Ground-Based Surveillance Receivers for Unmanned Traffic Management

INVOLI has introduced a new range of ground-based surveillance receivers, designed to address the complex requirements of unmanned traffic management and enabling drones to fly safely alongside manned aircraft.

The new product line is composed of five air traffic receivers that detect different modes and signal frequencies from aircraft, drones, or other cooperative flying objects. This will provide additional opportunities for drone operators, addressing their need to perform more and more missions in uncontrolled airspace and low-altitude U-space airspace in a variety of technical and geographic scenarios. For example, users could be flying close to an area where gliders are active or in an area where there are intensive drone flights.

The new suite of G-1090 receivers is capable of covering all these scenarios. The standard version of G-1090 detects transponder messages over the 1090 MHz frequency. INVOLI’s proprietary multilateration uses these to calculate the position of aircraft emitting Mode S and Mode A/C messages or validate the position sent through ADS-B messages.

The G-1090 suite also includes:

• G-1090 FLARM – allows the detection of aircraft equipped with FLARM transceivers, like gliders, helicopters, and some General Aviation aircraft. This version is specific to the FLARM market in Europe.
• G-1090 UAT – capable of detecting transponder messages over the 978 Mhz frequency, specific to the USA market.
• G-1090 RemoteID – includes a 2.4 GHz antenna and is thus capable of detecting drones broadcasting their position and ID over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocols.
• G-1090 Interrogator – equipped with a 1030 MHz interrogator, this device is capable of interrogating aircraft equipped with ADS-B, Mode S, and Mode A/C transponders. It is meant to be used in areas where no interrogations from surveillance radars are present, in order to allow Mode S and Mode A/C transponders to send information.

INVOLI receivers are designed for easy plug-and-play installation over telecommunications and aviation facilities, as well as on rooftops and other relevant infrastructure. All G-1090 receivers automatically send the detected air traffic to the INVOLI server, where the data is processed and made available for visualization over the INVOLI.live platform or directly as a data stream via API.

Olivier Quero, INVOLI Chief Business Officer, noted: “By installing your ground-based surveillance system, comprising a set of G-1090 receivers, you will be able to locate all cooperative aircraft crossing your mission airspace. Thanks to the G-1090 solution, our customers can create or extend their coverage for Traffic Information Service, enabling all the advantages coming from the personalized U-space/UTM solution.”

Raphael Zaugg, INVOLI Chief Technology Officer, commented: “Air traffic information collected by our receivers is very valuable, as it is managed and stored on the INVOLI.live server. It allows us to analyze the coverage given by our air traffic receivers, get air traffic density maps, and help address the SORA process of flight authorization. Furthermore, our ground-based air traffic surveillance system addresses the challenges of mid-air collision risk mitigation in low-altitude airspace, allowing operators to comply with i-conspicuity regulations and thus enabling numerous BVLOS missions to support different industries’ and smart cities’ needs.”

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