
to the mobile network and transmits its exact
4D position and identification. This data is
sent to DFS, tracked and fused in the
Phoenix tracking system, combined with the
data of manned aircraft, and displayed in the
mobile and web displays of the UAS Traffic
Management System (UTM).
Today’s mobile networks are optimised for
ground usage. Therefore, the project team
started testing the mobile network
intensively to prove it worked for the needs
of UAS as well.
In May 2019, the two companies
successfully transferred the Connected
Drones project to a new business, Droniq, a
joint venture between DFS and Telekom.
Functional layers of
traic management
UTM and air traffic management (ATM) can
be distinguished from each other as regards
the allocation to specific airspaces and the
differences in the paradigm under which
they operate. However, they have a common
functional structure as depicted in the
functional pyramid of command, control,
and communication systems (C³ systems).
The functional layers are built on top of each
other, beginning with registration, mapping
and tracking. Above these, there are higher
traffic management functions like mission
planning, processing of environmental data,
conflict detection and resolution, traffic flow
prediction and eventually congestion
management and user-specific HMIs as the
uppermost layer.
Challenge for the aviation system
UAS represent a disruptive technological
challenge for the aviation system and for
54 AIR TRAFFIC TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2020
ATM because they involve new flight
technologies with a high potential for
automation. In addition, the UAS market is
growing fast, with a rate often in double
digits. The expansion of applications and the
increase in the number of units is happening
in all directions, and numerous current
aviation business models may change
fundamentally, end up becoming obsolete or
being replaced by new systems.
Very low-level airspace users
Most UAS will operate in very low-level
airspace (VLL) in uncontrolled Class G
airspace between 100m and 150m above
ground, depending on the established rules
and concept of operations. This airspace is
used by various participants, for example,
visual flight rules (VFR) pilots, helicopters of
the emergency services and police as well as
air sports. The danger of collisions poses a
serious risk. “Keep well clear” and “see and
avoid” under ICAO rules, which are already
difficult and demanding to apply, are almost
impossible because UAS are so small.
Integrating UAS
Controlled airspace (Class C, D and E) is
primarily used by manned aircraft under
instrument flight rules (IFR) and VFR.
Nevertheless, it has been and will continue to
be used for UAS missions, such as
inspections of airports by UAS, military UAS
operations, crossings of controlled airspaces
for climbs to very high-level airspace or
descents, as well as possible future UAS
missions for freight and perhaps the
transport of passengers. UAS operations are
also expected above controlled airspace, such
as meteorological station keeping, survey
flights and long-term missions.
In the view of DFS, these UAS missions
will need to be integrated into ATM systems,