The PODIUM project has gone beyond the current state of the art, by providing evidence on the ease of use and the benefits for a number of services, including drone registration and identification, automatic flight plan validation, automatic and manual flight permissions, no fly zone creation, and conflict detection and alerting. In effect, a key result of the PODIUM project is its ability to provide agreed conclusions on maturity, and recommendations for improvements affecting regulations, standards, and deployment, all based on the evidence collected and analysed throughout the demonstration flights. Moreover, thanks to a strong emphasis on communications and awareness activities, PODIUM has shared its results and insights with a wider audience of involved stakeholders.
In the first instance, the intended impact of PODIUM will be to increase awareness, confidence and trust amongst the involved stakeholders about the operational acceptability and benefits to drone operations arising from U-space services and technologies. Thus, PODIUM can lead a deployment of U-space services and technologies that can support the handling of increasing drone traffic and complexity, in a safe, secure and flight efficient way. Ultimately, the rollout of U-space services and technologies can facilitate innovative drone related work in the fields of inspection, surveillance and delivery flights, thus leading to wider societal benefits impacting safety, security, the environment and the economy.
