The two tech giants, AirMap and Honeywell have partnered to develop a unique drone tracking solution. This solution will help authorities regarding situational awareness of manned and unmanned aircraft operations within an airspace system. The number of drones has soared indefinitely throughout this decade, crossing the million mark. This raises plenty of concerns regarding drone safety. Moreover, drone accidents near airports are not a new phenomenon.
The Drone Tracking Hardware
The two companies aim to develop a cost-effective drone tracking hardware device. This device will particularly help in maintaining communication between Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Systems. Modern-day UTM technologies are designed to provide safe airspace for all drones flying in low-altitude areas. UTM systems maintain the safe separation of the drones from one another by the exchange of mission-critical data and telemetry information.
The co-developed tracker boasts multiple features to allow the drone to stay in touch with the UTM systems. Features like 4G coverage and satellite coverage for remote areas will soon available. With the introduction of 5G, chances are this option might undergo an upgrade in the near future. This will greatly help UTM systems receive real-time telemetry feeds from the drones.
A still from the AirMap’s drone tracker
AirMap’s hardware is special as it pools up data from a variety of sources. The AirMap UTM platform gathers data from various hardware and software based solutions for visualization, monitoring, and deconfliction by air navigation service providers and other relevant authorities
“The AirMap UTM platform is designed to provide a real-time operating picture of the airspace for both manned and unmanned aircraft,” Ben Marcus, AirMap’s chairman, and co-founder stated. “We’ve partnered with Honeywell to deliver an easy-to-use, cost-effective and drone-agnostic device as a practical way to start managing drone traffic in any environment today.” he further added.
The tracker device which brings this concept to life is already undergoing several tests. Honeywell uses AirMaps application programming interfaces for industrial purposes such as inspecting power lines and downstream oil and gas equipment.
Watch the live demonstration of the drone tracker:
