French Consortium Demonstrates UAS Integration into Civil Airspace

The TEMPAERIS consortium has demonstrated the capability to integrate a remote controlled aircraft into civilian air traffic. This evaluation was performed around Bordeaux-Merignac airport, between February 2-6 as part of SESAR RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) demonstration projects.

The TEMPAERIS consortium is led by DSNA, the French ANSP, together with partners Airbus Defence & Space, Airbus Prosky, Sopra Steria and ENAC, the French academy for civil aviation.

The system used in the demonstration exercises was a UAV demonstrator representative of a real UAV system.

It was developed by Airbus Defence & Space, based on an aircraft MCR4S controlled from the ground by a remote control station through a data link. The system is functionally and operationally representative of a tactical or MALE drone system. A safety pilot was on board.

The experiments conducted included an assessment of the feasibility of such an aircraft to operate in traffic from a regional air hub, especially with radar vectoring. Failure procedures and unusual situations were also tested such as loss of radio link, failure of the GPS navigation system, loss of RPAS control link. These procedures are essential to insure the seamless integration of RPAS into non segregated airspace.

The flight programme was successfully carried out, despite adverse weather conditions. The results will be published by June 2015.

Source: Air Traffic Management

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