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The Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Joint Undertaking (JU) is progressing toward the realization of the European Commission’s U-space initiative for airspace integration of unmanned aircraft systems, SESAR said. The organization has launched a series of exploratory projects with more than $10 million earmarked from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 budget.
These projects would run for two years. SESAR said they aim to address issues impacting drone operations and remotely pilots aircraft systems at low levels. This includes beyond-line-of-sight operations and VFR environments.
“Through these projects, the SESAR JU brings together established aviation stakeholders, academia and new entrants into the sector as well as stakeholders from other industries, such as those from the mobile communications industry,” SESAR said. “Together they will blend their expertise to perform extensive research and demonstrations on this exciting new area of air traffic management.”
Universities, companies, government entities and others are set to participate in these new projects. Projects include:
- Drone Critical Communications (DroC2om)
- Information Management Portal to Enable the Integration of Unmanned Systems (IMPETUS)
- Drone European AIM Study (DREAMS)
- An Integrated Security Concept for Drone Operations (SECOPS)
- Technological European Research for RPAS in ATM (TERRA)
- Sense and avoid technology for small drones (PercEvite)
- Clear Air Situation for UAS (CLASS)
- Concept of Operations for European UTM Systems (CORUS)