Tactical Instrumental Deconfliction And in flight Resolution

Project Information

TINDAiR

Grant agreement ID: 101017677

DOI

10.3030/101017677

Project closed

EC signature date 2 February 2021

Start date 1 February 2021

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 4 000 145,00

EU contribution

€ 3 269 883,88

Coordinated by

INNOV'ATM
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TINDAiR (Tactical Instrumental Deconfliction And in flight Resolution)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The TINDAiR project aimed to demonstrate the safe integration of drone aircraft - in a context of UAM (Urban Air Mobility) - into controlled airspaces as additional users with a focus on Strategic and Tactical assistance to conflict detection and resolution. In particular, the project demonstrates technical and practical feasibility of integrating the AI (Artificial Intelligence)-based tactical deconfliction service module into the U-Space system.
The proposed TINDAiR system is composed of the Air and the Ground segments.
Four demonstration exercises, addressing different use-cases and deconfiction scenarios listed below, have been conducted from July to September 2022 in the regions of Occitanie (near Toulouse) and Nouvelle-Aquitaine (near Bordeaux) in France.
• Exercise 1: Deconfliction between two autonomous drones within the same navigation corridor.
• Exercise 2: Deconfliction between an autonomous drone and an eVTOL carrying a passenger.
• Exercise 3: Deconfliction between an autonomous drone, an eVTOL carrying a passenger and a manned helicopter.
• Exercise 4: Deconfliction action involving an emergency landing.
The TINDAiR system has been integrated on 5 unmanned and 1 manned aircraft (1 fixed-wing drone from Skyports, 3 rotary-wing drones from ONERA and Skybirdsview, 1 eVTOL prototype from Tecnalia and 1 manned helicopter). Its strategic and tactical deconfliction services were tested in relevant environment in coordination with other U-space services such as tracking, network identification, traffic information, geo-awareness or monitoring.
With the TINDAiR VLD results, we have either partially or fully validated the proper functioning of all the above services. The tactical deconfliction service was partially validated as certain deconfliction solutions were only validated in simulations. Nevertheless, the results demonstrated the capability of the TINDAiR system to detect and resolve conflicts at strategic and tactical levels.
At the same time, these exercises have highlighted some limitations of the system and recommendations for improvement that will be essential to consider for the future development:
• Augmentation of robustness and versatility of the system (heat dissipation, further electromagnetic testing for reducing RF interference with the aircraft system)
• Miniaturization of the system for achieving lower SWAP constraints
• Consideration of aircraft capabilities in deconfliction measures
• Standardization of the deconfliction procedure

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to be able to perform as well as possible all these exercises, several works were accomplished in 2022 by various members of the consortium:
- V&V activities was performed from January to May 2022
- VLDS was performed from July to September 2022
- Several social acceptance studies have been conducted to study the impact of the future integration of drones in our urban environment
- Several deliverables have been provided and in particular the DEMOR with our recommendation regarding the results of the project

In order to have a strong impact from a communication point of view, a number of actions have been taken:
• Participation in several exhibitions:
- ADW
- ITS Toulouse
- WAC
- European drone days
- SESAR Innovation Days
- TRA Lisbonne
• Press release
• Interviews

The TINDAiR VLD results proving the capability of the TINDAIR system to detect and resolve conflicts at strategic and tactical levels.
Moreover, we have demonstrated its capability to manage emergencies by the detection of hazardous situations and by ordering suitable emergency landing orders in order to preserve the safety of flights.
Despite some encountered operational limitations and technical problems, we manage to completely validate a major part of our objectives and to partially validate the rest.
The results indicate that we have successfully validated the consistency of the flow of actions related to the coordination between all the previously mentioned services. The results confirm the technical and practical feasibility of the proposed TINDAIR system.

Regarding the dissemination and exploitation of the results :
Communication and dissemination activities have been conducted since the beginning of the project and were carried on throughout the demonstrations.
The communication manager was present at all the demonstrations in order to be able to observe the demos, take photos and share the photos and information on social networks and TINDAIR website.
Moreover some stakeholders were invited and present at the demonstrations, particularly members of the TINDAiR circle.
Communication tools (roll-up and flyers) were used and displayed throughout the demonstrations, even in the most remote areas.
An Open Day was organised in Esperce, in the Toulouse area, on ONERA test field, at the end of the period of demonstrations.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The results of the impacts were:
1- The demonstration is expected to significantly contribute to the safe integration of UAM as additional airspace user
The implementation of TINDAiR operational scenarios and technologies demonstrated that manned and unmanned air vehicles can safely and securely operate in the same airspace where there will be available new procedures for new CNS technology and enabling on-board equipment

2- The demonstration is expected to significantly improve the communication between USP and drone pilot
The implementation of TINDAiR operational scenarios had deeply investigated on the limits of the communication between USP and drone pilot going from on pre-collision alerts to real guidance

3- The demonstration is expected to significantly improve the safety of the UAM operations
TINDAiR paved the way for fully autonomous flight in the future. By demonstrating the requirements and technologies it helped to stimulate the development of fully autonomous aerial systems

4- The demonstration is expected to significantly boost the development of drone delivery for very specific use case: such as medical transportation, point 2-point delivery of blood and organs in sanitary emergency.
The results of the project provided confidence for all the all the community as safety will be guaranteed in all the operating conditions and in crowded airspaces

5- The demonstration is expected to significantly improve the regulatory framework
The results of the project provided guidance for equipment manufacturers on how they can answer to future requirements for different types of drones

6- The demonstration is expected to significantly improve the performance of SESAR solutions in the key area: safety, cost efficiency, operational efficiency, capacity, environment, security and human performance
The results of the project delivered guidance for accelerating the digital European sky which represents tremendous value potential for every stakeholder in the aviation value chain

7- The demonstration is expected to prove that EGNSS (includes EGNOS and Galileo) provides benefits in provision to safe traffic deconfliction and resolution U-space services
TINDAIR will benefit from previous developments on integrating EGNSS services as in provision to e-identification and real time tracking services. The actual performance provided by EGNSS systems, in particular related to the RUNP integrity requirements, was demonstrated as in contribution to the provision of safe conflict resolution services

Logo

Image officielle : Toulouse

Image officielle : Bordeaux