Skip to main content

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.

UTC

Related Content

  • January 26, 2012
    Urban mobility and demand management - the Mobility Credits Model
    Vito Marcolongo and Marco Troglia, Quaeryon srl describe the Mobility Credits Model, which is intended to combine inducements and fairness to improve mobility while reducing its more negative economic and environmental effects
  • March 10, 2015
    Unmanned vehicles ‘to transform transportation within a few years’
    According to new analysis from Frost and Sullivan, advances in sensor fusion technologies with high imaging capabilities to enhance manoeuvrability are quickening the development of unmanned vehicles. The resulting increase in the use of unmanned vehicles will eventually alter the dynamics of the transportation industry. The report, Innovations in Unmanned Vehicles–Land, Air, and Sea, finds that high-quality image and navigation sensors such as light detection and ranging systems, radar, and advanced global
  • November 10, 2015
    Spain may use drones for traffic monitoring
    Spain’s highway agency and technology company Sistemas y Montajes Industriales are developing unmanned drones to monitor traffic on public highways and may have drones ready to come into operation from next year, according to Euroweekly News. Alberto de Laorden, the director of Sistems, was at the Seventh National Road Safety Congress in Valencia and confirmed that the prototype is on course to be ready by next year. Laorden spoke about the advantages of the aircraft at the Congress, “Much cheaper tha
  • October 19, 2021
    Continental presents collision warning tech 
    Collision warning is integrated into the vehicle functions to warn drivers