Earlier this summer, AirMap participated in the FAA’s UTM Pilot Program (UPP) under Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP), which was designated as one of three UAS Test Sites for the UPP in January.

Designed to advance the findings made during NASA Technical Capability Level (TCL) drone trials and transition them to the FAA for future implementation and rulemaking, the UPP is one of the pilot programs that U.S. government agencies have been conducting over the years to demonstrate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights and other advanced operations under real-world conditions.

AirMap, along with fellow commercial UAS Service Suppliers (USS) AiRXOS (part of GE Aviation), ANRA Technologies, and Wing, supplied the UTM services at the core of the UPP trials.

“The FAA’s UPP trials at MAAP positively demonstrated the potential of an open, collaborative drone marketplace, with multiple providers operating in the same airspace,” says Ben Marcus, AirMap chairman and co-founder.

“We believe that the UPP’s findings will help further encourage the safe integration of drones into the national airspace and unlock the full economic and societal potential of commercial drone operations.”

UAS flights in various dynamic, real-world scenarios were demonstrated during MAAP’s UPP trials, including agricultural surveying, insurance inspections, and newsgathering. According to AirMap, the scenarios introduced an “intentionally diverse set of drones and drone operations” into the same airspace to test their interactions.

One scenario involved different UAS operations being conducted following a major storm, including an insurance company inspecting buildings for damage, a farm using a drone for a post-storm crop survey, and relief supplies being delivered via UAS to the affected area.

141 flights using five types of aircraft were conducted during the trials. During the trials, the USS each provided UTM services for participating UAS, including flight planning and manned traffic alerts. Simultaneously, the USS systems communicated with each other to share flight plans and ensure deconfliction, which helped provide a shared view of the airspace and improve overall safety and coordination.

AirMap notes the importance of different USS servicing these drone operations being able to communicate with each other to ensure safety and deconfliction.