News / The University of Bristol
The Bristol lab pushing the boundaries of drone development and aviation
Experts at Bristol University are involved in “pioneering” research to develop the capabilities of autonomous drones.
They are working as part of a national consortium that has just secured a share of £30m to test the remotely operated drone system, which will enable inspection and monitoring of industrial sites, as well as urban areas, transport and telecoms infrastructure and live emergency services support.
The group is led by specialist drone developer sees.ai, and includes aviation, aerospace and industry giants BAE Systems, NATS and Sellafield.
Using similar technology to ‘self-drive’ cars, the “futuristic” system enables autonomous drones to be flown under human supervision by pilots based in a central control room hundreds of miles away. Pilots can precisely execute complex missions remotely, including reactive and close-quarter missions.
Speaking about the work, John McKenna, CEO of sees.ai said: “The Future Flight Challenge funding will accelerate us towards a future where drones fly autonomously at scale – high up alongside manned aviation and low down inside our industrial sites, suburbs and cities.
“We are enormously proud to be leading this consortium and to be working with such incredible partners to develop this advanced Beyond Visual Line of Sight aviation system. We see huge opportunity across industry and the public domain – and if we succeed, it would be a tremendous honour to support the emergency services.”
Those leading the research say the potential reward for unlocking these types of mission in terms of public health and safety, cost efficiency and environmental impact is huge.
Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab is among a host of technical contributors to the consortium, alongside Vodafone, The Met Office, Flock Cover and UAM Consult Ltd.
The project involves the system being put through a series of tests, increasing in complexity and challenge.
Professor Reza Nejabati, an expert in high performance and autonomous networks from the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab, explains: “As a leading research institution in 5G and beyond, we will provide expertise on the design of end-to-end network architecture for the future operation of drones.
“Our experts will evaluate a combination of multiple 3GPP (4G and 5G), non 3GPP (WiFi), MEC and network slicing technologies in multi-operator settings with private and public operators. We are very well placed to train the next generation of engineers with unique and cross-disciplinary skills in the integration of telecommunication with drone systems.”
Main photo courtesy of Bristol University
Read more: Rolls-Royce and UK Space Agency launch ‘pioneering project’
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