UAV Sense-and-Avoid Contract

The European Defence Agency’s (EDA) member states, with Sweden as lead nation, has signed a Project Arrangement on the MID-air Collision Avoidance System (MIDCAS) to develop the sense and avoid technologies needed by unmanned air systems (UAS) to operate in airspace alongside piloted aircraft. EDA was tasked in May 2007 to develop and propose a strategic road map for the seamless integration of UAS into non-segregated airspace by 2015. One of the main issues that need to be solved is the requirements for traffic separation and mid-air collision avoidance in non-segregated air space, through use of sense and avoid  (S&A) technologies. The pilot's responsibility to "see and avoid" needs an equivalent mechanism in unmanned systems, i.e. a Sense & Avoid system to determine the presence of potential collision threats and maneuvering clear of them.
The MIDCAS project contract is valued at approximately € 50m and will last 48 months.