NUAIR Alliance and Thales agree to collaborate on UTM research

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The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR Alliance) has signed a multi-year collaboration agreement with Thales.

NUAIR says that the agreement supports its efforts to safely integrate UAS into “traditional, controlled airspace.” The agreement also supports NUAIR’s ability to conduct operations at its New York UAS test site’s 50-mile UAS traffic management (UTM) corridor at Griffiss International Airport.

“This partnership helps advance the critical tools needed for beyond visual line of site testing; these are capabilities not found at any other test site in the nation,” says Major General Marke F. “Hoot” Gibson (ret), chief executive officer of the NUAIR Alliance.

“This region is leading the industry and attracting partners from across the globe due to investments being made by New York State. We look forward to working with Thales and deploying this industry-leading technology in coming months, taking our capabilities to a new level.”

Thales is working with NUAIR at the Griffiss test site to look into how advancement in UTM could offer a preview into future airspace automation capabilities. Thales will do this this by integrating the entire airspace situation into its software, so NUAIR can enable the tracking of unmanned flights and keep operators a safe distance from manned aviation.

​Other capabilities that Thales brings to the table to facilitate the safe integration of UAS into the airspace include cyber security and the concept of “centralized, airspace management” for UAS operations to ensure the safety and security of the National Airspace System (NAS).

Thanks to all of its capabilities, Thales was recently named as a Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) approved partner to help directly support UAS integration into the NAS.

The Thales LAANC system allows small UAS operators to access airspace safely and efficiently by receiving authorization from the FAA in just minutes, which is a significantly quicker time frame than the previous approval process in place before LAANC that would take nearly 90 days.

Thales is one of only five companies approved by the FAA to provide LAANC services, and it will provide tools to plan flight operations for commercial UAS users at more than 225 airports across the U.S.

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