Two specialist companies providing Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) services, Clearance and Thales, are working together to interconnect their respective platforms to allow drone pilots to create a flight plan on the Clearance platform and, with a single click, to transfer their request to the relevant air navigation services and prefectures, through the use of the Thales TopSky solution – UAS Airspace Manager.
According to the Clearance press release, France is working hard on gradually building its own vision of the U-space and to make sure drones are safely integrated while respecting the environment and people’s privacy. In 2019, the French Air Navigation Provider (DSNA) launched the U-Space Together challenge in order to give France effective traffic management tools taking into account the presence of drones flying in the airspace. Clearance and Thales are two of the partners on the challenge and have joined forces to offer a complete and interoperable solution for both remote drone pilots and authorities at Lille and Rennes airports.
To fly a drone around airports, drone pilots have to respect strict regulations and must get a clear authorization for their drones to take off. The flight plans created on Clearance are easy to file, contain all important information and allow pilots to immediately check the compatibility of their flights with all forms of restriction (NOTAMs, inhabited areas, protected natural zones, prohibited flying zones…) including the monitored airspace around airports and airfields.
Thales TopSky – UAS Airspace Manager platform then transfers the flight data to Lille Lesquin’s air traffic controllers and to the local Prefecture. Thanks to a user-friendly graphic interface, the relevant authorities can quickly preview and authorise or refuse flight requests around the airport.
David Miret, Technical Director of Clearance said: “At a time when UTM platforms are multiplying, it is important to be working on interoperability between the systems to make drone flight as easy and safe as possible. We are proud to say that our work with Thales is already operational and accessible to all drone pilots.”
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