Queensland Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) researchers have made what’s believed to be a world-first breakthrough for small Unmanned Aircraft (UA), developing an onboard system that has enabled a UA to detect another aircraft using vision while in flight.
During the flight, the onboard system provided real time warnings back to the ground control station, resulting in a successful manual collision avoidance manoeuvre - a critical point for allowing UAs to fly in commercial airspace.
The flight trial was carried out in unsegregated, class G airspace.
The research, carried out by QUT’s Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA) in conjunction with Boeing Research & Technology- Australia (BR&T-A) and UAS industry leader Insitu Pacific (maker of the ScanEagle), was successfully proven in recent trials at an airfield north-west of Brisbane.
ARCAA director, QUT Professor Duncan Campbell, said the breakthrough was extremely significant and meant Project ResQu was well on-track to deliver technological advancements and to make regulatory recommendations to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) by the middle of this year.
Project ResQu aims to fast-track the development of smart technologies that will enable unmanned aircraft to fly safely in the civil airspace and ultimately enable UA to provide public services such as assistance in disaster management and recovery, as well as in environmental, biosecurity and resource management.
Insitu Pacific field service representative prepares a ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle for its early morning mission.
