In 2023, the EU U-space<\/a> regulation will come into force. This standard stipulates that drones will have to be able to perform tasks in airspace safely and efficiently. The aircraft and the person in charge of it will be registered in the airspace and flight plan beforehand – so as to avoid conflict with other ongoing flights – will have to be submitted. To this extent, a system to overlook different aircraft operations comes in handy, just as an airport traffic control does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe name says it all, our idea is to define security bubbles around the drones. This isn\u2019t a new idea: in manned airplanes, this concept is being applied already. In their case, it\u2019s called minimum separation,\u201d says Juan Vicente Balbastre Tejedor, a researcher at ITACA and BUBBLES\u2019 coordinator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He teaches and does research for UPV. He coordinated the BUBBLES project. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n For airplanes, three minimum separations are established: longitudinal, lateral, and vertical. Therefore, \u201cbreaking\u201d this bubble is an early signal to be sent to the airline pilots, so they can correct their route to avoid the collision. Distances stay relatively the same because airplanes fly in the same way and their features are quite similar.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cThings change with drones. They can perform different maneuvers, they differ in terms of technical features and speed, and they can stop and take off vertically. Defining their minimum separation values is more difficult,\u201d explains Balbastre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n UPV\u2019s platform detects – gathering drones\u2019 GPS data – when two bubbles collide, sending the drone operator a message, who receives it in its drone control dashboard. There, a list of conflicts – listed by severity – is presented. Clicking on each one of them, the operator can see speed and route data, in order to avoid the collision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n BUBBLES worked on striking a balance between safety and the chance of having more drones flying at the same time. The bigger the bubble, the fewer the space for aircrafts to fly. Conversely, smaller distances decrease safety. Such a balance depends on what safety level is required. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe EU Commission conducted different surveys, to understand citizens\u2019 sentiment about drone flight, which is accepted as long as the risk is the same as the airplanes. From there, we understood what minimum separations were needed. Then we focused on understanding the communication and positioning systems, developing the platform we have today,\u201d illustrates Balbastre. <\/p>\n\n\n To test the technology, the first massive simultaneous drone flight in Europe was performed. In 15 km2<\/sup> airspace, 14 drones underwent different simulations, to validate the platform\u2019s reliability. There, different situations were reproduced – lack of GPS signal for instance – and conflicts were forced to see pilots\u2019 reaction time in solving them. All this input contributed to perfecting the platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReaction time decreases significantly when the drone operator knows that the two bubbles came into contact. Another result we achieved was to adjust minimum separation in real-time, depending on the changing scenario,\u201d tells Balbastre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of the U-space\u2019s services, drones and control platforms need to communicate. The aircraft operator needs to be informed about where to fly, what drones are around it, and – if that\u2019s the case – to change its route. What\u2019s more, an automatization scale is on the European Air Traffic Management’s roadmap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt will consist of five levels of automation: traffic information, alerts, advice, orders, mandatory orders, and then informing the operator that a maneuver will be performed, with no chance to refuse it,\u201d explains Balbastre. Similar to what happens with airplanes, rejecting an order can lead to further investigation by the authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Airplanes, ships, and cars all have rules to regulate their traffic. The need to lay the foundation for drone guidelines is pressing too. \u201cIn manned aviation, rules establish how to behave in specific situations. As per the drones, things are different, because the pilot is not there. That\u2019s why another European project –CORUS XUAM<\/a>, led by Eurocontrol – is working on creating these rules,\u201d Balbastre adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"balbastre\"\/](\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/MicrosoftTeams-image-scaled.jpg\")
Juan Vicente Balbastre Tejedor<\/h3>
Researcher at UPV<\/h4>
Virtual bubbles avoid collisions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"BUBBLES\"](\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/vlcsnap-2022-05-17-16h28m37s136-1004x565.png\")
Safety first <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Bubbles work <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Alerts, advice, and orders <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n