Operational Solutions Ltd Public Funding

PRESERVE will deliver a trustworthy, transparent, and easy-to-use Hybrid C-UAS C2 platform supporting Police Authorities with the prevention, early detection and optimal management of operational response against current and emergent threats in drone technology, increasing the security of citizens in public spaces and contributing significantly to the novel EU Counter-UAS policy. By fusing heterogeneous data from an array of physical sensors and online sources, the project will tackle the so far unmanageable threat of weaponised consumer drone swarms through open-source knowledge by non-state actors. PRESERVE will produce s multidimensional shield synthesised into four Products: “Swarm-based C-UAS Arsenal” (P1-SECURE), “Online Drone Intelligence Engine” (ODIN), the “PRESERVE platform” (P3), as the integral solution, and the “C-UAV Training Programme” (P4). PRESERVE platform and products will be validated in near-real environments targeting specific Pilot Use-Cases (PUC), where the real needs expressed by the end-users will be addressed. The flexible and scalable architecture of the PRESERVE platform will allow end-users to implement the platform as a whole or to adopt only specific services and tools based on their operational needs. Theoretical and practical UNITAR-certified trainings, hands-on experience, table-top exercises and field full-scale exercises will boost the uptake of PRESERVE products. The platform development will be governed by ethics, privacy-by-design and AI-trustworthiness, considering EU and relevant national legislations, as well as societal aspects. With four Police Authorities, six Research institutions, four Industry partners (including three SMEs), two Regulatory, Policy, Standard, and Social experts and two Affiliated Entities, the PRESERVE consortium delivers a strong multidisciplinary combination of expertise and novel technologies to meet its objectives.

This ambitious 2-year project will develop, evaluate, standardise and operationally deploy the world's first fully automated Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to conduct 24/7 commercial UAS operations in one of the busiest airports in the world, London Heathrow. The High intensity Autonomous Drone Operations project (HADO) will create a scalable technical and regulatory enterprise that will dramatically accelerate the commercial roll out of autonomous UAS in high intensity environments across the UK. The HADO project is being delivered by a collaboration between Operational Solutions Ltd (as the lead partner), Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, Cranfield University, Rinicom Intelligent Solutions Ltd, HeroTech8 Ltd, Carmenta Technologies Ltd, the National Physical Laboratory, Dynamic Intelligence Solutions Ltd, Thales UK, UAVTEK Production Ltd, Ocuair, the National Air Traffic Service, NexusNine, UAVTEK Ltd, Bird & Bird LLP, Cranfield Airport, Defence Scientific Technology Laboratory, Airports Council International, Virgin Atlantic Airline and Star Alliance Airline. The project will develop and rollout a set of requirements, operating procedures, an operating safety cases and tools that will enable drones to operate autonomously in a mixed traffic environment and in the vicinity of manned aircraft within a controlled airspace. It will conduct a 4-month evaluation of BVLOS UAV operating at Heathrow airport. This will include missions that transit into and out of the Heathrow perimeter. Under the direction of the National Physics Laboratory and Cranfield University the HADO project will also develop the first set of testable standards that spans the entire HADO enterprise, including the testing of AI and autonomous decision-making modules, in order to support regulatory approvals and to inform future legislation. HADO will also demonstrate how innovative technology can be combined with conventional methods to address the societal implications of autonomous drone operations in urban environments such as Heathrow.

Organisations responsible for regulation, law enforcement, safety and security use dedicated Counter UAS (cUAS) and Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems to monitor for the presence and activity of Unmanned Arial Systems (UAS). To achieve this, multiple and dissimilar sensors need to be arranged either in clusters or distributed over large areas, such as an airport site or regional and national air corridors. Additionally, monitoring information may be provided by the UAS itself, and UTM service providers who will publish approved flight activity. This feasibility study will consider the scenario of an airport which has a need for both cUAS and UTM systems. To effectively correlate the information generated at an airport by multiple heterogeneous sensors, and compare detected or declared UAS activity against the authorised flight plans and permissions, it is essential that a reliable, robust and accurate method of time dissemination and synchronisation is available to all nodes across the entire network. A consortium formed of Operational Solutions, Cranfield and Hoptroff will use innovative methods of combining GNSS derived signals with terrestrial PTP over IP to efficiently and robustly transmit timing information between sensor nodes.

OSL and Rinicom are collaborating on a project to develop a new, safe counter-measure system to protect airports against illegal drones that pose a threat to the airport security.

Overview Ltd. have joined with Operational Solutions Ltd. and Rinicom Intelligent Solutions Ltd. to develop an infrastructure independent sensor and automated perimeter sweep system to protect airports against disruption from air and ground threats.