Altavian Works Alongside Northern Plains UAS Test Site for NASA Universal Traffic Management Testing
Gainesville, FL (February 13, 2018) – Altavian, Inc., a leading manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems and components, announced today that it is working with Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS) to help test NASA’s Unmanned aircraft systems Traffic Management (UTM) system. Altavian and NPUASTS will work to develop technology related to UTM while a third partner, iSight RPV Services will provide flight test services for the project on the Nova F7200 small unmanned aerial system (sUAS).
NASA has been working with technology leaders in the sUAS industry to develop a UTM system that can help safely integrate drones into the national air space. A UTM is considered an integral part to regulating drones on a national level, as well as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.
Altavian is working to develop dual communication systems for the Nova F7200. Point-to-point radio frequency communication is the most common method for sUAS-to-operator communication and is in use by nearly every drone. This technology is well suited for high-rate aircraft telemetry or payload links (such as HD video) but has limitations when the sUAS is flown further away from the operator. By implementing a satellite link, the sUAS will be able to send low-rate telemetry messages back and forth to the operator anywhere in the world, and will no longer be limited in range by local radio frequency.
In parallel to this, Altavian will be updating its Ground Control Station software, Flare, to communicate with the updated UTM system. Altavian and NPUASTS have previously conducted flight tests with Technical Capability Level 1 in early 2016. These upcoming tests will be the third iteration of the UTM system. By integrating Flare with the new UTM system, NASA will be able to see where Altavian aircraft are at all times during testing.
The technology being developed could prove invaluable to preparing Altavian sUAS for BVLOS operations in the future. The project will run from now into March and April of 2018.
About Altavian, Inc.
Altavian designs and manufactures high quality drones to carry the best sensors into the toughest environments. Our drones feature modular systems to carry custom and integrated payloads to specialize any drone for any type of data. Our focus is on systems that collect data with the highest integrity and accuracy. Visit us at www.altavian.com.
About Northern Plains UAS Test Site
The Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS) is one of seven Federal Aviation Administration UAS test sites in the nation. The mission of the test site is to collaborate with FAA and industry partners to develop, systems, rules and procedures to safely integrate unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System without negatively impacting existing general or commercial aviation. For more information, visit npuasts.com.
About iSight RPV Services
iSight RPV Services provides Remotely Piloted Vehicle operations to critical energy infrastructure, agricultural, wildlife management, insurance, and emergency services clients so they can unlock the value and efficiency of collecting data with unmanned aircraft. We have built a team of UAS professionals that are ready to help you implement UAS and unlock the incredible value of capturing aerial data.
Our inspection services apply to a wide range of high-risk areas and facilities, such as:
• Wind Turbines and Communications Towers
• Oil and Gas Pipelines and ROW
• Engineering Grade Topographic Surveys
• Railroads and ROW
About NASA
NASA is committed to transforming aviation by developing advanced technologies for revolutionary aircraft shapes and propulsion, and for the airspace in which they fly. Its UTM Project is conducting field demonstrations of technologies that could enable sUAS to fully and safely access low-altitude airspace in support of a wide range of possible civil missions and business opportunities.