Companies see opportunity as U.S. airspace opens to unmanned aircraft
United States Air Force
Advanced Defense Technologies and Aerospy team up on drone ‘sense-and-avoid’ system.
Drone systems maker Advanced Defense Technologies Inc. is teaming up with Austria-based AeroSpy to develop a “sense-and-avoid system” that will steer unmanned aircraft away from obstacles and planes, ADTI announced.
The companies are jumping at new opportunities arising from the opening up of civilian airspace to remotely piloted aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration this year cleared drone aircraft for widespread use in domestic skies by 2015, triggering concerns about new hazards to military and commercial pilots.
Aerospy builds navigation and motion tracking tools. As part of the joint venture, ADTI, based in Anaheim, Calif., will combine its phased array antenna technology, which filters out and reinforces certain types of signals, with systems made by AeroSpy to help unmanned aircraft detect and navigate around other aircraft.
“The potential for future business growth is significant,” R.S. Tahim, chief executive at ADTI, said in a company statement.
Technology that could help unmanned aircraft take to U.S. skies safely is generating buzz in the defense community.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense wants to engage the aerospace engineering community in talks on how to build detection systems to prevent drones from crashing into other planes, Nextgov reported in June. Defense is hosting industry discussions on how to implement the technology at research organization MITRE in McLean, Va., in November.