Air Traffic Management

The relevance of public acceptance for drones
Air Traffic Management

22 March 2021

Blog: The relevance of public acceptance for drones

When a friend or relative asks me what I do, I usually just say that I work on drone research stuff. If they seem receptive, I may explain a little bit more: how drones will operate, what they will be used for and how they will soon be commonplace in of cities. This usually raises a lot of questions and confusion: what do we need drones for? Aren’t cities congested enough already? How will drones avoid birds? The list of questions goes on and on.

Air Traffic Management

22 January 2021

Europe is testing air taxis and drones for urban mobility

The European project AMU-LED is aiming to demonstrate the safe integration of drones in 2022 into urban environments in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Various scenarios are being looked at, such as flights using airborne taxis for passenger transport and the use of drones to assist policing and the emergency services.

Air Traffic Management

18 December 2020

Remain Well Clear – drone integration into European airspace

Royal NLR and ISD are performing a multi-year study for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to develop the procedures needed to safely and efficiently integrate Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) into European airspace. The partnership has recently completed a large-scale simulation experiment to test the application of a GA-ASI Detect and Avoid System in the European context.

Exceptional drone trial near Schiphol
Air Traffic Management

26 June 2020

Blog: A flight into the future

It is not a secret that the drone world is up and coming. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and U-space are resounding terms for anyone in the aviation industry. While U-space refers to services and procedures to support drone operations and integration with manned aviation, UAM entails the application of drone operations in an urban environment.

Dutch Drone Delta
Air Traffic Management

04 December 2019

Facilitating MALE RPAS integration in non-segregated European airspace

NLR is performing a multi-year study in partnership with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems UK (GA-UK), to develop the procedures needed to safely and efficiently integrate Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) into European Airspace and to ultimately develop a data-driven Concept of Operation (CONOP) to be shared with the European regulatory community.  For the purposes of this research, the MQ-9B SkyGuardian MALE RPAS, designed and manufactured by GA-ASI, is used as an example case study. NLR is now working on the second phase of this project that is to take place from November 2019 to end 2020.

Air Traffic Management

18 June 2019

Integration of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian into European Airspace

NLR has partnered with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to develop the procedures needed to safely and efficiently integrate Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) into European Airspace. The first phase of this collaboration culminated on 28-29 May 2019 during which a large-scale simulation exercise was performed at the Amsterdam campus of NLR. The goal of this exercise was to test the first version of the MALE RPA airspace integration procedures, and involved experienced civil Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs), as well as licenced airliner and RPA pilots. The exercise considered operations from Rotterdam The Hague Airport (EHRD), a civil airport in the Netherlands, and made use of a simulated MQ-9B SkyGuardian MALE RPA, an RPA that is designed and manufactured by GA-ASI.