Flying robots – Bremen company plans control center for drone flights

For some time now, drones have been conquering the skies. As flying robots, they help in many ways, such as research, industry, security, or environmental protection. At the coast and on high seas, for example, they are used for monitoring ships or inspecting and maintaining offshore wind farms. A control center is currently being developed in Bremen to coordinate the diverse drone activities,. The goal: In the future, anyone who registers a drone flight in the north-west of Germany will receive the “Go!” out of Bremen.

The Bremen-based company b.r.m. IT & Aerospace is leading the project. It aims to be certified as a Europe-wide control center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). “Until now, individual approvals are necessary for drone flights. This makes the commercial use of UAS difficult,” says managing partner Markus Rossol. However, new EU regulations now allow for the waiver of individual approvals. “Once the new EU regulation is implemented into German law, commercial use can be carried out more easily, and the bureaucratic tasks will be reduced for operators.”

Airtraffic needs regulations – just like road traffic

In civil aviation, German Air Traffic Control (DFS) takes care of coordination, monitoring, and safety. For drones, the drone air traffic control center now comes into play. The center will coordinate flight activities in the “U-Space” – the term the European Commission uses for the airspace for unmanned aircraft systems. “Like any traffic, drone traffic must also be regulated and controlled,” emphasizes Rossol. For example, recreational and rescue pilots should not get in each other’s way. Who uses which airspace on land and at sea, who else is en route, who informs whom before a flight? “All this information must converge in one place. It’s a complex web of data with many sources and interdependencies,” says Rossol.

In contrast to air traffic control under state mandate, the European Commission relies on private sector companies for “drone air traffic control”. The Bremen-based company b.r.m. IT & Aerospace brings decades of experience as a data center and IT service provider. At the Oldenburg-Hatten airfield, it also operates the Hatten-UAS drone test center. “During our testing and development, we quickly noticed how difficult it is to operate such an aircraft in airspace,” Rossol emphasizes. Together with partners, the company is now developing systems for safe coexistence of drones, airplanes, and helicopters.

Together safe in midair: cooperation with the Fraunhofer-Institute

The planned drone air traffic control center in Bremen intends to operate across Germany and even Europe in the future, particularly with respect to longer drone flights beyond the visual line of sight of a remote pilot. Participants initially gather experience on a regional level in order to develop the system and will cover an area of 3,600 square kilometers in the northwest of Germany and in the German Bight. The scientific direction is being provided by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Bremen. According to Tim Strohbach, a qualified engineer at Fraunhofer IFAM, organizing drone flights is expected to become as simple as organizing a helicopter takeoff.

Drones identify environmental offenders in the North Sea

A drone air traffic control center has become necessary because the market for drones is steadily growing. In terms of production numbers, drones have already surpassed airplanes. “The market keeps growing,” says Markus Rossol. “In general, drones are used for tasks that are too dangerous for humans, too resource-intensive, or where more resource efficiency can be achieved.” Rossol provides examples of drone applications: they are suitable for inspecting critical infrastructure such as power lines. Drones fly along the routes and provide aerial image data to the inspection engineers. They are also used to detect environmental offenders on the sea, like the drone developed for this purpose by the Bremen-based company Optoprecision. “Equipped with appropriate gas sensors, the drone flies through the emissions of a ship’s smokestack. From the measured sulfur oxide levels, one can determine what was being burned there,” says Rossol.

Delivery of small parts to offshore wind farms by drone

The expert also sees a great need for drones in wind farms in the North Sea. “The expensive delivery of small parts, for example, by ship or helicopter for the on-site maintenance technician can be more cost-effectively organized with drones,” emphasizes Rossol. With respect to the inspection of offshore facilities, surface measurements, or checking coatings, mobile robotics are being tested from Helgoland. Fraunhofer IFAM has set up a test center for maritime technologies there.

According to Tim Strohbach, the Ministry for Economy, Ports, and Transformation brought together partners from research and industry early on. Today, the “Advanced Air Mobility Initiative Northwest Germany and German Bight” network includes more than 200 stakeholders. “Rescue pilots, federal police, companies, conservation organizations—everyone is involved,” he says. It helps build trust in dealing with a new technology by including as many stakeholders as possible.

Drones have versatile applications

Meanwhile, experts at Fraunhofer IFAM are working on further applications for drones. So far, they are mainly used to observe surfaces using imaging sensors. However, the researchers want to use drones in the future to interact with objects more closely. “Touching procedures” should be possible, including measurements of layer thickness and wall thickness as well as ultrasonic testing. It may even become possible for drones to repair areas, such as corroded spots on wind turbines. “Today, rope climbers fulfill the task; in the future, it may be done by a drone,” Strohbach explains.

In parallel, Fraunhofer IFAM is working on simplifying visual inspection procedures that can be carried out by non-scientific personnel. Drone take-offs and landings from a ship, for example, should become standard. “So that a captain, who is already in the offshore wind farm with a crew transporter and has idle time, can do it,” says Strohbach. The future drone air traffic control center in Bremen will keep everything under control.

Find more information here.