The Innovation Authority, the Ministry of Transportation through the Ayalon Routes Company, the Civil Aviation Authority (RATA) and the Smart Transportation Directorate in the Prime Minister's Office are revealing for the first time the national project in the management of drones of different companies in common airspace
Israel's significant progress in the past year towards a new transportation future, which includes a nationwide network of drones that will allow, among other things, the transportation of cargo in the urban-metropolitan space, while managing smart and innovative airspace. This is an activity within the framework of a first pilot of its kind that included flying a large number of drones, from several companies, which fly over the skies of the city of Hadera and are managed from one unified central system, located in the traffic management and air control center of the Ayalon Routes Company in the center of the Gulf in Haifa.
The airspace is managed by an autonomous control system operated from the traffic management and air control center of the Ayalon routes company - the control center for the delivery drones in the demonstration. The drones that will fly as part of the demonstration will make about 300 sorties a day, with each drone simulating the execution of a different type of mission: from food deliveries, through the transportation of medicines and medical equipment, to agricultural services.
The flights were carried out by five different companies (listed below), and at any given moment about 20 real drones are expected to fly at the same time and hundreds more simulated flights in the system. This is the first demonstration of its kind in Israel and one that is a breakthrough on an international scale as well. The joint flight is managed autonomously from the traffic management and air control center of Netibi Ayalon located in Haifa. In this center, it will be possible to see the demonstration of a computerized and autonomous aerial management and control system for the drones flying in the room, in a way that simulates a situation where tens or hundreds of drones - in the future - fly in the skies of the country's cities on different missions, while operating in a uniform airspace.
As a reminder, as part of the current demonstration, companies participating in the management and operation of autonomous drone networks that have received the support of the Innovation Authority as part of the Authority's pilot program. Thus, the activities of the project and all its partners, in industry and government, have led the State of Israel to stand today at the forefront of drones for use for the public good, even compared to other advanced countries.
Over the past year, the Innovation Authority, the Ministry of Transportation through the Ayalon Routes Company, the Civil Aviation Authority (RATA) and the Smart Transportation Directorate in the Prime Minister's Office have been working to establish a national network of managed air routes for the use of drones as server tools for the benefit of transporting medicines, tests and medical equipment , deliveries in the retail market and more, as part of the "Naama" project - urban mobility in the aerial dimension. The project was established in order to promote the ability to operate drones for public benefit, which will reduce congestion on the roads.
In the first 12 months of the project's activity, activities were carried out with the aim of studying for the purpose of building the regulation that supports the industrial activity and the technologies that are developing at a high rate from the field while removing barriers and opening up the space of possibilities for those startup companies that will be able to implement the developments from the best minds in the State of Israel as a beta site.
Itamar Ben Meir, CEO of Natibi Ayalon: "A smart air control and traffic management center that manages and prioritizes a number of drones flying simultaneously in one geographical space is an expression of future transportation solutions led by the Ayalon Routes Company. The demonstration is part of a long series of technological and regulatory developments required for the commercial operation of a national air route network at low brom in the urban-metropolitan medium."
Dr. Ami Appleboom, Chairman of the Innovation Authority: "One of the national tasks of the Innovation Authority is to harness Israeli technology and innovation for the benefit of the country's citizens. If up until a year ago, the Naama project and the project to establish a nationwide network of drones to transport cargo and shipments seemed like a distant dream - today they are building skin and tendons. The series of demonstrations for the flight of dozens of drones simultaneously over the territory of the city of Hadera, managed by the control center in Haifa, is an unprecedented leap forward for the State of Israel. This is a huge step towards a smart transportation future, in which the State of Israel will be among the first countries in the world to allow aerial transport using drones."
The companies participating in the demonstration
- Highlander Aviation Ltd. and Cando and Euromission - As part of the pilot for an aerial control system for the autonomous management of drone fleets, the companies will demonstrate capabilities for managing an urban airspace full of drones, multitasking and operators while prioritizing and dealing with unplanned events. . The uniqueness of the system is the ability to connect all drones on the market. The system allows the SHOB operator to manage a large number of drones from one central system, watch video, photos and the drone's track, while broadcasting to a large number of users.
- Hartek Technologies Ltd. - As part of the pilot for an aerial control system for the autonomous management of drone fleets, the company will demonstrate the operation of an advanced SHOB system for the management of autonomous drones in a controlled space while: fully autonomous coordination and the performance of multiple drone missions, maintaining safety laws, and taking into account the tools operated by other parties.
- App company. T Technologies Ltd"and Skylinks Technologies Inc"M - As part of the pilot for an air control system for the autonomous management of drone fleets, the companies will demonstrate experience in flying multiple drones in common airspace under unified air control. The Skylinx company is developing the autonomous airports of the smart city that will allow different drones to operate commercially in an efficient and safe manner from those airports. Skylinx established together with Airwayz and Flytech IL the partnership SAFE GROUP which aims to jointly develop a commercial ability to fly beyond the line of sight of a drone in the urban environment for various tasks with an emphasis on cargo transfer. SAFE GROUP plans to operate commercially this year in logistics lines that the group will operate in the city of Tel Aviv while cooperating with various commercial companies that have already concluded future cooperation with it.
- Simplex Interactive Ltd. - As part of the pilot for an aerial control system for the autonomous management of drone fleets, the company is demonstrating experience in flying multiple drones in common airspace. In the pilot, two technologies developed by the company will be tested and demonstrated, the first being OpenUTM.io, which enables synchronization, control and automatic coordination of autonomous airspace (UTM) between dozens of manned and unmanned aircraft in it.
- Aerovision Drones Ltd. - As part of the pilot for an aerial control system for the autonomous management of drone fleets, the company demonstrates a solution for a unified and autonomous system used to fly multiple drones in a managed space and synchronize airspace for several companies at the same time. With the help of artificial intelligence and a learning system, autonomous and safe management of the sky and coordination between the various drone companies in the experimental area, from a unified central system managed by AirViz, which uses advanced algorithms to optimize flights and perform tasks such as deliveries - above the city sky.
