Last week, DroneUp made an important step towards enabling safe and efficient BVLOS drone delivery by successfully conducting open-air flight test trials of its proprietary Detect and Avoid System. In collaboration with flight test experts from Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP), the team simulated potential collision scenarios by flying crewed aircraft on intercept courses with drones. This approach aimed to evaluate the system's DAA performance in the most challenging expected (and unexpected) encounters, ensuring the models and test simulations accurately reflect real-world operations. The DAA System ensures drones are kept away from crewed aircraft, offering robust tactical deconfliction at low altitudes where BVLOS drone delivery operations are performed. Advanced sensors monitor the airspace, detecting both ADS-B equipped and non-cooperative aircraft, and provide timely alerts for avoidance maneuvers, all while keeping delivery objectives on track. The airspace surrounding DroneUp's delivery operations is monitored by a network of advanced aircraft detection sensors that can identify both ADS-B equipped and non-cooperative crewed aircraft through optical sensing and transponder multilateration. When a crewed airplane or helicopter is detected in the proximity of the DroneUp delivery drone, the DAA system provides the drone operator with a timely alert, enabling them to perform avoidance maneuvers to ensure deconfliction with a margin of safety prescribed in ASTM industry-consensus standards and approved by FAA. Avoidance maneuvers are calculated dynamically to ensure safe deconfliction and, after that, efficiently satisfying delivery mission objectives. When an encounter with a crewed intruder is over, the drone operator has a choice to proceed with the delivery mission, return home, or, if necessary, perform a contingency landing. There was a lot of excitement in the field as everyone watched the drone efficiently evade the approaching aircraft, which was planned to come from various directions in an attempt to catch it off-guard. Timely alerts were issued, and the avoidance maneuvers were executed flawlessly. In fact, there was even an unplanned encounter with a helicopter that happened to fly through the area where we were testing. The system performed as designed and the drone safely avoided the intruder. DroneUp's DAA is a vital component of autonomous last-mile delivery within the DroneUp Ecosystem. This capability is seamlessly integrated into DroneUp’s UTM and its proprietary mission management and operations control platform, Uncrew. Let's fly!
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Great progress - thanks for letting me observe the testing
Excellent work
Congratulations!
CREATOR "OneMinuteHistoryLessons" TRAINER to Consultants. CONTRIBUTOR LinkedIn Drones/Robotics. Business/QMS/ISO Coach/Mentor. Value Chain Creation. Aerospace/NASA/ESA Medical-Semiconductor Robotics Engineer
1mo☑ DroneUp has developed an effective and efficient Drone Detect and Avoid System that prevents collisions between UAV/Drones and Crewed Aircraft, even if the Crewed Aircraft does not have its ADS-B system operating. ✅ This is a practical live test with crewed air vehicles operating to test capabilities (and even and unexpected crewed visitor!) ⏭ Congratulations DroneUp for developing the system and performing in real-world situations. ⏭ This will go a long way to validating safe BVLOS Ops such as drone delivery and related businesses!