Switzerland and the Future of Flight
Last week was another great week at AirMap, where our team is leading the way in opening the airspace for drones all over the world.
As I flew back from Geneva to the United States last Friday, I took some time to reflect on just how far we’ve come in two years. Unmanned aircraft Traffic Management (UTM) was a little-known concept, and to most it was inconceivable that private companies would provide the services necessary for airspace safety. But on Thursday of last week, we accomplished precisely that. Together with skyguide, the Swiss air navigation service provider that manages manned aircraft traffic, we presented the first-ever live demonstration of drone airspace services in Europe, with AirMap as the UAS Services Supplier (USS)…and this wasn’t in a remote test area. This was accomplished in the urban environment of Geneva.
With our friends at skyguide, senseFly, SITAONAIR , Intel, and PX4, we proved that integrated airspace is possible, with e-registration, e-identification, flight planning, geofencing, airspace authorization, flight tracking, and live telemetry services that are available and operational today. You can read more about the demonstration on the AirMap blog here: https://www.airmap.com/switzerland-u-space-skyguide-demo/.
As I observed this exceptional team of collaborators from drone manufacturers, ANSPs, civil aviation regulators, and technology companies making U-space a reality, I was reminded of my first visit to the renowned research institute EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale) in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the Drone Apps conference exactly two years ago to the day.
The conference was organized by Simon Johnson and Benoit Curdy with the goal of bringing together innovators from Switzerland and across the world to share ideas on the future of commercial drone applications. AirMap was only 9 months old, but already we were delivering airspace information to drone operators to help them make wise flight planning decisions, and were preparing to deliver services to drone manufacturers like DJI and 3DR for geofencing and operator situational awareness, which became active a few months later.
It was at that conference that I first met Jean-Christophe Zufferey, cofounder and CEO of senseFly, which was already the leading fixed-wing drone manufacturer in the world. It was at that conference that we began our conversation about the future of airspace services for scaled drone operations. We’re excited to now be integrated into the senseFly eMotion ground control station, and to be working together to demonstrate advanced airspace management strategies as we did last week in Geneva.
Today, Benoit is the Secretary General of the Global UTM Association (GUTMA). In the very short time since its founding, GUTMA has grown to 58 member companies from more than 15 countries. GUTMA is leading the charge in developing the international standards for UTM services.
This exceptional progress is a testament to the industry leadership and innovation coming out of Switzerland, showing that the best path to success is an ecosystem approach in which great partners and an open technology platform learn by doing, not just talking. EPFL and ETH Zurich continue to push the envelope in academic research and development for drone technologies and the progressive leadership of both Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) and skyguide are setting an unprecedented pace for sector growth.
Last week’s U-space demonstration in Switzerland is a model for UTM around the world, proving that accelerated timelines that match the pace of the drone industry are not only possible, they’re being achieved now.
This week, AirMap will be attending the ICAO Drone Enable Symposium, where we’ll discuss lessons from Switzerland and how to bring UTM capabilities to more locations worldwide.
We’re still only at the beginning, but I continue to be humbled by the profound commitment of so many exceptional people, companies, and organizations to making drones part of everyday life.
Here’s to the next two years, and to building a future that’s better than we ever expected.
