Operation Zenith

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Operation Zenith was a demonstration of UAV (commonly known as drones) and ATM integration held at Manchester Airport on November 21, 2018. [1] The event aimed to illustrate that "drones can be flown safely alongside manned aircraft in controlled airspace". [2] A total of eight scenarios [3] were demonstrated in real-time, [4] including On Airfield Delivery, [5] Beyond Visual Line-Of-Sight (BVLOS) Infrastructure Inspection, [6] and Commercial VLOS Operations. [7]

The event was coordinated by Air Navigation Service Provider for the United Kingdom, NATS, [8] and British Tech Start-Up, Altitude Angel. [9] A total of 13 independent organisations also took part in the event as "delivery partners", [10] including Vodafone, [11] DJI [12] and Frequentis. [13]

It is regarded as one of the first live demonstrations of its kind [14] [15] and was considered to be the "most technically complex and comprehensive demonstration in the world so far of an UTM (Unmanned aircraft system traffic management) system". [16]

In August 2019, Operation Zenith was a finalist in the CANSO Award of Excellence in ATM. [17]

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References

  1. ↑ "Operation Zenith". Altitude Angel. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  2. ↑ "UK-first as drones fly safely in controlled airspace". NATS. 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  3. ↑ "Operation Zenith - Powered By GUARDIAN UTM - November 21st 2018". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  4. ↑ "Operation Zenith: the UK's most comprehensive drone trial – ARPAS UK" . Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  5. ↑ "Scenario 1". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  6. ↑ "Scenario 3". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  7. ↑ "Scenario 5". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  8. ↑ "Call for new technology to ensure drone safety". Financial Times. 22 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "About - Operation Zenith - Powered By GUARDIAN UTM". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  10. ↑ "Delivery Partners - Operation Zenith - Powered By GUARDIAN UTM". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  11. ↑ "Showing a new side of Vodafone Business at CES 2019". www.vodafone.com. 28 January 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  12. ↑ "DJI Supports Major Test Of Drone Airspace Integration". DJI Official. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  13. ↑ "FREQUENTIS technology successfully connects ATM to UTM in real-life drone integration trial at Manchester Airport". Frequentis.com. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  14. ↑ Press (2018-11-23). "Aviation partnership takes to the skies in UK-first to fly drones safely in controlled airspace". sUAS News - The Business of Drones. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  15. ↑ Wright, Mike (2019-10-05). "'Drone lanes' and new air controls needed to manage growing number of devices, report says". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  16. ↑ Butterworth-Hayes, Philip (2018-11-22). "Operation Zenith provides landmark demonstration of UTM technology capabilities". Unmanned airspace. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  17. ↑ "Airspace Q3 2019 - The meaning of success - Altitude Angel and Frequentis | CANSO". www.canso.org. 26 August 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
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