- The project, called U5-Space, has been awarded 3.4 million euros from the CDTI’s Aeronautical Technology Programme financed with Next Generation funds.
- It constitutes a major technological innovation thanks to the development of on-board 5G systems, the integration of AI, the use of extended reality and the efficient, safe and cyber-resilient management of civilian drone air traffic.
- The project will also lay the foundations for the development of future Urban Air Mobility.
01-02-2024. The companies AMPER, ZELENZA and GeoAI are developing the U5-SPACE project, a revolutionary platform that aims to transform drone traffic management in European airspace (U-Space) through 5G technology and Artificial Intelligence. The project has the collaboration of FUNDETEL, DIT-ETSIT, CEDINT-UPM and the University of Seville.
The U5-SPACE project has been awarded a grant of 3.4 million euros under the CDTI Aeronautics Technology Programme, which has European funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and which finances projects in competitive concurrence to address the main challenges identified in the aeronautics sector.
The future of drone air traffic management depends on the implementation of reliable, secure and delay-free communications links that ensure adequate monitoring and control of aerial platforms. In this sense, the use of 5G mobile communications, as an enabling technological element, is an efficient approach in terms of cost, security, and capillarity.
A multitude of services can be built on the technological pillar of 5G communications, such as the identification and positioning of drones in flight in different regions of airspace, conflict management and collision avoidance between drones flying in the same area, the dynamic creation of restricted flight zones (“geofencing”), etc.
In addition to 5G-based services, the U5-SPACE project will use and develop new concepts and technologies.
Advanced Artificial Intelligence
The U5-SPACE project will implement AI-based geospatial solutions aimed at highly automated management of a large volume of remotely piloted aircraft in compliance with U-Space regulatory requirements.
Cybersecure Technological Infrastructure
Within the scope of the project, a technology infrastructure will be developed to enable cyber-secure information exchange and cyber-resilient operations in U-Space.
Boosting the Drone Industry and Ensuring Operational Safety and Security
The development of a solution for the management of U-Space is a driving force for the entire remotely piloted aircraft industry, and will allow the simultaneous flight of different operators in the same area, with maximum anti-collision safety guarantees between aircraft.
Urban Air Mobility
The solution for the control and management of drone air traffic lays the foundations for “Urban Air Mobility”, the future air transport system for passengers and goods in densely populated environments, made possible by electric aircraft with vertical take-off and landing. In short, U5-SPACE emerges as an end-to-end solution that fuses cutting-edge technologies to ensure efficient, safe and sustainable management of European U-Space.
