Unifly Launches e-Identification and Tracking for Drones

Belgian Unmanned Traffic Management provider Unifly this week unveiled a new e-Identification and tracking solution for drones during the World ATM Congress in Madrid, the world’s largest international air traffic management exhibition and conference.

According to company officials: “The device [dubbed BLIP for broadcast location and identity platform] works in a completely independent fashion, with its own power source and sensors for position, altitude, temperature, pressure, speed and direction.”

When BLIP senses vertical motion, it automatically sends tracking data over LTE wireless broadband networks to the UTM backbone. Additionally, BLIP broadcasts the drone’s e-identification, 3D location and take-off position using Bluetooth.

The term UTM describes a broad range of concepts and solutions designed to facilitate air-traffic management among drones and manned aircraft in an effort to avoid potential crashes or other dangers.

“Drones are becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. When a drone is observed, it is important to understand the pilot’s intentions, where it took off and who is controlling it,” Unifly co-founder Koen Meuleman said. “Both e-Identification and tracking provide this information.”

Features include:

• Detection and identification within up to 200 meters of the user’s position;
• High precision position data acquisition;
• Communication with the UTM system over mobile broadband networks;
• E-identification and location broadcasting;
• Weatherproof, fully self-contained enclosure;
• Up to 4 hours endurance, wireless charging.

Over the past year, Unifly has been busy:

• In June, Unifly teamed up with Florida-based drone company Aeronyde to build an integrated, autonomous drone system for public-safety agencies. The UTM system will empower emergency responders to customize drone systems to fit any mission profile and agency size.
• In May, the company joined forces with UNICEF to create the first ever UTM drone corridor in Africa. The “humanitarian drone corridor” in Malawi serves as a dedicated unmanned flight-testing space and includes Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) testing in a territory spanning more than 1,900 square miles up to 1,300 feet above ground level.
• At last year’s World ATM Congress, Unifly and Danish start-up Integra Aviation Academy announced a partnership to launch a UTM system that can detect, monitor and document drone flights near key infrastructure locations (especially airports) on a national scale.