Exelis to research UAS integration into national airspace

Exelis has entered into agreements with four Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) designated UAS test sites for research focused on integrating UAS into the national airspace system using Exelis’ Symphony RangeVue sense-and-avoid tool.

The agreements will see the test sites receive historical and real-time situational awareness of the range airspace through Symphony RangeVue. Meanwhile, Exelis will gain product feedback through operational usage.

Ed Sayadian, vice president, civil and aerospace systems, Exelis, said: ‘The partnerships with these test sites are win-win arrangements.

‘The test sites receive air traffic control-quality surveillance data, increasing safety and enabling beyond-line-of-site operations, while Exelis gains critical product feedback which will be used to shape and validate our service offerings.’

Symphony RangeVue provides access to historical and real-time aircraft surveillance information via a web-hosted platform for test range personnel and UAS operators. It can also be used in the field as a sense-and-avoid addition to UAS ground control stations, or as a post-event analysis tool or command centre decision support.

Exelis is also pursuing research and development opportunities with the test sites. The company aims to explore command and control systems, non-cooperative target tracking, detect-and-avoid algorithms, big data analysis for air traffic, infrastructure inspection and monitoring and integration of non-FAA surveillance sources.

The participating test sites are the Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range at University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska; the Northern Plains UAS Test Site at University of North Dakota, ND; the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance at Griffiss International Airport, NY; and the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Va.