In a landmark development for UK aviation safety and traffic management, Altitude Angel, a trusted UTM (Unified Traffic Management) technology provider, is to expand its existing advanced comprehensive EC (electronic conspicuity) sensor network to cover the majority of the UK by the end of the year, establishing foundations needed for BVLOS (beyond-visual-line-of-sight) drone flights in 2025.
Optimised for low-altitude and low-latency reception across England, Scotland and Wales, the EC sensor network represents a significant technological leap forward and has been designed by Altitude Angel to support the safe integration of automated drones into the airspace.
The state-of-the-art network will provide unparalleled coverage of low-altitude ADS-B (on 1090MHz and 978MHz), FLARM, Mode-S, and importantly, drone RemoteID, providing real-time surveillance of aviation broadcast signals.
On expanding the EC sensor network currently used on the SKYWAY ‘drone superhighway’, to one giving nationwide coverage, Richard Parker, Altitude Angel, CEO and founder said:
“As the CAA launches its ‘Airspace Modernisation Strategy, Part 3: Deployment Plan’, we’re out there delivering the modern airspace the UK desperately needs. Aviation Minister Mike Kane recently said ‘We [the UK] have an analogue airspace in a digital age designed nearer a time Yuri Gagarin reached for the stars. The moment for change is now…’ and I couldn’t agree more.
As the CAA pursues a policy of rolling out ‘Transponder Mandatory Zones’, there is a fundamental need to put in place a reliable, national EC network that is purpose built using known and controlled equipment. Altitude Angel’s sensor network provides a national, cost-effective, highly resilient and highly-optimised solution for ensuring those transponding within a TMZ can be properly received.
Building atop the EC network, in a second phase, Altitude Angel will be able to layer the additional capabilities of its Arrow technology, specifically those sensors which can detect non-EC aircraft, to the towers to enable full automated BVLOS in 2025. This would mean any low-flying aircraft which are present (whether in a TMZ or otherwise) and not transponding, would still be detected by the network.
Parker explains:
“If we’re going to scale BVLOS into automated flights, better capabilities to detect non-EC aircraft are required. TMZs work well on paper, but the question which needs addressing is ‘what happens when a non-transponding aircraft flies right through a TMZ?’ We solve for that, with the second phase of our sensor roll-out – deploying our full Arrow sensor suite to detect the non-EC aircraft. We then fuse together the EC and non-EC pictures, creating a truly comprehensive, real-time snapshot of the aircraft actually present in a given volume of airspace.
We will begin deploying our Arrow platform on a commercial basis early next year in those areas where drone operators and organisations wishing to utilise the many benefits of drones can take advantage of this revolutionary technology.”
The need to build a network of sensors is born from the fact existing commercial aggregators are either too slow or not optimised for low altitude, and typically use hobbyist-grade equipment run by a community of aviation-enthusiasts who haven’t got robust infrastructure in place or positioning in mind. When deploying EC equipment, careful planning and consideration for antennae placement, uninterruptible power and reliable communications is key, but rarely found elsewhere. The Altitude Angel network, by contrast, is built for hyper-scale, uses only professionally installed aviation-grade receivers, features battery- and communications backups and a dedicated, purpose-built super low-latency network.
“We’ve worked tirelessly to bring the costs down, and the capability up”, Parker adds, commenting on the company’s considerable investment in building repeatable hardware deployments, but which are still significantly less than the costs usually associated with high-availability physical sensor deployments. “Plus, when connected to the Altitude Angel cloud, the benefits of a distributed array become clear. We can now bring aviation-grade EC and non-EC sensing to virtually anywhere on the planet, and provide streams of data cut and filtered however necessary.”
Data from the sensor network is designed for utilisation by new airspace users – such as drones and eVTOLs – but will also benefit traditional aviation audiences, at airports or by air navigation service providers. With data available in traditional formats, such as ASTERIX, as well as more modern formats for newer technology stacks, the network is highly versatile.
Furthermore, with the aim of helping to further enhance and improve airspace safety within the drone and aviation industries, Altitude Angel is taking the unprecedented step of making the data from the EC-sensor network available, for free, to nationally recognised research organisations and individuals on a limited basis for non-commercial, private use.
Key Features of the Altitude Angel EC Sensor Network:
- Comprehensive Coverage: The network is strategically crafted to provide full coverage across the UK [excluding Northern Ireland], including remote and rural areas, of ADS-B on 1090MHz and 978MHz, FLARM, Mode-S and, in a UK-first, national RemoteID reception for drones;
- Real-Time Data Fusion: data from the new network is combined with other information on Altitude Angel’s surveillance network to ensure accuracy, and provide greater situational awareness. Data is also corroborated against flight plans (when available), including the tens-of-thousands of drone flight plans flowing via Altitude Angel’s global UTM platform every month;
- Aviation-Grade Quality: Utilising certified equipment, professionally installed with highly sensitive, thoughtfully placed antennae, redundant power and communications subsystems to each receiver, the network meets the highest standards for real-time navigation and surveillance.
Source: Altitude Angel