Operation Zenith was a demonstration of UAV (commonly known as drones) and ATM integration held at Manchester Airport on November 21, 2018.[1] The event aimed to illustrate that "drones can be flown safely alongside manned aircraft in controlled airspace".[2] A total of eight scenarios[3] were demonstrated in real-time,[4] including On Airfield Delivery,[5] Beyond Visual Line-Of-Sight (BVLOS) Infrastructure Inspection,[6] and Commercial VLOS Operations.[7]
The event was coordinated by Air Navigation Service Provider for the United Kingdom, NATS,[8] and British Tech Start-Up, Altitude Angel.[9] A total of 13 independent organisations also took part in the event as "delivery partners",[10] including Vodafone,[11] DJI[12] and Frequentis.[13]
It is regarded as one of the first live demonstrations of its kind[14][15] and was considered to be the "most technically complex and comprehensive demonstration in the world so far of an UTM (Unmanned aircraft system traffic management) system".[16]
In August 2019, Operation Zenith was a finalist in the CANSO Award of Excellence in ATM.[17]
References edit
- ^ "Operation Zenith". Altitude Angel. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "UK-first as drones fly safely in controlled airspace". NATS. 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "Operation Zenith - Powered By GUARDIAN UTM - November 21st 2018". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "Operation Zenith: the UK's most comprehensive drone trial – ARPAS UK". Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "Scenario 1". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "Scenario 3". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "Scenario 5". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "Call for new technology to ensure drone safety". Financial Times. 22 November 2018.
- ^ "About - Operation Zenith - Powered By GUARDIAN UTM". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "Delivery Partners - Operation Zenith - Powered By GUARDIAN UTM". Operation Zenith. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "Showing a new side of Vodafone Business at CES 2019". www.vodafone.com. 28 January 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "DJI Supports Major Test Of Drone Airspace Integration". DJI Official. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "FREQUENTIS technology successfully connects ATM to UTM in real-life drone integration trial at Manchester Airport". Frequentis.com. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ Press (2018-11-23). "Aviation partnership takes to the skies in UK-first to fly drones safely in controlled airspace". sUAS News - The Business of Drones. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ Wright, Mike (2019-10-05). "'Drone lanes' and new air controls needed to manage growing number of devices, report says". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ Butterworth-Hayes, Philip (2018-11-22). "Operation Zenith provides landmark demonstration of UTM technology capabilities". Unmanned airspace. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "Airspace Q3 2019 - The meaning of success - Altitude Angel and Frequentis | CANSO". www.canso.org. 26 August 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-26.