Page 16 - AAA JANUARY-MARCH 2021 Online Magazine

UNMANNED AVIATION

Showing the

Way

SINGAPORE SHOWS THE WAY FOR THE REST trials by flying its own DroNet system simulta-
OF THE WORLD WITH THE SUCCESSFUL TRIAL neously with Nova’s fleet. The successful trial
OF ITS UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM TRAFFIC of the prototype showed how UAS operations
can be coordinated, regulated, and safely inte-
MANAGEMENT (UTM) SYSTEM PROTOTYPE grated into urban airways using pre-identified
and monitored routes visualized through a UTM
Arun Sivasankaran system.

With the skies already busy due to the growing use of unmanned “While we are merely at the starting point of
aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the commercial and industrial sectors and realizing a future enhanced by UAS technology,
set to get even busier with the entry of autonomous flying taxis, the successful completion of Singapore’s first
governments are moving ahead with plans to ensure safety of UTM trials serves as a catalyst to develop a
operations even in crowded airspace. robust and regulated UTM system,” says Ryan
Lee, Managing Director Asia at Nova Systems.
In March, tech-savvy Singapore took a significant step toward “Designed specifically for the country’s unique
developing a full-fledged unmanned aircraft system traffic man- landscape, our research and operations will
agement (UTM) system with Nova Systems, a global engineering support the continued development, deploy-
services and technology solutions firm, and OneSky, its consor- ment, and safe integration of UAS operations
tium partner, holding a live demonstration to showcase their UTM into the daily lives of Singaporeans.”
System prototype for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
(CAAS). Following the successful completion of trials of the pro- “We’re excited to have played a critical role in
totype, CAAS will collaborate with local regulatory agencies and this successful UTM deployment - demonstrat-
the private sector to develop a system that will manage airspace ing the feasibility of safe and efficient integration
in dense and urban environments. of unmanned aircraft into the crowded airspace
of Singapore,” says Bob Hammett, CEO of
Using a mix of live flights and simulations, Nova and OneSky show- OneSky. “CAAS was an early proponent and
cased technologies to handle mass deployment of drones flying thought leader for UTM and this trial marks
Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS). Apart from the three drones a milestone in advancing Singapore’s Urban
that took to the skies, the companies also uploaded simulated flights Air Mobility vision. We’re looking forward to
to concurrently as well to demonstrate how the system is able to expanding on this work and operationalizing
safely handle multiple UAVs at the same time. ST Engineering, the technology across the region.”
which is one of the companies working on developing and test-
ing solutions for shore-to-ship parcel delivery, supported the live It isn’t just to get its name into record books

16 | January/March 2021 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ AAA