Droner kan separeres fra andre fly dersom alle har ADS-B

Harris Aims To Leverage ADS-B for UAS Ops in U.S. NAS

Harris Corp. has received a two-year, $500,000 grant from the North Dakota Centers of Excellence Commission to enable and test beyond-visual-line-of-sight-operations (BVLOS) for unmanned aircraft systems using an augmented ADS-B network for traffic separation of UASs with other aircraft in the Northern Plains state. The Melbourne, Florida aerospace company is partnering with the University of North Dakota and the Northern Plains UAS Test Site to develop a network infrastructure scalable to the state of North Dakota and eventually to the entire U.S. that would allow UASs to be safely integrated into the National Airspace System. According to Harris Electronic Systems vice president and general manager of commercial UAS solutions George Kirov, this infrastructure will leverage the existing FAA ADS-B ground station network, which the company manages, and use strategically located, Harris-built ADS-B Xtend units to fill in coverage gaps below 400 feet. He said that with six ADS-B Xtend units already in place, “the majority” of North Dakota now has full coverage. Compared with heavier and higher-cost “see and avoid” systems that can be used only on larger UAS platforms, Harris believes that the availability of low-cost, small and lightweight ADS-B units makes this technology more suitable and economical to safely separate unmanned aircraft—regardless of size—from other traffic. Harris and its partners plan to begin testing of UAS BVLOS flights using ADS-B for traffic separation in North Dakota early next year.