Delivering drone U-space research

solutions for smart and innovation

portfolio
and sustainable
air mobility
 in a nutshell Benefits
U-space is a set of services and specific procedures
designed to support safe, efficient and secure access DRONE USERS/OPERATORS:
to airspace for large numbers of drones. These services  Offer fair, flexible & open access to
rely on a high level of digitalisation and automation of the airspace
functions, whether they are
 Open up drone services market
By 2035, the value on board the drone itself, or
of the drone market are part of the ground-based
is estimated to environment. U-space allows
CITIZENS:
exceed EUR10 billion this market to grow by helping to
establish technologies, rules and  Offer new & innovative services
annually, rising to
over EUR15 billion procedures that will eventually  Ensure safe & secure drone
annually by 2050 ( ).
1 enable drones to safely share the operations
airspace with manned aviation.  Safeguard privacy & ensure
environmental protection
(noise & visual pollution)

REGULATORY AUTHORITIES:
 Maintain control over airspace
 Ensure privacy, safety, security
& environmental protection
 Enforce registration & identification
of drones
 Protect safety & security critical
areas

BUSINESSES:
 Enabling the development of new
business models
 Spurring jobs & market growth
 Support move towards automation
& digitalisation

(1) E uropean Drones Outlook Study

https://www.sesarju.eu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/European_
Drones_Outlook_Study_2016.pdf

2
 The innovation story so far Smart and sustainable future
The SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) completed a The U-space sector is developing rapidly with new innovative
first wave of 19 projects in 2019 (2),which demonstrated ways of using drones emerging at a fast pace. The European
U-space services from U1 to U3 in a variety of environments, Commission has announced plans for a new Drone strategy 2.0
and concluded that U1 and U2 services were essentially to be published in 2022. This will provide a forward-looking
ready for use in rural areas, segregated airspace and low vision for the future holistic development of the sector while
density airspace. In 2020, a second wave of industrial supporting the European Green Deal, Smart and Sustainable
and exploratory research projects and very large-scale Mobility Strategy, Digital Strategy and other Union policies.
demonstrations got underway to extend the scope of
U-space to address more advanced services, including
addressing the requirements for urban air mobility (UAM).
These will support exciting new opportunities, such as Foundation services
medical services, goods delivery, air taxis and emergency e-identification
response to demonstrate a host of new capabilities including U1 e-registration
avoiding no-go areas, giving way to other airspace users
geo-awareness
and cross border operations. All projects work closely with
regulatory and standardisation bodies. See page 5 for details
of the current research and innovation portfolio.
Initial services
Flight planning and approval
U2 Tracking
Deployment Traffic information

The deployment of U-space is taking place progressively

based on increasing availability of blocks of services and
enabling technologies.
Enhanced services
Dynamic capacity management
As with manned aviation, drone operators and U-space U3 Tactical conflict resolution
service providers will need to comply with regulations set
by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This
regulatory framework and the first U-space regulations,
adopted by the European Commission in 2021, come into
force in January 2023. Full services
Collaborative interface with ATC
U4 Additional new services

(²) S ESAR U-space projects results

https://www.sesarju.eu/sites/default/files/documents/u-space/U-space%20
Drone%20Operations%20Europe.pdf

3
 COMMUNICATIONS
URBAN AIR NAVIGATION AND
MOBILITY SURVEILLANCE
DYNAMIC
CAPACITY
MANAGEMENT
DEPLOYMENT
SECURITY

AIRPORT
ROTECTION

COMMON
ALTITUDE
STANDARDISATION REFERENCE

SEPARATION
MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE
FRAMEWORK

SAFETY
INFORMATION
EXCHANGE
INTERFACE
REGULATION WITH AIR
TRAFFIC
CONTROL

4
Research and innovation project portfolio

ASPRID – and define the airspace structure, the processes and the

EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
services necessary to support drone traffic management.
Airport system protection from intruding drones
Topics addressed: Separation management; dynamic
ASPRID is investigating the vulnerability of airports to capacity management; U-space performance framework
different types of threat from drones (careless or malicious) Web: https://dacus-research.eu
and possible responses. ASPRID identifies possible
technologies, procedures and regulations that could help
safeguard airports and/or recover from disruptions by ICARUS
means of a more integrated and coordinated approach. Integrated common altitude reference system for
Topics addressed: Airport protection U-space
Web: https://www.asprid.eu
ICARUS proposes a common altitude reference system for
manned and unmanned aviation using multi-constellation
BUBBLES navigation satellite systems. The project is developing and
Defining the basic building blocks for a U-space validating a new U-space service that will provide, during
separation management service pre-flight and actual flight, real-time information of vertical
distance to the ground to ensure collision avoidance; and
BUBBLES is defining separation minima for operations in will convert different altitude reference systems to ensure
very low-level (VLL) airspace using standard methodologies vertical separation of all traffic.
like specific operations risk assessment (SORA) to assess Topics addressed: Common altitude reference
the risks for unmanned systems. It is also developing
Web: www.u-spaceicarus.eu
algorithms to compute the collision probability between
drones and manned aircraft, and investigating how artificial
intelligence (AI) can help to dynamically manage separation METROPOLIS 2
minima.
A unified approach to airspace design and separation
Topics addressed: Separation management management for U-space
Web: https://bubbles-project.eu/
METROPOLIS 2 is developing solutions to support
high-capacity urban airspace, specifically advanced
DACUS service requirements for strategic deconfliction, tactical
Demand and capacity optimisation in U-space deconfliction, and dynamic capacity management. By
applying principles of geo-vectoring in combination with
DACUS aims to develop a service-oriented demand flight planning and detect-and-avoid tools, the project
and capacity balancing (DCB) process for drone traffic aims to define robust and efficient flight plans along with
management. The project intends to integrate in a resolution strategies.
consistent DCB solution the relevant demand and Topics addressed: Separation management
capacity influence factors - such as the performance of
Web: https://metropolis2.eu/
communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) services
5
 USEPE
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

U-space separation in Europe automate the safe separation and deconfliction of drones
in different environments. The work will result in an urban
USEPE is researching drone separation methods in high space separation management system which will be
demanding environments such as cities. It is defining the validated using a series of typical urban scenarios.
actors, the decisions and the technology that are needed
Topics addressed: Separation management
during the strategic and tactical planning phases of flight.
The research also covers machine learning algorithms to Web: https://usepe.eu

Other projects addressing drones in a broader context include: FACT, INVIRCAT, SAFELAND and URCleared.
INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

AURA
ATM U-space interface (PJ.34) environment. It will then define a concept of operations for
drones in a fully collaborative environment and will provide
AURA aims to identify the requirements for U-space input to regulatory and standardisation bodies.
information exchange with airspace management and Topics addressed: Interface with air traffic control;
define the system wide information management information exchange.
(SWIM) candidate services necessary for new entrants
to be compatible with the current airspace management Web: www.sesarju.eu/projects/aura

CORUS-XUAM AMU-LED:
VERY LARGE-SCALE DEMONSTRATIONS

Concept of operations for European U-space services Air mobility urban large experimental demonstrations
– extension for urban air mobility
AMU-LED is testing urban operations using several types
CORUS-XUAM is extending the initial concept of operations of unmanned vehicles with a view to identifying U-space
(ConOps) developed in the first wave to include urban air services needed and equipment requirements on board the
mobility and, in doing so, is incorporating UAM concepts drone platform in order to operate safely above populated
being developed in the other UAM-related demonstrations. areas. The scope includes coordination with other airspace
It looks at the rules that govern how airspace users fly, the users and with air traffic control, as well as the impact of
role of automation and the performance of communications, tall buildings in complex urban environments on airstreams
navigation and surveillance technologies. Some urban air and navigation and communication signals. It will deliver a
mobility operations – like air taxis - will operate like manned detailed concept of operations for urban air missions.
aviation, while others – such as deliveries – will rely on Topics addressed: Interface with air traffic control; Urban air
U-space services. This project considers services included in mobility; separation management; U-space regulation; CNS;
the more advanced U3/U4 phases of U-space.
standardisation; safety assessment.
Web: https://corus-xuam.eu
Web: https://amuledproject.eu/

6
 VERY LARGE-SCALE DEMONSTRATIONS
GOF2.0 TINDAIR
Gulf of Finland 2.0 – Integrated urban airspace very Tactical instrumental deconfliction and inflight
large demonstration resolution
GOF2.0 is validating the architecture for highly automated TINDAIR is demonstrating the requirements for tactical
real-time separation assurance in dense airspace including conflict resolution and emergency landing strategic
precision weather and telecom networks for air ground deconfliction, as well as detect-and-avoid services to enable
communication. The aim is to demonstrate safe, secure and unmanned vehicles to operate in highly complex airspace.
sustainable integration of UAS and taxi operations without The aim is to deliver strategic and innovative technologies
disrupting current airspace operations. that can drive competitiveness and UAM growth using
Topics addressed: Urban air mobility; U-space regulation. an impact-oriented approach and demonstrate the safe
integration of UAM aircraft as additional airspace users.
Web: https://gof2.eu
Topics addressed: Dynamic capacity management; Urban air
mobility
SAFIR-MED Web: https://tindair.eu
Safe and flexible integration of advanced U-space
services for medical air mobility
USPACE4UAM
SAFIR-MED is conducting beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)
USPACE4UAM is demonstrating the criterial enablers
drone operations in real urban environments using a range
needed for urban air mobility to take off. This includes high
of different platforms. Use cases include transporting
levels of automation, connectivity and digitalisation for both
medical supplies between hospitals and healthcare centres
the drone and U-space system. It is also looking at safety
to demonstrate and improve operational procedures and
cases and their impact on system requirements, and at how
mechanisms for effective interface with air traffic control.
regulation and standardisation can be set up to support a
Topics addressed: Transport from/to predefined locations; multi-modal transport network.
urgent transport from hospitals to unknown location;
Topics addressed: Urban air mobility
transport from/to different U-space areas; Urban air mobility.
Web: https://www.sesarju.eu/projects/Uspace4UAM
Web: https://www.safir-med.eu

Interested
to know
more?
Visit www.sesarju.eu/uspace 7
For more information, visit sesarju.eu
www.sesarju.eu @SESAR_JU SESAREuropanunion

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