New Airspace to Allow Manned Flights Alongside Unmanned Drones

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One of the challenges of unmanned aerial systems technology is their incorporation in airspace where manned aircraft fly as well. The UK has been trying to tackle this problem. For the first time in this country, an area will be created where unmanned aircraft and manned aircraft can fly in the same airspace. The project is designed for engineers to develop autonomous drones and air traffic management technology in a safe, managed environment towards their integration into controlled and uncontrolled airspace.

The National Beyond visual line of sight Experimentation Corridor (NBEC) being created in Bedfordshire will cover around 12 miles between unmanned drone developer Blue Bear Systems Research and Cranfield University’s airport.

According to Blue Bear, operation under beyond visual line of sight, alongside co-operative and non-cooperative air traffic in a managed environment, provides a unique opportunity to maintain the UK at the forefront of drone application development and future adoption.

Blue Bear and Cranfield will run their respective systems and also provide a capability for other companies to come and test their Unified Traffic Management concepts in a safe managed environment.

Cranfield hopes that other companies will use the NBEC to conduct experiments with unmanned freight and logistics for both road and air, connected autonomous vehicles (CAV), and the infrastructure that goes with it.

According to aerospacetestinginternational.com, the site will eventually be 5G-enabled as part of the current Department of Culture, Media and Sport 5G program.

The NBEC location is rural, allowing safe experimentation areas away from major roads and urban areas. It is surrounded by core CAV testing locations and infrastructure, making it the perfect location to become the future hub of UK unmanned systems experimentation.

Professor Iain Gray, director of aerospace at Cranfield University, said: “The potential of drones and unmanned vehicles to boost UK productivity is well documented and the technology is well developed. However, there are understandable regulatory concerns that need to be overcome about how they operate alongside manned aircraft.”