European UAV Solution to Offer Freight Transportation

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Smart cities must respond to new mobility challenges, providing a reliable and safe unmanned vehicle network on its transport routes. 

A collaboration between UAV Navigation and CATEC has yielded the VaNeT project in Spain – Multi-agent network nodes for safe freight transport by UAVs in shared air spaces. 

The model is an operating platform based on the capability of aircraft operating in a uniform and highly safe manner in confined spaces. 

The project is part of the CERVERA call, funded by the Center for Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. It is also co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).

Due to the fact that the legislative framework is still in the process of being defined, it will be assumed that UAVs that want to operate in a shared space must adapt to the most demanding operational safety standards.

UAV Navigation already has control systems that represent a starting point for the development of this project. Autopilots today have control and navigation algorithms together with estimation logic, making the flight of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft possible and, above all, safe. Based on these factors, it will be necessary to develop a flight control logic fully for VTOL-type platforms, which, thanks to their ability to combine the advantages of the two previously mentioned platforms, make them the ideal platforms for the transport of goods in urban and rural environments.

Finally, it is necessary to develop a whole logic that allows fast and efficient management of several unmanned aircraft in coordinated flight in densely occupied airspaces (Multi-UAV) to allow the simultaneous distribution of packages, thus, increase the efficiency of the service of transport, according to uavnavigation’s announcement,