The ÉALÚ-AER project has successfully completed the third phase of its integration and validation activities at the Future Mobility Campus Ireland vertiport, located near Shannon International Airport.
The project has received funding from the SESAR Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility programme. The goal is to demonstrate U-space architecture operations (U1 and U2 services) and integration air traffic management, establishing Ireland’s first Digital Sky Demonstrator.
This third phase introduced CNPC (Control and Non-Payload Communications) C2 ground network capabilities and integrated them onto a dedicated test platform through remote Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) operations.
At the core of this advancement lies the CNPC C2 system, an enabler for safe and secure remote piloting. CNPC C2 provides a dedicated communication link between the drone and the ground control station, ensuring continuous command and control capabilities even when the drone is operating beyond the visual range of the pilot.
By successfully integrating CNPC C2 onto the test platform, ÉALÚ-AER demonstrated the viability of remote piloting over extended distances in a controlled airspace environment. This complements previous phases by adding a reliable communication infrastructure to the existing U-space services and surveillance capabilities. In turn, this enables more complex and scalable drone operations in integrated airspace, improving the UAS performance, displaying the C2 link information through the U-space Service Provider to the user and therefore allowing the maximisation of airspace utilisation.
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