by Nibedita Mohanta on July 19, 2022
The UK government has given the go-ahead to the world’s largest network of drone superhighway that will link cities and towns throughout the midlands to the southeast, and can be expanded to any location within the country.
The plans for the superhighway, submitted under the moniker ‘Project Skyway’, were proposed as part of the Department for Business, Energy & Strategy (BEIS) InnovateUK programme which aims to support business growth through the development and commercialization of new products, processes, and services.
This ambitious new transport capability will be achieved through a consortium led by Reading-based UTM (Unified Traffic Management) solution provider, Altitude Angel alongside British Telecom (BT), which will provide expertise and connectivity through its mobile network. EE and certain tech start-ups will also be a part of it.
Together, the group will build 165 miles (265km) of drone superhighways connecting airspace above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry, and Rugby over the next two years.
In addition to the plans for the superhighway, the government’s funding package will also support other projects that are taking advantage of drone technologies to improve the quality of life in the UK. They plan to use drones to provide regular deliveries of mail and medicine to the Isles of and to distribute medicines across Scotland, potentially enabling some cancer patients to be treated in their local community.
“The capability we are deploying and proving through Skyway can revolutionize the way we transport goods and travel in a way not experienced since the advent of the railways did in the 18th century: the last ‘transport revolution’. The ARROW technology we are building is the basis of Skyway and the only scalable, viable mechanism to start integration of drones into our everyday lives, safely and fairly, ensuring that airspace can remain open, and crewed and uncrewed aviation from any party can safely coexist”, says Richard Parker, CEO and Founder, Altitude Angel.
What is a drone highway?
Just like cars, and other heavy vehicles run on highways for long distances, similarly now drones will have superhighway for their movement in and around UK.
The development of drone superhighway will involve the installation of ground which will provide a real-time view of where drones are located. The data will then be by a traffic management system – a sort of air traffic control for drones – which will guide the drones through “corridors” and help them reach their destinations.
This innovation is possible because Skyway doesn’t rely on drones carrying specific on-board sensors to ‘see’ other aerial traffic: instead, it proposes to put higher-power, better sensors from multiple manufacturers on the ground, along a sensor network, which in turn is then processed in real-time to provide guidance. This means drones don’t need to compromise payload, range or efficiency and can ‘tap into’ even higher resolution data, from multiple sensors, from the ground-based network.
“The Skyway project is an important step in the commercial scale-up of BVLOS UAS operations which will enable high-density UAS operations between key hubs along dedicated corridors. Skyports’ role on the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a drone superhighway through integration with technology systems and extensive test flights,” says Jef Geudens, Head of Technology, Skyports Drone Services.
Skyway’s role
Skyway partners will collaborate to deploy a ground-based, networked DAA solution, wherever possible on existing infrastructure, which is hooked up to Altitude Angel’s global UTM system, which ‘stitches’ data from multiple sources together in real-time to create an ultra-high-resolution moving map of the low-altitude sky.
Towns and cities along the superhighways, and businesses and organizations within its range will benefit from automated drones at just the touch of a button.
Skyway will enable any drone manufacturer to connect a drone’s guidance and communication systems into a virtual superhighway system which takes care of guiding drones safely through ‘corridors’, onward to their destinations, using only a software integration.
The superhighway network will help unlock the huge potential offered by unmanned aerial vehicles and be a catalyst to enable growth in the urban air mobility industry.
“The social and economic potential of drones is immense and requires close industry collaboration to fully unlock these opportunities in a safe and responsible way. Project Skyway will be crucial to showcase how the UK can not only lead the creation of new jobs and public services, but form the backbone of how we integrate drones into our daily lives”, says Dave Pankhurst, BT’s Director of Drones.
Benefits and drawbacks of Drone highways
Drone highways will save a lot of drone companies from getting into legal turmoil, because earlier due to lack of regulations, many have faced nuisance issue, trespass issue, breaching private property notices and so on. If they take a public rights of way, they can protect themselves from falling into legal soups.
However, on the down side it also raises concern that when hundreds of drones are flying, unless the air traffic rules are rolled out, territories have been marked and tolls have been placed in intervals, it will be difficult to manage hundreds of drones flying at the same time. This will also increase competition within the drone ecosystem, considering the rate at which drone companies are mushrooming.
Besides, when rules are in place, the highest bidders might get the best deal to fly in the drone highway, making the small drone companies suffer loss.
Other concerns related to drone highways is safety. Drones are likely to be flown Drones crash either while taking off or landing, but not when they are in the air. So to train people about how to receive the parcel or delivery from the flying drones.
However, Pankhurst says, “Safety is just paramount in this industry, but importantly, nothing happens without the regulator actually signing it off.
“Cellular connectivity, and a secure, resilient 4G and 5G mobile network, will continue to enable the rapid growth of the drone market. Through our EE network, BT is providing the UK’s largest and most reliable network to Project Skyway, to keep drones connected to ARROW so they can receive greater situational awareness and tactical collision avoidance instructions from the autopilot system, and stream key video feeds such as search and rescue footage back to control rooms,” adds Pankhurst.
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