Norway’s air navigation service provider Avinor has issued a request for information (RFI) for uncrewed air system traffic management (UTM) system and service providers to express their interest in providing Avinor with a national UTM system.
“The purpose of this RFI is to inform the market of Avinor’ s forthcoming need of a new UTM system, gather relevant information to use in the possible upcoming procurement procedure, to give potential Suppliers an indication of what kind of requirements to expect in the possible upcoming procurement procedure, and assess possibilities for a partnership with the Supplier of a UTM system,” according to the tender documents.
Deadline for responses is 17 March 2023.
According to the tender document:
“It is estimated that around 500,000 drones are operating in Norway today. Approximately 2,000 companies are working actively with drones or drone technology. The rising number of drones increases the need for service provision to both manned and unmanned aviation.
“Today, Avinor has an operational UTM system at 17 Norwegian airports. The next phase for Avinor is to implement a new nationwide UTM system, providing services in both controlled and uncontrolled airspace, as well as inside and outside of U-space airspace. These services should be provided to drone operators, air traffic service providers, government agencies and other relevant stakeholders such as airspace managers.
“Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/664 on a regulatory framework for the U-space lays down rules and procedures for the safe operations of UAS in the U-space airspace, for the safe integration of UAS into the aviation system and for the provision of U-space services. Avinor is committed to abide by the regulation, and the new UTM system shall be compliant with IR 2021/664 for those airspaces where the regulation is applicable.
“Avinor expects to be designated as the single Common Information Service provider in Norway in 2023. To enable growth in the unmanned aviation industry, the new UTM system will need to provide some, or all, Common Information Services outside of U-space airspace as well. Additionally, Avinor envisions to provide USSP services within U-space airspace, and similar services outside of U-space airspace, to further promote growth in the industry.
“Avinor provides air traffic services to 44 airports in Norway. National legislation requires drone operators to request flight authorization by the air traffic service provider within a drone restricted zone around the airports. To facilitate safe and efficient operations for unmanned traffic in the vicinity of these airports, Avinor requires a solution that provides services to and communication between drone operators and the air traffic service provider. Such services should be highly automated to manage the increasing number of operations.
“Similar to air traffic service providers, there will be a need for other stakeholders, both governmental and private, to manage the airspace above their area of interest. These stakeholders could be referred to as airspace managers and be given the possibility to provide some services from the new UTM system to drone operators, e.g., flight authorization in the given area.”
For more information
https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:99073-2023:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
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