Telecom and aviation industries had nothing to do with each other so far. But now, with commercial drones set to revolutionize many industry verticals, a service market of more than 100 billion EUR annual revenue is expected in the next 5 years with applications such as drones as first responders, inspection and surveillance, delivery of parcels and critical goods, all the way to drone taxis.
But to make this a reality, a drone has to fly long distances, 10, 20, 100 or more kilometers. And for that, a special permit, an approval is needed. To get such a flight approval, drone operators have to get all sorts of data to pass the necessary risk assessment. On top of the well-known aviation data, they now also must include information from telecoms. And this is exactly the problem that NEDUNA solves: As no such interface for telecom data into aviation systems existed so far, NEDUNA provides the missing link.
So, what data needs to be exchanged? It is clear that wind and weather conditions may be a risk for any aircraft. Therefore, wind and weather data must be analyzed for every flight. And today, a drone operator can get that information - globally through one single interface, from a single provider. In the same way, sufficient connectivity for communication must be given, for the entire flight. If you can't demonstrate that – you just can't conduct the business, because you will not be allowed to fly!
Why? Because a fundamental requirement in aviation is to have a “Pilot in Command”, who is legally responsible for the safe conduct of the flight, even if systems fail. In traditional aviation this pilot is sitting on the aircraft. But with drones this is not possible, so the pilot becomes a “Remote Pilot in Command”, who must be connected to the aircraft for the entire flight. Consequently, approval can only be given if a drone operator can demonstrate that communication with the drone will work all the time.
For safety reasons, the airspace regulation and the aviation authority require redundancy, meaning the drone must have connectivity to more than one communication network. But how can you handle that? Well, what you want is a single digital interface, a single subscription, a single market place to get all and the required information so that the processed can be digitized, automated and scaled – and that’s what the objective of NEDUNA is.
