Future Flight Challenge

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Research project to open pathway to commercial drone operations the UK

A ground-breaking new project announced today (30th July) will build and then demonstrate how Open-Access UTM (Unmanned Traffic Management) capability can support drone operations below 400ft.

The Connected Places Catapult is bringing together a national and international consortium to develop a world leading Open-Access UTM framework for drones. The project, commissioned by the Department for Transport, will continue laying the groundwork for a safe flying environment for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations in the UK, enabling efficient sharing of airspace with manned aircraft and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations of drones. 

There is a huge global opportunity for countries that can successfully accommodate commercial drone operations, it’s thought the sector could be worth £127bn globally. UTM is recognised as a key enabler to address the safe and efficient integration of unmanned vehicles into the airspace and Connected Places Catapult in collaboration with AiRXOS (part of GE Aviation), Altitude Angel, ANRA Technologies, Collins Aerospace and Wing will work towards the first set of the safe and regulated UTM capabilities this year.

This research and development project will create principal architectural features, communications interfaces and key services that will be evaluated through simulations before progressing to field-trials. The trial will build on existing platforms and standards to create a developmental system to explore UTM and drone operations, as well as identifying the next research steps and facilitating knowledge transfer to government and industry.

Dr. Ajay Modha, Principal Technologist at the Connected Places Catapult, said:

“This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate a UK-specific UTM ecosystem and represents a key step in lowering the technology and operational barriers for UAS operations. A key objective is to demonstrate how this capability can support near term and future markets needs and ambitions. As Phase 2 of the Future Flight Challenge kicks-off, a key aim of this project is to provide greater insight and actionable data to the UAS community who may be tackling UTM for the first time”.

Ted Lester, Chief Technologist, AiRXOS said:

“After participating in the successful 2019-2020 effort with Connected Places Catapult to develop a framework for UTM in the UK, AiRXOS looks forward to demonstrating with peer UTM service providers safe, efficient, and economical UAS airspace integration to accelerate the beneficial use of UAS in the UK and around the world.”

On being chosen to take part in the Connected Places Catapult project, Richard Ellis, Altitude Angel, Chief Business Officer said:

“We are delighted to continue to work with CPC to continue validation of the Open UTM framework we pioneered in 2019.  The live trials will benefit significantly from Altitude Angel’s existing extensive API’s and experience of providing production services across the world.  We believe this will form a solid foundation for the UK to establish repeatable and scalable drone operations.” 

Amit Ganjoo, CEO and Founder of ANRA Technologies UK Pvt Limited said

“The UK is rapidly becoming a global leader in advancing commercial drone technologies.  We are honoured to have contributed to all Connected Places Catapult Open-Access UTM Research and Development Programmes and are excited to commence live-flight testing in pursuit of a safe, interoperable, and efficient traffic management system,”

Sean Camilleri, Principal Strategic Development Manager at Collins Aerospace said:

“This ground-breaking program gives us the opportunity to test out the most prominent emerging standards and theories of UAS traffic management and put them to the test in collaboration with our peers. Successful trials will enable us to move another step closer to unlocking the full social and economic benefits of beyond visual line of sight drone operations in the UK”.

James Ryan Burgess, CEO at Wing said:

“Drones and the services they provide present significant benefits to the United Kingdom, supporting emergency response, reducing emissions and air pollution and increasing access to food, medicine and other goods. We’re pleased to be joining the Catapult project to advance the safe and open use of the airspace and look forward to bringing our global experience to enable a scalable and low cost UTM architecture that can support the volume and diversity of unmanned aviation.”

Note to Editors

This project will build on the UTM and Government Drone Pathfinder activity that Connected Places Catapult has published previously:

Future Flight Challenge

Future Flight is one of several challenge areas set-out by the UK government’s Industrial Strategy which is a long-term plan to raise the productivity and earning power in the UK. The Future Flight programme is funded by £125 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund which is expected to be matched by up to £175 million from industry. The challenge will cover four areas of activity:

  •  Control and regulations including air traffic management
  •  New operating models
  •  Ground infrastructure
  •  Integrating new aircraft with a new aviation system

This challenge aims to revolutionise the way people, goods and services fly and position the UK as a world leader in aviation products and markets worth over $675 billion (£559bn) to 2050.

It will support the development, in the UK, of new technologies from freight-carrying drones

to urban air vehicles to hybrid-electric regional aircraft. These new modes of travel will

increase mobility, reduce road congestion, improve connectivity, increase UK manufacturing

opportunities and help aviation to reduce its environmental impact around the world.

https://www.ukri.org/innovation/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/

Government Drone Pathfinder Programme

Connected Places Catapult manages the Drones Pathfinder Programme in partnership with the Department of Transport (DfT) and supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).  https://cp.catapult.org.uk/pathfinder/

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Developing the future of flight: take part in the challenge

Businesses are invited to join the workshop, find partners and apply for funding – to help revolutionise aviation as part of a £125 million challenge.

Saul Goldblatt, Computer Vision Engineer, and Dimitris Nikolaidis, COO, of Perceptual Robotics

New technologies including electrification, digital services and autonomy could revolutionise aviation.

They could help to power a new generation of flying taxis, drones delivering goods and services and small, all-electric aircraft.

The UK has played a leading role in aviation over the last 100 years and is well-placed to take advantage of a new generation of aircraft that could help to ease congestion and reduce the carbon footprint of the industry.

Individuals from businesses and research organisations with an interest in this field are invited to apply to attend a workshop to develop ideas to meet the challenges posed by future flight.

The invitation is the first phase of a £125 million government investment in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Future Flight Challenge. It will be matched by a £175 million investment from industry.

Find out more about the Future Flight Challenge.

Demonstrate green flight and new services

The aim of the Future Flight Challenge is to demonstrate innovative ways to achieve greener flight, new services and ways to travel, increased mobility, better connectivity and reduced congestion.

Individuals applying to attend the 2-day workshop in February 2020 can come from a wide range of disciplines.

They must show how they would attempt to solve one or more of 6 problem statements:

  • the full range of drone applications is stifled by the absence of the physical and data infrastructures needed to exploit the potential of the global market
  • current air traffic management systems are not scalable
  • there is a need to develop autonomy while maintaining high levels of safety
  • there is a need to move towards more electric flight by moving technology between urban, sub-regional vehicles and larger aircraft
  • there is a need to develop use cases and operational frameworks for the adoption of autonomous air vehicles
  • there is no aviation innovation or development environment that will allow real-life demonstration and evaluation of the issues presented in the first 5 problem statements

The aim of the discovery workshop is to help participants form consortia that will apply for funding in future phases of the competition.

Competition information

Phase one discovery workshop

  • the workshop will be held in Birmingham, 4-5 February 2020
  • no grant funding is available at this stage but costs will be covered
  • the application process is open and closes on 13 November 2019
  • it is open to UK businesses and research and technology organisations
  • a briefing event will be held on 7 October 2019

Phases 2 and 3

  • we expect future projects to range in size between £5 million and £20 million

Find out more about this competition and how to apply to take part in the workshops.

Published 30 September 2019
From:
Innovate UK and UK Research and Innovation
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The Future Flight Grand Challenge

The Future Flight Grand Challenge has today been launched.
This marks the start of a new wave of innovation for UK based businesses working in all aspects of aviation – from drone developers to city planners, from large aircraft manufacturers to the airfields of the outer Hebrides – the challenge is not to be underestimated. Future flight will bring stakeholders from the manufacturing, operations and regulatory fields of aviation to activate the third revolution in aviation.
On Thursday 5th September, Gary Cutts the Interim Challenge Director will be hosting a 90 minute briefing on the Future Flight Challenge.
To register for this https://lnkd.in/g_a2Ycj This online briefing will provide an overview of the Future Flight Challenge with a particular focus on the breakdown of the challenge over the next 4 years. It will detail the Discover, Develop and Demonstration phases of the challenge and provide further insight on the approach being taken to support UK based development in forward thinking aviation. We hope you are able to join Gary for the briefing briefing on Thursday 5th September at 10:30.
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  • Government announces up to £300 million investment in cleaner flight solutions for people and goods
  • Researchers developing electric planes and cleaner jet fuels will receive additional £5 million boost
  • British businesses to benefit from continued investment in cleaner transport tech to boost our exports around the world

UK innovators will today (Saturday 24 August) be boosted by more than £300 million investment, to develop cleaner, greener forms of transport.

The government will provide £125 million, which will be supported by industry co-investment of up to £175 million to support exciting new technologies including flying urban taxis, electric passenger planes and even freight-carrying drones.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to the G7 Summit in Biarritz to urge greater action to tackle climate change and protect the environment for future generations.

Alongside this, five new transport research networks will receive a £5 million cash injection for their work developing cleaner forms of fuel and other tech innovations to reduce emissions and improve air quality.

The new transport research networks will be led by: the University of Birmingham, the University of Leeds, the University of Durham, Cardiff University and University College London.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

From our shopping choices to planning our holidays, we rightly want to make decisions that protect the planet.

This £300 million investment will help speed up the development of greener flights, and new ways of delivering the goods we order online.

The UK is already recognised around the world as a centre for green tech. Now we will lengthen our lead, supporting our industry and our citizens to reduce their carbon footprint.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said:

The possibilities for new ways to transport goods and services – or to get from A to B – are endless.

This investment will help make the most of the exceptional talent and expertise we have in these industries, and ensure the U.K. leads the way internationally in designing and developing technology, from electric taxis to drones delivering parcels.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

New technologies like electric and autonomous aircraft can help us tackle climate change, making journeys greener and working better for passengers.

This funding will support the extraordinary talents of UK industry and academia, and demonstrate our country’s position as a world-leading transport innovator.

The Future of Flight Challenge is delivered by UK Research and Innovation. Industry will initially focus on smaller aircraft and drones to ensure the suitability of the new technologies before developing them for larger passenger aircraft.

The additional £5 million of funding has been awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Notes to editors

  1. The first Future Flight Challenge competition, to create compelling concept studies will open on 30 September 2019.
  2. There will be a briefing about the competition by video conference on the morning of 5 September; details of how to register for this will be released on the Innovate UK site soon.