EUROCONTROL'S drone and U-space activities: a snapshot
EUROCONTROL continues to contribute in multiple phases to developing an eco-system of drones and U-space by working with its Member States, European and international partners as well as the wider stakeholder community.
In 2021, the CORUS-XUAM project that EUROCONTROL manages has made great progress in updating the concept of operations for U-space by adding aspects related to urban air mobility (UAM). The next phase will be activated in the coming year with six live demonstrations that will take place across seven countries. We have also made successful contributions to nine other SESAR 2020 and Horizon 2020-sponsored U-space-related research and innovation projects.
The new "Centre d’Excellence Drones Île de France (CEDIF)" operations room that we manage together with Thales and Systematic was inaugurated in Brétigny, France on 1 December 2021. The centre will be using a 40km drone corridor over cities, rail and road infrastructure south of Paris, which will be managed from the new operational room at the EUROCONTROL Innovation Hub, based in Brétigny.
We have responded to high demand to provide technical and operational support to States in assessing their airspace in preparation for the implementation of U-space. In addition, we have provided U-space-related webinars to Member States and a three-day training course on RPAS, delivered via the EUROCONTROL Aviation Learning Centre.
We support EASA in a number of activities, including drafting acceptable means of compliance and guidance material for U-space regulation, conducting safety risk/impact assessment for certified category drone operations, developing drones flight rules, supporting the EASA UAM Task Force, and occurrence reporting for drone pilots and others.
In partnership with European Commission DG MOVE, EASA and SESAR Joint Undertaking, EUROCONTROL was authorised by the European Commission to extend the scope of support it offers to the U-space stakeholders via the newly re-launched European Network of U-space Stakeholders on 30 November 2021. In the new mandate provided, we will support the U-space stakeholders to transition from demonstration to deployment by sharing lessons learnt.
We provide support in drafting ICAO UTM Framework addition and in preparing for the ICAO Drone Enable Symposium 2022. EUROCONTROL experts also contribute to the development of ICAO SARPs, procedures and guidance material for RPAS as part of the work of the ICAO RPAS Panel.
EUROCONTROL contributes to developing the Counter UAS standards in the EUROCAE WG 115. We will coordinate the development of the Safety Performance Requirement document.
Finally, we are providing our technical and operational expertise to the creation of Drone Strategy 2.0, led by the European Commission. In 2022, we will be facilitating discussions on drones and U-space in a number of panels at the Amsterdam Drone Week, where EASA will hold its high-level meeting.
