Cases

At first sight you would think that the Kitepower system is a regular cable kite, however due to changed regulations the system now falls under UAS regulations. But how do you get an operational authorisation for such a special “drone”? Due to the support of AirHub, Kitepower can now operate its systems legally throughout Europe and deliver their plug and play Airborn Wind Energy system to their varied customer portfolio.

LVNL is currently examining their role in the unmanned aviation industry, particularly for U-space. With the European U-space legislation, the concept of dynamic reconfiguration has been introduced to avoid proximity between manned and unmanned aircraft within U-space. It applies to U-space airspace designated within controlled airspace, where Air Traffic Control (ATC) - LVNL for civil controlled airspace (e.g., Schiphol) in the Netherlands - is responsible.

All flights that are executed are mandatory to be logged. Before, DDC did all of this with paper. This came with quite some challenges. - It’s expensive to do it this way. All the paper has to be printed, and you need space to store this - A piece of paper is easy to lose - It’s hard to find one specific flight when you have so much paper, for one chimney inspection it can take 4 flights. - It’s hard to share data. If you, for example, have an incident it’s hard to share it with the ILT (CAA) when everything is on paper - Not all the data was fully coordinated. Coordinating information like the pilot, payload, coordinates etc. in one place was impossible. It had to be stored at 3 different places.

To enable a large number of drones and complex operations, an unmanned traffic management system called U-space is being introduced. U-space is a set of services and procedures for an automated traffic management system that ensures safe and efficient operations. In 2021, AirHub Consultancy answered the question, "What are the most relevant scenarios for the governance and finance of U-space in the Netherlands?" The aim of the study is to provide the Ministry with tools for relevant scenarios that serve as a starting point for the implementation of U-space regulations in the Netherlands.

Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (The Central Government Real Estate Agency) wanted to investigate if (and how) the agency can benefit from implementing drones. The main purpose the drones would have is to do inspections of buildings they own. This is currently done by people who have to, for example, climb on the roof to do an inspection. Not only does this take longer, there are also risks involved.

When an incident happens, every second counts. The sooner you have eyes on sight, the sooner you can get an overview of the severity of the situation. While the fire department is getting ready to leave, the drone can be sent in advance and create immediate situational awareness. While this sounds great in theory, it had to be tested to prove drones are of added benefit to their workflow.

LVNL is currently looking at their role in the unmanned aviation industry. While today's operations in controlled airspace are limited by capacity and legislation, operations in uncontrolled airspace are beyond the scope of LVNL's services. However, they might play an important role in uncontrolled airspace as well in terms of information management (in traditional aviation known as AIP) and in the near future with U-space. LVNL asked AirHub and MovingDot to identify the required information that is needed to safely conduct drone operations, how it can be defined as D-AIM, and how this relates to the basic architecture for different types of airspace (uncontrolled, controlled, and U-space).

As demo leader for Rotterdam, AirHub worked closely with the Port of Rotterdam Authority in order to successfully perform the flights. The demo consisted of three drones flying simultaneously, along with a manned helicopter. The scenario focused on in-flight deconfliction and dynamic adjustments of the U-Space airspace. This was demonstrated by simulating an incident in the harbor. One of the flight routes was impacted, meaning the no-fly zone created a restriction for the drone. Additionally, the manned emergency helicopter was flying in the area where the U-Space management system ensured the separation between manned and unmanned aviation.

Search and rescue operations of the KNRM are carried out by land and sea. But not yet from the air. The KNRM currently receives air support from the coastguard in the event of major incidents and/or under complex circumstances. However, the KNRM is often the first in the vicinity of the incident. The search and rescue is then initiated from the lifeboat or coastal rescue vehicle. However, in many cases, air support can identify a drowning person or missing person more quickly, potentially saving lives. For this reason, KNRM has set up a test period for the year 2022 to see what added value drones can have in search and rescue.