ADACORSA is a JU project addressing key technologies for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations in 7 objectives.
O1 – Low-weight, low-power, high- performance components for airborne observation and detection
Main achievements:
• Significant improvements to the radar sensor: Double the radar frequency at double the transmit and the receive channels & High frequency, low noise DCDC power supply for radar sensors
• High resolution (640x480) 3D imaging sensor with the use of neural networks: Simulation framework for radar, LiDAR and 3D imager, modulation scheme to improve dynamic range and neural networks to improve distance estimates at long range while reducing power requirements
• Flying drone with multiple perception sensors: Radar, LiDAR and 3D imaging, sensor fusion and Detection of pedestrians
O2 – Low-weight, low-power, high-reliability systems for on-board data analytics
Main achievements:
• New semantic front end optimized for cylinder identification
• Optimized toolbox for design space exploration for SLAM back end design
• Artificial Neural Network power-efficient designs on FPGAs
• Optimized parallelized implementation of FastSLAM 2.0 exploiting GPU features targeting NVIDIA Jetson Nano
• Spiking neural network model for real-time pattern recognition on complex sensor data, and a hardware emulated prototype to validate the model prior to silicon development
O3 – Secure and reliable communication and identification of airspace users
Main achievements:
• QoS prediction of 4G/5G networks in airborne situations and QoS flight path planning – Market: Not available on the market
• Multi-link communication architecture – Market: New compared to existing solutions
• Next-gen eSIM/eUICC 32-bit security controller with focus on mobile 5G/6G networks – Market: Higher chip and feature integration (e.g. smaller NVM-flash technology) with an autonomously reaction on security threats
• “IoT SAFE“ Java Applet Firmware running on nextgen eSIM/eUICC controller for secure TLS communication
• Phased array antenna system – Market: Antenna system based on a patented feed network, able to selectively activate subsets of the radiating elements of the array with variable phases
• Drone ID: By using mobile phone profiles – Market: No worldwide usable system available
• Operator ID: Increases the security of the operator’s login to his user terminal while improving usability – Market: This technology is now also being introduced by Microsoft, Google, Amazon in their webservices
• Wireless Security and Safety Layer (WSSL)
• Blockchain-based PKI and TM for open networks of drones – Market: Not available on the market
O4 – Resilient architecture for airborne systems
Main achievements:
• deployment of sensor fusion algorithms for autonomous drone navigation
• Safety and security principles of a modular architecture
• flight management unit (enables to register drones, flights, drone operators and pilots), distributed battery management, Internal Communication Gateway with redundant networking
• Fail-operational distributed data processing and communication architecture based on point-to-point communication was demonstrated during the Authority control hand-over
O5 – Demonstration Of long-range BVLOS operations
Main achievements:
• Low speed automated driving technology with perception, planning and control algorithms applied for heavy commercial vehicles for operations in mining areas
• Precise automated excavation of soil (operation below 20cm accuracy and within appropriate time limits)
• TRL 5 Proven authority handover of control over a small UA potentially increasing the range of BVLOS logistics
• TRL 5 Automatic channel switching with SATCOM integration
• TRL-4 UDP-based multilink gateway with routing between drone and ground
• TRL 4 low SWaP DAA Cooperative DAA-system to avoid (manned) aircraft
O6 – Strengthen European drone industry
Main achievements:
• Carried out accurate market and competition analysis, highlighting the impact of the ADACORSA advancements on the EU drone market
• Published the findings on market analysis and potential of drone technologies
The SC 9 has finally strengthened the EU drone industry, through advanced user acceptance models, accurate market analysis, and solid adoption roadmap of the ADACORSA technologies.
O7 – Public and regulatory acceptance
- Regarding the main achievements and in comparison, to the market, it has to be said, that SORA is currently the most established regulatory framework to obtain permissions to fly drones in BVLOS conditions, called specific operations. This includes detailed Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMCs) up to Specific Assurance and Integrity Level (SAIL) IV.
All KPIs could be fulfilled perfectly as planned.
