Today and tomorrow, the BURDI (Belgium-Netherlands U-space Reference Design Implementation) project, a flagship European demonstration under the Connecting Europe Facility and supported by SESAR Joint Undertaking is presenting its results after three years of intensive development and real-world testing. “BURDI’s outcomes and lessons learned are being featured at the SESAR Digital Sky Demonstration Showcase conference, where European innovators highlight the next generation of U-space and ATM integration achievements,” said Unifly in a press release.
“Launched in November 2022, the BURDI project set out to design, test, validate and demonstrate a scalable, interoperable, safe, and socially acceptable U-space ecosystem over Belgian airspace (notably over Antwerp, Brussels, and Liège) with a cross-border orientation towards the Netherlands. The initiative brought together 18 partners and four affiliated entities from across the aviation, drone technology, infrastructure, and regulatory sectors.
According to Unifly, over the life of the project, BURDI achieved significant milestones. “Among other things, the project partners:
- Developed the first cross-border U-space reference design between Belgium and the Netherlands – a pioneering step for European interoperability
- Developed a U-space Concept of Operations (ConOps) aligned with SESAR and CINEA requirements
- Conducted airspace risk assessments, stakeholder coordination mechanisms, and multilevel governance frameworks
- Executed demonstration flights, especially BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) drone operations in the Port of Antwerp / Antwerp Harbour geozone, integrating drone operations into complex and real-world environments
- Enabled a medical logistics trial: BVLOS drone flights between hospital sites in the Kempen region, reducing ground transport times from ~30 minutes to under 13 minutes
- Contributed to weather information services for U-space, advancing regulatory feedback and future improvements to U-space service design
- Engaged the drone community and ecosystem stakeholders, including surveys to assess U-space cost modelling and market uptake, to advance social acceptance.”
With the project’s work coming to an end at the end of the year, the BURDI consortium will hand over its findings, validated methodologies, operational lessons and recommendations to European regulators, national aviation authorities, and the wider U-space community. The ambition is that BURDI’s results will act as a reference design for future U-space deployments across Europe.
The Belgium/Netherlands U-space Reference Design Implementation (BURDI) project supports the safe and sustainable integration of multiple drone operations, including BVLOS, within shared airspace alongside traditional manned aviation. Key technical partners include SkeyDrone, the designated USSP, and Unifly, which provides the UTM system that enables compliant and efficient drone operations.
The project has received funding from the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking (S3JU) under grant agreement no. GA – 101079693 – 21-EU-TG-BURDI. The S3JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and the S3JU members other than the Union.
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