Unmanned aircraft (UAVs, RPAs or drones) are nothing new; these kinds of aircraft have been used as aerial targets to test weapons for more than a century and, indeed, the popular term ‘drone’ was coined by the British military in reference to the sound that these devices made. This is demonstrated by the fact that they were mentioned at the Convention on International Civil Aviation in Chicago, in 1944, which saw the creation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO); in fact, Article 8 prohibited the use of unmanned aircraft without the express authorisation of each state.

Spain is one of the most active countries in terms of numbers of AESA-registered operators and is also the world’s tenth largest drone manufacturer

However, it was the evolution of microelectronics that enabled the sector to break into the mass market. Since the beginning of the 21st century, drones have been increasingly used by the military, although it was not until this decade that the technology started to become available for civilian use thanks to its gradual reduction in price. The low cost and ease of use of these small remote-controlled aerial vehicles, usually multicopters, has rapidly increased the popularity of their use in both recreational and professional fields. Growth of the sector in the last five years has been exponential, as shown by the number of drone patents issued. This growth is not surprising given that this technology has myriad applications, especially in imaging and photography, cartography and topography, surveillance and security, but also in agriculture, emergency support, environment, infrastructure maintenance, etc.

Spain is one of the most active countries in terms of numbers of AESA-registered operators and is also the world’s tenth largest drone manufacturer according to the Global Trends of Unmanned Aerial Systems report published by the Danish Technological Institute in 2019. Ineco pioneered the use of this technology for bridge inspections in 2015.

Ineco is actively participating in the SESAR projects related to the development of U-space: TERRA, IMPETUS and DOMUS

First steps

Drones also pose risks, of course, especially if they are operated in residential areas, controlled airspace close to manned aircraft or when drones are flown out of sight of the pilot on the ground. These hazards need to be carefully considered for both recreational and, especially, professional use: they include device failure, loss of control link, in-flight hacking and loss of the navigation or traffic separation systems.

For this reason, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has stipulated that drones with a take-off weight exceeding 150 kg must undergo a certification process, similar to that for manned aircraft, for both manufacture and operation. However, lighter drones, which are not intended to carry people on board, are not subject to such rigorous safety mechanisms. Consequently, their components and manufacturing are less robust, especially in the case of drones manufactured in large production runs, and standards are more appropriate for toys than aircraft.

In order to minimise the risks, a few years ago, the member states of the European Union began to restrict drone operations through regulations. In Spain, Law 18/2014 regulated the use of drones for the first time, limiting their operations to a height of 120 metres above the ground, prohibiting use near airports and controlled traffic regions (CTRs), in cities and areas with high concentrations of people, and allowing only flights within visual line of sight (VLOS), that is, less than 500 metres from the pilot on the ground. And, of course, drones must be remotely piloted (RPAs) and not operate autonomously.

This regulation greatly limited the type and complexity of drone operations, so three years later Royal Decree 1036/2017 was published to make the development of the sector compatible with safe operation. The new standard still allowed for simple operations, but also more complex ones with prior authorisation by the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency (AESA).

To obtain authorisation, a safety study must be carried out, in addition to specific training and equipment to limit the risk, as well as coordination with those affected, if any, for example, air navigation service providers in the event of operations in controlled airspace. Ineco, in the context of the Ministry of Public Works’ Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan, has carried out these kinds of safety studies to obtain the authorisation required to perform complex piloting projects such as the recording of data from radio navigation systems in airports.

European regulations

Operating requirements in different European countries vary widely. To alleviate these regulatory differences, the EU has published a new regulation that divides operations into three categories (open, specific and certified), depending on the complexity of the operation, in order to harmonise requirements in all countries and facilitate the provision of services in any member state.

In short, it is now possible to carry out almost any kind of operation with drones in any environment, but only if operations are not carried out simultaneously. This means that if demand continues to grow as expected, it will be necessary to coordinate flights to maintain safety. To make this great development of drone operations possible, the EU, in its Warsaw Declaration of 2016, agreed on the need to develop the concept of U-space to allow safe operation of multiple drones at low altitude (below 150 metres) and especially in urban environments.

U-space will make it possible to coordinate drone operations so that they can be carried out simultaneously

U-space is a set of services, technologies and procedures to allow the safe and efficient operation of a large number of drones. The conceptual and technological development of these services is being carried out through the Single European Sky ATM Research programme (SESAR), as the EU considers it vital to provide an adequate environment to exploit all of the benefits that drones can bring to society. It will make it possible to coordinate drone operations so that they can be carried out simultaneously. However, the level of coordination will vary depending on the risk and density of this kind of aerial vehicle in the areas in which they are intended to operate; for this reason, the CORUS project has defined different types of airspace for drones: X, simple operations (VLOS) without coordination; and Y, complex operations in simple environments, so they will only require prior coordination of paths through flight plans, and Z, highly complex operations (urban-Zu, airports-Za) that require coordination in real time due to the risks to people and the number of operations.

Ineco is actively participating in SESAR projects related to the development of U-space: it is heading up the TERRA project, which is responsible for defining the ground technologies needed to support the provision of services, is also participating in the IMPETUS projects, whose purpose is to design information systems for the use of drones, and is involved in the DOMUS demonstration project, led by ENAIRE.

EVOLUTION OF THE SECTOR IN SPAIN

Activities with RPAS

The annual World ATM Congress (WAC) event plays host to product demonstrations and launches, contract closures and networking opportunities, together with a busy schedule of conferences and high-level meetings. This year, a total of 225 exhibiting companies and 7,500 delegates from 130 countries took part. Every year, the World ATM Congress brings together around a hundred air navigation service providers (ANSPs), product developers, leaders and experts in the aviation industry, government representatives, manufacturers and industry suppliers from around the world.

Organised by the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) –of which Enaire (formerly Aena) is a founding member and which brings together air navigation service providers from around the world– in partnership with the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA), an association that represents the air traffic control sector, the World Air Traffic Management Congress is an indispensable event that Ineco has been attending for almost 20 years.

The Galileo system: the brightest star

Galileo is the flagship project of European satellite navigation: a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that will boast a total of 30 satellites by 2020 –26 of which are already in orbit– managed by the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA). Galileo is compatible and interoperable with systems such as the US’s GPS and Russia’s GLONASS, and will offer an unprecedented improvement in performance in terms of precision, resilience and robustness.

In 2016, the GSA entrusted its operation and maintenance to a consortium led by Spaceopal for the following 10 years. Spain is part of this consortium, through a group of public enterprises led by Ineco, in partnership with Isdefe and INTA (National Institute of Aerospace Technology). Ineco is in charge of the operation, top level maintenance and management of the hosting services of the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) located at the INTA’s facilities in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid).

Orderly skies

With a marked international orientation, the air navigation sector moves in a world of extreme safety requirements and resulting advances in new equipment and technologies to ensure this safety.

Since 2007, Ineco has been part of the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) project, which is currently in the deployment phase of unifying space and air traffic control in Europe. In this respect, WAC 2019 played host to SESAR guided walking tours which saw the involvement of Ineco’s aviation experts Pilar Calzón, Víctor Gordo, Fernando Ruiz-Artaza, José Manuel Rísquez, Mercedes López and José Recio. There were also presentations on the integration of small drones and their application in airports and CTR environments by Víctor Gordo, and on the HEDIPRO flight procedure design tool by the engineers Javier Espinosa Aranda and Fernando Carrillo, also from Ineco.

The company has extensive experience in calculating and designing aeronautical charts for the publication of procedures based on PBN, GNSS, GBAS and vertical guidance approaches (APV SBAS), airspace restructuring –such as the restructuring carried out at Spanish airports and in countries of the likes of Egypt and Morocco– and navigation easement studies. Designs of instrumental flight procedures for the international market are also carried out, such as those implemented for the airports of the Sultanate of Oman, Cape Verde and Singapore Changi Airport.

In addition, in partnership with ENAIRE (formerly Aena), Ineco has carried out more than 2,000 radio simulations to assess the impact on airport CNS systems of infrastructures close to airports, such as shopping centres and housing developments, and within the airports themselves, for instance, new terminal buildings and runway extensions. To achieve this, the company uses its own NAVTOOLS proprietary software.

RPAS: all of the guarantees for drone flights

Ineco’s RPAS radio navigation aid verification project, which was presented during WAC 19, is an innovative solution for in-flight recording of radio navigation aid signals and a console on the ground that makes it possible to determine the trajectory flown and quality of guidance provided by the radio navigation aid.

The company is certified to operate and owns a light commercial drone for inspection of bridges and viaducts, and has also acquired a drone with greater capabilities and autonomy able to carry payloads of up to 4 kg, enabling more complex operations to be carried out.

From SACTA to iTEC

In terms of automated air traffic control systems, Ineco has historically worked in collaboration with Enaire and other industry partners on the evolution and development of its control system, known as SACTA, which
was designed entirely by Spanish companies and is a benchmark at the European and global levels. The SACTA and ICARO systems and the ACC voice communication system (COMETA) provide all aeronautical information necessary for air traffic control in Spain and are constantly updated.

The company is currently collaborating with Enaire on the development of a future automated air traffic control system (iTEC). Ineco is also working on another fundamental element for air navigation safety: guaranteeing the quality of the aviation data that ENAIRE collects, publishes and supplies.