# Air Risk Mitigations - Challenges and Opportunities for Autonomous BVLOS Operations

- Event: NestGen ’23
- Published: March 17, 2023
- Length: 43:57
- Watch: https://nestgen.org/library/watch/w4idX2sXwV4/

> The transcript of a recorded NestGen session, for reading or for use with an AI tool. It comes from the video's
> captions; automatic captions can mishear names and terms.

## About this session

Learn how drone operators can mitigate air risk of BVLOS operations by using professional live air traffic detection system & coverage data.

## Transcript

**[0:09]** thank you well hello everyone welcome to another session of Masjid 23 Industries largest drone autonomy Summit audience before we begin it would be great if you could let us know a little bit more about yourself so that we can get to know each other a little better so feel free to use the chat section and share your thoughts on the session for starters let us know where are you joining from what do you do and what got you the most excited about this particular session so in today's session air risk mitigations the challenges and opportunities for autonomous BVLOS operations we will learn how drone operations can mitigate the air risk of bblos operations by using in movies professional LifeWay traffic detection system and coverage data is a leader leading provider of hardware and software solutions for air traffic

**[1:12]** detection and visualization drone remote identification and drone live tracking their mission is to safely and efficiently open the sky to all flying objects as a universal and connected medium for businesses in volley Solutions help address critical needs in the Drone industry by providing a platform for displaying both manned and unmanned traffic facilitating collision avoidance and enhancing safety in the airspace additionally in movies technology can help accelerate the development of the Drone industry by addressing the lack of traffic awareness which has been a big barrier for grow for the industry's growth in the path and who better to explain this in more detail than the chief business officer so we are thrilled to have Olivier of involi he's the chief business officer officer there

**[2:13]** with us today to share more about their innovative solutions and their vision for the future of their own industry Olivia has 25 plus years of experience in business development in highly disruptive technologically technological Fields like telecommunications mobile internet digital media data analytics Adas and drones in the last five years he was the regional sales manager emea at airmap an altitude Angel two UTM pioneers Olivia acquired extensive knowledge in worldwide drone regulations methodology UTM operations management software communication and surveillance ladies and Gentlemen please give me a huge Applause and welcome Olivier to this session hi Olivia welcome hi Neil thank you for the introduction hi everyone good morning afternoon evening wherever you are uh in the world and thank you for having me it's

**[3:17]** great to have you here Oliver and I'm sure this session is going to be very insightful for our audience uh before we get into the details I just have a few housekeeping rules that I'd like to um you know let the audience know about so everyone you can use the Q a tab for questions we'll be taking the questions once we are done with the session the session is also getting recorded and will be published soon on our social media channels and if you want you can also I would recommend that you visit in moli's Booth after the session so that you can network with them personally and discuss in more details if you have some more requirements if you like the session please drop a LinkedIn post you can tag FlytBase and use the hashtag nesgen23 and hashtag opendiib movement the top three posts will receive special National hampers and last but not the least I want to thank our sponsors our title sponsor DJI

**[4:21]** Enterprise and our Platinum sponsor while it is airspace for making this a reality with this I hand it over to you Oliver please stop sharing my screen it's visible Oliver okay right right so let's start uh so again thank you for following me we're gonna want to work walk you through um the challenging of opportunity and opportunities for for BVLOS and automated drone operation and particularly will address the uh the arrest mitigation um I've I've chosen not to go deeply into the the solutions just try to give an overview again this is based on our experience not on data because in fact the industry data where I think we're definitely missing uh a lot of data but uh hopefully the session uh will uh will be informative so uh let's if I started just about inbody so we're a Swiss based company uh

**[5:24]** we were just the simple thing is that we uh our job is to detect detect cooperative air traffic at very low level and we are doing this since 2017. um it made sounds uh a little bit so we're new in fact since 2017 when you look at all the surveillance company in the traditional Aviation that have been around for more than 50 years but uh what is interesting is what is interesting is that we've uh we achieved one of big Milestones uh recently uh by manufacturing our thousands unit of our survey and sensor uh which is not far maybe of the traditional Radars and primer primary and secondary radar that are have been deployed around the world in the last 50 years um so what we do we detect uh any kind of traffic from airplanes helicopters General radiation gliders values uh paragliders so at the end the the sky is full

**[6:30]** of airspace users and we want to make sure that we have a full situational awareness of who is flying around uh we do this by deploying uh surveillance sensors a network of serving sensors and also for the Drone operators we're providing a tracking device which is an add-on module that can be attached to any girls and this allows us to uh to detect all uh all kind of traffic including adsb mod s model AC uad flarm and broadcaster remote ID for the drones and we also perform Military Reservation in our uh platform so all these infrastructure is then aggregated into our platform the Italy live platform which is a an air traffic data platform for all Cooperative traffic

**[7:33]** um this platform allows the management of the network so the the sensors themselves but also for visualization and integration of air traffic data so when we talk about the visualization we're talking about obviously real-time traffic visualization but we're also providing coverage map uh based on the uh the data that we are based on network that we are deploying uh traffic density map by Sorry traffic.steop by analyzing all the different air traffic data and other kind of data analytics related to air traffic data but we also take particular attention to uh sharing this information not only in our platform but with the party applications so we also offer these air traffic data through API that allows the integration of uh iteration with UTM permanent control brand control Station Mission planners or or even for process automation

**[8:36]** [Music] um sorry and what we want is we want to make the low altitude airspace Cooperative uh and uh because we believe that with everybody all airspace users uh at low altitude uh by sharing the position we will make a safer sky and we would Foster the deviation innovation so I think there was a poll so I'm gonna I think this poll already went out uh so I'm gonna I'm gonna go directly to the next slide sorry um so obviously drones have become increasingly popular in the recent years and they are now being used across industry that's uh that's a reason I think during the days we've also seen a number of PV laws and an automated drone operation examples um this includes inspection agriculture delivery search and rescue mapping and surveying so obviously in any industry today is using um are using drugs uh

**[9:41]** and obviously the use of uh drones be online beyond your line of sites and uh and automated operations called an immense potential for all the companies that are organizations that are looking to improve efficiency safety and and cost Effectiveness in their operation uh sorry uh so the benefits I obviously are I mean I I don't know what seats the audience uh what the audience looks like but uh the benefits of PV loss are quite uh well known so it's increased efficiency safe cost and improve safety so increasing efficiency by allowing allowing uh drones to fly further and cover a large large area but also provide consistent and accurate data that are hardly hardly done uh with manual manual flights uh so you've got uh obviously now drones are allowing aerial works that were conducted before by man Aviation and now with drones they are becoming

**[10:45]** more affordable um and on the others on the other side also it reduced the needs for manual labor um and for safety obviously uh drones and BV loss operation and automated drones operations uh reduce the risk of human error and the risk of Pilots injuries and fatalities when contacted complex and dangerous operation uh so there is a there are there are and this there is another ball so I think the pole will be displayed uh uh automatically in the in the pulse section so I really ask you to uh to provide us some some insights uh and and respond to this Folds um so we're seeing obviously now so there are already a number of B Villas and automatic developeration I think today uh but we believe that uh there is a demand uh for

**[11:45]** um for accessing more complex uh airspace so right now I would say that the V loss and automated joint operation are conducted into um uh rural environment or segregated areas but uh security segregated airspace but obviously as the the industry mature and grows there would be a demand for accessing more complex airspace like near airports heliports um urban area um and where um drones can be also used in collaboration or in collaboration all combined with traditional Aviation such as helicopters so we can see even in fact in the U.S we're seeing uh this is a the combination of this is the information from the FAA uh the combination of the IDP Beyond and PSP program when we're seeing all the advanced uh bbls and automated drone operation uh

**[12:48]** so a huge majority of them has been collected that has been conducted on uh are were related to delivery and Logistics uh the second one was for inspection for inspection of linear and non-linear infrastructure and also Public Safety so a lot of police firefighters generally First Responders also using or are willing to use drones in more complex environments such as uh yeah populated area and high density traffic areas in fact talking about air risk we curiously obviously we're only focusing on on Aries activity and we run um a poll about two weeks ago uh we wanted to know uh among our community of followers on 19 what what was the the most challenging uh uh process when they apply for waiver or a specific operation authorization in Europe and uh it's it's not a surprise that Aries education came

**[13:54]** first um also jointly with round risk round reciprocation this is mainly due to the fact that operation manual the networking as I are usually common to uh to all operations uh and are not dependent on the environment on the uh operational environment and definitely ground risk and air risk that needs to be analyzed on the case by case you spend depending on where you are intending to conduct your your operation um as part of the the challenge is obviously regulatory challenges uh are always top of the list um there are high safety requirements for advanced and complex and automated operation uh which is good in fact uh we so we know it's it's creating a lot of Burden for for Journal Breakers but at the end we cannot default as an industry uh to have uh uh to to have low safety standards we really need to have eight High

**[14:57]** safety standards just for for the adoption and the uh of of the of the of drones into the society and and one of the other challenges is that um the regulation is a bit fragmented across the different regions so there is really no unique or Universal approach to uh to a Aris mitigation in um in um in the world so Iko ASR FAA and the Jairus are working on this uh uh on these aspects and uh hopefully we can see that there will be harmonization coming in the in the in the coming years uh and other pulse I'm going to switch this uh there is also a safety challenge because right now I would say that the current traffic Management systems are designed for main Aviation so the main ideation that are taking off and Landing from airports uh that are coordinating with ATC with air traffic control uh usually using voice communication uh for for clearance which is make this really not very

**[15:59]** effective to conduct those PVR separation um in fact I was speaking with one of our partner just last week and he was telling me that they were they are now conducting a routine individual server operation for medical delivery and um and the air traffic control in the region where they're because they were flying in control their space and here even the air traffic controllers say okay we really need to find a solution because we cannot afford having 20 calls in a day just to say oh I'm taking off I'm I'm landing I'm thinking of I'm landing so uh definitely uh of improvement that's also to be done in traffic management and then there is also because it was designed for men Aviation we are seeing that there is a need for infrastructure because currently for what we do uh surveillance systems are deployed around airport and even sometimes big airports um and and uh so here we have good situational awareness of who is flying in this

**[17:05]** area but at low altitude uh even close to airport but also in uncontrolled airspace we're seeing that there is no infrastructure to conduct uh uh po at least to have situational awareness uh when conducting BD loss an automatic drone which is quite important uh obviously because when you're taking off you you want to make sure that there is no traffic around you another poll so I will let you uh respond to the polls um and then there is the technical challenges obviously when when uh flying videos again in complex area in complex airspace and you need to uh you need to choose you know so you need first of all to deploy good Communications Network you need to choose between ground-based uh or onboard system uh there are a lot of different technology from uh radio frequency Optical acoustic leather so a lot of

**[18:06]** of of different technology that needs to be combined together and integrated together uh to make sure that uh there is low latency and that the system as a whole can respond rapidly um and meet the safety objective of the operation so we are only focusing on Cooperative traffic but if we add non-cooperative traffic then it's also it adds also a number of new challenges um and and at the end we're seeing more and more that uh it's going to be on multi-layer uh approach where a number of Technology would be combined and we also be working with our partners to uh to achieve that I don't know how I'm doing with the time uh there's the data challenges so yeah so obviously when all those systems are collecting are collecting large volume of information which uh needs uh processing power uh this information raw information that also need to be analyzed uh to provide uh business Insight or operational insights and and then the challenge

**[19:12]** of integrating all those different systems uh and making sure that the data are uh shared among all the different uh systems and that's not an easy task um and then the uh one of the one on the last challenge is social social acceptance um so we know that there is concern about noise uh we've seen some example recently of John operator's conducting delivery in urban environment uh that had to stop because of uh complaints from the the community about the noise there is the Privacy privacy issue uh the security issue and the safety issue that make all these uh also very challenging uh the development of PD loss and automatic current operation um so again uh more uh but but at the end um I would say that the future is bright um obviously the the Drone Industries is very strategic so we're seeing uh all uh

**[20:16]** um countries and region pushing uh for uh lowering the barriers of Entry uh always respecting the the the the safety um and um and we also see in the in Europe there there are some bets about which country would be the first to implement the use space airspace so I would say that as a whole I would say the the the BV loss and automatic drone operations are becoming more and more strategic and and countries are pushing to make them happen into their into their country we're on the on the regulation side or regulatory side we're seeing also uh harmonization initiative so I mentioned before the Jairus so we're seeing Sora mythology that is generating that is putting a framework for risk assessment and and uh so it will also help uh improving the situation and we also seen we're seeing a new system from

**[21:18]** startups like us that are providing affordable reliable and open systems that will help uh the take off and and the development of more advanced uh BB laws and automatic drone operation in very complex environments um again I think there is a poll um and as a conclusion I I would like to share with you uh one video of one of our one of our partners um this was it's already an old video that was uh it's 2019 I think it was it was produced uh um they have definitely evolved from where they were in 2019 but they were sharing their vision and I think as a as a positive note I wanted also to share this video with you it's two minutes I don't know if I have time and you know we do have time all over here you can just you can play it so just for uh to lead on

**[22:20]** the positive note I'm going to share this this nice video from our partner

**[23:23]** thank you thank you foreign [Music] thank you

**[24:31]** okay so that's that's an amazing video thank you yeah and and we hope that so we yeah we definitely recognize that there are big challenges but at the end we believe that as soon as there will the society will see the benefits of all right I'm trying to uh see this so yes I think we need to to uh to insist on the fact that there are very important uh um benefits of increasing the user usage of drones for BD doesn't automated operation and this is through that kind of applications like medical delivery that will get higher acceptance from uh from the public definitely and I agree to that I mean if we use innovation and in Innovative Technologies to save lives I think you're working on a higher purpose and it's

**[25:35]** clearly evident from your product and from your vision as well yeah so this is it uh just um so we are I'll leave you my contacts if you want to contact me we're also offering for the people that attended if they want to uh if there are specific requirements uh on on on on deploying serene's infrastructure for special specific uh operational environment we are offering a free network coverage simulation for everyone uh this network simulation is valued two thousand switch francs uh which roughly 2 000 Euros and a little bit more than 2009 and 100 dollars so feel free to go to our website and uh and ask for this free network coverage and thank you now so I think we'll build uh yes uh we also have the answers to the polls so do you want to take some time and see the answer yes

**[26:36]** I can't see them so all right okay so I have so one of the questions was do you think that the current regulatory framework for BVLOS and automated drone operations is sufficient to ensure safety and enable innovation so 28.6 people have said yes whereas 71.4 people have said no okay yeah okay well I think it would improve we we already I mean we have some framework that I'll now uh becoming more and more uh used around the globe I think that as I mentioned at the beginning we are all missing uh uh data and as soon as we will combine those framework with real data from operations that that would make also improve this framework uh uh I think we will improve I mean it's going to get better I just want to stay on the positive note it's going to get better uh it's

**[27:41]** a lot of work but I think that as highly reliable organization uh all drone operators that really want to to conduct uh BD loss in complex airspace I really need to uh also to uh to uh to train themselves uh um and get used to the to those new uh Performance Based methodology for risk assessment all right yes so I have answers to two more polls uh if you just give me a minute so one of the questions was which of the following benefits do you find the most compelling uh so it's 42.3 people uh 42.3 percent of the people think it's to increase the efficiency 11.5 say that or save costs and 46.2 say that it's to improve the safety so what are your thoughts on that um I mean this is the this is the opinion of the company of the audience so uh I just I was just I mean I I I I I I I think it's all it's a combination of all uh but

**[28:44]** uh for us safety is is of is obviously very important but for companies I understand also that efficiency uh needs to be the the driver because uh there's these These are investments uh it will require Investments um and they will do they need to get a return on investment so uh and through efficiency I would say that um it's probably the easiest way to uh um to measure uh the return on investment all right just touching base on the last uh question uh poll so how familiar are you with BVLOS and automated drone operation so I think this is from an educational point of view so uh 52 percent of the people say that they are interested in exploring possibilities 36 percent of the people say that they're developing a service for this uh eight percent are currently in testing operations and four percent are conducting routine operations okay so I think it's yeah it's giving you a good uh yes

**[29:46]** with the share of the uh I think it's it's Global it's a good uh example of where the industry is today so I think there are some Pioneers that are already conducting routine operation but uh uh it's definitely I mean it's it's good that a lot of them are a large major majority are interested obviously they are contending the uh the next chance so this is also to uh to try to understand uh how to address this uh so yeah I think it's a good reflecting the current state of the industry yes yes uh again uh let's go to the Q a section we do have a couple of questions from the audience and we'll make sure that we you know at least try to address uh each and every one of them so uh one question is how in Molly helps uh drone operations in risk assessment and in which way uh are they able to do so so so we out mainly in air risk assessments so uh so we've in fact developed

**[30:49]** a kind of three-step approach so the first step is the network coverage so it's understanding uh your personal environment uh mainly from uh a geography standpoint because when you are looking at uh providing uh high percentage of detection of airplane in a certain area you need to take care of the geography because there are a lot of clutter Associated to surveillance so uh we help you first to try to understand how many uh sensors you need to develop to deploy and where you need to deploy what kind of of coverage you will get uh or always on a theoretical basis but that's the first step I would say uh coverage uh doing a network coverage simulation the Second Step uh we are also developing uh like three six or twelve month uh risk assessments so the way we provide that we provide all the equipment uh we install the equipment and we um and we start

**[31:52]** recording and uh and then we provide uh would provide insights on the on the after collection of the data of okay what kind of traffic density you have your ingredient what kind of uh transponding uh transponder technology are used in your region uh so that's the second the second step and then the third step is as we need to start using our our uh it's to to go for for a full rollout of the of the technology uh and and and the serene's network uh and start get and start using this data on your day-to-day operation and sharing these uh with your operation uh uh operation uh Your Community Control Center and also um your DAC stands for some at least for the detect and the feedback loop so this is how we we have in the risk assessment risk assessment and risk mitigation all right understood Olivia uh I think one question revolves around uh the video of

**[32:52]** the partner that you had said so are they running Beyond visual line of sight operations or visual line of site operations and are they using your solution currently yes so so again this video was uh recorded in 2019 uh and this was more the vision of uh of of the of freaky Tech in this case uh right now this is the example icon I just told you that are they are really conducting routine bvlas operation um in a number of countries uh and they are um uh they are in some countries not everywhere because they also uh sometimes they operate themselves sometimes they're just they sell the the the the drones to others the other uh drone service providers that are using the the drones to perform the operation but yes there are definitely using and the the and the I was speaking with uh with Adam which with you last week and uh he he told me that uh it's it's really useful and they've seen uh they've

**[33:55]** seen helicopters that even the ATC were not able to see so um for them it's it's definitely uh uh a safety Improvement to have uh visibility on on low altitude air traffic all right so I think the next question was what type of aircrafts is the system able to detect I think you've answered that question but do you do you want to share some more specifics on that no see it's so again it's Cooperative so it's any kind of flying object that has some kind of electronic conspicuous devices uh and we support as I mentioned adsb mode C modes flarm uat uh and um broadcast remote guidance I think and flam I've mentioned from yeah yeah so it's can be potentially every kind and we're also we've seen also that there are new uh companies that are offering also it's a very simple uh electronic conspicuity

**[34:59]** um mechanisms just by using a smartphone so typically for paraglider and things like that so really any kind of Cooperative uh any kind of aircraft that they are that are equipped with electronic uh speaker device all right okay uh there's one more question revolving around uh the costing of the solution so what is the budget that a user would need to you know integrate the involi system so at least let's restart about for one receivers and a one-year uh subscription to the to the platform uh five thousand uh Euros or Swiss Francs per year so but obviously that need it's just one receiver so it just got uh uh rolling out uh multiple receivers doing muted operation then uh the cost can can increase but definitely uh we're not talking about the level of price of traditional primary and

**[36:01]** secondary radar this is very very affordable technology very easy to deploy uh we were last we were this week we were installing uh in France One One sensor and it took us half a day uh and most of it was about uh connecting and and getting to the to the in this case it was an internet connection so we're connecting to the rotor of the of the customers so it's just about putting the cables to the routers that was the but the installation is very very straightforward and and definitely more for the golden traditional needs all right so that that brings me uh to the next question so you mentioned the coverage uh as well right so it would depend on uh your operational requirements so how many receivers does a user need to buy uh can you share some more light or not so just uh so we have uh National Rollout in Switzerland and Germany uh for for some customers and uh just to give you an example

**[37:04]** Germany is quite flat uh and uh well flights roughly I don't know which say flatter but more flat than Switzerland um so when I just join involia I was trying to make a an estimate on how many receivers you would need for uh to uh to prefer thousand square kilometers and uh it's it's really really dependent because in the case of Germany we were I think by memory and I it's it's I think it was 1.5 receiver per thousands square kilometer and uh average and uh in Switzerland it was 4.5 so it was four times more than in Germany so it really really depends on the on the operational environment and because of the geography there is a mountains buildings a lot of things are needed to be taken into account all right I understood thanks for sharing some more light on that uh the final question like I have kept a question for you so if you don't

**[38:04]** mind so this is something that we are asking all our partners so you know when it comes to BVLOS operations uh you know you need a Reliable Hardware you need a good software you need complementing technologies like in movies to detect airspace traffic so this is something that FlytBase um you know terms as the open dib approach or drone in a box approach where each company contributes to a different layer of the Drone autonomy stack um you know if you could share some light on this like what are your thoughts what are its benefits and how can it help the industry grow in general all right generally speaking I think we we need to get together as a as an industry and we need to uh to be to collaborate as much as we can I mean there is I don't think there is any company that can offer full uh stock uh solution for everything um I do believe that uh FlytBase or FlytNow I don't I don't remember that and

**[39:10]** coffee is always between the two but offering good good Solutions uh for drone operators to really start quickly and don't have to go into the uh the development of of uh of of operation manager of operation management and Mission planning and so on um and our thoughts it's uh is is definitely on our side we we want to share uh we we're I mean one of the main problem of the traditional Aviation is that even where there there is air traffic uh information usually you cannot access it because it was not planned to be shared through internet with multiple and thousands and millions of users it has never been planned like that it was between ATC and what it was within ATC space so uh here that the big shift that is is and I think the all the the software developers the company like EOS and others are are are bringing the The Innovation is really here

**[40:13]** is is make this information widely available and and shareable among among among users so um yeah that's that's to say being open and be collaborative so we're I mean we have worked with many UTM vendors uh uh operation manager like you integrating with uh see a common and control of of different uh customers so our goal is really to uh to make this information available again yes certainly all over and I think it's important to combine all our energies basically synergize our efforts and make sure that we are reaching our larger goal which is safe flight operations so yes that that uh you know totally makes sense uh so again Oliver thank you for sharing your insights you know your thoughts and the data points that you've provided on air risk mitigation and innovative solutions provided by involi were truly enlightening and I appreciate the knowledge and

**[41:14]** expertise that you brought to the table uh thanks again for taking taking the time to share your expertise and providing us with some greater understanding of the Drone industry uh the future and the importance of air traffic detection and visualization thank you all thank you all for also taking time to uh hopefully uh you've learned something and I've hadn't been uh boring so thank you it was yes thank you for having me and thank you also for organizing the next gen uh I think it's good to have uh that kind of uh of events where people can share their experience and and get the community all together so thank you also uh to you for for this great organization uh of the next gen 2023 thanks Olivia for your kind words and again I want to take this opportunity to thank our audience as well so thank you all for joining today hope you had a great time at

**[42:19]** National and let us know how you found this session in the comments section uh we also have a couple of other networking sessions and you know other speaker sessions and Booth visits so I believe Olivia and his team will be available and they're both waiting for you if you have any specific requirements or have any specific questions that we have might have missed or you know covering in this session you can jump over to their booth and you can do that by going to the booth section and I'm sure they'll be more than happy to entertain you and cater to your uh requirements yeah in fact indeed Neil I've I'm seeing that there are other questions so uh I don't know if there is a way to respond through the tool or or I mean what I would invite the people that have uh question open question that we haven't provided the answer to uh to connecting the in the Expo and and we can address their question or otherwise we will I don't know if we can answer them and send it to you and you

**[43:21]** uh send them you will share the response with them so I think a great idea would be since we are running out of time uh so I would recommend you know the audience to hop on uh to your booth okay um you know it would be great if you can take those questions if not what we'll do is we'll also compile a list of this and we'll make sure that we uh share it to you and you can um you know respond to them accordingly good thank you thank you Oliver thank you so much for your time appreciate it thank you everyone else and I hope you have a great day talk to you soon yes