New Test Range for UAV High Altitudes Flights

New Test Range for UAV High Altitudes Flights

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The University of Canterbury’s Spatial Engineering Research Centre (SERC) in New Zealand is helping to lead the way in the development of drones for industry, due to the activation of a new test range for unmanned aerial vehicles.

In 2015, the Research Centre was awarded nearly 100 square kilometres of airspace by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to be used as a segregated airspace UAV test range. In July this year, after many months of preparation, the test range was activated for the first time.

When activated, the test range legally excludes any other aircraft in that area. Crucially this allows SERC to fly drones above the regulation 400 feet and beyond line of sight, under special conditions.

SERC Senior research engineer Kelvin Barnsdale explained on the matter: “Drones have moved from a toy to an industry tool and are becoming much more capable of flying themselves. To regulate this, we have been working with the CAA to develop new rules for operating drones, which came into effect in August 2015. One of the enduring limitations of the new rules requires drones to be used within line of sight of the pilot. The CAA doesn’t call these unmanned aerial vehicles – they treat them as remotely piloted, which is a significant difference. So to test new airborne technology that goes beyond line of sight, we needed a segregated test range.”

He added that this enables researchers and industry partners, in New Zealand and abroad, to test and verify UAV technology at high altitudes in a safe environment – the only restricted airspace in New Zealand for this purpose.

Aeronavics Technology Development Manager, Edwin Hayes, says opportunities for testing new technologies are critical for UAV developers.

“Challenging operations such as flights ‘Beyond Line of Sight’ can only be fully tested with access to segregated airspace. Aeronavics expects to use the test site for investigating a wide range of UAV applications”.

According to scoop.co.nz, the first official flight was made by a New Zealand made Aeronavics NAVI to a height of 1000 feet above ground. The flight, including the landing, was fully automated and monitored by a chase drone at lower levels.