Traffic management for drones to start in 2023 – Vienna Online – Austria
In Austria, the number of drones in the airspace continues to rise. From 2023 there should be a digital traffic management system. So far, Austro Control has approved drone flights by telephone.
A digital traffic management system for drones is scheduled to start in 2023 – from Austro Control and Frequentis. 5.3 million euros will be invested in this over the next five years, said Austro Control Managing Director Valerie Hackl on Wednesday.
Digital traffic management for drones is scheduled to start in 2023
If you want to fly a drone in the “open” category with a weight of 250 grams or more in Austria, you need a drone driver’s license. For this, a course and a test must be completed online. Around 45,000 drone licenses have been issued to date. The unmanned aerial vehicles (uLFZ) & are also registered, according to Austro Control this has been the case 30,000 times so far.
The Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) is intended to simplify the work for drone pilots and for Austro Control air traffic controllers. “Drone flights are becoming more and more complicated,” said Hackl at a joint press conference with Frequentis in Vienna. There are already a hundred (rpt. hundred) drone flights in controlled airspace – i.e. around airports – on “strong days” that have to be released.
System should simplify the work of Austro Control and pilots
The new system is not a radar system, but one that is based on voluntary information from the pilots, it was emphasized. There are no figures on how many people fly drones without registration or a driver’s license. Violations are subject to penalties of up to 22,000 euros. Registration is the responsibility of the pilot, said Hackl. There are around ten to 20 drone sightings around airports every year.
In 2014 there was the first drone law in Austria
In 2014 Austria became the first drone law, since the end of 2020 the European drone regulation. The previous regulation is practical for “individual flights”, as they occurred in 2014, “with the increasing number of flights we need new systems and procedures,” said Philipp Piber from Austro Control. Until the new system WILL BE deployed, flights will continue to be cleared over the phone. “The drone pilot calls Austro Control and passes the data on,” explained Piber. These are recorded and transmitted to the air traffic controller responsible for the respective airspace. “The approval is then given by telephone.” With the prospective app, it will then be “safe and easy to manage a flight”, which would make the “good and safe co-existence of manned and unmanned aircraft” possible, said Piber. “With the new system, we’re swapping the phone, notepad and ballpoint pen for a tablet,” stated the managing director.
A drone system from Frequentis is in use in Norway
A drone management system from the company Frequentis, which specializes in information and communication solutions for safety-critical application areas, is already in use in Norway, reported CEO Norbert Haslacher. The forecasts go so far that in five or ten years drones will be the main user of regulated airspace and maybe even overtake helicopters, said Haslacher. “It is all the more important that automation can take place.” The cooperation with Austro Control is the result of an extensive public procurement procedure in which several leading companies from the technology sector have taken part since autumn last year, it was said on Wednesday.
Blue light organizations can also be involved
Blue light organizations can also be integrated into the new UTM drone traffic management system. At the push of a button, one or all pilots in an airspace can then be communicated with, for example when helicopters from blue-light organizations have to take off. Then “all drone pilots can be asked to land immediately,” explained Austro Control Managing Director Piber. The air traffic controllers have to be trained for this, and Austro Control will start a training program in the autumn. A test phase is scheduled to start in early 2023.
With the cloud-based UTM solution from Frequentis, future communication between drone pilots and Austro Control is based on digitization and automation. The first stage of the project involves the digital transmission of drone flight plans and the release of drone flights in controlled airspace by air traffic control. As a result, the identification of drones and the warning of closed airspaces will be activated in the system in accordance with the EU regulations currently being implemented.