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| Patroller UAS on its final approach in Toulouse, France. Photo: Safran |
[Avionics Today 11-21-2014] Sagem has completed a series of flight tests demonstrating successful integration of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) into manned airspace in compliance with European civil aviation regulations and Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures.
Sagem’s Patroller UAS conducted a series of approximately20 test flights near Toulouse, France from Oct. 26 to Nov. 7 within the scope of Europe’s Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program. The UAS demonstrated a complete anti-collision function during these flights, one of the keys to integrating drones in a civilian airspace shared with manned aircraft.
The see-and-avoid system developed by Sagem and integrated in the Patroller’s control system combines traffic detection sensors, including an infrared optronic (electro-optical) sensor and an automatic risk collision estimation and avoidance flightpath generation module. During the flight tests, this system was successfully operated using different conflict scenarios with a “dummy” aircraft provided by ENAC, thus enabling Patroller to detect the risk of a collision and avoid it, without requiring an operator.