Good News for UAS Manufacturers

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The current UAS operational environment needs to evolve to meet, what experts believe, is the next great global innovation – unmanned air-taxi and personal vehicles. Now, it seems that the missing link is already under development. Aspen Avionics and Sensurion Aerospace in the US will collaborate in the development of certified avionics to UAS manufacturers in general and the burgeoning unmanned air-taxi marketplace in particular.  

Their focus is on FAA-certified autopilots, communications, navigation, and surveillance systems, for small, medium, and large UAS, including future cargo and passenger carrying aircraft, according to geospatialworld.net.

“The real winners in this partnership are the UAS users, system integrators and manufacturers,” says Aspen President and CEO, John Uczekaj.  “Our consumers demand adaptability and a certifiable pedigree that can help get them to market quickly, operate with an extreme level of safety, and include innovative architectures that combine certified avionics with today’s flying drone service/IoT data platforms, and near future cargo movers and people haulers.”

According to Sensurion, the customer’s return on investment calculations turn profitable most quickly when they can operate beyond visual line of sight.  What they are asking for are proven systems that do not cost a fortune, meet governing authority standards, are able to evolve with the pace of global digitization, and most importantly offer a safer integration path into our airspace.

Initial product development from the team will include an autopilot/flight controller, TSO’d GPS/GNSS, and surveillance systems including ADS-B.