On December 1, 2023, Benidorm, Spain hosted a drone flight event designed to maneuver drone integration and U-Space implementation forward. This event featured greater than 25 drones operating concurrently in an urban environment, marking a primary for each Spain and Europe. The demonstration was a part of the U-ELCOME project, led by EUROCONTROL, which aimed to implement the U-Space concept across Europe. The project was funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the Universitat Politècnica de València within the Valencian Community.
The U-Space concept involved managing various tasks concurrently, including the delivery of products and parcels, emergency assistance, rescue, surveillance and inspection, medical material delivery, and first aid operations. The demonstration took place in three countries: Spain, Italy, and France, with 51 partners from private and non-private entities and firms participating.
The Benidorm City Council expressed strong support for the project. The demonstration aimed to validate the primary U-space services and collect representative data to optimize and lay the foundations of this recent concept of automated and digital management of routine drone operations in specific areas, often called U-space airspace.
Greater than 25 drones connected to 3 U-space service providers (USSPs): Airus (ITG – Instituto Tecnológico de Galicia), Aslogic, and Spain’s air navigation service provider, ENAIRE, operated in the course of the demonstration. These USSPs were interconnected through the ENAIRE U-Hub platform, facilitating the exchange of operations information among the many three USSPs participating within the demonstration.
The drone operators involved represented quite a lot of sectors, all aiming for full integration inside U-space. These included members of the State Security Forces and Corps: Air Resources of the National Police Corps of Alicante, Valencia, Castellón, and Murcia, the PEGASO team of the Civil Guard of Alicante, the Autonomous Police of the Generalitat Valenciana, and Local Police Corps of Benidorm, Valencia, La Nucia, Finestrat, Villajoyosa, Campello, Elche, Altea, Jávea, Denia, Gandía, Cullera, and Paterna.
Amit Ganjoo, Founder and CEO of leading UTM and U-Space technology provider ANRA Technologies, commented on the event, saying, “We’re glad to see U-ELCOME advancing U-space activities and sit up for when the project continues with other deployments in Italy and France in the approaching months. U-ELCOME is a big consortium with 51 partners, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the varied entities are in a position to display pre-operational U-space ecosystems in various operational environments. The project highlights the query: which entities are getting certified by aviation authorities to grow to be U-space Service Providers so U-space will be commercialized?”
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