Thales to lead EU project on drone geofencing

Principle of geofencing system. (Image: SESAR)

Thales is leading the SESAR Joint Undertaking to research and develop new services for safe, efficient and secure access to airspace for drones.

The SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) supports the European Commission’s U-space initiative by researching and developing new services for safe, efficient and secure access to airspace for an expected increase in drone use.

The Geosafe project is part of the founding services for the development of drones operation. Thales will manage the project, supported by Aeromapper, AirMap, Atechsys, Airmarine and SPH Engineering.

The 280 flight tests with 16 different drones will be conducted in France, Germany and Latvia. These tests will explore all possible situations that an automated drone will face in urban and rural areas.

By securing the flight pattern of drones to avoid determined zones, geofencing solutions are key safety enablers. Geofencing ensures that drones don’t fly in protected perimeters around critical infrastructures, such as power plants or airports.

The objectives of Geosafe are to establish state-of-the-art geofencing solutions regarding U-space regulation and to propose improvements and recommendations for future geofencing system definition.

Geosafe will be based on a one-year-long flight-test campaign, assessing a number of commercially available geofencing solutions so that it can propose an improved geofencing system and technological improvements for automated drones.

Thales designs systems ensuring high security and safety levels for future air mobility. As the leader of the project, Thales will organize all tests and provide recommendations for the European geofencing system.

“Thales is playing a leading role in shaping the autonomous world,” said Christian Bardot, Thales VP in charge of Helicopter and UAV Avionics Business. “Together with SESAR JU and the Geosafe partners, we will strengthen the foundations of drones’ safe and secure operations, unleashing the potential of this tremendous market.”