AI-Driven UTM Deployed in North Texas to Monitor Drone Traffic

Canadian company launches Texas drone traffic management system

By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill

As drone traffic increases in the skies above North Texas, a Canadian digital infrastructure provider has established a UAS traffic management system (UTM) to give drone operators and regulators an opportunity to see who is sharing the crowded airspace.

Toronto-based AirMatrix recently announced it has successfully deployed its artificial intelligence-based Libra system to provide situational awareness to drone operators and state agencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

In an interview, Shayaan Haider, product lead at AirMatrix, said the company has been working in partnership with the Texas Drone Company and the FAA to establish the system to increase the airspace awareness of all interested parties in the busy DFW metroplex area.

“There’s no way of operators actually knowing what’s close to them,” Haider said. “That’s where we come in, as the first level of actually providing situational awareness to actually know what’s around them.”

The deployment is said to mark a key milestone in advancing the development of drone operations in the North Texas corridor—one of the most active regions for commercial drone activity in the United States. In a press release, AirMatrix noted that the DFW region accounts for an estimated 15% of national commercial drone flight hours, logging over 75,000 beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) delivery, inspection and public safety missions in 2024.

AirMatrix’s UTM is based on the company’s Libra command-and-control platform, which uses advanced AI and large language models to convert raw inputs into actionable intelligence, enabling real-time decision-making and predictive analytics. Recently the system was able to capture 200 drone flights within its coverage area in a single week.

Haider said using the system a drone operator can set the parameters to determine which other UAVs are flying in the same airspace. The system can also be used by municipalities to track the extent of drone traffic above their cities over a period of time. It can also measure average flight times as well as determine the models of the UAVs traversing the skies based on the drones’ Remote ID signatures.

The company is currently adding additional features to the system and conducting demonstrations for prospective customers who may wish to take advantage of the Libra system.

“They’re going to come in and watch this demo in real time. We’ll bring a drone, and they’ll be able to see the flight path and they’ll see all the airspace analysis,” Haider said.

Working with its commercial partner and federal aviation officials, AirMatrix is determining the best locations to strategically deploy its sensors as it works to expand the UTM system. Designed as a passive-radar system, the sensors can pick up Bluetooth and WIFI signals.

 “We want to add some redundancy there. We want to deploy multiple sensors in that airspace and cover the whole airspace to give operators that situational awareness,” Haider said.

Haider said AirMatrix hopes to expand its customer base for the Libra system by marketing the UTM to three customer types: drone operators, public safety agencies and municipalities.

The DFW region is well-traveled by a number of commercial drone companies, particularly those involved in drone delivery companies such as Wing and Zipline. “Zipline said they were going to launch in six more locations in the next few months so, we aim to do this in parallel,” he said.

Other potential users of the system are the multiple law enforcement agencies in the DFW Metroplex area, which is home to a number of major sporting venues that regularly host NFL or Major League Baseball games and other events that attract large crowds.

“Law enforcement agencies can get full situational awareness. We can do temporary deployments with them,” Haider said.

Cities and economic development agencies in the region, interested in establishing regulations for drone operations within their jurisdiction, also are looking forward to the expansion of the Libra system, “because they want to be able to see what’s happening in their space,” he said. Examining existing drone flight traffic patterns could helps towns in the area determine the best locations for future drone takeoff and landing facilities.

Since beginning operations in 2018, AirMatrix has been working with aviation regulators to establish UTM systems in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, the company has worked in both countries to develop AI-powered solutions for counter-drone and defense operations, as well as to help guide city planning efforts. For example, in 2022, the company launched a project with the city of Calgary to study ways to ensure to safer and more efficient drone operations in urban areas.

Last fall, AirMatrix announced a project with the Florida Department of Corrections to integrate radar systems and radio frequency sensors at the Homestead Correctional Institution with the Libra software platform to detect illicit drone incursions at the facility.

In November, AirMatrix announced an agreement to receive advisory services and funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to support a research and development project focused on enhancing aerial threat detection, identification and confirmation.

The initiative aims to improve security measures across key sectors, including correctional facilities, critical infrastructure, airports, and other high-security environments, by integrating sophisticated AI technology with existing security frameworks.

Read more:

• ANRA Technologies Becomes First EASA-Certified U-space Service Provider
• AirMatrix, IN-FLIGHT Complete SAIL 4, BVLOS Drone Ops Over Urban Areas: Pushing the Boundaries of Complex Missions
• IN-FLIGHT Data Reaches Full Operational Capability of DJI Dock 2 in Northern Canada

Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they’re contributing to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.