EUROPEAN CIVIL AVIATION CONFERENCE - CONFÉRENCE EUROPÉENNE DE L'AVIATION CIVILE

EUROCONTROL

Logo EUROCONTROL

EUROCONTROL's role is essential for the development of new operating concepts at European and global level. With regard to drones, the Agency's aim is to achieve a safe integration of these aircraft in airspace, while safeguarding the civil rights of all airspace users.

The Agency is involved in a large number of research and development projects on drones and related technologies.

EUROCONTROL contributes with its experience in this field in project management, validation process development, experimental design, data analysis and human factors.

Likewise, the organisation provides technical and operation support to the main institutions in the sector (ICAO, EASA, EUROCAE or IATA, among others) for the development of regulations and standards on UAS, C-UAS systems or U-space.

Equally, the important support to States that EUROCONTROL provides is worth mentioning. For instance, it has prepared an initial guide for the assessment of airspace as a basis for the integration of UAS, which makes it possible to identify the operations that could be carried out in airspace volumes, as well as the analysis of the associated risks on the ground and in the air.

In view of the future Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the drone unit is supporting the establishment of a test to validate scenarios and equipment for the use of UAS during this important event.

EUROCONTROL also develops coordination and information exchange initiatives with other regions such as the United States, China and Australia, among others, to guarantee adequate interoperability worldwide.

Finally, its work in the fields of training and information sharing through initiatives that offer its participants an overview of the most current aspects of the drone industry, as well as relevant concepts related to the concept of U-space operation, is extremely noteworthy.

U-space concept

To assess the safety of drone operations and address the adequate integration of these platforms in complex environments such as cities, EUROCONTROL has created a U-space operational concept through the CORUS project (Concept of Operation for European UTM Systems), in which organisations from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom participate. This project will provide a harmonised tool for the integration of low-level operations, mainly in urban environments.

The Agency has also coordinated the PODIUM project (Proving Operations of Drones with Initial UTM Management), which has made it possible to test U-space procedures and technologies in different European cities with the objective of assessing this technology's readiness level and issuing recommendations for its deployment.

It should be noted that many of the new U-space technologies are at an early stage of development. Accordingly, and with the aim of facilitating the exchange of knowledge and supporting the implementation of these technologies, EUROCONTROL has promoted the European Network of U-space Demonstrators.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM)

EUROCONTROL is actively working on testing and providing U-space services and solutions to support urban air mobility through the CORUS-XUAM initiative, including testing surveillance and inspection operations in urban ports, optimising routes between airports and metropolitan areas, the transport of goods in residential areas, autonomous intercity flights or connections between airports and VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) ports.

Publications on unmanned aircraft systems

ECAC News #73 UAS Bulletin 02/2021