Nokia to trial drone-based traffic management

Nokia is to use Space 53, Europe's first dedicated testing facility for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) at Twente Airport, near Enschede in the Netherlands to develop and trial its UAV Traffic Management (UTM) system using drones in proximity to urban areas, people, manned aircraft, other drones and other objects.
September 28, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

183 Nokia is to use Space 53, Europe's first dedicated testing facility for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) at Twente Airport, near Enschede in the Netherlands to develop and trial its UAV Traffic Management (UTM) system using drones in proximity to urban areas, people, manned aircraft, other drones and other objects.

Nokia will design and deliver the infrastructure to test and develop the Nokia UTM system at Twente Airport using real-life simulations and commercial demonstrations.

The Nokia UTM solution will provide the flight automation, no-fly zone control and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) capability that will be vital for the safe operation of UAVs in densely populated cities and remote rural areas. UAVs must be able to operate without endangering manned aircraft operations, requiring the development of highly dynamic no-fly zones together with enforcement of civil aviation regulations.

The Nokia technology uses LTE and 5G, as well as Mobile Edge Computing, to ensure the extreme low-latency and ultra reliability required for UAV traffic management. Drones equipped with Nokia's UTM modem (comprising an LTE modem, GPS transceiver and other telemetry modules), combined with the computing and processing power of the Nokia AirFrame platform, monitor airspace and flight paths. They can also handle the exchange of telemetry data as well as establishing dynamic no-flight zones, ensuring safe operation around other civil airspace users.

A Nokia UTM smartphone app, working with the UAV Traffic Management interface, provides drone operators with real-time flight permissions, real-time no-fly zone information as well as information about local regulatory rules, giving an extra degree flexibility and awareness.

According to Nokia, the UTM platform can also be adapted to the individual regulatory requirements of different countries, potentially providing the basis for global standardisation of such systems.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Managing congestion, better information changes perceptions
    January 31, 2012
    Kapsch's Dietrich Leihs talks about the true fundamentals of urban pricing. In some Italian and German towns and cities, the solution to congestion is an outright ban on certain types of vehicles. As far as Dietrich Leihs is concerned, any attempt to sweeten the pill that is congestion charging is only ever going to be a partial success at best.
    Read More
  • AECOM-led consortium secures funding for CAV pilot scheme
    April 13, 2017
    An AECOM-led consortium has secured more than US$5.2 million (£4.2 million) of funding from Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) to deliver a pilot scheme that could pave the way for the use of connected and autonomous vehicles to move people around airports, hospitals, business parks, shopping and tourist centres. The pilot project includes the design, development and testing of new autonomous and connected pods on-demand (PODs), culminating in on-road public trials at L
    Read More
  • Wireless traffic management reduces costs and commute times
    January 30, 2012
    The County of Los Angeles is widely known for having among the worst traffic problems and the most road congestion in the US. To combat these problems, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works decided to deploy a wireless communications system to connect over 1,000 of the most congested intersections so they could dynamically monitor and manage the congestion and reduce commute times.
    Read More
  • The path to safer roads: America can learn from Europe’s example, says Verra Mobility
    May 1, 2024
    Many US states are establishing road safety programmes that will inspire others. TJ Tiedje, vice president commercial at Verra Mobility, explains why this is important
    Read More

Highlighted Content