UK-based advanced air mobility (AAM) specialist Skyports has announced it’s adopting Kongsberg Geospatial airspace situational awareness technology to enhance its Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations.
Tech apps expanding single-operator flight capacities
A major international builder and operator of AAM take-off and landing infrastructure, Skyports also runs a drone delivery division in which the Kongsberg Geospatial IRIS airspace visualization applications will be used. The company praises the technology for enabling a single operator to effectively monitor multiple drones and sensor feeds at once. It also provides real-time calculation of aircraft separation, and communications line-of-sight to enable BVLOS operations.
IRIS also permits advanced real-time 2D and 3D visualization of airborne track and weather data. In addition, it emits cues, alerts, and warnings that single drone operators need to understand complicated and changing flying conditions. Skyports chief executive Duncan Walker says IRIS will save time and operational costs of drone delivery used in supply chains.
The incorporation of Kongsberg Geospatial’s unique technology will move us a step closer to implementing permanent drone delivery operations and underscores the viability of drone technology as a practical way to move goods, paving the way for wider AAM operations in the near future.
Skyports busy in AAM development
In a separate development, Skyports revealed it had signed a memorandum of understanding to create Ireland’s first passenger and cargo vertiport. The project with partners Avtrain and Shannon Group places Skyports in a central role in developing AAM in Ireland. The long-term objective of the plan is to establish Ireland’s first air taxi service, and normalize BVLOS drone operations in the country.
Earlier this month, Skyports announced similar development agreements with Japan’s Osaka Prefecture. That reinforces the company’s focus of designing, building, and operating infrastructure for air taxis. It has also done extensive work with global electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger and cargo vehicle manufacturers, and advanced their common objectives of developing those activities as safe, reliable, and sustainable services within urban and suburban environments.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments