The World’s First Drone Superhighway
The Skyway superhighway is taking off
Skyfarer has been working alongside key project consortium partners to launch the world's first drone superhighway that will ultimately enable Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone operations at scale.
The 165-mile corridor will connect the airspace between Coventry, Rugby, Cambridge, Oxford, Reading and Milton Keynes.
The future flight challenge phase 3 funded project will take around two years to complete.
Project Skyway is part of a drive by the UK government to invest in innovative and sustainable aerospace technology.
Transport Minister Robert Courts says integrating drones “will play a huge part in better connecting communities, from potentially delivering vital NHS treatments in isolated communities to capturing high quality aerial imaging for rescue teams.”
Currently, the project is well underway with parts of the highway being ready by 2023, with the entire 165miles of the highway being completed by 2024.
Automated skies
Skyfarer is collaborating with other organisations across the UAV sector to test technology which ensures drones can safely detect and avoid obstacles and aircraft, both crewed and uncrewed, during a flight.
A recent event, Automated Skies, saw Skyfarer running test flights across Reading airspace to prove their drones can operate safely and react to avoid unexpected aircraft.
The tests play an important part in the Skyway project.
“We had a planned breach into the airspace by a helicopter, and we had to avoid that aircraft and deconflict from that using the unmanned traffic management software,” says Elliot.
“A Chinook also flew into the airspace we were operating in unexpectedly. The ARROW technology performed exactly as it should, informing the operator of potential conflict and advised actions to be taken.”
Elliot adds that the trials all help prove the effectiveness of drones in non-segregated airspace.
Take a look at the video documentary of the day here!
Building the case for detect and avoid technology
The aim for Arrow technology is to enable operators to fly safely without the need to make any airspace changes, which is a lengthily and time-restrictive process.
Arrow allows co-operative and unco-operative aircraft to share the same airspace safety for routine or adhoc flights.
Elliot says that if the infrastructure reaches a certain level of compliance, then operators like Skyfarer, HeroTech8 and others will be able to easily and safely fly beyond visual line of sight.
The next steps are to continue validating and developing the technology and collecting flight data around safety and reliability. This will help the Project Skyway consortium to build a case they can present to the Civil Aviation Authority policy team.
“The end goal is talking to the CAA and saying that if anyone uses this detect and avoid technology though the UTM, they can fly behind visual line of sight in non-segregated airspace,” says Elliot.
“That would be a significant step.”
Applications: Medical to Emergency Services
Once the highway is up and running, the applications could be wide-ranging across the medical sector, emergency services even national infrastructure inspection.
Skyfarer aims to start using the super highway as part of a drive to improve medical logistics. In Coventry, Elliot sees potential to collaborate with the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust based in the heart of the West Midlands.
“The predominant use cases are medical logistics including delivering medication,” says Elliot.
But he believes there are also potential applications across organs and transplants, where the distance between donors and recipients requires speedy deliveries which cut out ground-level delays.
“Alongside that, we can move onto looking at national inventory balancing, which is quite a significant challenge,” says Elliot.
Blood donations are also an area where the drone super highway could help cut delivery times and reduce wastage.
“Once the ARROW infrastructure is in place from Altitude Angel, we can look to reducing the wastage of donated blood due to ground level infrastructure inefficiencies.”
Public perception and open airspaces
Part of the process involves engaging with the public about the stringent safety protocols surrounding drone use.
“The general public need to know drones are safe and aren’t going to pose a risk to other aircraft as they use the airspace,” says Elliot.
He adds a frequent public concern is whether or not Project Skyway will impact on privacy.
“Drones aren’t looking at people on the ground, which we know is a common concern when we talk to the public,” says Elliot.
“This project addresses a lot of the concerns by making it clear this is a safe space for drones to fly, with software and tech to deconflict from other aircraft.”
Another important factor was to reassure the aviation sector that drones won’t impede other aircraft, including hobbyists.
“We absolutely need the airspace to be open to hobbyists and we don’t want to control or restrict the skies in any way,” says Elliot.
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The future of Skyway
The potential benefits of Project Skyway are wide-ranging.
“It’s an enabler for drones to be able to benefit society through improved medical logistics and emergency services support,” says Elliot.
“So if you’re in an accident we can get the right assets out to you as quickly as possible. It’s faster and more cost-effective for the taxpayer.”
He adds that Project Skyway could also help cut out some of the bottlenecks in rail networks by making it easier to inspect infrastructure.
It is clear that the possibilities Project Skyway and it’s consortium members will produce is of endless benefit to society.
Learn more about Skyway here.