Thunderstrike establishes major drone facility at Danish airport
The hangar will be used to eventually produce 200-300 drones per year.
uAvionix and PrecisionHawk have teamed up to develop a new generation of Low Altitude Traffic and Airspace Safety (LATAS) hardware for UAS.
Under the teaming arrangement, PrecisionHawk’s LATAS system will be integrated with uAvionix’s Ping ADS-B system. This will allow UAS equipped with LATAS to receive alerts of nearby manned aircraft equipped with ADS-B technology.
The team will also explore how a combination ADS-B plus LTE surveillance device can be used to increase safety while mitigating risks of ADS-B spectrum congestion.
uAvionix will work to directly integrate the PingRx and LATAS chipsets into a single hardware platform so it is possible for LATAS to fit on nearly any UAS. The goal is to add an additional layer of risk mitigation for UAS operators, regulators and airports, and to advance the level of operations that can be achieved with UAS, particularly those operated beyond visual line-of-sight.
Christian Ramsey, vice president of business development for uAvionix, said: ‘With an integrated device, algorithms can determine the best frequency on which to broadcast the drone's position depending on factors such as the availability of LTE networks or the presence of nearby manned aircraft.
‘The Ping system can listen for nearby aircraft and only broadcast the drone's position via ADS-B if a manned aircraft is nearby. This is an incredibly efficient use of spectrum while being interoperable with existing manned aviation.’
The team expects to test the concept under PrecisionHawk's track of the FAA Pathfinder programme in early 2017.
The hangar will be used to eventually produce 200-300 drones per year.
The system will now move on to data analysis and rapid prototyping, so it can be deployed as fast as possible.
To date, it is unclear to what extent the effort advanced. In order to progress, it also needs to address issues related to budget, doctrine and integration.
The purchase deal completes a shift away from Chinese technology, and adds to an existing SeaGuardian fleet.
With the venerable MQ-9 Reaper drone being “legacy’ed out”, US Africa Command will require new long-range, long-endurance UAVs for ISR missions in a complex geopolitical environment.
The force has put out a tender bid to acquire more than 30 drones before the end of 2024.