C-Astral, a SESAR Joint Undertaking demonstrator project lead by Terra Drone-affiliated Unifly, has confirmed its successful participation in the first practical SAFIR flight and integration tests.
Held at DronePort, Sint-Truiden, Belgium, SAFIR is a large-scale demonstration project aiming to showcase the economic viability of drone use in industrial environments.
As a member of SAFIR, C-Astral was tasked to take off and perform high-tension line mapping.
During the process, the company was also made to perform deconflicting by rerouting the drone flight and alternatively choosing a safe place to hover until the geofencing area disappeared.
During these operations, the radio communications were tested by the Belgian Institute for Postal services and Telecommunications (BIPT) and C-Astral obtained the permission to use the integrated communication links in the Belgian airspace.
Flight tests for the homologation of the C-Astral system by the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority were performed as well.
The C-Astral software team also successfully tested the integration of command, communications, control, and planning software with the drone traffic management system developed by Unifly.
