Union Minister for Road and Highways, Nitin Gadkari unveiled the most cutting-edge unmanned traffic management system in the world, called Skye UTM in New Delhi. The software boasts of various special, ground-breaking features, including the Skye tunnel.
On the sidelines of the Skye UTM launch, Shri Gadkari emphasised to deploy new technologies in construction, infra and highway sector. He told, it is a time for Indian drone start-ups to lead the industry like software.
Drone is a futuristic technology, and its potential is beyond imagination. Drones make activities extremely efficient and cost effective. Drones are going to be used across sectors, from construction, agriculture, healthcare, defence, infrastructure, surveying, real estate, and transport. Drone companies will even monitor highways and road construction. There is a lot of research happening that will certainly help scale its usage, and we wish Skye Air the best of luck in taking this futuristic technology even further. added Shri Gadkari
He further commented that his ministry will soon invite participation from drone start-ups to be deployed for real-time monitoring & speed up highway constructions and also keep a check on fatal road accidents. A tender will be floated very soon by the ministry to execute the operation.
Skye UTM is a cloud-based Aerial traffic management system that stitches unmanned air traffic with the manned aviation airspace. Skye UTM is the most advanced and indigenised Aerial traffic management platform that has been built towards providing situational awareness, autonomous navigation, risk assessment, and traffic management to all drone/other aerial mobility operators across the airspace.
Commenting on the needs and the USP of the Aerial traffic management system, Mr. Ankit Kumar, CEO, Skye Air said, “With the higher adoption of drones and other aerial vehicles by various end users, the number of drones in the sky is increasing massively. The requirement for situational awareness has become a necessity, the drone pilots, regulators and controllers need real-time information around the drones in the sky. Skye UTM is a game changer in this regard providing situational awareness to both regulators and pilots, by digitally establishing communication with the drones and connecting traffic across the airspace. The nature of its Autonomy helps to have real-time tracking and awareness. We are delighted to have the Hon’ble minister Shri Nitin Gadkari ji launch the Skye UTM platform which will maximize airspace safety while supporting wider adoption of drones/other aerial vehicles.”
Skye UTM has already supported 300+ successful BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) drone flights till now. The Skye UTM captures more than 255+ parameters of UAV movements and stores them into its ‘Blackbox’ which is a published systematic description of the entire flight. The platform offers the first 3-Dimensional view of the drone airspace along with operations and regulations mapping servers which offer the latest airspace status, verified paths, and display real time UAV movements.
The UTM is a cloud-based traffic management system that connects and communicates with all types of drones, from survey drones to delivery drones to aerial taxis.
Skye UTM boasts on its super accessible pop-up UTM feature, used for non-recurring activities which allows the user to access the platform and its feature without any complicated integrations. This serves for various applications such as aerial filming, single region survey etc.
Further giving insight on the platform, Mr. Ankit Kumar said, “The drone industry is growing multi-fold and the need for UTM is now more than ever to ensure safer skies. Skye UTM offers tons of features enabling situational awareness, handling more than 4000 flights per hour, Pop-up UTM and many others. I believe our proprietary tunnel based navigation is going to be a game changer for enabling higher degree of automation in navigation.”
It is noteworthy to mention that the real-time aviation system can connect to any model of drone and is supported by an extremely detailed preand post-flight reporting system. The UTM is more technologically advanced, faster, and safer for the drone revolution.
Skye UTM organises the drone airspace into zones that are designated for high-speed operations, deliveries, big drones, and passenger aircraft. Each of these boundaries allows the airspace to be optimised for the needs of UAVs. Through its cloud architecture and real-time communication APIs, Skye UTM integrates with ANSPs, heli-drones, and all other manned aviation systems to coordinate movements and further strengthen the integrity of the airspace.
The platform offers Regulatory access to Air Traffic Controllers and other regulatory authorities allowing them to have real-time drone traffic movement information, pilot information and other necessary data for evaluation and coordination.
With the system’s successful commercial debut in India, Skye UTM is now accessible to everyone. The traffic management system will also be introduced globally in the coming days.
India is soon anticipated to become the drone capital of the world. With the drone revolution and last mile connectivity, there will be a surge in drone start-ups foraying in the sector, as a result manufacturing will also scale up. In such a scenario, Skye UTM will help take the baton forward by providing a platform that will weave in the much needed safety measures as drone will be used across industries not just in India but also for drone operations on the world-wide scale.
