UK-based company RelmaTech has designed and developed an innovative solution to meet any future regulatory requirements for UAS to broadcast their position and unique ID without relying on a communications network to carry that data, says a company press release.
RelmaTech’s Direct Broadcast solution – a prototype version of which has been demonstrated to the US Federal Aviation Administration UAS Integration Office and NASA UTM Research and Development Program – uses WiFi-based technology to create a unique beacon on the UAS. “The light-weight, low cost solution is based on proven, stable and robust technology with high volume availability,” says the company.
“This is a broadcast mechanism, so no network attachment is required and latency, or broadcast delay, is near zero” says Philip Hall, RelmaTech’s Co-Founder and CEO. “The small onboard device broadcasts a specific set of telemetry data at a high refresh rate. Broadcast signals may be detected by a simple Android/iOS smartphone app or by other compatible direct broadcast modules, making it an ideal solution for local identification and tracking of UAS, especially by law enforcement officers and first responders.”
Any required information, including UAS location and ID, may be displayed via an augmented reality application, or on a moving map of the local area. “What’s really exciting is that the solution also supports direct Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications, enabling onboard situational awareness and Detect and Avoid applications” adds Hall. “We are currently working with partners to demonstrate this. That’s not only exciting for us, but also for the UAS industry overall.”
The Direct Broadcast solution will soon be available as a standalone module (DBM), as well as fully integrated into RelmaTech’s existing Secure Integrated Airspace Management (SIAM) system
“With SIAM and the DBM, RelmaTech is now in a unique position to offer the global UAS industry practical, low cost and robust solutions to anticipated regulatory requirements for both network and broadcast UAS remote ID and tracking capabilities,” says Hall.
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