CERTIFLIGHT
Certified E-GNSS Remote TrackIng of Drone and Aircraft FLIGHTs
The rising number of UASs (drones) accessing the airspace and the increased complexity of their operations in BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) conditions, led to the introduction of additional specific rules and procedures for their use (i.e., EU regulatory package 2021/664 U-space1) where UASs are expected to operate alongside sport/ultralight and General Aviation aircrafts. For this class of aircrafts and UASs there is no certified component (aeronautical grade) capable of ensuring a position information, trustable enough as evidential value from a legal perspective. In this scenario, a solution that ensures the authenticity of the position information is needed for all the U-space stakeholders, especially for safety-related and commercially valuable applications.
Certiflight users such as UAS and GA pilots use the Certiflight UTM Box while they are flying based on the new Galileo-based U-space service for the certification of flight tracks of UAS and ultralight aircraft. A secure link is established between the authenticated OSNMA positioning data through a dedicated blockchain.
End users access the system through the operator portal and the certification portal is available to third parties that need to verify the certified information.
The CERTIFLIGHT project proposes a new U-space service for the legal certification of tracks generated by UASs and aircrafts flights, through the introduction of a new disruptive EGNSS-IoT digital system. CERTIFLIGHT features a software platform that offers to its customers and business partners (UAS Operators, GA Pilots and UTM Service providers) a digital service for the generation of certified reports of flight tracks and the flight logs of UASs and GA aircrafts. In addition, the recorded tracks may be useful for enforcement (i.e., sanctions for airspace infringement) as well as for possible accident or incident investigations.
The core of the system is a Digital EGNSS/IoT Device installed on UASs and General Aviation/Ultralight manned aircraft, equipped with an OSNMA Galileo/EGNOS enabled receiver, capable to guarantee the authenticity of their position information at the origin, without the possibility to be counterfeited or spoofed. Tracking information is cyphered for transmission to CERTIFLIGHT platform and permanently stored by an automation software to a private Blockchain node, unalterable once stored.
The Certiflight system will establish the “chain of trust” of flight position information of drones and ultralight aircraft.
- The recorded flight tracks, with associated images and data acquired, will be useful for delivering a new class of UAS services for business, but also for law enforcement, auditing systems and accident investigations
- Legal aspects have a crucial role in the Certifligt service
- Certiflight will use concepts similar to those applicable to tachographs that are established in the Commission implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/799
Certiflight will also legitimize the use of “smart contracts”, by activating the contractual condition on the basis of particular flight routes and performance.
Several use cases involving General Aviation and UASs will take benefits using Certiflight solution.
DTA Project Manager: Antonio Zilli, Distretto Tecnologico Aerospaziale
Total cost: 2,3 M€
Start and end date: 11/2022 – 04/2025 (Duration 30 months)
More info: Antonio Zilli, antonio.zilli@dtascarl.it, Distretto Tecnologico Aerospaziale Scarl
Partner: Project Coordinator: TopView; Research centres and technology partners: DTA, TSP, TU Delft, Way4Ward; Business partners: d-Flight, Upvision, Unifly; Consulting partners: Aria United, EuroUSC España, EuroUSC Italia
Project Web Page: https://certiflight.info/
