Next week, drone companies from around the world are heading to Denmark to leverage the country’s unique drone test facilities. Why? It’s one of the few places in the world where drone companies can perform BVLOS flights in urban, rural and coastal areas. And thanks to a special setup with fixed daily flight times, companies can reduce time spent on red tape – enabling them to test their technology easier and faster.
“The facilities are second to none in at the UAS Denmark test center. We’ve scouted the global market for drone testing and I’ve not seen anything that can beat what’s on offer in Denmark,”
says Adnan Cetinkaya, Head of Sales and Operations at A-techSYN, an Ireland-based drone manufacturer of VTOLs, fixed-wing UAS, target-acquisition drones, and communications and autopilot systems.
“Here we can conduct BVLOS flights in a great testing environment that covers urban, rural and coastal areas. It’s without doubt one of the best places for our company to test our technology.”
Next week, A-techSYN – together with their UK-based collaboration partners Cobham and Inmarsat – will be one of many international drone companies travelling to Denmark to the UAS Denmark test center. Here, they will perform a BVLOS flight and showcase their technology at the International Drone show, an annual global gathering where drone companies from around the world can meet potential partners and conduct BVLOS tests in a world-class environment.
Increasing demand from drone companies worldwide
One of the few drone test centers in Europe, the UAS Denmark test center is located at HCA Airport in Odense, Denmark. It offers a whopping 867 square kilometers of drone airspace. And crucially, it’s one of the few in the world that offers BVLOS flights in urban, rural and coastal areas.
As a result of this unique setup, the UAS Denmark test center attracts drone companies from as far and wide as the U.S., France, Switzerland, Norway and Ireland. With facilities outstripping many other test centers globally, interest from drone companies from around the world is increasing.
“We’re experiencing an unprecedented demand from companies worldwide to access the test facilities – interest from global players has never been higher,” says Teit Silberling, Business Manager, UAS Denmark.
“Our test center offers companies the opportunity to perform BVLOS flights in urban, rural and coastal areas – a service many companies struggle to find elsewhere. In fact, we only know of one other place in the world where this is possible. We’re excited about the increasing interest and look forward to helping even more companies evolve their technologies.”
Less red tape means easier, faster testing
One of the key advantages of the test center is that drone companies have access to fixed flight times twice daily, where NOTAM blocks airspace for other traffic to allow for drone testing. This means that companies do not need to spend time on securing approvals from authorities and instead can spend the time what matters most: testing.
“The test center’s fixed daily flight times makes testing so easy for us. says Joakim Espeland, CEO at QuadSAT, a drone company developing new tools and techniques for testing and calibrating satellite antennas being deployed in high-value maritime and aeronautical markets.
“We don’t need to spend time on lots of paperwork to get flight approval from the airport or the authorities. We can open the door to our office and test our drone – twice a day, every single day of the week. So we have more time for testing – which means we can develop our technology easier and faster.”
UAS Denmark’s International Drone Show 2019 takes place on 25 June – offering live drone flights, demonstrations, exhibition, networking, presentations and more. About UAS Denmark Test Center
- Approved drone airspace from the Danish CAA
- 867 square kilometers of drone airspace
- 3 zones– urban, rural and coastal – for testing, takeoff and landing
- Fast internal approval processes up to 150 kilograms
- Airspace ready for BVLOS flights
- Flights up to 3000 feet – or higher if needed
- Test center located at full functional airport with AFIS, fence and security
- NOTAM hours twice a day Mon-Fri, blocking airspace for other traffic.
Source: Press Release