Public Funding for Distributed Avionics Limited

Windracers, Distributed Avionics, British Antarctic Survey, University of Bristol, The University of Sheffield, Helix Technologies and Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service are working together to develop a live demonstration for uncrewed aerial survey problems. The Windracers ULTRA uncrewed platform has undergone several trials where it was used to carry cargo for Royal Mail and the NHS. It is designed to carry 100kg payload over 1000km. It has been widely used to deliver medical supplies and medical equipment to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, Scilly Isles in Cornwall and across the Orkney and Shetland Islands in Scotland. This proposal focuses on demonstrating how the Windracers ULTRA and Swarm technology can be used in applications that directly help us protect the environment. Swarm technology allowed for extensive coverage and at reduced survey time and human resource. We will demonstrate how Windracers' aircraft can be used to conduct survey missions. One of the main goals would be to show, with the help British Antarctic Survey, how the systems can gather environmental data in Antarctica as part of the project. Furthermore, we plan to demonstrate how the aircraft can be used to detect and locate wildfires, which builds on the research work conducted in our successful Future Flight 2 projects and support from the Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service. For these operations to scale, the ULTRA platforms need to be operated in large numbers and in difficult environmental conditions. This raises several technological challenges, some of which are centred around navigation, situational awareness, resilience to failures and degraded performance states. In this project, the consortium partners aim to perform several live demonstrations of swarming UAVs for survey missions in Antarctica and fire detection in the UK.

Windracers, Distributed Avionics, British Antarctic Survey, University of Bristol, The University of Sheffield, Helix Technologies and Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service are working together to develop a live demonstration for uncrewed aerial survey problems. The Windracers ULTRA uncrewed platform has undergone several trials where it was used to carry cargo for Royal Mail and the NHS. It is designed to carry 100kg payload over 1000km. It has been widely used to deliver medical supplies and medical equipment to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, Scilly Isles in Cornwall and across the Orkney and Shetland Islands in Scotland. This proposal focuses on demonstrating how the Windracers ULTRA and Swarm technology can be used in applications that directly help us protect the environment. Swarm technology allowed for extensive coverage and at reduced survey time and human resource. We will demonstrate how Windracers' aircraft can be used to conduct survey missions. One of the main goals would be to show, with the help British Antarctic Survey, how the systems can gather environmental data in Antarctica as part of the project. Furthermore, we plan to demonstrate how the aircraft can be used to detect and locate wildfires, which builds on the research work conducted in our successful Future Flight 2 projects and support from the Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service. For these operations to scale, the ULTRA platforms need to be operated in large numbers and in difficult environmental conditions. This raises several technological challenges, some of which are centred around navigation, situational awareness, resilience to failures and degraded performance states. In this project, the consortium partners aim to perform several live demonstrations of swarming UAVs for survey missions in Antarctica and fire detection in the UK.

This project aims to create and demonstrate digital infrastructure and operational procedures that will allow safe and efficient shared airspace. Recent BVLOS projects have focused on operating in Temporary Danger Areas (TDAs) which are both temporary, closed off to other airspace users, so are not scalable. Operations in temporary airspace do not allow operators to build a business case around the technology, and instead they have focused on technology demonstrations and trials, which fail to deliver the expected results. To transition to persistent and routine operations, beyond visual light of sight (BVLOS) drones need to be fully integrated with other airspace users within "shared airspace" rather than within "segregated airspace". To achieve this, there are six key challenges which need to be overcome: * Development of airspace which is inclusive to all airspace users * Effective governance to manage aviation stakeholders * Development of scalable detect and avoid solutions * Integration and development of a UTM minimum viable product * Integration of drones within an airport environment * Development of airworthiness and software assurance requirements for the enabling technologies BLUEPRINT aims to solve all of these problems, creating an approach for routine and persistent BVLOS drone operations within the UK via a series of capability blueprints as follows: * Airspace - Shared Airspace Zone via mandated Electronic Conspicuity and use of UTM Apps * Governance - An industry body which incorporates senior leaders across the whole aviation sector, to help come to a consensus on rules for shared airspace * Detect & Avoid - Distributed surveillance and tracking service integrated with Command Units * UTM - Building on the CPC Open Access Framework and ASTM standards of interoperability * Aerodrome - Development of project Atomicus (FF2 winner) for airport integration * Regulatory - Assurance standards for manufacturers, software providers and drone operators This makes Blueprint applicable to many use cases and opportunities, especially within the specific category for both multi-rotor, single rotor and fixed wing drones where the growth is predicted to explode in size and scale up to approximately 500kg within controlled and uncontrolled airspace for all airspace users who want to share the air. The aim of the BLUEPRINT is to provide regulators, technology providers and operators with a blueprint for UK wide rollout of BVLOS drone operations which can be commercialised at scale. The blueprint will allow stakeholders to design, plan and build routine and persistent BVLOS drone capabilities which can be exported on a European level.

This project aims to create and demonstrate digital infrastructure and operational procedures that will allow safe and efficient shared airspace. Recent BVLOS projects have focused on operating in Temporary Danger Areas (TDAs) which are both temporary, closed off to other airspace users, so are not scalable. Operations in temporary airspace do not allow operators to build a business case around the technology, and instead they have focused on technology demonstrations and trials, which fail to deliver the expected results. To transition to persistent and routine operations, beyond visual light of sight (BVLOS) drones need to be fully integrated with other airspace users within "shared airspace" rather than within "segregated airspace". To achieve this, there are six key challenges which need to be overcome: * Development of airspace which is inclusive to all airspace users * Effective governance to manage aviation stakeholders * Development of scalable detect and avoid solutions * Integration and development of a UTM minimum viable product * Integration of drones within an airport environment * Development of airworthiness and software assurance requirements for the enabling technologies BLUEPRINT aims to solve all of these problems, creating an approach for routine and persistent BVLOS drone operations within the UK via a series of capability blueprints as follows: * Airspace - Shared Airspace Zone via mandated Electronic Conspicuity and use of UTM Apps * Governance - An industry body which incorporates senior leaders across the whole aviation sector, to help come to a consensus on rules for shared airspace * Detect & Avoid - Distributed surveillance and tracking service integrated with Command Units * UTM - Building on the CPC Open Access Framework and ASTM standards of interoperability * Aerodrome - Development of project Atomicus (FF2 winner) for airport integration * Regulatory - Assurance standards for manufacturers, software providers and drone operators This makes Blueprint applicable to many use cases and opportunities, especially within the specific category for both multi-rotor, single rotor and fixed wing drones where the growth is predicted to explode in size and scale up to approximately 500kg within controlled and uncontrolled airspace for all airspace users who want to share the air. The aim of the BLUEPRINT is to provide regulators, technology providers and operators with a blueprint for UK wide rollout of BVLOS drone operations which can be commercialised at scale. The blueprint will allow stakeholders to design, plan and build routine and persistent BVLOS drone capabilities which can be exported on a European level.

ATOMICUS will deliver a significant pragmatic step towards safe operation of unmanned aircraft logistics by enabling integration with regional airfield operations. The approach of data based integration with existing physical infrastructure, will enable unlocking of significant cost savings and productivity gains in the logistics market. This project aims to create and demonstrate the digital infrastructure and operational procedures that will allow long-range unmanned cargo systems to safely and efficiently share the airspace and ground infrastructure with manned aircraft. The project will develop and demonstrate a concept of operations (CONOPS) and safety case, enabling scalable Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) operation and airport ground operations integration. The project will build upon the DfT Open Access UTM Framework being developed by Connected Places Catapult, creating new data infrastructure, products, APIs, and data flows to implement necessary interfaces. Through this approach, ATOMICUS will demonstrate the ability to provide logistics between airports and airfields, demonstrating the capacity to, as part of a planned, sequenced flight, with an allocated slot, safely operate a drone through controlled airspace to land at a manned airport and arrive at a 'gate'. Following arrival, the vehicle is inspected for damage, wear and tear. By demonstrating how UTM can enable scaling of the benefits of UAS, the project will provide the foundation for demonstrating during Phase 3, a middle mile solution for integrating drones as quickly as possible into the existing Air Traffic System and infrastructure with minimal disruption to today's manned aircraft air and ground operations.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the potential to become a reality for civil applications such as the transport of goods, aid delivery, or firefighting. The ULTRA unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Windracers is currently being tested to transport COVID-19 medical supplies to the Isle of Wight for example. It is a large, double engine, fix winged, drone with a carrying capacity of up to 100kg, making it a unique platform in the UAV market. For UAV solutions to scale, providers will need to deploy swarms that operate in large numbers, up to 100s. Swarm solutions build on the ability of UAVs to react to their local environment and neighbouring UAVs without having to coordinate through a central control station, making solutions more scalable to large numbers and robust to individual robot or ground station failure. This raises new challenges in the design of algorithms that coordinate the UAVs throughout their deployment, from refuelling and loading, to in-air navigation, and delivery of their payload (goods, aid, extinguishing agent). These algorithms need to be developed in realistic digital twin environments that are just one-click away from testing on board the actual UAVs, seamlessly switching between simulation and reality. Beyond the software, swarm deployments require new UAV hardware allowing for inter-robot coordination, and communication. This proposal focusses on enabling swarm deployments of the ULTRA UAV through the development of a digital twin that allows for single-click transfer of swarm controllers from simulation to reality. Two use cases will be developed centered around humanitarian aid delivery, and forest fire mitigation, as we expect both applications to require large numbers of UAVs to have a meaningful impact. By the end of the project we will demonstrate a proof-of-concept flight with 5 UAVs. In parallel, we will also work on new hardware for the ULTRAs to allow for inter-robot communication essential for swarming. This proposal brings together Windracers, the makers of the ULTRA fixed wing 100kg payload UAV, with Distributed Avionics, experts in avionics, ground station, and flight control software for the ULTRAs, and University of Bristol with expertise in swarm engineering.

In order to deal with key challenges facing mankind, the future of aviation must change radically. Reduction of emissions, more electric aircraft, and autonomous systems are essential to meet these challenges. Autonomous drones will be increasingly used for commercial applications such as delivery of medicines, remote community logistics, and electric powered aircraft will be developed to reduce pollution and congestion in cities. SCAFFold will demonstrate how new autonomous technologies can meet and conform to existing well defined safety standards whilst exploiting the latest technology from neighbouring sectors. Advances from the consumer electronics sector (such as miniaturised sensing, more capable processors, advanced user interfaces) can then be safely and cost-effectively integrated within the flight control system. Manned aircraft are very reliable and provide the safest means of transport. This reliability is possible through the use of extremely rigorous quality control, which is very expensive. In order to achieve equivalent levels of safety but at significantly reduced cost, Distributed Avionics have developed a new network-based control system architecture with high levels of robustness, and therefore reliable, at low cost. Distributed Avionics' solution will be directly applicable to UAS, UAM, and Civil applications and will be a key enabling technology in the shift to all electric, more connected aircraft. The solution achieves this reliability improvement through a novel, patented Masterless control architecture which forms the backbone of a no single point of failure (SPoF) control system. The removal of SPoFs reduces the requirement for highly reliable individual components, which are expensive to produce and challenging to integrate and evolve. For cost sensitive aerospace applications such as UAS and UAM, this approach offers clear advantages, where traditional aerospace products are too expensive to form a sound economic use case.