News

The unbelievable demand for drone applications across sectors continues to soar. The case is being pushed harder now than ever with the arrival of 5G. But interestingly, the emergence of drone applications in the era of 5G means that telcos have new business opportunities.

Alaian nacía a finales del pasado mes de abril como una alianza de seis compañías de telecomunicaciones. Su propósito: que sus integrantes compartan información y buenas prácticas en materia de innovación. Una de sus primeras iniciativas fue una convocatoria a startups con soluciones 5G de la que ahora se conocen resultados: 175 empresas respondieron a la llamada.

“Operators can use cellular drones to provide enhanced connectivity services, thereby generating additional revenue. They can also use drones to move up the value chain by providing support and application services.”

GMSA and GUTMA are proud to officially release the new document Interface for Data Exchange between MNOs and the UAS Ecosystem, two years after the first version of the paper. The document, which is the product of the Aerial Connectivity Joint Activity (ACJA), aims at covering the use cases that emerged in these two years, through which mobile network operators (MNOs) provide more than just “connectivity coverage”.

Orange Polska and Dimetor are working together in the GOF 2.0 EU project to verify the possibilities to enable the safe operation of drones in the airspace via 5G communications. “Reliable real-time communication between drone operators, air navigation service providers (ANSPs), and other relevant third parties is critical for deploying innovative drone use cases at scale,” according to a Dimetor press release. “Mobile network connectivity allows drones to be conspicuous and safely managed for beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.  For this reason, Orange Polska is using Dimetor’s AirborneRF platform to provide critical connectivity and ground risk information in support of BVLOS drone operations.

In the last year, three reasons have emerged to showcase Europe authority’s leading position in cellular-enabled beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations.

GUTMA and GSMA collaboration (LINK), ACJA Work task #2 has recently released the ‘Reference Method for assessing Cellular C2 Link performance and RF environment characterisation for UAS’. AirborneRF Co-founder and TEOCO Vice President of Business Development and Innovation Thomas Neubauer leads the initiative and explains in this DroneTalks video the essential concepts to take into consideration:

With its focus on industry-first collaborations for commercial uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), Inmarsat today expanded the Partner Network for its Velaris UAV connectivity solution with the addition of software company Dimetor, which facilitates Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) operations in cellular networks, and Bellwether Industries, an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) solutions provider for intra-city travel.

Today at Amsterdam Drone Week, DRONELIFE had the opportunity to speak with Thomas Neubauer, VP of Innovation at TEOCO.   TEOCO is developing the AirborneRF: connecting the cellular industry with aviation.

The Global UTM Association and GSMA, representing more than 750 mobile network operators, set up a collaboration in 2019 called Aerial Connectivity Joint Activity (ACJA). The ACJA is made of several Working Groups, and it focuses on promoting mutual understanding and interchange of data between the aviation and cellular communities. The end purpose is to enhance automated information sharing and avoid incompatibilities between these two ecosystems.