Special report
European commercial drone operators planning to extend their businesses into beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and other more complex operations will have to wait awhile. According to the U-space development plans underway among European air navigation service providers (ANSPs), listed on the ATM MasterPlan portal (https://www.atmmasterplan.eu/depl/u-space) only Italy will have deployed the full range of U1 foundation services (see box below) by 2020 – and even by 2025 Italy will be the only country in Europe to have these services in place, according to current deploymemt plans.
Under the plan for U-space maturity developed by the SESAR JU (https://www.sesarju.eu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/U-space%20Blueprint%20brochure%20final.PDF) U1 services of e-registration, e-identification and geofencing will be technically available by the end of 2019. But according to the ATM Masterplan only one country will have deployed these services six years later.
The slightly better news is that some elements of these services are advancing rapidly. Drone operator on-line registration will be live in Ireland, France, Italy, Greece, Estonia and Finland by 2020 and e-identification will be in place in France, Italy and Hungary in 2019.
The challenges to implementing U-Space area to be greater than originally envisaged. Following the November 2019 meeting of the U Space demonstrator Support Cell, the Amsterdam High Level Conference declaration and consultation meetings with the Member States the following challenges have been identified for developing priority actions:
- Define more guidance and training material on specific operations risk assessment (SORA)
- Define common shared repository to store and disseminate best practice
- Define common terminology
- Define common U-space architecture including service performance levels, processes, required standards, APIs, etc..
- Inventorise existing U-space business models
- Create a template for members to report outcome of their demonstrations and make it available on the U-space web portal
- Create a list of known and planned U-space implementations/demonstrations
A second Support Cell meeting is planned for 1 February in Brussels at the Eurocontrol headquarters to help find ways to address some of these issues. These will include discussions around whether sufficient progress can be made under the current standards and rules or whether new rules will be needed.
(Image: Deployment of U-Space foundation services in Europe in 2025; green represents completed – source ATM Masterplan portal)
| U-Space technology levels
U1 (2019) e-Registration Electronic chip Drone operator online registration Drone online registration Registration enforcement Registration Authority e-Identification Drone Identification E-identification enforcement Identification Authority Pre-tactical geo-fencing Geo-limitation database Drone operator authentication and authorisation
U2 (2021) Tactical geo-fencing Live airspace data feed Area infringement notification Flight planning management Automated FPL validation Operations digital authorization Digital NOTAM Weather information Low-altitude wind forecast Actual low-altitude wind info weather info collection Weather hazard alerts Tracking Radio Positioning infrastructure Real-time tracking Tracking data recording Monitoring Air situation monitoring Flight non-conformance detection Area infringement detection Traffic info multicast Alert/Report line Drone aeronautical information management UTM-relevant static aeronautical data UTM-relevant dynamic aeronautical data Procedural interface with ATC ATC/UAS coordination procedures Flight notification procedures Emergency and contingency procedures Emergency management Emergency alert line Emergency assistance information Strategic de-confliction Strategic de-confliction
U3 (2025) Dynamic geo-fencing Dynamic geo-fencing Collaborative Interface with ATC Global air situation monitoring ATC alert notification Tactical de-confliction Tactical de-confliction Dynamic capacity management Airspace capacity monitoring UAS traffic complexity assessment Demand/capacity imbalance detection UTM measures implementation |
